A quick post with some pics I meant to upload in the last post, but never did.

Skiing in Belalp
Went skiing between Christmas and New Year's day with Emil and Claudia. It was the first decent stretch of time off I'd had, so I was pretty keen to go and get my first taste of the Swiss slopes. However, I had a few problems. First, there was bugger all snow. 40cm, which was enough to keep the main runs open, but the quality was crap, there were stones everywhere, you couldn't deviate from the main runs, and the entire upper ski area was closed. Secondly, I went and bought boots that were too small for me. I know - it takes a special kind of idiot to do something like that and I don't expect any sympathy, but I swear to you they were fine in the shop. I brought them home and wore them for an hour, and I think they must have shrunk in the car. I don't know. Luckily it was no problem to bring them back afterwards, and I ended up hiring. Finally, and worst of all, I came down with the flu. It wasn't one of those nandy pandy flus either - this one really kicked the crap out of me. The first day I managed three runs before I returned to the hotel and remained bedridden until evening. I forced myself to eat a fantastic four-course meal that I couldn't taste, and went back to bed. However the next day, after 24hours sleep I was feeling better. All told however it was a pretty good holiday.

Sonja's Hippy-theme Birthday Party
Sonja is Emil's partner, and unofficially my step auntie. Her 50th birthday was right on December 31st, so we talked her into throwing a hippy theme party. We had plenty of time to prepare, and prepare we did. There was a hall, catering, decorations, a live musician, fireworks, crazy outfits, and a general abundance of flower power. I acquired a prefab hippy costume, added rose tinted glasses, a wig, sandals and a guitar, and perfected the über-hippy. The glasses started pinching on my nose, and Luca (Roger & Sandra's 3-year-old, bless him) insisted on strumming my guitar, so the only photo with me in it is sans accessories.

Lets Have a Beer
These are some cellphone-photos from a night out with the lads from work. We're at O'Malleys Irish Pub (I believe) in Zurich (could be wrong though), and Woidl found this skeletal zombie sitting downstairs by the payphone in the pub. He took the zombie's head without much of a fight (zombies have low HD) and brought it upstairs, and thus began the routine. The full picture series can be found at http://picasaweb.google.de/bela.grossmann/LetSHaveABeer but I've imported the best pics for your convenience.


Can you guess who's the guy in the mask?

Today's New Year's Day, and I haven't posted since November, so I've got some catching up to do. The answer to what I've been doing for the last three months isn't that exciting - Work. On Monday morning I wake up at 6am, bus to Olten, and take the train to my place of work in Zürich. I bring clothes with me, and sleep for one or two nights in the company flat which usually has a free bed, go to Kung-Fu after work, and return home once or twice a week for fresh clothes. I don't think it would have exactly made an enthralling blog, hence I haven't posted for a while.

Work itself is going okay, though I've really got a lot to learn still, and in a few weeks the project leader Maik will be away for three weeks in the military, and I get to do support all on my lonesome. Should be interesting I think.

Speaking of military, I did attend a military information day, and I won't be doing military service in Switzerland. I don't speak enough Swiss-German, and I'm getting too old (the cut-off age being 25, and kids usually do it at 20), so I have been certified 'Untauglich'. It means I'll have to pay an extra 3% tax, but so be it.

But surely something has happened in the last three months that is worthy of writing home about. Well, in actual fact, several events have transpired which I will report in the next several thousand words (or the equivalent word count value in pictures).

13/12/2006: i-logs Christmas Event, Austria
Once a year my firm hosts a Christmas event in Klagenfurt, Austria. It's thinly veiled as a 'business activity', and there is a meeting on the Friday, but it spans across the weekend, which leaves plenty of opportunity for festivities. Airfare and accommodation is taken care of by the company, so how could I refuse?
We (Maik, Oli and I) flew in on Thursday night, dropped our bags off at the hotel, and Oli led the way directly to an empty bar where over the next half hour we pretty much just got hammered. I thought it was stupid, and said so, but hey - when you've got four empty glasses and four full ones, what else is there to do but drink?
So the meeting on Friday morning was a bit of a challenge, and I almost dozed off a couple of times, but nobody really minds dis attentiveness if you've got a good reason (such as being hungover). Towards evening we migrated from the office to the pub across the road, then out to the Klagenfurt nightlife. 'Twas a pretty crazy night, with the expected drunken antics, but little else to report.

