Secure in Switzerland

Just over five years ago, I visited Switzerland for the first time on a trip with my cousin, Timo. One evening as we were setting up camp near the glacier we had just mountaineered on (read: walked around with crampons on, then Tim hauling my no-upper-body-strength-having-self out of a crevasse that I climbed into), we made some jokes about how the doors on the side of a nearby mountain might be the entrance to a secret military bunker/ research facility. It turns out that we might not have been that far off.

ASIDE: I never blogged about that trip. I came back to Raleigh from my semester in Ghana for summer school and just really wanted to get back out in the world again - some combination of wanderlust or just the daydreaming that Mechanics of Solids will drive you to or the excitement of watching Euro 2008 on the television, which had taken place partially in Switzerland, led me to crash the end of a much larger climbing trip Tim was on with one of his buddies. I was pretty sick the whole time (leftover parasites), but still had a fantastic time. Here are some photos:

Clockwise from top left: Swiss cheese bike, my first (maybe) bunker sighting, the wundercousin,
and hanging out on the mountain.

BACK TO THE POST TOPIC: My team was in Basel this past weekend for the first round of the Swiss national ultimate championships and the accommodation that was offered was in bunkers. When I first heard this, I was quite confused. We will sleep in a Bunker? Like during an air raid? Several of my teammates opted to get a hotel because they had previously had bad bunker sleeping experiences, with offensive smells, humidity and noise.

I did not have any issues with the bunker-experience. It was very similar to a youth hostel. Or at least a youth hostel that is underground and has a doctor's office, pharmacy, and x-ray room (maybe more - there was a dark hallway that I did not dare to venture down). This bunker had four to five rooms with sleeping places for maybe 40 people in each (the one I was in had 20 bunk-beds).

The heavy outer door, x-ray room, beds, and some provisions.

Switzerland has space for its entire population (and then some) in underground pretty-nuclear-proof bunkers, split between private and public bunkers. If you build a dwelling with a certain capacity and you do not include a bunker, you have to pay a fine to the municipality. This money is then used for the construction and maintenance of the public bunkers. Since these bunkers are generally not needed for their intended purpose, they can sometimes be rented out to house people for events, like ultimate tournaments and field trips (I am not sure of the exact conditions).

The bunkers in the mountains look much more epic (my entrance pretty much looked like an underground parking garage, but with out any streets nearby):

(Source: Polar Inertia)

I suppose I should find where my bunker in Züri is... assuming they let foreigners in :)

Switzerland - Month Four

I spent most of the first half of April preparing for, thinking about, and traveling to Spain. At work I was mostly focusing on preparing for a workshop we are offering in May to practitioners in the water and sanitation sectors. We initially thought that we would have about 20 participants, but now we have almost 50 signed up and had to ask for new rooms!

It hasn't all been vacation and work! In Zürich, the third Monday in March is Sechseläuten.  This was very confusing to me when I first heard co-worker talking about it because it is pronounced "sexy-loy-ten" and "loy-ten" sounds a bit like Leute, which means people. So it sounded to me like they were asking, "Are you going to look at the sexy people after work today?" ( It really means something about ringing the bells at six.) Also called "Böögg" (no idea how to pronounce that- I live in Höngg, which sounds kind of like "h -the u sound from murder- rnk", if that helps), this holiday involves a half day off from work and burning a snowman figure (the Böögg) on top of a huge bonfire. The amount time it takes from when the fire is lit until the head of the Böögg explodes, is supposed to somehow predict the duration (and perhaps quality) of the summer. So it is kind of like groundhog day, except with fireworks, costumes and class tension. Did I mention that the snowman is full of fireworks? Or that before the fire, there is parade of the guilds with men dressed in traditional garb? Or that the whole thing happens on what is essentially the Zürich town square, but is fenced off and (from my understanding) you have to invited to attend?

I took some shaky photos and videos of the event with my phone and google stitched them together and added music and a title, without me even asking. So, I present Sechseläuten from outside the fence (and behind some umbrellas) (there are actually a few decent shots in there, you can see the whole base of the first for a few seconds + some explosions, but it is really just for the creepiness/coolness(?) factor of google doing this all on its own):

I really like the premise that tradespeople are celebrating the beginning of the time of year when there is still light out when they are done working and of course the bit about burning a snowman with accelerants and fireworks, but the exclusivity gets to me (especially when quite a few of the people wearing old-timey clothes were speaking English with American or British accents). Apparently, after a certain amount of time the common folk are allowed to roast sausages over the coals of the fire.

The women's team that I am playing with won Sky Bowl, a tournament in Winterthur, just outside of Zürich. This is the first of five tournaments we are attending to prepare for the World Championships this summer. We lost a pool play game to MICZ, our cross-town rivals and the team for which most of the women on Headless play, but we beat them on day two in the elite pool and because of how that pool shook out, we played FABulous, of Bern, in the finals.

A teammate tasting gold!

The chocolate trophy, mid-demolishment

We will meet many of the teams from this tournament during the Swiss Meisterschaft, which begins this weekend in France (the fields are literally just over the border). This eight team tournament (on the women's side) gets stretched out over two weekends! 

