Weekly Digest

Seasonal maintenance in Lausanne

All the fun and awesome adventures have gotten in the way of blogging once again.  The coldest winter in recent history has been letting up and we have found ourselves getting out more to enjoy our Swiss story.  A quick observation I've been wanting to share has to do with how much manpower the Swiss invest into proper maintenance of their urban greenery.


I am still in awe of all the systematic winter pruning that has been done all around town.  Sometimes the tree line along an entire street is speckled with crimson, as these crews busily work away.  Of course this diligence goes hand-in-hand with other forms of care-taking of public  infrastructure.  Streets sweepers constantly canvass the sidewalks for litter and street signs are carefully hand washed.


I walked past a worker not long ago carefully removing the remnants of an old sticker someone deposited above / on the hood of an ATM machine, using a razor blade.  In most places outside Switzerland, this weathered, faded old sticker would have become a familiar sight for customers, a stable fixture of the ATM.














On Sundays we have been making regular pilgrimages to the Monterux-Vevey region to take in the sites of the beautiful Swiss Riviera.  I love the atmosphere of Montreux and getting lost in the old town area.


                                                                                                  

Montreux rooftops

A few weekends ago we drove to the Neuchâtel Museum of Art and History to visit some of the oldest automata ever built by famous 18th century Swiss watchmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz. These three androids (The Writer, The Cartoonist, and The Musician) are also considered by some to be the oldest examples of the computer. On the first Sunday of each month, these fine historic pieces of precision technology are demonstrated to visitors at certain hours of the day. While they are on exhibit daily, available to visitors in a silent, motionless state, we went to see them in action. The demonstration revealed amazingly complex mechanisms, which, back in their time attracted world-wide attention from emperors and kings, and captivated public imagination (e.g.Andersen: The Nightingale) 

This is the mechanical hand behind the Musician.  Her chest rises and falls with breath as Jaquet-Droz also built-in subtle details such as head and eye movements. 

I recorded this brief  video for you so you don't have to go all the way to Neuchatel in order to admire this amazing talent of a watchmaker. Then again, you might just want to anyway. The Writer was out sick, but the other two worked very well:

The public fascination with automata hasn't died over the centuries.  Robots are now a fact of life, and a new Scorsese movie Hugo, based on Brian Selznick's novel also prominently features an automaton.  It was really fun taking a trip back in time when this romance with androids all began.

C'est une catastrophe!

‎"Madame, Le matériel scolaire de Big Moose est dans un état catastrophique! Avec mes salutations,  Teacher"

There you have it.  It really is more fun receiving notes in French from the kids' teachers, even when said note is meant to be scolding.  I just love how polite written communication always is here.  

Big Moose's teacher communicates in writing, and Google Translate has been a good friend.  And actually, she is quite fun.  She even took the children to Lausanne's Circus School on a field trip.  The kids spent a morning learning all things circus.  I mean, wouldn't you have loved to have a teacher who does that? J'adore!

source: http://www.ecoledecirque.ch

Small signs we are not in America

Somehow January is a slow month for this blog, no matter what the venue.  The children are in a routine of now-familiar school days and local discoveries / travel on weekends.  The weather has been quite pleasant, save for a few foggy  days, we had tons of sunshine and blue skies. I have been silent for a while and have a few posts to catch up on.  In the meantime: some small everyday observations:

Wine bottle apron: corrupted toddlers?

 This handsome wine bottle apron was handmade by Small Fish at preschool.  It was her Christmas present for her Dad.  So cute!  For me she made an equally cute kitchen towel decorated with her own hand prints.  This is all so very cute, right?

Yes it is.  It is adorable indeed.  But there is a greater lesson in all this.  It is funny what things stand out to one when living abroad.  It got me thinking: I just can't imagine this happening at an American preschool.  The wine apron, that is.

Inevitably there would be that parent (or two) who would be outraged that toddlers are creating craft works with a purpose that serves, or aids wine consumption.  These parents would no doubt be vocal and would make sure such a thing as this never happened again.

 I love it.  It is a beautiful wine bottle apron.  And I am glad to be a part of this community where no one bats an eye that school teaches children that wine - this historically and culturally significant and enjoyable drink - is a part of life.

Now onto a more funny school project, and this one is also from Small Fish.  What would you think Swiss preschoolers cut out of paper?  What paper doll would decorate the mantel at home?  Yodeling Heidi?  Alphorn Julian?

No, Small Fish came home with an ice fishing Eskimo Girl.  The irony doesn't escape me.  We had to move to Switzerland to make one of these.  Still, very cute.

