It's snowing!

Well, it's snowing for the first time today! It was snowing when we woke up, and its still snowing now, 12 hours later. It's a slushy, wet, cold snow, not much fun to walk or drive in, and I'm not sure what to think of it. Snow is an experience and inconvenience that I haven't had to live with for many years. Should I like it? I haven't decided yet, though it does make the city of Lucerne very pretty. It's like they built this place, and most of Europe, with the idea of how it would look like covered in snow, like something out of a fairytale. One strange thing, though, is that the city is acting like a disturbed bee's nest. Instead of the natural conclusion that many would come to, that it would cause people to stay indoors, it has in reality resulted in just the opposite; I have never seen the streets and sidewalks as busy as they are today! Go figure, because I can't.






(Scenes from our apartment)



I went to the casino/hotel employee Christmas party last night and had a pretty good time. I was very hesitant to go, seeing as how I haven't started work yet, I didn't know anybody, everyone would be speaking a foreign language, and I'm somewhat naturally anti-social, but I thought that it would be a good experience, and that I would be able to meet and get to know some of my future coworkers in a socially positive environment, so I forced myself. It turned out exactly that way, contrary to what usually happens. I met with Claudio Ferrari, the Argentinian casino manager, talked a lot with him and had dinner together. I think he likes me. I tried to speak as much Spanish as I could, and he loves Las Vegas, goes every year, so we talked about Vegas, Caesars Palace, Cirque du Soleil, and so on. He seems to really want my insight into making Grand Casino Lucerne more Vegasy, but I really don't know much that could be done. Lucerne is simply not Vegas and has too many limitations on what can be done. I also met with several of the dealers, supervisors and pit bosses. Everyone is really nice, and everyone speaks four, five, or six languages. Talk about an inferiority complex. Oh, and everybody absolutely hates George W. Bush! They cannot fathom how he could ever have gotten elected anywhere, not the least in America, and the fact that he got elected twice will forever be a taint on America in their minds. At least Bush brought the whole rest of the world together --- in their mutual hatred of him! He represented in full living color all the negative aspects of American culture rolled up into one ugly, disgusting package.

Back to the party. I had a better time than I thought I would, got to meet a lot of people, stayed later than I thought (about 1:30 am), and got drunker than I have in a long time. Oh well, it was worth it. Unfortunately, Timi had to work, but it was probably better for me because I was forced to socialize more, to put myself on the line.






Just some random shots of Lucerne!

More on Swiss prices

I said at the end of the last post that I would write more about why prices in Switzerland are higher than most other countries in the world, including immediate neighboring countries. The first reason I listed is that they simply pay workers here more than most other countries, and that this stems more from a sense of societal responsibility than from any legislated minimum wage. What a concept!

Another reason for high prices here is that the Swiss government imposes very high tariffs on imported goods. This is obviously a large source of income to the gov't, as well as a direct cause of higher prices for goods and services within Switzerland. Protectionist tariffs are a very controversial and complicated topic, and I will only touch on them a little bit here. After all, this is just a blog about me and my wife's experiences here and my thoughts on things, not a platform for politically pedantic punditry!

In my opinion, protectionist tariffs generally do more harm than good. This opinion has been borne out in the United States several times in the past, particularly with regards to the U.S. auto industry. Our government's past attempts to protect our car manufacturers and their workers resulted, in the short run, in a virtual standstill in innovation and in cars that I think we can all agree were pieces of crap, and in the long run, in the virtual destruction of the U.S auto industry. Of course, the unions played their roll in what has happened as well, but protectionist tariffs rarely do much good in the long run, and can cause a lot of harm to all economies.

It seems that Switzerland is different than the U.S. in this way too, because not nearly so much damage seems to have been done from these tariffs. At least not such apparent damage. The main superficial effects seem to be higher prices on most things, which have led to higher wages. I think the deeper, unseen effects have been to create government-legislated monopolies by many Swiss companies in many industries, which of course has led to stifled competition and, ergo, depressed innovation and creativity. In many ways, the Swiss have become stagnant in innovating new technologies, new ways of doing things, increases in efficiencies and productivity. The Swiss people are some of the best educated people in the world, but they have lost the motivation to invent and improve things! This doesn't hold true in every area of Swiss life and industry, just those areas that are most protected by the government. The U.S. may have a model of capitalism that I think is too cutthroat in many ways, and we have a lot of social problems as a result, but we are also the most creative, imaginative, productive, and innovative country in the world! Probably in the history of the world.

Anyway, enough about that. The government here also puts a pretty high sales tax on most goods and services, especially gas and cars, and the fact that the whole country is a massive tourist destination and incredibly beautiful and clean enables businesses to keep their prices high. Gas is about $6 a gallon, and cars cost about twice or more what they cost in the States. Also, unemployment is very low here, about 4% now(and that is high for Switzerland). But, having just wrote all this, one can still find somewhat reasonable prices for many items. You just have to keep an eye out and wait for good sales on the things you need and want, and then jump on them! Till next post, Auf wiedersehn!