Spain

At the beginning of April, I went to Spain two weekends in a row. The original idea was to stay for the week in between, but I had to be at the office for a few meetings (You can check out what I was up to in Switzerlnd here). The first tournament was La Abuela in Madrid, which was hosted by Quijotes, the team that I trained with duringthe first semester of my masters program.  It was a mixed tournament and played with Headless, one of the clubs here in Zürich. I didn't know it until afterwards, but it was part of the tryout process for the A Squad that they will take to the mixed Swiss nationals. There were mainly Spanish teams and we lost to the hosts twice, but did really well in all of our other games, so we finished second. I arrived in Madrid midday on Friday and  I had intended to finally visit the Reina Sofia, but touristed it up with some teammates visiting the Templo de debod and eating shrimps near Sol, instead. It was a great weekend: getting to know the Headless people better, (re)exploring Madrid (I tried and failed to find the bar where some friends and I were served a bowl of spaghetti with 3 forks as a tapa!), and seeing old friends again. So many memories of the good ole days!

Second place feels pretty good! (photo stolen from Q+D's facebook page)

The next weekend, I was back in Spain --this time flying in and out of Barcelona-- for the Costa Brava Tourney on the beach of Lloret del Mar. Lloret is kind of Spanish equivalent of Myrtle Beach, but for very distinct demographic groups: 16-19 year olds who are there to party and the 75+ crowd who is there to do the same. I played with Red, a team from Leicester, England. I had played at a few other beach tournaments, including Burla, with the team's organizer. The team didn't have many girls, so I think he asked all of the women he has ever played ultimate with to join. A weekend of ultimate on a sunny Spanish beach with a mini-castle in the distance? Sign me up!  There were three other pickups, one off whom came to Zürich and trained with my team the next week! The team was so much fun and very welcoming (sometimes it can be really awkward to be a pick-up).

The idea was to land in Barcelona in the morning, do something cultural (probably something Gaudí-related) and then head to the beach, but I just skipped the culture (again) ... I hope Barcelona will still be there for me to visit properly later. Usually, beach ultimate is played on sand, this beach was comprised mostly of  rocks like you would find in an aquarium - quite painful! We only won one game, but had a blast losing (and won the party... but I didn't really pull my weight in that aspect)! Swimming in the frigid sea is just what my body needed. My knee had been feeling strange for a few months and floating around let it realign or whatever needed to happen for it to get back to me not noticing it. However, trying to touch the bottom of the sea on the first day was just what my sinuses didn't need and I randomly had salt water coming out of my nose at inopportune times throughout the afternoon and evening.

The first party theme was "Happy Birthday." Here are several of the teams in costume. The winning team all dressed up like Marilyn Monroe in matching white dresses.
(all of the photos from this tournament were stolen from Simbie, a teammate)

!

 As it was the 10th anniversary of the tournament, we spelled out HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY in tin-foil and then danced until about 4 am!

Then played ultimate the next day, luckily the first game was at 11, so there was time for some rest.

The beauty rest was important for the "Black-tie" event that evening (It is a little difficult to look formal with only   and a day's notice of the theme, but we look pretty good- improvised ties and all!), which was followed by more dancing.

All and all, there is a lot that I don't miss about Spain: (most of) the food, not being comfortable with the language (I have started trying to learn again for professional reasons: I now know 242 words according to duolingo), it taking forever to get anything done, and the confusing university procedures, but in small doses of leisure it was perfect!

Swiss Sweets

I have been thoroughly impressed with the desserts here in Switzerland. I had expected their cakes to be like German cakes, which can be pretty dry and rely on Schlagahne (whipped cream) for moisture. A co-worker brought in "cake" for his birthday yesterday, but it was more like a super dessert, drawing from many dessert categories.

Starting at the bottom there is a nice layer of flaky crust, as if the baker started out making a pie. This is covered in a generous layer of  dense vanilla pudding, which seems to be a fairly common cake component here. Next comes a thin layer of cake, strewn with strawberries and encased in jello.

Essentially this cake is the union of 5 other dessert categories. It reminds me of the time I tried to bake an apple pie into a maple cake, except this was successful, simple and delicious, and my attempt just turned out to be a big, tasty, mess.

Have you had any interesting sweets lately?

Switzerland - Two and a third months in

Longtime, no blog. My flat does not have internet and it feels strange staying late at work to do too much internet stuff. I move into a new flat this weekend, so dear readers, I should update more frequently (I know you have read that here before)! In other exciting news, I have been at my job for 3 months, and have passed my "trial period." In April I will go to Spain (twice!) and play my first team tournament in Switzerland.

The Blue Diversion Toilet, developed by an interdisciplinary team at my workplace was in an art exhibit about re-designing slums. The exhibition was at the Löwenbräu-Areal, an historical industrial building that now houses several galleries. This was really neat because there were so many types of art on display. It was also cool to meet colleagues from other departments. The exhibition was curated to from work out of the engineering/architecture school – conceptualizing an ideal shack and contemplating how to get folks to agree to realign their dwellings, so that roads and pipes could be installed (highly unlikely, in my opinion). The toilet was not the focus (in some ways it seemed like an afterthought) and a lot of people were confused about what it was, one woman said, “Look, a shower!” (It was designed for washers and wipers.)