Swiss Miss

Small Fish is thriving, learning new words and growing bigger every day.  The wine apron she made, I suspect, will be a treasured kitchen item for years to come.  I raise my glass to common sense and to a society where knee-jerk overreactions are not the norm.




And here she is, the artist herself.  Small Fish came home with face paint from preschool the other day (super cute).

Sweet Small Fish 

When you are in Geneva around December 12

Old Town Geneva

chances are you will find yourself among soldiers in 17th century period costumes, marching bands parading to the music of drums and flutes, the air filled with the thundering sound of cannon fire and thick smoke from hundreds of torches.  If you also find a cup of mulled wine in your hand then you can be sure that you happened upon La fête de l'Escalade, an annual historic celebration marking the defeat of the Duke of Savoy in 1602.  

Here is the gist of it:  the Duke of Savoy launches an attack on Geneva in the middle of the night, night guard raises the alarm, church bells are rung, the good citizens of Geneva fighting alongside their militia defeat the attack.  But legend has it that a mother of 14 children who lived right above the town gate took a cauldron of hot vegetable soup and poured it onto the attackers who were scaling the walls, killing a few and helping the cause.  For this reason, and to commemorate soup flinging Mother Royaume, street vendors sell hot vegetable soup, while candy shops offer miniature cauldrons made of chocolate and filled with marzipan vegetables called a marmite.  Of course we had to come and see all the commotion.  Since children also dress in costumes and participate in a lantern parade, Big Moose decided to wear his Guy Fawkes mask to town.

Marmites and marzipan vegetables

Big Moose en route to Geneva

We really enjoyed the Old Town atmosphere.  But the real highlight was the secret tunnel that is only open to public once a year, on this momentous occasion.  The Passage de Monetier takes visitors along the base of the old fortification walls under the Cathedral.  Legend has it that this secret passage played a key strategic role during the night battle.

Big Fish and Big Moose entering the secret passage

J and the torch boy

At the end of the tunnel guess what awaits those willing to walk in the footsteps of these historic ghosts:  more mulled wine.  This is a picture of me waiting in line to get some:

It is customary for children to break the chocolate cauldron and shout: "Ainsi périssent les ennemis de la République! " (Thus perish the enemies of the Republic)  In the end, amid many guns, much liquor and battle reenactments galore, we, and the good citizens of Geneva, saved the town from peril once again at the Escalade 2011. 

Big Moose in the moonlight

Lanterns and cobble stone

My nuclear bunker is full of junk

but more on that later.  This is just to let you all know that we are now insured for 100 million francs in car liability insurance.  Although this comes with a nuclear facility clause (one must always read the fine print!) so that if we were to damage a nuclear plant our insurance will only cover 20 million.  In case you didn't yet know, in Switzerland one must be insured for all sorts of things.

There is also Civil Liability insurance of course for non-vehicular instances, such as a scenario in which Small Fish breaks a toy at her preschool.  Imagine my surprise when I naively showed up on her first day and the teacher asked for a copy of our CL insurance.  Her eyes got wide too in disbelief at how unprepared we were in such matters.  "But what if she breaks something?" she gasped.  It was a mutual culture shock moment.

Yep, the Swiss are prepared.  By law every dwelling must have a fallout shelter for every resident, so it is not surprising that Switzerland is number one in the world in nuclear war preparedness with a shelter to house  80% or so of its residents. Some towns hand out iodine tablets as new residents register, but we were not so lucky in Lausanne.

Our nuclear bunker is full of construction materials and tools, but I guess it's still good to know that we have a place to wait out a bomb raid.  Then we will perhaps see if the saying is true that after a nuclear fallout only cockroaches and Swiss will remain....and a few lost Alaskans.

This little piggy went to market

Potted olive tree for sale at the florist

...and came home with exotic delicacies to delight all senses.  I love Saturday markets in Lausanne.  There is a special atmosphere in the old town beneath the Cathedral on Saturday mornings, where street vendors sell local fruits, vegetables, cheeses, flowers, wine, as well as produce imported from far away.  We have enjoyed Moroccan spices, Italian artichokes, flowers from Provence, cakes from Algeria -the list of items is too long.  You just have to go check it out for yourself some day.  By the way, having come from Alaska, I am still amazed that there are olive trees around us, ones that bear fruit in November.  I like this climate (although I admittedly miss Alaska too).

It was here, at the Saturday market last week that we came to know Fatiha, Algerian angel, pastry chef, and our new best friend.  Fatiha and her husband Jean-Pierre run La Maison des Amandes, a pastry shop in Vevey.  On Saturdays they set up in Lausanne and sell their hand-crafted oriental pastries in the street.  Well, let me tell you these cakes taste even better than they look.  But more than that, you rarely meet a woman as energetic, kind and magnetic as Fatiha.  We are repeat customers now, and we come back to talk to her as much as we do for her fine pastries.