Bowling: Spot the beef	Roland's hand wasn't on my shoulder a moment ago...

Saturday afternoon we went bowling. If I should ever have to bowl to save my life, it'd be a sad funeral. That evening there was a function hosted in a local castle, which was really cool. I hadn't eaten anything all day, and to my delight it was buffet, and I chowed down until I could chow no more. With the exception of Rib Night™, I don't think I have ever enjoyed a meal as much. A few of us were keen and headed back into town, but didn't amount to much.

Sunday was crap. We got back to the hotel around 4am, and had to check out by 11am, so we weren't exactly well rested. Klagenfurt on Sunday morning was cold, and closed. There was a wee market in the town centre that we had a look at, but eventually just ended up shooting some pool until our taxi took us to the Ljubljana airport in Slovenia, where we flew home.

17/12/2006: 70's Theme Party
Sonja's son Rene, who I suppose is technically my step-cousin, was I think turning 30 along with some friends of his, and had a joint birthday party. The theme was 70's dress. The picture (above right) is of Jannick (left), Claudia (right), and myself (center). Jannick did a frighteningly good job of drag, and I dubbed her 'Lola' for the evening.

The party itself was held in a nearby castle, and was a well organised affair with food, drink and entertainment provided. Costumes were many and varied, with most people putting on a decent show. Some of the guests got keen and did stand-up comedy routines, such as this one (right) which started as a two-girl retinue and ended in full-blown line dancing. These crazy Swiss.

The following events including the ski trip and the New Year's eve hippy party will have to be concluded in the next post so stay, er... posted.

Ah, a weekend in Paris. NO, not Hilton - France.

On Wednesday night my French friend Sylvian said he was free for the weekend if I wanted to visit. I booked my tickets online that night and flew to Paris on Friday after work. It is certainly one of the rare and special advantages of single life that you can plan holidays three days in advance. I've been paid and have a weekend up my sleeve, so why not go and see a friend I haven’t seen in two years - in Paris. *sigh*... life is beautiful.

Sylvian met me at the airport, and drove me back to the flat where I met the flatties and dropped off my stuff. We ate some home-made pizza, and drove into town for a drink and a walk around. That part of town was definitely the red light district in Paris, as every second shop was a sex shop, a strip joint or a brothel. Men stood outside and beckoned passers by for a ‘good time’. Apparently if you ever go in the girl will ask you if you want something to drink, and then crack open a €300 bottle of champagne. Ouch. Sylvian took a photo of me in front of the actual Moulin Rogue, and I’ll upload it when I get it from him. We drove around a bit and saw Paris by night. And that was Friday night.

The next few photos are what I took on Saturday morning. Sylvian had work, so Christophe helped me buy a day pass for the subway, gave me a map, and left me to my own devices.

Paris Subway, and popping out from the Subway onto the street.

Just outside Invalides.

Invalides courtyard (left), and a statue by the enterance (right).

I also made it to the Eiffel tower on Saturday (topmost right image, roughly joined in PhotoShop) before return for lunch at 2pm of chicken and potatoes, which was really good. After lunch Sylvian had to go see about a girl, so I walked to the local market and bought a leather jacket I've always wanted but never had the disposable income to justify buying.

Later on we took the subway into the Paris city proper (the flat is just outside the ring that defines Paris city). We walked through some of the parks and had a look around.

I reckon this'd look good in the garden.

Hey, it's that Louvre pyrimad from the DaVinci Code where Jesus was buried. Crap - did I just gave the whole movie away?

