Switz Bitz 3

Switzerland is an amazing country, but it still doesn't quite feel like home.  A recent trip back to the States reminded me what I missed most about being in America.

1) Family and Friends.

Working from home certainly has its advantages (case in point: traveling to the States without taking time off), but it also means it's hard to get out and meet people.  Meeting people here takes effort.  From what I've heard, (and according to my book on culture in Switzerland) the Swiss are slow to warm up and make friends, especially with foreigners.  They are reserved and don't go out of their way to introduce themselves when they meet someone new.  It takes them a long time to build meaningful relationships.  In fact, they tend to keep to themselves so much that it's said that "Even the Swiss don't like being friends with the Swiss"!  During my visits, I had the opportunity to see friends from all over.

Friends from near and far...sometimes very far!

Three beautiful weddings this summer!  So glad I could be there!

LOVE!

2) Incidental Conversations  (Not sure what to call this...)

Those pleasantries with the grocery clerk, comments about the weather with the bank teller, the simple "How are you today?" from the security guard...those don't happen in Switzerland.  Prior to moving to here, it never would have occurred to me that I would miss those things.  The Swiss are friendly, but not in the warm, open way that Americans are.  Swiss tend to err on the side of business-like efficiency.  In America, it was my habit to greet most people, from the coffee shop barrista, to the front desk attendant at the gym, with a "Hi. How are you?"  When I tried the same line for the first time at the train station ticket office, I could tell that my greeting took the clerk by surprise and answering made her uncomfortable.  I quickly learned to remove such greetings from my social script.  These seconds-long side conversations were always part of my life in the States, albeit a part that I never paid much attention to.  As soon as they were absent, I realized how, in a small way, they brightened my day.   

Good ol' visitor's center of Dixon, IL.  I cleaned up on brochures and soaked up small town America.

3) Sweet Potatoes, Peanut Butter, Greens and Sweet Corn

Despite spending a year in North Carolina, I'm far from a Southern girl, but this list sure makes it look like it.  These very American foods are not popular in Switzerland.  Sweet potatoes are the only food in the produce section of our Migros sourced from the US and it shows in the price: over 6 CHF per kg.  Compare this with any variety of white potato for around 3 CHF or less. 

Imposter!

Ah, peanut butter how you have sustained me through the years as my lunchtime companion.  Alas, no more.  The peanut butter here is sadly lacking in flavor and concocted with tropical oils and sugar.  In short, it is not the peanut butter I know and love in the States.  48oz of Trader Joe's PB made the transatlantic flight back to Switzerland with me a few weeks ago.  It will be carefully rationed over the coming months.  

Salads: yes.  Sweet corn: no.  (Reminds me of a Nasco food model!)

While salad greens are very popular in Switzerland, cooking greens such as collards, kale and (ironically) swiss chard are not.  I have yet to see cooking greens sold in our grocery store or farmers' markets.  Unlike cooking greens, sweet corn is available, just ridiculously expensive.  The price at Migros this afternoon: 5.35 CHF for 4 ears.  In short, don't take your CSA box's overabundance of mustard greens and wormy organic corn for granted!  Enjoy, friends!

-Swiss Ms

The Farmer's Market in Oerlikon

Before I begin this post, I want to congratulate Crunluath, for successfully identifying the piece the accordion player was performing in our previous post [It was Vivaldi's Four Seasons (Winter)].  As a reward, Crunluath received a delicious bag of Basler Läckerli.  En guete!  (Enjoy!)

I would also like to apologize for the infrequency of our posts.  It has been over a month since I last posted.  The Swiss Ms. and I have been extremely busy, travelling all over the States (for work and for fun) and we have a huge backlog of posts to upload.  So, stay tuned, loyal readers.  Much to come!

One of things we are very grateful for is that almost everyone here speaks at least some English.  A simple "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" and we typically receive the shy response, "A little bit."  The conversation that follows is nearly flawless English.  I'd be pretty happy if I also spoke a "little bit" of German.  

Incidentally, we have also found that people are a little bit friendlier to us if we begin with "Grüezi" (a common Swiss-German formal greeting, which is short form of "Gott grüsse Euch", which is "God greets you").  We've found that attempting a little Deutsch (as bad as it is) goes a long way.  We are in Switzerland, after all, and we should respect that English is not one of the four officially recognized languages (the four are German, French, Italian and Rumantsch).

Despite the prevalence of English, we still get slightly anxious about approaching people here and it has taken us some time to build enough courage to interact with the Swiss.  We decided to face our fears on a trip to Oerlikon, a district in the northern part of Zurich, and home to one of the city's biggest farmers markets.  

Oerlikon is a very large station, with several major trains, buses and tram lines stopping there. 

Oerlikon Farmers' Market: The thing to do on a Saturday morning.

Who wouldn't want to be here?  Look at that delectable spread! 

Our apartment-mate had requested we buy him some apple cider at the farmers' market.  Therefore, we first set out to accomplish the task at hand.

The sign translated to, "Wehntaler's Sweet Cider, freshly pressed."  If you bring your own 1.5L bottle, it's 2 francs, and if you need to buy a bottle, it's only 2.50 francs.  What a deal!

Since we got one for Kevin and one for ourselves, we both got a chance to dispense our own fresh cider!

Emboldened by our apple cider purchase and the beautiful sunny weather, we decided to buy food for an impromptu picnic in the city. 

The Swiss Ms. bravely buying some fresh bread and knuss gipfel (a Swiss hazelnut croissant)

Adding some apples and getrocknete tomaten (dried tomatoes).  Didn't know these would be salted and dried.

What meal would be complete without cheese?  We bought the Splüga (a cheese from the Splüga region, which is in Southeast of Switzerland) and Formaggio Valle Verzasca (a cheese from Valle Verzasca, a valley in the Canton of Ticino, Switzerland).  The Splüga was a soft, mild cheese, while the Valle Verzasca was a hard, more pungent cheese.

With our bounty in hand, we took the tram easily down to Bellevue Platz, a large central square in the heart of Zurich.  We headed over by Lake Zurich to chow down on our spoils.

Look at that feast!

To top it off, we visited Café Bar Odeon for some coffee and drinks.

Nothing like a cup of milchkafee (milk coffee) after a picnic!

I decided to go for a mint julep!

The warm, sunny weather beckoned us to explore, so we strolled around the city, going up and down Niederdorf (known as Zurich Lower Village), Bahnhofstrasse (Zurich's main downtown street), and Lindendorf.

A stunning view of the city from Lindenhof, a park in the old town of Zurich on Lindendorf hill, overlooking the Limmat River.  The hill gets its name from the tilias (lime tree or Linden tree).

One of the many drinking fountains placed all over Zurich.

A view of the Grossmünster (a Romanesque-style Protestant church).  You can climb up the tower and get really great pictures (in a future post!).  Note the Swiss Alps in the background.

Thanks for reading!

-Herr Cervelat