Fatiha's craft

The quality of food in Switzerland would deserve its own blog entry, but really, there is so much to blog about and so little time.  We still shop at big chain grocery stores too just as we did in the US, but even the big store-experience is a bit different.  For one, as you enter you will see that many shopping carts are equipped with a giant magnifying glass to better read ingredients with.

I will share a quick anecdote though.  Some time ago here in Suisse, I caved to the onslaught of begging from my children to score some Fruit Loops, thinking this small treat will ease their homesickness.  I inconspicuously buried a box at the bottom of my shopping cart feeling like I was acquiring a banned substance in a land of well-groomed, well-fed offspring.  At the checkout, I half-felt like I was fulfilling some negative stereotype of Americans and their junk food as I placed the colorful box on the belt.  I figured the health-conscious Swiss never stoop so low as to serving Fruit Loops for breakfast.  When we got home, and the young ones immediately dug into the box, we still felt like we were getting away with something.

Until we poured the first bowl.  "What the heck?" said Big Moose.

Swiss Fruit Loops look different.  Their colors are muted, because they are, as it turns out, colored with natural ingredients such as spinach, carrot, and paprika extracts.  Swiss Fruit Loops taste the same, but much less sweet.  As it turns out, Kellogs manufactures a much healthier version for some markets (EU, Swiss, Australian) than the US due to strict food regulation.  Check out the difference, here is a quick comparison:

Swiss Fruit Loops (each 30g serving)
sugar: 7.5 g
protein: 2.5 g
calcium: 29 % of recommended daily intake


US Fruit Loops (each 30 g serving)
sugar: 12 g
protein: 1 g
calcium: 0 % (except when milk is added)

Reading the list of ingredients gets even more interesting, as the Swiss version has roughly 7-8 listed ingredients with the first being cereal flours in 76 % by weight.  What is the number one ingredient in the US version?  Yep, you probably guessed it: sugar.  I will not read all the ingredients on the US box, but let's just say the list is far longer, and the words a lot less likely to be found in a regular dictionary.  Looking at the Swiss box, I see words like carrots, vegetables, and cereal and my brain doesn't hurt.  Looking at the US box, I see the preservative BHT.  Not good news for US kids.  Anyhow, the moral of the story: The Swiss are looking out for their junk food junkies.  Thank you Switzerland.

What do Swiss millionaires do for fun?

source: Bloomberg

The CEO of Hublot, Jean-Claude Biver herds cows.  His cows adorned with flower bouquets and bells, Jean-Claude herds his heifers every winter 16 kilometers from their summer mountain meadows down to his farm.  Cows that, by the way, produce five tons of Gruyere-styled cheese annually.

According to this article, having a life outside the office makes for better CEOs.  

I will add that perhaps the opposite is also true: having the office of a successful CEO makes for a better life outside the office.  At least it sure seems that way.

On random things Swiss

Some random thoughts on everyday Swiss life:


On banking

The rumor is true:  Swiss banking is indeed marked by efficiency and security.  For example, customers are given one of these calculator-looking things for internet banking.  It provides an extra step in security, as one needs not only web-based credentials to log into their account, but also one of these gadgets with a bank card inserted into it.  The procedure consists of a series of steps in which the magic calculator and bank mother ship go back-and-forth generating security codes.  Internet code to type into calculator.  Calculator code to type into internet.  Many codes, user names and such later VOILA! you're allowed access to your account via the net.

On a different "note" - I am not used to banknotes in the denomination of one thousand.  On a special occasion I had to withdraw some cash, the kind of amount that would take a few minutes, a few counts and re-counts by the teller, and an envelope in my hand in the end in the US.  Well, not so en Suisse.  I was surprised when the lady at the counter handed over 4 banknotes.  Counted once.  No envelope.  That's all, next!  Yep, banking is a totally different experience here.






On Shopping

What is the one thing you must have when shopping on foot in hilly Lausanne?  A Granny Cart like this one:

Thank you Granny Cart, for making my life easier!






On Cooking

Things aren't always what they seem.  This is especially true when doing benign things such as shopping or cooking in a foreign land.  Your stew meat might come from Seabiscuit.  Those meatballs?  Turkey testicles. Yesterday's mishap wasn't quite as exotic as that.  However, the baking dish I used for preparing Saturday's lunch, the one that looked and felt like glass wasn't glass at all.  My first clue came when, peering through the oven door, I saw my lunch morph into a Dali painting.  By then it was too late for the dish and for our lunch, although it did have a special ambiance sitting on the counter.