The trail.

We’ve had a warm winter here in the city, but just outside there is plenty of snow! I went with some ladies from ultimate to Studen for some cross-country skiing (skate style). During our introductory lesson, everyone went around and explained their skiing background; almost everyone had downhill skied before. I was the only one with just waterskiing on my resume  The lesson was okay, but the instructor stressed to me that I needed to start slowly in this sport since everyone else had some knowledge of how to get around/balance on skis.  I am not a natural, but got into a pretty good groove. Or so I thought… I got to a little hill, fell over (well, not over… my legs started drifting apart), and had an elderly woman tell me that, “Maybe you should just get into the classic tracks.” I told here that I has no idea how that was supposed to work and could not handle anything else new right then.

I'm always on the lookout for toilets these days!

A well earned bowl of Gerstensuppe after a long day in the snow.

Yum! I ate this in a most unladylike fashion.
In public.

I went to Sweden on my second business to trip. It was great to catch up with my buddies and see my new university and visit my old one. Bonus: it was Semla-time! (part of the feasting season before Lent) A semla is a little bit like a dens doughnut, filled with almond goop and topped off with whipped cream. I also went to the doctoral defense of my master thesis adviser. This was important so that I could get a sense of how a Swedish defense flows (there is an actual opponent!) and it was nice to see other aspects of my adviser’s work.

Answering tough questions.

Controversial art on the library at Karlstad Uni.

I also went to Bern for Bundesbeach, an indoor beach ultimate hat tournament. This was a great introduction to the broader Swiss ultimate scene. Everyone seemed to know everyone else. I signed up (by mailing in a postcard) while I was still in the US this past autumn and while I know people who play with both of the clubs in Zurich, I didn't know if anyone I knew was going. As I asked in the first empty seat I saw on the train was free I looked up and found that I was talking to two of the guys who run one of the practices in the city. As we got off the train in Bern, we ran into friends from the other Züri club. So I would not be totally socially without bearings for the weekend. My team meshed together really well and didn't lose until the semi-finals, where we blew a 3 point lead :), but we won the 3rd place game. The party was in a cool student-ish house with a shiny DJ. I left in the middle, because it was Karneval and my officemate’s band was playing at a bar downtown. There was quite a line, so I couldn't get in, but it was cool to see all of the festivities, confetti, costumes, marching bands, and the capitol lit up at night.

The streets and trains were covered.

One of the tamer band costumes.

The DJ/band at the tournament party was an entertaining
enough alternative to seeing my co-worker's band.

One of the prettiest places I have worked out!

The next weekend, I went with the women’s team I will be playing with for a pre-season team bonding retreat. We took a cable-car up a mountain, ate some traditional Swiss food, were awoken by a kids’ slalom race, played tons of cheesy team building games, hiked to a beautiful, tiny chapel, and did an intense workout on Sunday morning (at my other training on Monday, I couldn't do proper sit-ups, not because I was tired, but because my muscles ached so much).

Älplermagronen: Pasta, potatoes, onions, cheese and
cream, topped off with applesauce! SO GOOD!
This is what maccaroni and chees aspires to be.

View from the Chapel. There might be some famous
mountains in sight, but my Swiss-German isn't quite up to
scratch, yet!

Birchermüesli: let raw oatmeal, fruit and nuts soak
 in milk and/or yogurt for at least a half hour and enjoy!

The grayness of Züri has finally broken… it was broken, it put itself back together for two days of rain and hail, but the few days of sun make me really excited for summer and being in the city to relax on the weekends, which I may not be doing very much, because I just got our training/tournament schedule. When put together with my work calendar, I only have 5 free weekends from now until mid-August.

Switzerland - Sneaky with the dairy

Leave it to Switzerland to create a dairy-based soft-drink. This hard to find outside of Switzerland beverage is made with 35% milk serum -- more familiarly known as whey (thanks Ms. Muffett).

I guess it makes sense to utilize a byproduct of one of your country's most famous commodities (even though cheese accounts for less than a third of a percent of Swiss exports). It was a little disappointing that there was no protein in this dairy-ish drink

The taste was puzzling. I did not initially know that it had milk products in it, as a friend simply recommended trying it. After a few sips I asked a co-worker what it was supposed to taste like and it was explained to me that is was like lemonade with milk serum... I don't know if it is actually lemon flavored, because the label just says 'natural flavors.'  I guess that if I am ever in a situation where it is served, I would drink it, but I don't link I will seek it out again. Also slightly concerning was that there were no refrigeration instructions for after the bottle had been opened. 

Switzerland - Week One

I arrived last Thursday morning and one of my flatmates helped me carry my stuff from the train station (wouldn't have made it otherwise. They had prepared my room. It was all white down to the tulips on the windowsill. (More colorful accoutrements have since been purchased.)

There was a photoshoot at work today for a toilet. It literally took the whole day. This toilet is a big deal- it's part of the Gate's Foundation Reinvent the Toilet Challenge.

I have attended practices of two ultimate teams!