And that was Saturday night. Went home, drank some fine French vintage and played poker till 4am (almost won too, but lost the gamebreaker with a pair of 10s vs a pair of Jacks). Sunday morning I walked down to the baker and bought croissiants and baguettes for breakfast. Some friends came over for lunch, and then Sylvian dropped me to the airport at 3pm.

If you've been following my posts, you'll remember I theorised that airports are built to reflect the character of their land? Well judge for yourself (image above right).

And so my time in Austria comes to a close. I’ve stayed in Klagenfurt this weekend, and will fly back Wednesday evening. Gah… flying. I wonder what the chances are my flight will be delayed, cancelled, rescheduled, or otherwise rendered incompetent. Of the five flights I’ve made to and from Austria, only one has actually gone according to the original plan. The worst was going home last Friday, where my flight from Klagenfurt to Vienne was delayed by an hour, which meant I missed the last connecting flight to Zurich. I managed to get on a flight to Basel, take a taxi from Basel airport to the train station (CHF40, halved with someone else) and take the train to Olten. On the plus side my flight was upgraded to business class, and my seat number was A1. Of course by the time I got to Olten it was past midnight and there were no more trains to Murgenthal (my stop), so Claudia came to my rescue and met me in Olten. And it was Emil’s birthday. Thanks Austrian Airlines!

I’ve had a touch of a cold or something since Friday, but it hasn’t slowed me down much. You can’t keep a good man down, as they say. And you can’t keep me down either. Nonetheless I’m quietly spending my Sunday reading Dilbert, watching a German overdubbing of Angels in the Outfield, and updating the blog. Was a really nice day so I went to the Zentrum for lunch and took some pictures.

Yesterday I went walking on the Slovenian border with some guys from work. Actually we parked on the Austrian side, showed our passports to the dude in the checkpoint, and walked up the valley on the Slovenian side. The border is just a 3-foot with a stick-figure sign saying you shouldn’t jump over it. Some rules just beg to be broken. There was a duty free shop too (the border actually runs through the shop), but Austrians and Slovenians aren’t allowed to buy from it, unless someone with a foreign passport buys it for them. Not that I did or anything.
From next Monday I will work in Zurich on a real project. A colleague here at work says he knows someone in Zurich who has a room for rent. I’m quite happy staying in Fulenbach for the moment, but the 90min transit to work and back might change that. I’ll try commuting for the first week and see what happens. I’m looking forward to having a regular lifestyle.

Phew! My first week at work has gone swiftly and remarkably painlessly. What can I say? Austrians speak a funny version of German, which is actually better understood by the Swiss than the Germans. The country is similar to Switzerland in many ways, though they don't eat as much cheese, and have dark beer.

Sunday 01/10:
Posted off my application form for my General Abonument (GA, pronounced gee-haa), which is a pass that will allow me to travel the entire Swiss trains, bus, boat, tram and gondola network for free (or in some cases a reduced fare).
Took the train to Zurich and stayed with my cousin Andrea and her husband Marcell who had kindly agreed to put me up for the night. Thanks guys.

Monday 02/10:
Woke at 5am, showered, had breakfast, and Marcell drove me to the Zurich airport at 6am. This gave me sufficent time to catch my 8am flight, as the earliest train would have arrived at 7:15am, and I didn't want to even consider the posibility of missing the plane on my first day at work.
I borded the plane with no major problems. My surname had been misspelled, but the check-in chick said it would only be a problem if I were travelling to the US. Flew to Vienne, then on to Klagenfurt arriving at 11:10am where my boss Kurt met me there. We drove to my hotel, checked in, and then on to the office. I met the few people who were actually there (seems everyone was away on various business that week), was introduced to my laptop for the time being, and spent the day installing stuff and tinkering with the laptop. By the time 6pm rolled around, I was literally struggling to keep my eyes open. I went to my hotel, drank my first dark beer in four months, ate, and hit the hay.
The hotel is a middle-range hotel with all the necessities and none of the frills. The staff are friendly, I was well fed, and the room was comfortable enough so I can't complain. Given the chance, however, I would suggest to the broadcasting authorities to put on more English shows. Channel 22 was CNN, and channel 27 was German MTV. CNN was stuck on repeat, and as for MTV, watching 'date my mom' quickly lost its charm, which was followed by the gay version of 'date my mom'... I stopped there.

