Apartments, babies, friends, and the Gym

Drove and took a look at a potential rental apartment today in a suburb of Lucerne called Adligenswil, just about ten minutes or less from downtown. It was very nice, a two-bedroom, one bath, with a kitchen open to the living room, a nice size balcony on the fourth floor(third floor European), and close to 1000 square feet, which is pretty big for Europe. It also had a stacked washer and dryer, a real luxury here, and a dishwasher! I had totally forgotten how much it sucks to have to hand wash dishes every day, especially in one tiny little sink. I have gone from having every luxury known to modern man, to living like a college student in his first dorm room! In some ways simpler, in some ways much more complex. Anyway, the apartment was in a very nice little mini-town on the edge of the Lucerne metro area, surrounded by hills and views of Mt. Rigi, one of the main mountains around Lucerne, and on major bus routes into town. Lots of kids in the area and building, but we are getting used to that fact. We'll continue to look, but I think we will be putting in an application for this one on Monday. The rent is only $1,330 a month plus $50 for parking. We now pay $1,550 rent and $180 for parking for a 650 square foot one bedroom with no washing machine or dryer and no dishwasher, next to the church of Hells Bells.

It seems that there is a little baby boom going on in Switzerland now. We see more and more people, many of them women well into their thirties or older, pushing baby carriages around town, and many of them dual carriages(can you say 'fertility drugs' anyone?) I would imagine this is probably a result of government efforts in the form of tax breaks, subsidized child care, and general cajoling to get Swiss people to have more children before the Swiss DNA disappears, and it seems to be paying positive dividends. On the other hand, there are an awful lot of old people here in Lucerne as well, it sometimes feels as if we are living in a retirement community! It's no secret that most European country's birth rates are continuing to decline and have been declining for decades now, the only population groups adding to their numbers in Europe are Muslim, and they're breeding like rabbits. As I've mentioned before, I don't find this to be a good harbinger of Europe's optimistic future, but of it's possible doom. The Swiss are just a microcosm of a greater European trend, which is to have one or fewer children. All the reasons behind this I do not know, but I can posit that simply the cost of having and raising children here is one of the biggest. And when cultural mores and outlooks on life and priorities change and adapt into new channels, for whatever set of reasons, it is very hard to change them back. Young people have grown up with easy access to the sum of human knowledge and experiences via the Internet, and to the endless possibilities that life now has to offer in the modern world, and compared to that, the cost, responsibility, thanklessness, and endless toil of raising children seems to have lost some of its luster. Go figure.

We went and visited our friends Csaba and Susanne yesterday up in St. Gallen, had a good time. It started snowing while we were up there, but no problems on the way back. Lucerne is quite a bit lower than St. Gallen, so it wasn't snowing or sticking nearly as much back here, but it was a cool drive. It has been a while since I have driven in the Snow! It can be very soothing, and potentially hypnotic. Anyway, I was kind of bummed that we went there yesterday, because I had wanted to watch the fireworks show on the lake here yesterday evening. But lo and behold, they postponed the show until today because of the weather, and we got to see it this evening! They had all the regular fireworks, but in addition they had some that shot out onto the lake surface and then floated there while they did their thing. Very cool.

After the firework show, Timi and I went to our gym and spa paradise. We had a little workout, then hit the pool, spa, and sauna area, which we like very much. I've mentioned and described the gym and spa before, but now that I have been there many times and have established a workout routine again, I can go into a little more observational detail. I think we all are aware that America is one of the fattest countries in the world. One can attribute this to increasing urbanization, too many cheap, fast food choices, too many work hours, too many enticements to a sedentary lifestyle, or whatever. One can also make the argument that Americans of Hispanic and African heritage, as well as those from our freezin' ass cold Midwestern center, contribute an overwhelming amount to the obesity statistics, but whatever your arguments, let's just admit that there are a lot of chubbies in America, and move on. It's also well-known to the well-traveled set that Europeans are thinner on average than Americans, and that many of those of European citizenship hold that fact as a sign of superiority over Americans. Whereas I will admit that Europeans are most definitely more slender than Americans on average and look better in their clothes for a variety of reasons, I would take issue with the claim that they are in better shape than the average American, at least the average Americans that I hang around. This view stems from the fact that I have to enter the locker and shower room before and after every workout, and my eyes are subjected to the view of many European men of all ages walking about in various states of undress. Let me say here that Europeans have none of the Puritan-influenced sexual and body taboos and repressions that exist in America. They have no problem with letting it all hang out---literally. And being naked around members of the opposite sex is no problem either. I might argue that this isn't a good thing. The average Swiss man, and this is the average Swiss man that actually attends a gym on a regular basis, looks like a sack of crap. Seriously. Soft, squishy, and bloated, mottled, hanging skin, parts protruding that shouldn't be, and other parts not protruding that should be! I have been attending gyms on a regular basis for a very long time now, about 22 years, so I have a lot of experience in gym locker rooms, and I can honestly say that men in America who regularly attend gyms look much better than Swiss men who regularly attend gyms. There is a thriving gym subculture that exists in America, at least in the West Coast region, that simply does not in Europe, a sub population of Americans that really take fitness seriously and workout religiously and sculpt their bodies with a passion that is uncommon in Europe. I am accustomed to seeing and admiring these types of bodies when I go to a gym, and so it was a rude awakening when, expecting fit Europeans, I entered the gym here and saw actual Swiss bodies traipsing around. I can't say that I liked it.

I'd also like to add here that Europeans don't seem to be nearly as fussy about body cleanliness as Americans, at least at the gym. I can be having a very nice workout, and then sit down or stand next to someone who smells worse than a New York homeless person, and I almost lose my lunch. This hasn't happened just once or twice, but many times. I'm certain the Swiss know all about soap and deodorant, but maybe in keeping in line with their other worthwhile environmental policies, they are trying to conserve them as much as possible.

I want to mention something else about the gym that caught my attention. Probably the second time I went there, I was quickly changing in the locker room, and when I look up to go, there is a woman staff member calmly and demurely sweeping the floor! In the men's locker room. Women have to clean all parts of the gym, including the men's showers while men are in them, because Swiss men will not demean themselves by performing these 'women's work' functions. Let me put this revelation into a little more perspective by mentioning that Switzerland did not begin to accord women the right to vote until 1971! That's right, 1971. And there were two Cantons(the same as States) that didn't allow it until 1990! Swiss federal law forced these Cantons to change, or they still might not be allowing it. Switzerland, in an even more extreme pattern than the rest of Europe, is in some ways permanently stuck in the nineteenth century. So, we have a situation where women are stuck with all cleaning jobs and duties, because that is their place.
How do you like that?