Finished third week of work, slowing acclimatizing

Wheeeeeewwwww! I just finished my third week of work on Saturday, or I should say, I survived another week of work ending on Saturday. It is really tough here, this is definitely, without a doubt, my hardest dealing job ever. Some days I think that I am doing better and I gain confidence, and then the next day I screw up so many times that I almost collapse in despair, or just go running out of the casino, yelling and with my arms swinging in the air above my head. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the mind-boggling variety and amount of procedures, rules, and regulations here would stymy Einstein. I just can't imagine why the Swiss like to be so Sadomasochistic when it comes to rules and procedures. Rules have become their religion! They just love to make rules, and then refine those rules until they have become as precise as humanly possible. I don't mind rules, rules can be good and necessary for the happy running of society; but rules simply for the sake of rules, rules that have no basis in necessity or reason, safety or security or efficiency, are a waste of time and resources, and, in my humble opinion, can only lead to stagnation, lack of flexibility, inefficiency, and intractability. The Swiss can be endearingly proper in some ways, but I'll say this again, too; they need to chill out. Their search for safety and security in rules and propreity may be a sign of an aging society in slow, genteel decline, who's youthful days of growth, innovation, and dynamism are behind them. Maybe thats not all bad, but it's not all good either. All in all, though, I am slowly but surely getting the hang of things, and understanding more and more. I will survive. I hope. Maybe.

The town of Lucerne is becoming more and more festive as Christmas approaches. The Swiss really like to decorate for the holidays, they really enjoy it. There are lights and huge Christmas trees up all over town, costumed religious processions walking around holding candles and singing, and festival booths set everywhere, selling roasted chestnuts, pastries, coffee drinks, hot-mulled wine(Gluwine in Swiss), bratwurst, you name it, they are selling it. Some of the stores are even staying open later than usual for holiday shopping-- some as late as 9 o'clock! Heavens to Betsy! The weather has also gotten decidedly colder and snowier. We got several inches yesterday and last night, so Timi and I went for two separate walks, one along the lake shore and then around Old Town, and another one about two in the morning, when the town was covered in undisturbed snowfall, all along the old city wall and again down into Old Town. It was very cool, and very beautiful.

Today we went to our second movie since I've been here. We saw 'Avatar', which we both thought was awesome. An epic movie, almost three hours long but didn't seem it, and one of those that I would seriously consider buying when it comes out on DVD. I very rarely buy DVD's, so this is quite a testament. The visual effects and computer graphics were stunning, this will be the movie to compare all such movies to in the future. And yes, it is anti-war, anti-imperialism, pro-environment, and a little racist towards white people, particularly Americans. If you have a problem with that, get over it, and then get off my blog.

A movie experience here in Switzerland is a bit different than in the States. For one, they're more expensive! Normally $17 dollars a ticket, but only $12 on Mondays, which is why we try to go on Mondays. Two, when you buy your tickets, you are assigned a seat, as if it were a concert or Broadway show. You can always move once the movie starts into any empty seats, but sometimes that is not possible. Going to the movies is a bit more popular here as well, the theatres tend to be fuller. I guess Europeans are just less likely to own big screen TV's and home theatre systems, and I think that they are just more socially inclined than Americans have become over the years. Another reason probably is that it is just more densely populated here in Europe than America, and there are fewer movie theatres to go to. Very few huge, 10, 12, or 16 screen complexes here. Three, they actually have intermissions in the middle of the movie! Did we used to have intermissions when we were kids? I can't remember for sure, but I think we might have, at least on some movies. They still have them here, and on all movies. Half-way through, the lights come up, the movie stops, and a message flashes on the movie screen, 'Let's get some ice cream!', and you know what?--everyone gets up and goes and gets some ice cream. The Swiss like to be directed. They are all, in some ways, like good little schoolchildren; give them a rule or command, and they will follow it! And Four, theatres here are often smaller than in the States, but also much cleaner. One big pet peeve of mine back in America was going to a movie, and when it was over, watching everyone just leave or dump their trash right on the floor in front of them, or in their seat, leaving a virtual garbage dump for the hapless theatre workers to clean up. I always imagine physically forcing each and every perpetrator of this disgusting habit to eat their trash bite by bite, or to stick it where the 'sun don't shine'. I hate how this cultural tendency has somehow evolved in my home country. Not in Switzerland, though. Almost to a person, everyone picks up any trash they have produced and puts it in the closest trash bin, and any recyclables are put in recycling containers, which are everywhere. A simple, but very admirable, action.

In other things, we have discovered that the Swiss aren't quite so religious about getting home at a reasonable hour and going to bed. Many Swiss people, especially the younger ones, do stay up fairly late, at least on the weekends, and party a little. We have gone on several late night walks and witnessed groups of drunk Swiss youth stumbling somewhat noisily around the streets. They don't do it with nearly the rambunctiousness, obnoxiousness, egotism, and sometimes menace that American youth do it with, but they do still do it. And some Lucerne bars stay open pretty late, they're just well hidden and sound-protected usually. Also discovering more ethnic restaurants around town, just haven't tried any yet because we don't want to spend the money! There are lots of Thai restaurants, Turkish, Chinese, even saw a Cuban and a Korean one the other night on the walk home from the movies, with Salsa dancing going on(in the Cuban one of course, it would be odd to see Salsa dancing going on in a Korean restaurant). Lucerne is a bit more cosmopolitan than many Swiss towns and cities, probably because it has a larger foreign population. For those who didn't know, Lucerne only has a 57,000 population, not including all the bedroom communities around it, but you just can't compare this to American towns of the same size or bigger. The social, cultural, and shopping offerings here blow away most towns ten times as big in the States. I'm not sure why this is, but it is. Part of it may be Lucerne's focus on tourism, part of it may be that people are just better educated here and so have an increased awareness of, and interest in, and ability to create, cultural options, and part of it may be simply the much deeper and older human history that exists here. On that note, I'm signing off. See ya all later!