Tuesday 03/10 - Wednesday 04/10:
Spent two days reading technical documentation on the system I will be working with. User manual for entre and technical docs for the main course. API javadoc was for desert but I was full and only picked at it. With all the @enterprise experts out of the office (that's the name of the system I'm working with) I had little else to do.
Back at the batcave... our hero makes a shocking discovery. Swiss power plugs have three prongs, but Austrian power sockets have only two holes, and the home-made New Zealand/Swiss power adapter won't fit any of the ten sockets (I counted) in his room! What will he do??? Without a second's hesitation, using his watch wrist band as a screwdriver, he opens the converter and removes the middle prong. Voilla! Yes, I was pleased with myself, and as a bonus I even got to recharge my cellphone and electric toothbrush.

Thursday 05/10:
Started to get my (clean) teeth into Java which I will admit, was kind of nostalgic. Tinkered mostly. Got stuck on a problem that I'd need to ask someone about, but someone wasn't there, so I went home early.
Went for a stroll into the Zentrum (city centre). Was around a 20-30min walk, and was a nice evening. I would say that Klagenfurt has many similarities to Christchurch, NZ. It has a hospital, an airport, and a university within the city limits. A river runs through Klagenfurt and next to the university (it's bigger and deeper than the Avon though). At the centre of Klagenfurt is a square with a statue and market stalls. Although it's not in the square, there is also a large church. To my amusement I noticed a brothel operating opposite from the church, and pondered breifly to myself the order in which patrons visit the two establishments (sinning, and then repenting, or vice versa). I stopped by nearby bar for a beer (not the brothel), and then tasked myself with the difficulty of getting home again.
Finding my way into town was easy - just walk towards the church spire. At the uni I asked some people which way to the Zentrum and was told to go "Uber der brucke, links, und immer gerade aus" (over the bridge, left, and then keep going). Getting home, however, was slightly more difficult. Yes, I have to walk away from the spires, but in which direction, and I can't exactly ask the way to my hotel now can I? So how to get home? Easy. It's a ranger class-skill called intuit direction. Obviously. I take a bearing of what I sense to be north, and away I go. After ten minutes walking having still not recognised anything I make an executive decision and take a left turn, which leads me to the Hospital. Twenty minutes after cutting through the hospital in search of a backtrack (or a taxi by this stage) I find Feldkirkner Strasse (which I wrote down on my way in). I momentarily revel in my victory over maps, taxis and other common sense approaches, and head for my hotel with a healthy appetite.

Friday 06/10:
Check out at 7:30am. Head to work, and pass the day on the mini-project I've been toying with. At 5pm Kurt drops me to the airport. The flight is delayed, and my connecting flight is brought forward by half an hour, which means that my flight to Zurich boards at one end fo the airport as I land at the other. Fantastic. Well at least I wasn't the only one running to the terminal.
Land in Zurich, take the train to Murgenthal, walk home to Fulenbach, and get home just on midnight. Find my clothes washed and my bed made. Thanks Sonya. :)

So, that was my eventful week. Tomorrow (Sunday) I'll go to Roger's birthday party, and then on Monday morning I get to repeat it all again. Chances are I'll be spending most of October in Klagenfurt... what a shame... :)

Yesterday Emil and I returned from a trip to the mountains in Wallace. It's been a fantastic weekend, complete with tunnels, mountains, remote hotels, drinking and cheese... oh the cheese. This weekend has shown me what it truly means to be Swiss, and I hope to share this insight with you. Lend me your ears (well, your eyes really), and I'll tell you.

We packed on Friday night and left early on Saturday morning. I had foolishly agreed to spend time with some friends on Friday afternoon, which ended up being Friday night, and I caught all of five hours sleep. I managed to rise at 6am, but slept through most of the drive to Kandersteg, and also slept through the railway tunnel through the mountains to Goppenstein. The railway tunnel is a good example of Swiss engineering. You drive aboard a train on one side of the mountain, and after a 15min transit through the mountain you disembark on the other side. If you wish (or if you board the wrong train) you can continue all the way to Italy.

