T̶w̶o̶ One p̶e̶r̶p̶e̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶a̶t̶s̶ immigrant settling into home country number five.
As I’ve mentioned before, I am a winter person. Every year I patiently wait out summer, reminding myself that the weather isn’t going to always be so sucky and warm. My reward is especially worth it now that we live in Switzerland, where winter is so gosh darn glorious: pointy snow-capped Alps, outdoor ice skating … Read more
From yesterday’s Heute (one of the free newspapers in Zurich): “Welcome to London. As soon as the other passengers have left the aircraft, we will start coming around to pry the remaining Americans out of their seats.”
Last night we missed yet another riot in Zurich. This time it wasn’t anything as fun as a teenage boy band or an international soccer victory for Switzerland. Instead, it was a demonstration against the anti-immigrant laws that the Swiss voted into effect yesterday. This vote will severely tighten the political asylum laws of Switzerland, … Read more
GENEVA, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) — Oslo and London are the world’s most expensive cities, followed by Copenhagen and Zurich, according to a report released on Wednesday. The Prices and Earnings report, compiled by Switzerland’s largest bank UBS, compares the price of a basket of 122 domestic goods and services in 71 cities on all continents. … Read more
For the second time this year, Zurichers are biting their nails wondering whether a holiday celebration will be able to go on as planned. The first time was back in April, when the Böögg’s disappearance threatened to bring Sechseläuten to its knees. This time around it’s not quite as exciting as a political kidnapping, but … Read more
I was shocked to learn about the Sechseläuten Böögg’s disappearance yesterday upon my return to Zurich. I leave for a week and miss all kinds of excitement here! Before I get into this story, I should provide a little background to those of you who are sitting there scratching your heads wondering what the hell … Read more
Apparently I am not the only one who is so amused by the signs on the Zurich trams. The free newspaper 20 Minuten reported last week that a vandal (endowed with a particularly large sense of humor) has been gluing new captions under the pictograms. Only two were quoted in the article, but I’ll be … Read more
Once again, Zurich has topped the world-wide quality of living survey, reminding me yet again that any move after this one will just be a step backwards. Maybe the high ranking has something to do with the free chocolate bunnies? Too bad we also have the seventh-highest cost of living.
In a shocking twist of events, the city of Zurich has reversed its no-mariachis-on-trams policy! The pictures were quietly replaced over the past few days. A little internet research revealed that the Mexican consulate complained to the city about the signs after having received many angry calls from the community. The replacement of the signs … Read more
The powers that be recently got together and decided that the signs inside Zurich public transportation were unacceptably lacking in humor, stereotypes, and surrealism. Much to my delight, they fixed all three problems at once, making my daily tram rides a lot more entertaining. Care to guess what the following diagrams are trying to tell … Read more