So I went back to the doctor’s office early Sunday morning, the bronchitis not having cleared up yet. The doctor prescribed three more medications this time around: antibiotics, another kind of fizzy pill, and cough syrup. In the past, cough syrup always came in fairly large bottles, the syrup itself was clear and relatively watery, it tasted bad for a moment, but it was OK, because you only have to take one spoonful. This cough syrup comes in a bottle that only has six doses in it, which, at three doses a day, only lasts two days, which seems rather optimistic for a bad cough. The syrup is opaque, almost the color of Pepto, the consistency of cream of mushroom soup, and tastes the way that Vick’s Vaporub smells. It also leaves my entire mouth numb for a while after taking it, especially since I have to take three large spoonfuls each time. You would think that its thickness would mean that it’s more concentrated, and therefore requires a smaller does than traditional cough syrup. You would think.
Since I’m on the subject (sort of), let’s talk about other products that have unexpected incarnations in Switzerland. I have always been obsessed with ice cream. The Chinese word for ice cream was part of my earliest vocabulary. The Swiss love ice cream, as well. They advertise it in posters and movie trailers, and there are ice cream stands all over the place. They have also realized that sex sells, and so they advertise their ice cream with suggestive ad campaigns that remind me of American beer commercials. I thought it went a little too far, however, when I picked up a box of bite-sized ice cream bonbons, and they were called “Magnum Moments,” which sounds more like a line of condoms than chocolate-covered ice cream balls.
Another fixation of mine is gummy candy. I could live off of gummy candy, and fortunately, it is popular here, as well. In the past, I was accustomed to eating gummy bears, gummy snakes, gummy cherries, and so on, but each package of candy followed some sort of theme. Bears came with bears, fruit slices came with fruit slices, snakes came with snakes. Here, gummies mix together in one package, and they are not limited to the traditional gummy shapes. Guitars, race cars, camels, letters and numbers, tennis rackets, bottle openers (yes, they make gummy bottle openers), lips, men with ties, they all come in one big package of delicious gummy confusion.
I never cease to be amazed at the Swiss ability to assemble and disassemble large structures quickly and completely. One day, it’s a parking lot, the next day, there is a giant Ferris wheel, and a couple of months later, the Ferris wheel disappears overnight, leaving nary a trace that it was ever there. They also do this inside the main hall of the train station. Since I have been here, there have been large sculpture installations, farmer’s markets, a large Christmas market, and rock concerts inside the train station. Currently, there is a movie theatre. They built an entire movie theatre, complete with stadium seating, velvet curtains, and a box office in the middle of the train station.
Not everything remains a novelty, however. Despite efforts to maintain my own identity and fight Swissification, I have learned to go grocery shopping early and often (although I still sometimes go hungry out of laziness), to take the trash out on appointed days (although I still smuggle trash and cardboard out from time to time), to time my days according to the tram schedules (although I often end up taking one tram later than I had planned, due to my own absent-mindedness). I like the fact that I have adjusted, but I also like the fact that I haven’t adjusted perfectly – my own identity is in there somewhere, fighting against total Swissification. One area in which I have become Swissified, however, in which I never thought I could, is with morning bells. I have clear sightlines, and therefore “hearinglines,” to three churches, and the bells that chime every quarter hour around the clock, with extended ringing before church services, are quite loud. When I moved in, I thought I would never get used to the 15 minutes of bells at 7 a.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. on weekends, but somehow, I now sleep through them. With the help of earplugs, of course. But they used to wake me up, even with the earplugs. Let full Swissification begin.
Since I’m on the subject (sort of), let’s talk about other products that have unexpected incarnations in Switzerland. I have always been obsessed with ice cream. The Chinese word for ice cream was part of my earliest vocabulary. The Swiss love ice cream, as well. They advertise it in posters and movie trailers, and there are ice cream stands all over the place. They have also realized that sex sells, and so they advertise their ice cream with suggestive ad campaigns that remind me of American beer commercials. I thought it went a little too far, however, when I picked up a box of bite-sized ice cream bonbons, and they were called “Magnum Moments,” which sounds more like a line of condoms than chocolate-covered ice cream balls.
Another fixation of mine is gummy candy. I could live off of gummy candy, and fortunately, it is popular here, as well. In the past, I was accustomed to eating gummy bears, gummy snakes, gummy cherries, and so on, but each package of candy followed some sort of theme. Bears came with bears, fruit slices came with fruit slices, snakes came with snakes. Here, gummies mix together in one package, and they are not limited to the traditional gummy shapes. Guitars, race cars, camels, letters and numbers, tennis rackets, bottle openers (yes, they make gummy bottle openers), lips, men with ties, they all come in one big package of delicious gummy confusion.
I never cease to be amazed at the Swiss ability to assemble and disassemble large structures quickly and completely. One day, it’s a parking lot, the next day, there is a giant Ferris wheel, and a couple of months later, the Ferris wheel disappears overnight, leaving nary a trace that it was ever there. They also do this inside the main hall of the train station. Since I have been here, there have been large sculpture installations, farmer’s markets, a large Christmas market, and rock concerts inside the train station. Currently, there is a movie theatre. They built an entire movie theatre, complete with stadium seating, velvet curtains, and a box office in the middle of the train station.
Not everything remains a novelty, however. Despite efforts to maintain my own identity and fight Swissification, I have learned to go grocery shopping early and often (although I still sometimes go hungry out of laziness), to take the trash out on appointed days (although I still smuggle trash and cardboard out from time to time), to time my days according to the tram schedules (although I often end up taking one tram later than I had planned, due to my own absent-mindedness). I like the fact that I have adjusted, but I also like the fact that I haven’t adjusted perfectly – my own identity is in there somewhere, fighting against total Swissification. One area in which I have become Swissified, however, in which I never thought I could, is with morning bells. I have clear sightlines, and therefore “hearinglines,” to three churches, and the bells that chime every quarter hour around the clock, with extended ringing before church services, are quite loud. When I moved in, I thought I would never get used to the 15 minutes of bells at 7 a.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. on weekends, but somehow, I now sleep through them. With the help of earplugs, of course. But they used to wake me up, even with the earplugs. Let full Swissification begin.
No comments:
Post a Comment