We drove on to Brig at which point we turned into a small valley and parked the car at a quaint mountain village. Quaint, I believe, being the perfect adjective for describing this village. It was so... Swiss. Many of the houses are log cabins (see above-right photo) with stone tiled roofs which have been raised above the ground on stilts. Even the more contemporary looking houses sport a similar feel, flowers bloom from window sills and balconies without exception. The second photo I took (adjacent) was from higher up, and shows how the quaintness of the village is mirrored by the land it is nestled in.

My idea of a trip to the mountains involves several days hard walking, crude accommodation (a bunk if you're lucky), and trail rations. My illusions were dispelled when I learned that I would not be requiring my sleeping bag, and that my day pack was big enough to carry everything we would need. We brought sandwiches and bottled water, stayed in a (surprisingly flash) hotel, and ate in the restaurant. In fact, the only reason we walked there is because we chose to. We could have just taken the gondola. Despite being superfluous, the walk made for some good views of the glacier, and I earned some blisters so was happy.

At the top of the steep climb the terrain leveled out to rolling grassy slopes, a small station, and the hotel (here on the map). We quaffed liquid refreshments, checked in, and went for an explore around the settlement. Emil has been here several times in the past, and knows several of the locals. A few hundred metres from the hotel along a dirt track is a Kiosk (basically a dairy). It supplies chocolates, ice creams, beverages, locally made alpine cheeses, and other various sundries. There is a bench and some sun umbrellas, and it serves as a social meeting ground for locals and tourists alike. This particular Kiosk also provided a platter consisting of cheese (Höbel or Alp), pickles, salami and a dark, heavy bread. Emil knew the woman running the Kiosk from a previous visit, and we stopped for a good part of the afternoon busily converting several cheese platters into methane (really, Höbelkase plays hell with my guts, and I definately wasn't alone), and drinking several bottles of red wine (around a litre each). One of the locals, stumbled by (yes, he was already drunk when he arrived), stopped to drink with us and introduced himself as Ivan (the terrible). And it was from Ivan that I first experienced a true Walliser dialect. Now, my Swiss German isn't that bad, and I can hold a rough conversation or at least understand what is being said, but not with Ivan. He had a rich, deep voice that seemed to eminate from his throat, and when he spoke his words sort of ran into each other in a head-on fashion killing all occupants. That, mingled with a drunken slur, and you end up with a very one-sided conversation. Emil seemed to manage okay, but I got the distinct impression he was concentrating.
Eventually the sun began to sink and Ivan had to depart, so we stumbled with him to the Gondola (stopping at the pub for a beer), visited some other friends of Emil's, drank some more wine (by which point exhaustion, hunger, sunburn and wine had worked together to convert the world I knew into one gigantic carousel), and then stumbled back to the hotel. I crashed and burned, sleeping for an hour or two before waking, still drunk, for dinner. The meal was great, though I felt a little out of place being the only person wearing tramping clothes and boots (Emil had brought good clothes and two extra pairs of shoes). I slept lightly, but well enough, and woke the next morning to the sounds of bells tinkling as a heard of goats grazed on the meadow below (evidently, they were wearing the bells). We ate a breakfast of fruits, muesli, cereal, breads, crossoints, cheeses, meats, and boiled eggs, and checked out.

We headed along a track leading up the mountain to the nearest peak, and the journey took maybe two hours or so. There was lots of fog and high cloud obscuring the view, but it was great when it cleared. We took some photos, had lunch, and headed back down to the Kiosk where we ate some more cheese, drank only one (500ml) bottle of wine, and bought two kilos of cheese to take home. We took an alternate route to the carpark, and I drove back the way we came to Fulenbach.

In other news, work starts next Monday. Flights have been arranged for me to go to Austria for the next two weeks (returning for the weekends). Very exciting.

