Aufwiedersehen, Switzerland!!!!....und merci viel mal!

Goodbye Switzerland!

Our time here in Switzerland is swiftly waning, and my melancholy is correspondingly waxing.  Regardless of all my rants and mocking of the shortcomings of the Swiss people and culture as I perceived them, Switzerland, and particularly Lucerne, has come to steadily grow on us in many ways.  When all is said and done, the Swiss, over the course of their many centuries of occupying and caring for this region in central Europe, have created and molded an idyllic country of incredible, unsurpassed natural and man-made beauty.  They have managed to remain neutral in most world affairs, to jealously guard their economy, culture, and legacy, and to avoid the wars that have repeatedly devastated the rest of Europe for the past 500 years.  They are a very serious, and in many ways, cold, people, but they care deeply for, and take pride in, their country and each other, and well they should.  They are industrious, productive, clever, and proper, perhaps to a fault.  The rest of the world could learn a lot from Switzerland, and I, for one, will miss it.  I have no regrets regarding moving to and living here, I have grown positively in many directions, and I am a better person for having experienced this incredible sojourn in the land of the Alps, cheese, chocolate, and cows.  Perhaps, one day, we will return here to live.  Thank you , Switzerland, for enriching my life, and I hope to see you again soon.

I will definitely be posting blogs onto this site in the future, but probably not as regularly as I have been for the last 10 months.  At this time, it looks as if we will be returning to Vegas, at least for a period of a couple of years, and not doing the cruise ship contract as we had hoped for.  This is because if our ultimate goal is to go back to Vegas and the security of my old job at Caesars (and many opportunities for my wife Timi), then I must return before a year has passed, for I would lose my seniority and accrued benefits if I delayed returning more than a year.  We really wanted to go on Crystal and do a little more traveling around the world,  but I guess it's not to be.  If this changes for some reason, then I will begin blogging regularly again!  If anyone wants to check on our lives, or just wonders what we've been up to lately, take a peek back here at Life's a Slice every now and then, and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them.  I'll answer any queries you have, and I have made the process of leaving comments easier now.  Take care everyone, and hope to see you here soon!

In front of Grand Casino Luzern

Got homeless? Not Switzerland!

Just read an article online that showed that the United States has slipped to fourth place in global economic competitiveness, according to the World Economic Forum.  Switzerland is number one for the second year running.  Not bad.  The U.S. better get off it's ass and hit the ground running!  I still have faith that America can maintain a relevant, leadership position in the world, but we really need to stop screwing things up so much all the time!

I've never really written too much about homeless people in Switzerland, and I guess that's because there aren't any!  Actually, that statement may not be entirely true, but close enough to not make much difference.  There certainly isn't just one main reason for this lack of homeless people; on the contrary, there are many.  I would have to say that one of the main reasons is because Switzerland doesn't start wars, and it generally doesn't participate in wars.  One fifth or so of the homeless population in America are veterans.  War messes with the mind in many ways, and many of the men who joined the military in the first place didn't really have many other options to begin with -- which leads us to another reason there are so few homeless here.  Namely, better education.  The pre-university educational system over here is light years better than what exists in America now(thanks to the Republicans, who have always believed an ignorant population is a more easily-controlled population).  When people are brought up with a better education, they generally tend to be more mentally and emotionally balanced, better able to deal with, and successfully process, negative experiences, more aware and perceptive, more capable of taking advantage of life's opportunities, and less likely to succumb to life's little temptations, such as alcoholism and drug addiction.  Take a moment to contemplate how a more capable and effective educational system in America could positively impact our culture in the long run!  A third and fourth reason is, until recently, comparatively low immigration, virtually zero illegal immigration, and no legacy of slavery and discrimination that has created a subculture of poverty, neglect, and ignorance among many African Americans .  Almost 60% of the homeless population in America is black and Hispanic, though these two ethnic groups represent far less than that in the overall population.  A fifth reason is better government social services and programs.  Without the military consuming a lion's share of federal government tax revenue in order to finance an endless series of wars, coups, pre-emptive invasions, and foreign nation-building, Switzerland is able to finance and provide social programs and assistance that take care of, and often rehabilitate, mentally ill and drug-and-alcohol addicted people.  The amount that America spends on "defense" every year is almost as much as the rest of the world combined spends, and more that 50% of all federal government tax revenues.  That's well over a trillion dollars a year!  Think about what America could do with that kind of money, if it wasn't spending it all on war.  On top of that, the Swiss people, as well as most other Europeans, pay far less taxes on income than Americans do in order to finance these social aid programs.  A sixth, and final, reason is simply that Switzerland has a Cultural Legacy of industriousness, clean and upright living, respect for others, and a deep belief that you have to make sacrifices and look out for your community to make it strong.  That's why there are virtually no homeless in Switzerland.

This self-same Cultural Legacy that I have mentioned several times before, is the same one behind Switzerland's economic successes, the same one that motivates Swiss people to  look out for each other, to keep their communities and their environment clean, organized, and pollution-free, the same one that has kept them out of wars beyond their borders for centuries.  If there is only one thing that I have learned in my life, it is that every country has its own Cultural Legacy, as well as many sub-cultural legacies stemming from whichever particular mix of minority populations and history they have and have been through.  These legacies can, and do, change over time in fits and starts, but it usually takes generations to forge any significant alterations in the cultural fabric.  Nice mixing of metaphors there, yeah?  Anyway, one thing is certain, and this is that a particular country's Cultural Legacy is the lens with which the members of the culture view themselves and the rest of the world, and their relationship to it.  Switzerland has managed to create a legacy over the generations that serves it very well.  America has also created an amazing Cultural Legacy from its own special history and circumstances, one that has propelled it into an economic, political, and social leadership role for the world....and one that is now being destroyed by ignorance and "faith".

