10 ways our life has changed :)

1. No cell phones
2. No fast food
3. No riding in cars- only public transportation (trams/trains) = No gas stations
4. Hang dried only clothes
5. Slice our own fresh bread
6. VERY few preservatives in food and drink
7. No job (just me)
8. No air conditioning anywhere - Have to air out the apartment everyday
9. No microwave for leftovers or defrosting or popcorn
10. Google Translate has become our best friend especially for mail (Now if it could only do voices...)

Out of all of this, I think the only thing that really bothers me (besides not having a job) is the hang dried clothes.  Since we have to hang them in the apartment (because it is so cold outside), it gets very humid and the clothes do not feel nice and stay stretched out.  But everything else has been very easy to get along with and I actually almost enjoy it.  I feel like we eat healthier and I love the trams.  The no microwave thing is slowly teaching me exactly how much to cook for one dinner and I dont even notice not having air conditioning (but I'll have to get back on that in the summertime).  :)

On another note, I follow this expat forum for Switzerland which has a lot of good info and opinions IN ENGLISH!  :)  I look there for jobs too but since we are moving into our apartment soon I've been looking at the 'for sale' stuff.  Yesterday, I saw an ad for a coffee maker.  Now I know this is not a necessity and I dont use it but I have been noticing how much Paul has been longing for one- especially since the coffee here is so expensive and more like expresso.  So I took off near the end of the day and got home 7 min before Paul with the Cuisinart Grind and Brew Plus in tow.  Coffee beans are a lot more prevalent here than pre-ground and this does both, can be programmed for a specific time and strength, and is only about a year old and I got it for Fr. 90.  The prefect birthday present.  But I knew saving the secret would be hard to keep especially since we are moving before then.  Long story short, he had been looking on the same forum and saw where I had commented about how I was interested in it.  So the surprise was more that it was already here and he was surprised.  I love giving surprises and his happiness made me happy.  Here is his present:

1 month in Schweiz Anniversary

What to say...  I dont particularly like repeating the same topics over and over but I feel like that's all we have to talk about right now.

Friday we decided to take a look at wines.  At the grocery there is a HUGE section (bigger than the meat section) of wine.  So I found a Rose wine that was on sale for less than Fr. 4!  It was pretty delicious too and while I enjoyed that Paul was enjoying his 'fine' wine for less than Fr. 2... His was definitely not great but drinkable.  Saturday we took a trip to Brockenhaus- a vintage (almost antique) second hand shop.  It was 3 stories and had everything you could possibly imagine.  We were mainly looking at their furniture but when I found the books section I was sooooo excited.  I brought one book with me and loved it so much when I started it that it was finished within the 2nd week.  So I've been wanting a book really bad to fill up some of my free time after job searching exhausts me.  And I found 2 ENGLISH novels that are fairly popular and Im so excited!  I also found some knitting needles that I will need to finish my scarf VERY soon. :)  That was interesting to buy because the lady was trying to tell me I had to buy 2 for Fr. 1 but I had no idea what she was saying.  So once again the blank stare emerged (mainly because they start talking SO fast) and after a min or so Paul figured it out for me.  He's so amazing!  Then before heading home we had to renew our tram passes and since it was so beautiful out I got Paul to help me do a mini photo shoot (as much as he would allow).  We also picked up some Rivella to try (soda made from whey- the liquid left from curdling milk)- did NOT beat coke.  These are some of the pictures:

That night we made our way to a housewarming party.  So much fun to be able to hang out with people- American and Swiss.  We watched the olympics (of course the winter olympics are very big over here).  Sunday I got fed up with living in a pig sty.  So we cleaned lots and then I gave in to Paul's begging to climb Uetliberg.  But as soon as we got on the tram, the driver dude came over the speaker and said a lot more than he usually does but too fast for us to figure out and immediately people started grumbling and herding off!  We were very perplexed but realized something was wrong with the tram or electric line and we had to walk to the next stop to get on another.  While waiting (only a few minutes) an old lady tried to talk to Paul but again- blank stare and 'Ich verstehe nur ein bisschen Deutsch' - I understand only a little German.  We can't wait til we can actually talk!  But eventually we made it.  The climb is always very tiresome especially since I have to almost run to keep up but after getting to the top it was soooo worth it.  It was incredibly clear and the view was 10 times better than the last time.  I even took a panorama (before clinging to the rail to keep from sliding down the ice stairs)- check out the pics:

So our life is slowly coming together here.  Next Monday we will get the keys to our apartment (as soon as we pay the deposit and first months rent- almost Fr. 6'000!!) and we will slowly bring our boxes over and sometime during the next month buy a few pieces of furniture.  Once I get a job we'll definitely make it more homely.  We will be so happy to stop living out of boxes and suitcases and be able to use our own things!  And still no word on permits or a job... still waiting and praying.  :)

EXPERTS ONLY- in the Alps

So, we're back from the Alps!!  Everything was so beautiful but the skiing was terrifying... for me at least.  Paul really enjoyed it but I was scared out of my mind.  Everyone (including 3 year olds) are expert skiiers and the bunny slope was EXTREME.  But our friends thought me and another girl (she had only skiied once before) could handle going to the top but as soon as we got there we knew it was a mistake.  So we looked over the 'cliff' and said 'yeah, right.'  Somehow, 2 hours later, we finished the 15 min run and I was dripping with sweat with extremely tense muscles.  One of our friends (a postdoc in Paul's group) had found us right as we were beginning.  She is an expert and used to teach kids.  So she coached us the whole way.  Needless to say, I never went back to try it again.  We stayed on the extreme bunny slope for the rest of the weekend and improved as much as we could.  At one point, we waited at the top of the slope for the fog to clear and sat there so long that the old Swiss guy manning the hut started talking with us.  However, he was talking Swiss German and I had already given many blank stares when they would try to help us get on the t-bar lift (basically a bar that sits right under your butt and pulls you on your skiis up to the top- not easy to get at first).  But the other girl, Rachel, knew some German so she would pick out words she knew and try to draw on that.  She did a really good job and he was our friend for the rest of the day.  There were a lot of "Es tut mir leid"s (Im sorry) from us in the conversation and he would tell us "Viel Glück!" (good luck) as we took off- slowly of course.  :)  The whole time, Paul looked like he had been skiing all his life.  But we all had a great time and 10 of us slept in 2 bunks- basically 5 mattresses pushed together for the top and bottom- very interesting.  They served us a 4 course dinner (soup, salad, beef, rice, veggies, and pudding) and had a great breakfast in the morning complete with Nutella. :)  The train rides were so much fun and now I am so incredibly sore.  Here are a few pictures:

For other news, we got the apartment!  The family that is moving out checked on it for us and they were hesitant to give it to us because of our income but he told them that he had been approved with the same income and I was looking for a job and so they gave in.  We havent received the contract yet though and they called Paul to say they are redoing the bathroom before we move in so the rent will be higher.  I'm excited for the bathroom but now I really need to find a job.  We found out that some way or another ETH will make sure I get a B permit- it may be this week or it may be in a couple months.  So Ive been back to job searching but I've run out of places to apply and am already receiving rejections.  But I'm still searching and still playing the waiting game...

Other than that, things are back to 'normal.'  You can go here to check out more pictures of the Alps:  http://picasaweb.google.com/erickson.jes/Switzerland02  Oh, and Paul got me yummy Lindt truffles and these beautiful tulips Friday night for Valentines Day:

Reality- Things can't always be perfect :)

Where to begin?  Paul says things were going too good to be true because Monday we received our permits... only to find out they are the wrong permits.  Everyone in the group has gotten B permits.  These are more for long stays (over 1 year), employers like them more, apartments are easier to get, etc. etc.  We, unfortunately, got L pemits which usually only get renewed for a max of 2 or so years... not really long enough for us.  Employers hate these as well as apartment landlords.  So we were not happy.  Paul tried to find help but no one seemed willing to dig deep.  So yesterday we went to Kreisburo (where we registered when we arrived) and they sent us to the Migrationsamt who told us that ETH must have filled out the paperwork wrong (4 months ago).  So we went back to ETH and found a piece that was most likely wrong and today Paul got someone to help fix it.  So now we will see where this leads and hopefully will be corrected soon.  Needless to say, this week started off very rough for me because this permit is the basis of me being able to find a job.  A B permit is my only saving grace right now and I need to know I can tell employers that that is actually what I have.  So I have to succumb to waiting... trying to wait patiently and find something to pass the time.