Also, tonight I went to look at the Kung-fu club in Olten, and was... disappointed. It seems that the training I did at Chans in NZ has completely biased my opinion of what a martial art should be. What I saw was really glorified fitness training. When I arrived they were skipping (with skipping ropes) to music, and when I left they were... skipping to music. They did do some shadow boxing (to music), but I saw no technique in it. I may be wrong, but I doubt that anyone there knew how to correctly execute a palm strike (emphasis on correctly). However what they lacked (as I saw it) in technique and execution, they made up for in speed and vigour, and there's no doubt that they were fit.

I've made some additions to the blog template. I've added a link to a map of Fulenbach (centered on my house), and a calendar so people can see what I'm up to. (I have a haircut tomorrow... exciting, huh?) I also added some google ads just for shits and giggles. I don't expect to earn anything, but as a set of links that update themselves, it's interesting.

Well, that's been an unusually long dribble from me. I'll write more when I'm able and have more to write about.

Well, I've found work. It was there, and I found it. Real work. IT work. Work that is actually worth getting up in the morning for (well, time will tell, but I'm confident). Details? Well, it's an entry-level Java Programming position based in Zurich for a relatively small firm who takes on contracts for various bidders. My first project will be for UBS (holy crap!), one of Switzerland's major banks. I start on October the 1st, so I have a little free time.
Anyhow, that's my big excitement for the moment, and an update is long overdue so I have a number of other interesting happenings that I ought to share.

Lets see... Oh yes, we went to a gig by a group named Strawberry Jam in the neighbouring town Neuendorf. We (Emil, Sonya, Claudia and myself) bustled in and occupied a table towards the the back of the tent/marquee that had been built. For CHF20 (approx. NZ$25) we got a drink, a meal, and a show, and what a show it was. They played blues/rock covers from popular English titles, and were convincing enough to have the crowd dancing on benches, tables, and other elevated surfaces. Some people (ie. Sonya) even swung from fixtures on the tent wall. Yes, we had a very good time, got very drunk, and stayed very late, and since Emil and Sonya had gone home at the reasonable hour of 1-2am, we walked home through the forest around 5-6am. Fortunately I (okay, we) found the way, although Claudia was bitterly objectionable about my walking pace. I don't see what the problem was. We got there in 40 mins instead of what... sleeping under a tree?

Roleplaying. Our long awaited roleplaying chapter has finally been concluded. Basically, our party went bad, resistance was futile, and those on the side of righteousness were too surprised and disorganised to do anything constructive. The result? Slaughter, flight, and the prevailence of darkness. The moral? Evil wins every time. How galling.
On an associated note, I have completed the journal from our adventure into Hell. At 16 pages, it's pretty decent. It's also one reason why I haven't been updating my blog regularly. If I manage to get it uploaded anywhere I'll link to the PDF from this post, as it's not really relevant to post in this blog.

I've spotted a Kung-Fu/Thai Kickboxing outfit in Olten, which I might check out if I have time, though my first impression is that it'll be pretty rough-and-tumble sort of stuff. It's not that I don't enjoy a bit of healthy violence, it's just that I have a history for damaging myself in the name of good harmful fun.

The Chilbi is a fair that moves from town to town, and it came to Fulenbach a few weeks back. The town shuts down the main street, and people clamber out of their holes to have a bit of a social evening (although the term 'social evening' for me seems to entail getting rediculously drunk, and stumbled home at 6am). So I'm wandering around at the Fulenbach Chilbi and keeping an eye out for Emil, Sonya and co. whom I'd lost, and as I'm standing by the dodgem cars listening to the music they're playing, the music changes to something... distantly familiar. Listening more carefully now, the bass beat is very distinct. Boom boom-boom boom boom... It brings me back to my gaming days, and reminds me oddly enough of FCC, and then I recognise the song and almost fall over laughing. Why? Because here I am in a quaint country swiss village, waiting by the children's entertainment, and they are playing 'I wanna f*ck you in the ass' by the Outhere Brothers. Now normally that is funny enough, but then something even funnier happens: nothing. Complete normality ensues. The children play, the adults watch, and the elderly chitchat. In fact, the only cause for concern was some foreigner cracking up for no apparent reason (me). You'd think that lyrics that read 'I can't wait to get you home 'cos I'm gonna make you moan' would cause a stir in a small catholic town, but then, people would first have to understand them first, wouldn't they? The song had been remixed, and the lyrics were so muddy that even during the chorus (which is repitition of the song title) I had to strain my ears to confirm what I thought I was actually hearing. Thus, even the English speakers in the town didn't pick up what was being played to their children. One thing I would dearly have liked to know, is did the DJ actually know what he was playing? Was it a cruel joke, or an ignorant blunder?