Just stuff

Then the small stuff, the subtle things that often signal when you are in a different place are signs.  Store fronts, street signs, traffic signs, and even bathroom signs.  These are the signs for boys' and girls' bathrooms in local elementary schools in Lausanne, at least in the few I have been in.  So cute, so different somehow.

----What I really like are the self-cleaning toilet seats that are so common here (link is not my video by the way).  Going to the bathroom abroad is a true cultural experience in itself.

And there you have it: all you didn't know you needed to know about banking, shopping, cooking and toilets in Switzerland!

Part 2: Our Apartment

This is the view out our back windows and balcony.  That freaky looking mannequin torso is a riddle.  Perhaps it is an anti-pigeon measure.  Then looking up we see a hill (of course, this is Lausanne), with a footbridge.  

Looking down

Looking up

Kitchen:

Living room:

And now I run out of pictures. And there you have a glimpse into our Swiss apartment.  Ciao!

This Swiss Story Begins

Small Moose looking down from the Cathedral area to the Old Town

Hello friends and family of This Alaskan Backyard!  Long time no see for sure.  We disappeared into a great abyss somewhere between Alaska & Hungary, and have been unusually silent.  I have ignored this blog far too long, and now have thousands of pictures to down/upload, reduce, tag and many stories to share.  I guess part of the problem now is: I don't even know where to start.  So here I sit with a glass of wine and some Greek olives trying to gain some clarity about where this blog is going.  In the end, I think I will just share random pieces of information highlighted with a random selection of images.  Why it's perfectly appropriate for the occasion since life here is fairly strange and random at the moment.  Welcome to This Swiss Story in Lausanne, Switzerland!

Renato Hausler, town crier of Lausanne

Quick crash course on Lausanne:  hills, scooters, elevators, drinking fountains, town crier.  In more detail: Lausanne is very hilly and wherever you go you will wind up either going up or down.  The next two descriptors are a result of this, and you will see many people of all ages scootering at great speeds downhill, and wherever you go you will inevitable wind up at public outdoor elevators, some accommodating up to 26 people or 2000 kg (yes, this means 26 people weighing no more than 77 kg = 169 lbs each, so be careful who you ride with), and these will transport you up above to the street or bridge going over your head or down below to the subway or street under.  Drinking fountains are all over the place. I mean old-fashioned, elaborately decorated with carvings and stone work making them irresistible to the children.  By now I think we have drunk out of all of them.  The town crier, or guet is no joke either: the 12th century Gothic cathedral has one who shouts the hour and an "all is well" between 10pm and 2 am.  We live close enough where we can actually hear him.

I started a new job last week.  The three older children have all started Swiss schools- but this would deserve a blog entry of its own.  In short, Big Fish lucked out in a high school with a million dollar view and for now taking just french classes until she gets the hang of it.

Big Moose has had a rough start, where he fell from cuddly-cute elementary school into a Victorian middle school (runs from 5th-9th grade though).  He is in a special class for new arrivals who speak no french.  The first two weeks were a bit like Planet of the Apes meets Lord of the Flies while alpha-wanna-be males flexed their muscles in an attempt to rule the roost but without a common language to help along (or, maybe these types are non-verbal to begin with).  I have had to give the teacher a talking to, call the principal and the coordinator of foreign students to throw my weight around.  For now it seems the mood has calmed down.

Small Moose is in regular Kindergarten with Swiss students.  Due to the less stringent academic requirements of this age group he is fine learning french as he goes along.  He would be in 1st grade in the US, but here Kindergarten is two years, plus the age cutoff for students is June 30.  He was born in July. Darn it.

Lausanne scene with drinking fountain

And now the perks: 2 hour lunch breaks during which the children come home.  The older two commute on the city bus system, and they enjoy kicking their shoes off and resting for a bit at midday.  But should they decide to stay to eat at the cafeteria, it is staffed with a real chef who cooks real meals.  Nothing is microwaved, frozen etc.  They serve a 3 course meal, with fresh baked croissants and such.  On Wednesday there is no school for primary grades all day,  and for the older ones the afternoon is off.  Glorious siesta time!  The academic calendar is a bit different also, there are more frequent breaks such as 2 weeks off in October, and April, another week off in February and so on, and then summer break is 6 weeks instead of 12.  This gives ample opportunities for skiing, hiking, yodeling, fondue eating and resting.  Many challenges lie ahead not only for the children but for me as I am trying to decipher homework and notes from teachers in french.  So far I am amazed at how well they have handled the barrage of new information and experiences coming at them.  Proud of my kids I am :)

Restaurant sign