But we did get our boxes last week!  I love having my boots back for the snow and just hope that we get that apartment so we can start moving in and unloading the boxes.  **Fingers still crossed**

Last weekend we were planning on going out of our canton to hike around some trails but the weather was not ideal so we stayed around.  So on Saturday we went walking around downtown again.  Except this time we stumbled into a huge church where we realized a lot of tourists were!  Our first touristy thing.  :)  You could pay SFr. 4 to go up to the top of the tower but that day it was pointless since it was so dreary.  This church was beautiful and the door to go in had all sorts of biblical scenes carved all over it:

 Afterwards we got lost in the alleys and window shopped and found this: (a burnt match as a barrette)

Before going home, we treated ourselves to a meal we have seen everywhere- a bratwurst and bread.  Not too bad for the price and the bratwurst was more of a white sausage than what Im used to.  I liked it more:

Sunday we went to a bird sanctuary around the river.  Very pretty exotic birds that just stared right back at you:

Then we took the tram to the edge of our canton and picked up some beautiful hiking trails.  This one had a small amount of incline which is perfect for me and it was just warm enough to enjoy the snow.  Beautiful:

Oh, and this was our new find at the grocery this weekend.  Instant cappuccino and McDonalds ketchup- who knew their ketchup was different than Heinz?!  The cappuccinos were the closest thing I could come to hot chocolate and with a square of my chocolate they are pretty good (minus all the foam). :)

So now I'm just waiting... Soon hopefully I will be able to start applying to jobs again.  After a couple meltdowns I am a lot more optimistic and excited to be job searching.  This weekend we will be staying close to Elm, Switzerland on Saturday night for skiing in the Alps Sat and Sun.  As long as I come out alive it should be a really good time- little scared about the huge mountains.  Paul's really excited and I'm really looking forward to getting away and hanging out with people.  Oh, and today was the day our return flight left to go back to Tally... and we're not on it... so I guess we're staying!

The first oopsies :)

Paul came home yesterday to tell me this and we thought it was pretty funny.  Rachel, a fellow grad student of Paul's, decided to do her laundry last weekend.  She went to a laundromat (which I didn't know existed here) and started talking to this British guy.  While she was talking she noticed that her laundy was not like everyone else's- sudsy.  So she decided she must have not put enough in (very easy to do because none of the instructions are in English).  She added some and added some more and just concluded that her clothes smelled and looked clean so it was probably fine.  On the way home she realized she had never really tried to read front of the package carefully.  After doing such, she realized- 300 mL (almost a can of coke) for one load- later that it was actually fabric softener.  So funny!  Nice smelling and really soft clothes!  After the story and dinner is over, we both look to our 'detergent' sitting a couple feet away.  Noooooo way!  We would never do that! ;)  After 15 minutes and finally using google translator to translate the french and italian lines (because it had no idea what the german word was) we got "Softening balm."  Omg!  No wonder the instructions had feathers on fabric!!  So, yes.  Go us.  and Rachel.  Luckily it was on sale and was only SFr. 6 (which is cheap).  Today we decided to get the real thing and found dirty stains on the fabric in the instructions this time!  But I'm sure the warm water cleaned our clothes enough.  :)  Here is the infamous fabric softener:

Anyways, no great leads in my job searching.  Most jobs are outside of Zurich which turns into a 1.5-2 hour tram ride... not ideal.  And moving when we already found an apartment is not a great idea especially because #1- Competing with others is the norm and #2- the farther out of the city we go, the less English is spoken.  And we already encounter that at the grocery.  I talked with a recruiter today.  Usually in the states they are never any help to me but this one called me on my magicjack and helped me fix up my resume and found some really good fitting jobs for me.  Only problem is that the company is almost a 2hr tram ride.  Not sure what Im going to do but I figure I might as well apply and just go from there.  Who knows.  This is what my desk looks like: (killer on the neck and back)

So everyone's shipped stuff should be here Friday- fingers crossed!  I am soooooo excited for my boots!  Shoes, some clothes, and spices may be the only thing we can bring home so far but Im still super ready for that!  And next weekend is our ski trip to the Alps so luckily our ski clothes will be here just in time.  :) This is what I'll look like:

We finally found the milk we like to 'drink.'  When the percentage gets smaller, the milk starts tasting funnier...

And this is what our new cheap Friday night dinners are going to look like: (Believe it or not but these pizzas are delicious especially when doctored with some really yummy, cheap mozzerella.)  And it is exactly the same size as the oven!  :)

Apparently the lady that lives in our temp apartment loves plants in the house and so does everyone else around here.  Therefore we (Paul) have to take care of her plants.  This is an orchid he brought to life!  I don't dare touch the plants- they might grow some new disease and crumble under my touch.

And to end on a great note: At the grocery tonight, we found a 10 pack of thick, yummy, swiss milk chocolate bars for SFr. 9. Amazing deal! This will hopefully keep my spirits up while job searching. :)