Grocery store and prices

Alright, we've been to the grocery store several times now, in fact we go just about everyday, for several reasons. One, we have a very little refrigerator(see pics), two, some food doesn't last as long here because it has fewer preservatives, and three, it is really quick and easy to go to any stores because everything is so close.
One might find it strange, coming from America, that most grocery stores, indeed, most stores altogether, close at 6:30 in the evening and are closed all day on Sundays. There is one Coop (a name of a grocery store chain) in Lucerne that stays open on Sundays and until 9:00pm everyday, located at the train station, and you wouldn't believe how crowded it is once all the other stores have closed. It is like the mall on Black Friday! I would think that this would be a capitalist motivation for other stores to stay open later and on Sunday's as well, but no, not in Switzerland. People here simply do not put profit above quality time off spent with family and friends. Or maybe it is because they figure they make enough money as is, and what is the point in making more? I'm not sure. To be fair, there are Swiss laws in place, voted for by the population, that require employees to be paid more if they work after 10 pm or on weekends, and other laws that limit noise and lighting after certain hours. This is because people live on and around closely to most stores, restaurants, bars and so on. They don't have the same zoning laws as in the States that separate living areas from business places. The age of the cities and the density of the population would make this complicated and counterproductive.

A few other things about grocery stores: There are recycling centers at every store, as well as at most plazas and squares. Recycling not only for plastic and aluminum, but for cardboard, lightbulbs, batteries, printer cartridges, and things that I don't even know what they are! No problems with unreturned or stolen grocery carts adding to neighborhood blight either because every cart requires a deposit of 1 to 2 Swiss Francs to unlock it, which is then returned when the cart is returned to its proper place. So even if one person doesn't return it, someone else who wants the money will. Very clever.











Something that isn't so clever is the way that they design many of the milk and juice cartons here (see above pic). They are designed for easy packing, but not so easy opening. The only way to open them is to use scissors or a knife! Then it's hard to close the carton back up again properly. Interestingly though, you don't have to store an unopened milk carton in the fridge! It can be stored at room temperature until opened.
Also, did you know that Switzerland doesn't have a minimum wage law? Yet Swiss workers are some of the highest paid in the world. The Swiss culture is very cohesive and has a sense of unity and inclusiveness that simply doesn't exist in America. They are a small country, in many ways separate from the rest of the world, and have had a long and arduous history in an unforgiving climate and geography, and rightfully take pride in the fact that they have built quite an idyllic place in many ways. This mentality of cultural unity and support translates into many different areas, and as a result they feel that it is the right ethical and moral path to take to pay their people a good, living wage no matter what they do or in what way they contribute to the well-being of society. Imagine that argument in America!

This is one of the reasons that prices for goods and services are higher here, but far from the only reason. I will write more about this in my next post. See ya!

Images of Lucerne

Here are some images of Lucerne. The yellow building is the Grand Casino Lucerne. The street scene is from the church close to our apartment. The mountain is Mt. Pilatus, just across the lake from Lucerne.

I'm Here!!!! (Lucerne, that is)

Writing a Blog is, I think, a little like writing a book. It's hard to get started. One naturally wants his or her first posting to be inspired and elegant, an incisive, fluid, and entertaining accounting and analysis of whatever is being written about. I now realize this won't be the case. However, I'm going to start anyway. If I continue to wait for inspiration, I will be waiting a long time indeed. So, here goes.


I made it! Finally! This has been what seems like a long time coming, but it has arrived. I have now been in Lucerne, Switzerland for about five days now, and time is flying. Timi(my wife) and I got just about everything done organizational-wise in the first couple of days, and the last few have been pretty relaxed and lazy. I have already checked in with immigration, filed my info, put my names on the bank accounts and ordered debit and credit cards, checked in with work and got the ball rolling there, decided on and signed up for health insurance, unpacked, joined the library, etc, etc. Yesterday we went to visit our friend Csaba in St. Gallen, in the northeast part of Switzerland, picked up some boxes of household stuff he had been storing for us, and had lunch at Ikea. Ikea is one of the more affordable places in Switzerland to eat out, it only cost about $30 for the two of us. More on that later.

Other than that, we have just been exploring our new home by doing a lot of walking, and Timi has been showing me the ropes with regards to day-to-day living here. Things like where the grocery stores are, how and where to check the mail advertisers for sale specials, how and where to do the laundry, where everything is located in our apartment and building, and where everything is located in relation to our apartment!

It's hard to get used to the idea that I am now living in Switzerland!--in one of the oldest towns in Switzerland, and we live in the oldest part of this town, a mere block from a church with parts that are around 1300 years old! There is a section of the old town defensive wall just a block in another direction, with guard towers still intact. I am living inside of a massive, living museum. This place is soaked in history and culture dating back thousands of years. More recently Mark Twain spent time in Lucerne, and William Tell reputedly shot an apple off of his son's head just a few miles from here. I'm not able yet to fully absorb that I really live here now, I still feel like a tourist, and probably will for quite a while.