I survived my first day of work!

Wonderful news! My blog has three followers! I am honored, and I will endeavor to fill my posts with nothing short of elegant prose, inspired descriptions, insightful insights, and cutting-edge analyses for the continued edification of my loyal readers. You know who you are.

Moving forward; I have completed my first day of work and have survived to tell the tale. Actually, it wasn't bad at all. It seems that everyone that I work with is very nice and decent, at least the ones I have met so far. I spent most of the day just learning the ropes so to speak, procedures, where everything is, how to do everything that I will need to do, etc, etc. I should have had Timi take some pics of me in my spiffy dealers uniform, and of the back of the house casino operations, but those will be forthcoming. I did actually do a bit of dealing, blackjack that is, to some real live Swiss-people customers, and I think I performed well. No real mistakes. I wasn't even all that nervous. I guess I have just been doing this so long now that even in a foreign country and language I was able to perform. Tomorrow will be a bigger test because I will have to deal roulette, with all of its far more intricate bet possibilities than those that I am used to, and a far bigger German vocabulary knowledge requirement. There are Finali bets, Paroli, Chaval, and Carre' bets, one, two, and three neighbor bets, eight-nine, five-eight, three-six, and six-nine combo bets, french bets, and the list goes on. And tomorrow night is Friday night, so it will be busy. Trial by fire. Hope I survive.

The church in the above picture is the one that is about a block from where we live, and the one that keeps ringing its bells every thirty minutes or so. It was built on the foundations of a Benedictine monastery that had been there since the early 8th century, that was in fact the first settlement here since the fall of the Roman empire. "Old" has a little different meaning in Europe than it does in America.

I also joined the library the other day. It's only about a block from our apartment. Does it seem that almost everything is only about a block from our apartment? That's cause they are. Anyway, it's quite nice and it has hundreds of English books as well as tons of DVD's for rent. Both books and DVD's cost a dollar to check out for up to three weeks, not free but still a pretty good deal. To buy an English-word paperback novel here costs $15-$20 or more, so I'm not complaining. I am also thankful I have my Kindle, where most books cost $9.99 or less, and are downloaded instantly after purchase!


I don't think I'm going to tackle any weighty socio-cultural issues in this post. I really want to write about the Swiss outlook on low environmental impact, the various methods they use, and how that has affected their society, and I want to reflect on the causes of the extremely low crime rate and homeless population here, but I think that I will save those nuggets for another day. I have to keep the suspense and anticipation at a fever pitch. I don't want to talk about all the best stuff in just my first few weeks here! Oh, and they did vote to ban minarets here in Switzerland! Who would have thunk! The Swiss are perhaps becoming a little less tolerant, and a little less neutral, at least when it comes to reacting to the rapidly increasing Muslim population in Europe. Well, well, well.

In humdrum news, we moved our car from the Casino parking garage to our apartment parking garage. Much more convenient location-wise, but much more exposed to the elements weather-wise. The Casino garage was underground, protected and very well-maintained. Our apartment garage is just on the bottom floor of the building, and our parking space is only partly under the overhang of the building. Hope it doesn't turn out to have been a bad decision.

Guess I'll go now, will write again soon. Buhbye!