No photos for this post (though photos from the Strawberry Jam gig can be found here) as I haven't taken any, but now that I've found a way I've been uploading pics into my previous posts.

Today is a cantonal (provincial) holiday in Solothurn, so have the time to write a quick update. What am I saying? I always have the time, but today I can be bothered. As many holidays are, today’s holiday was inspired by Catholicism. Canton Solothurn is officially Catholic so we celebrate it, however the neighbouring town Murgenthal (walking distance) is across the border and part of the neighbouring canton which is not Catholic, so they get to work today. That’ll teach ‘em.

In other news, I went to the Street Parade in Zurich in the weekend just gone. It was definitely an eye-opener. I am now determined to find some alternative webspace to load pictures, as I feel that some things simply cannot be explained in words. I didn’t stay very long though, and was home by 8pm. I think I can pretty accurately imagine what it would be like with 800,000 ravers in the rain after dark, and didn’t feel so compelled to experience it.
[ed. 22/09/2006: There are photos and video feeds available from the official Street Parade 2006 website. I may also at some stage add a selection of the photos I took.]


I’ve started back at the MigrosSchule learning German now that the summer holidays are over. There are some new faces, and a few less old ones.

Good news on the roleplaying front… I’ve got a American contact in Lucern who’s apparently experienced. See what happens.
[ed. 18/09/2006: I received this automated email from www.meetup.com which I found humorous enough to warrant sharing. See if you can spot the flaw in their mail program...]

Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 4:28 PM
Subject: You're signed up for Dungeons & Dragons Meetup Alerts!
> As soon as someone starts holding Dungeons & Dragons Meetups
> near you we'll alert you through email.
>
> Don't want to wait for someone else to start holding Meetups?
> Start a Dungeons & Dragons Meetup Group yourself! It's fun,
> affordable and satisfying -- and the 0 other D&D Players nearby
> would probably love to join the group. Click the link below to
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> http://dnd.meetup.com/create/?ic=en13
>
> Not interested? Meetup's not just for Dungeons & Dragons. Check
> out the other Meetups in and around Bern:
> http://www.meetup.com/cities/ch/bern/
>
> All the best,
>
> The team at Meetup.com