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Geneva........and Zurich!

We have finished with our jobs, and we are now busily preparing the detritus and flotsam of our lives to make the giant leap back across the Atlantic, back to the land of Opportunity, of Freedom and Bravery, of Google, Apple, and Microsoft....of Disney, Hollywood, Las Vegas, and California girls....of ExxonMobil, GM, Big War, and MegaChristianity.....and, most unfortunately, to the land of Republicans, Rush Limbaugh,Glen Beck, and the rest of Idiot America. Most assuredly, I have mixed feelings about this.  Can you blame me?

A recent Rasmussen poll showed that 44% of Americans believe in the literal translation of the Bible. This means that over 140 million Americans believe that a talking snake encouraged a woman to eat an apple; that a 900 year old man built an Arc to replenish humanity and all the other fauna on the planet; that the sun revolves around the earth; that the earth itself is only about 7,000 years old; and that Jonah lived inside a whale for three days. It is the majority of these 140 million morons that enabled, by their votes, arguably the worst President in American history to inflict his modern vision of the Crusades on the world, and to then proceed to destroy the global economy, and America's reputation in the process. This is the majority that believes any criticism of their country is anti-patriotic(as if the right to criticize government wasn't enshrined in the Constitution), believes that America can do no wrong, and believes that the "American Way" is the only way, that their is nothing to be learned from other cultures. Am I ambivalent about my return? You betcha.

On a more mundane topic, my wife and I took the train to Zurich yesterday. We had only been to the downtown core once before, and then only for a couple of hours before we had to catch a plane to somewhere else. I thought it was time that we had a more thorough visit, and I'm glad we did! We took the train, because public transportation here is a joy to experience, and much less of a hassle than driving, navigating through questionable traffic and congestion, and then paying for a parking spot for the day. The train takes off from downtown Lucerne, twice every hour, and arrives in downtown Zurich with no muss, and no fuss. The trains themselves are beautifully maintained, spotless, smooth as floating on a pond, more punctual than you could believe, and comfortable as can be. I will miss them. Trains in America...the few that there are...suck.

Zurich is an awesome, wonderful city. A city that all cities should aspire to be. As a Swiss city, it is of course beautifully maintained and clean. It has great public transportation, both in the city and on the lake. It has beautiful, historic buildings, incredible shopping, a wide variety of restaurants, both local and of various ethnic backgrounds, and of various price points. It is incredibly bike and pedestrian friendly. It is so vibrant and eclectic, so full of culture, so interesting and stimulating. I love Zurich. We had a great time exploring the city, shopping, eating, and taking pictures, and a nice, comfortable, and smooth trip back to Lucerne on the train. All in all, a perfect day. Following are a bunch of pictures of our day in Zurich.

Our train to Zurich

Enjoying my trip!

The Limmat river

Old Town Zurich

A few weeks ago we took an overnight trip, also by train, to Geneva. We had applied for some jobs with Expedia.com at a global lodging division which they were working towards opening there. So we thought we should definitely go and check it out, considering that if we got the jobs, we would have to relocate to Geneva! This was a long shot to begin with, but we thought, who knows?, and if we got the jobs, we could prolong our stay in Switzerland for a couple of years or so, experience more of Europe, and save tons of money. Not a bad thing.

Unfortunately, Geneva was a bad thing. Geneva is a lousy, awful city. A city that all cities should dread being. If I didn't know better, there would be no way that you could convince me that Geneva is located in Switzerland. I would swear it was in France, or even Saudi Arabia. It was full of ugly buildings, dirtier than any other Swiss city I had ever seen(though it was still cleaner than most cities outside of Switzerland), and mostly lacking in the personality and culture that personifies cities and towns in the rest of the country. Worse, it was full to overflowing with both former Yugoslav immigrants, and worst of all.......Muslims. Now, those naive among you might think I am being somewhat discriminatory, or even a bigot. Think what you want. I know what I know, and I know what I have witnessed and experienced. A good portion of the fine citizens of the former Yugoslavian countries are of questionable moral repute. Most of the rest are criminal trash.  I know this is a result of the environment in which they are forced to grow up and live in, I'm not arguing that. But be that as it may, they are generally not people you want to hang around. As for Muslims, I won't say much, because whatever comes out of my mouth will be derogatory. At best, they are dirty, they stink, and their vile language assaults the ears like fingernails on a chalkboard.  Muslim women are forced to parade around in black blankets, covering their bodies from head to toe, with only a small opening for their eyes. They do this because Muslim men are so socially and culturally stunted, insecure, and sexually repressed that they couldn't handle a woman in her full glory. Sexual repression is a key tool in controlling the Muslim man.  Then the Muslim man controls the Muslim woman's every move and thought. They come from medieval countries with medieval belief systems and ideologies, and they are overrunning much of Europe.

So much for Geneva. We were very disappointed, and I can't imagine ever going back. Anywhere that half of the human population is subjugated and repressed, forbidden and denied the ability to fulfill their potential as human beings, is a place that I can easily skip experiencing ever again. The world is full of senseless, ignorance-inducing, reprehensible, man-made religions that have caused known and unknown tragedies throughout the ages, but Islam is the shittiest of them all. Shame on you Geneva, and shame on the rest of Europe for allowing in the representatives of a culture that should have died out, that should have "evolved" out of the human social paradigm, hundreds of years ago.

I've included a few pics of our time in Geneva.  It wasn't all bad. The little boutique hotel that we stayed in was very nice, the train ride there and back was enjoyable, and some of the festivities revolving around August 1st, Switzerland's "Fourth of July", were interesting and worthwhile.  Enjoy, and please forgive my rants.