So Friday night, I made it out to see Kill Bill, Vol. 1 at an open-air cinema on the lake, and it was a gorgeous night, with an almost-full, orange moon, full views of the lake and the hills.
Saturday was a frenzy of cleaning and setting up, after a week’s worth of shopping. Managed to roust about 50 people to come to my apartment, where they all complimented the views and the space, but teased me for my lack of furniture. (In my defense, I have ordered a mattress to be delivered to my apartment, so I will soon have a non-temporary, full-size mattress, which is a step up from the loaner, twin-size mattress I’ve been sleeping on. One day, I’ll get a bed frame, and maybe even some chairs and a table. One step at a time.)
Sunday was Swiss National Day, which I spent lounging and picnicking by the lake with some Swiss friends, which was quite nice. Because of Swiss National Day, they really went crazy with the bells. Saturday evening, all of the bells went off for 15 minutes straight, and it turns out that my apartment is perfectly lined up with three bell towers, for optimal bell noise. Sunday, the bells went off for similarly long periods of time at various points throughout the day. I am tempted to get a large bell to put on my terrace to join in the daily bell frenzies, but I've been told that I would get in trouble, since I am not a church. So much for my bell envy.
Still haven’t gotten around to figuring out the trash system here. The trash is collected in each neighborhood according to a set schedule, which you have to look up, and you can only put it out at certain places at certain times, and different types of trash go in different kinds of bags, which you have to buy at special places. So until I figure that out, I have resorted to being a trash-smuggler. Every time I leave the apartment, I put a little bit of trash in a small bag, and toss it in one of the public trashcans. Why don’t I take larger bags out, you ask? Because I might get caught and get in trouble, since those are meant for small litter and rubbish that you generate while you’re out and about, not your own, home-grown garbage.
I got in trouble once for throwing a bag of Fiver's poop into the wrong kind of trash can. The man seemed torn between letting the stupid American get away with it once, or making her fish the bag back out and throw it away in a properly designated dog poo trash can. Fortunately, he let it slide. I don't particularly like digging through the trash to pick things out, especially if what I'm fishing for is a bag of dog poo.
The eco-friendly lack of air conditioning is most noticeable at night. There is little that is worse than lying in bed, being kept up by the heat. And then you have to decide whether you want to open the windows to cool the place down a bit, but also let in church bell noise, or if you want a quiet apartment that is on the stuffy side. It doesn’t get that hot here, really, but it’s still warm enough that we would have the A/C on in the States.
No comments:
Post a Comment