First, my apologies for anyone who has been paying attention to this blog. I have had plenty of chances to write more, but I’ve been lacking the motivation to sit down and write about things I’ve already experienced. Blogging is like being force-fed deja-vu. (History in comparison is interesting, because I wasn’t around to experience it.) Also I have had some difficulty uploading images to the blog, which vexes me greatly and has given me further reason to boycott blogging. In fact, the reason I’ve managed to find the time now to write a little (other than the constant encouragement from folks back home), is that it’s raining, it’s Sunday, and I’m a touch unwell (just a mild cold or somesuch) so I’m staying home. I think that if I ever write a book, it would definately have a beginning.
[ed 09/09/2006: To my relief and your anticipation I have finally figured out a dodgy workaround for uploading pictures, and have added these pictures in retrospectively. Please bear this in mind as you read my bitter complaints about not being able to upload pictures, as they were relevant at the time, even though there are pictures now.]
SO, what’s happened since last time? Hrrm… heaps of stuff. Lets see. Went traveling around Switzerland with Max for three weeks, which was great. Got all the obligatory stuff out of the way, such as the compulsory health insurance (krankekasse), registering with the local council (gemaindecouncil), telling the military I’m here so they can draft me (sextionchef)… you know the usual stuff. Anyways, with Max’s help, by the time he returned to NZ I was pretty much set up (or at least, I wouldn’t be deported).
What else? Oh yes, Grosvater’s 90th birthday party. That was great. I have HEAPS of photos to show you all but… oh, yeah. I can’t upload them. Woo-friggedy-hoo. The party was great. I had no idea I had so many relatives all over the place. It’s kind of a strange concept. Later on I brought down my guitar (actually it’s Grosmoiti’s guitar which I’d restrung with strings given to me by Paul and Mike – thanks guys – which are now broken – sorry guys) and kicked some tunes. My cousins Karin and Nicole were my groupies, and the Asshole song went off, though I’m not sure how Karin took to being told to shut up and sing the song, Pal.
Job searching has been as productive as… well, something very unproductive. I got a job interview in Zurich a while back with an IT personnel company, but nothing has come of it. On Friday I registered with a temping agency, which if anything will get me some nice labouring job in a recycling plant. When I can I help my uncle Emil or his son (my cousin) Roger with schreinerei (woodworking) work, or else I’ve just been doing lots of firewood. Judging by the quantity of firewood we are storing, I had not previously expected the winter to be as cold as I now think it will be.
I’ve been to a few fests (festivals) and parties around the place. It’s ridiculous – there’s almost a fest every fortnight in at least one of the neighboring dorfs (villages). All I can say is that Paul was right. The fests are amazing, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like it in NZ without Swiss influence. You need: 1 marquee, several rows of tables and benches, possibly a stage if you have live music, a kitchen/bar, and several wandering waiting staff. Voila! People meander in and sit down (it doesn’t matter with whom), order something to eat or drink, and the night unfolds. It’s very social, and it’s great. Every now and then a large town holds a fest. I went to one in Biel a month back, and will go next weekend to a street party in Zurich. They’re different than the small town fests. They close down a portion of the town, and people come and set up stalls all along the roadside. It’s very interesting to wander around and have a look at the wares, but you really need to be with friends (fortunately, I was in excellent company).
I’ve done an overnight walk in the Berner Oberland with a friend Matthais that Max and I made while walking in Kandersteg. Again I have lots of photos, but if you want to see them you need to send abusive mail to admin@blogspot.com.
[ed 10/09/2006: I have rescaled and uploaded some of the images I took from the trip which begs more explanation, so I have included the next paragraph.]
We drove into the Berner Oberland (mountains around Bern) to the Grimselsee (Lake Grimsel). It's an artifical lake that forms part of a series of hydro dams in the valley, but is relatively quite high up and makes for good walking. We skirted around the true left side of the lake (the left side if you are heading downstream, which was our right) and walked accross the sandy plains before the glacier. We followed a well marked path onto the glacier (no ice, just rock so no crampons or ice axe required) and up a very steep moraine wall to the hut where we stopped for a bit. We watched a family of mountain goats licking a large (I would presume salty) boulder, asked the hut warden about crossing the glacier (which was apparently not wise) and headed down again to make camp on a quaint spot near the glacial river. Next morning we packed up and taking the warden's advice, headed back the way we came to the parked car. I was extremely tired, and fell asleep in the car. We stopped for a quick dip in a lake (I forget which) and headed home. Great trip.
I’ve done a quick search for Kung-Fu clubs, and found one maybe in Zurich, but it’s very traditional (I’m talking tiger claw, knife-strikes-bamboo kind of stuff), and… it’s in Zurich.
I’ve also been trying to find some roleplayers here in Switzerland, but being an English system DnD is not so popular here. I’ve spotted a few folks in Austria and Germany however but no dice yet, so to speak.
I think that’s about it for the moment. If I think of anything else I need to say, I’ll write it in my next post… whenever that is, if I remember it. Yeah.

Hokies everybody – take care and flick me a mail if you want to get in touch.

-Marco out.