I think I'm just going to go free flow. I've been discovering other blogs of expats living and traveling in Switzerland lately, and through reading some of these I've been discovering that many of the things that I have been experiencing are many of the same things that other people experience, who would have thunk? I also have discovered that other people are better writers than I am. This is maybe another reason I haven't been blogging much lately, I feel inadequate. But here I am anyway, and I'm going to keep blogging, not because I want to be a good writer, but for my own future reference, to solidify and analyze my own thoughts and experiences, and for the enjoyment of my family and friends. So there.
Let's talk about smoking, shall we? The Swiss smoke like no culture I have ever witnessed before. Sometimes I imagine that America, perhaps in places like Alabama or Idaho, must have been like this in the Fifties. They smoke here with an intensity and frequency that is normally exhibited only by religious zealots. They inhale the smoke with every fiber of their beings, sucking in their cheeks and squinting their eyes, pursing their lips to create a perfect vacuum around the cigarette in their mouths so as not to allow any smoke to escape it's intended destination. Then they most often light their next coffin nail with the smoldering embers of the previous fag. And those are just the kids! Ha Ha, seriously though, here there is none of the 'Smokers Etiquette' that exists in other places. The Swiss will smoke everywhere that it is legal to do so, at all times, and are so oblivious to the status of those around them that they do not give one thought that the billowing clouds of smoke that are being exhaled into your face just might be offensive and sickening to you. These cigarettes are not the namby pamby 'Ultra Ultra lights' that exist elsewhere in the world, but hardcore, no nonsense French ciggies, made from old truck tires and leftover industrial sludge. There is virtually nowhere that one can go in public to get away from the smell of cigarette smoke. It is everywhere, on the street, in shopping malls, grocery stores, even the gym. Yes, I frequently pass by people at the gym that reek of smoke so badly that I almost lose my lunch, and I have often seen people leaving the gym building with an unlit cigarette and lighter in their hands, eagerly anticipating the step onto the sidewalk where they can immediately light up their next smoke. They are smoking terrorists. Switzerland is the "Land of Smoking's Past", where none of the knowledge and statistics on smoking's negative health effects seems to have been noticed or discovered by anyone, perhaps because they have their heads buried so deep in the dirt that they don't notice anything outside the borders of their little 'country that time forgot'. You might be thinking that smoking here is mostly practiced by the older generations, but no, teenagers and younger adults are the worse perpetrators. It honestly seems that smoking frequency is on the rise here in Switzerland, even though 'official' statistics say otherwise. Yes, these are harsh statements, but harsh observations sometimes call for them.
Did I say in my last Post that I would continue to write about more good stuff here? I think so, so now I will. The quality of the food to be found in the grocery stores here, any grocery store, far surpasses what can be found in most stores in America, especially the meat products. There exists here no corn-fed, genetically modified, crap beef and poultry force fed to an oblivious population by ruthless, amoral, unethical, greedy, employee-abusing corporations whose sole focus is on the bottom line and who couldn't care less about the unhealthy shite that they are foisting off onto an ignorant public. I wouldn't say that you can't find healthy, organic food in America, but you have to really look for it, and then pay quite a premium for it, basically about what you have to pay for it here in Switzerland, but here it is everywhere. Most of the meat to be found at stores here is free range, grain fed organic. Most of the fruits and vegetables are naturally fertilized, pesticide free, and organic. Just about everything one can eat, or make into something to eat, from a grocery store tastes better here. Which naturally leads me to wonder why Swiss restaurants make such mediocre food!? How can they take such great ingredients and turn them into such bland, uninspiring dishes? It should be a crime. What is Switzerland's signature food dish? Fondue. Bits of bread dipped into bowls of melted cheese. This is what 500 years of uninterrupted prosperity has produced?! A country with more time on its hands than most couldn't do any better than this?! I do like fondue, but come oooooooooooon! Even restaurants that cook food from other countries cook it bland here. We went to a Thai place a couple of weeks ago, paid twice what we would have in America, and liked what we ate half as much. There is no reason whatsoever to go to a restaurant in Switzerland unless you're on the road and are forced to.
I do want to clarify a few things here. The Swiss do know how to make pretty good pastries and cakes and such, and almost everytime my wife and I are out walking around town, we can't resist buying some different goody to munch on. And sausages. Bratwurst, or roasted sausage, is usually awesome here. There are little stands and stores around most Swiss towns where you can buy different kinds of Bratwurst, and it is usually very good. And chocolate. The Swiss, and Germans, can make some damn good chocolate. If some makes it into our apartment, it doesn't last long, especially white chocolate, which I guess technically isn't chocolate at all, but I love it. That's all for now, gotta go.
The pictures above are of me enjoying myself in a Swiss Conditerai(Bakery Cafe), of Timi hanging out on the shore of Lake Lucerne, and of Timi at the World Snow Festival at Grindelwald.
Just start smoking mate, you won't smell it anymore, and, you'll eventually die early. It's a win - win. Great writing on the blog, keep it up Martin.
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