So. Happy Valentine's Day. I had forgotten that it was that time of year until after I had already scheduled a personal fitness assessment at my gym, so I will be spending the evening being weighed, measured, and put through my paces. My gym buddy told me that it's cool, though, they tell you how much fat and muscle you have in each limb and on your torso, not just overall, and she evidently has 400g (almost a pound) more muscle on one leg than the other. It must be because that's the leg she uses to run around and kick people all the time. If I had known the assessment would be so detailed, I would have made a special effort to only work out one muscle group for a couple weeks in advance, to see how much I could skew the results. Yes, other people are having romantic dinners, giving flowers and cards, and doing other woo-natured things, and I'm wishing that I had had the foresight to work out my left buttock.
I came into work on Sunday in order to be extra-productive, and I thought back on the weekends I used to work when I was at the firm in New York. And then I realized that it was the first Sunday I've worked since coming here (Swiss employment law really protects employees' personal time), and felt rather smug about the fact that I'm getting a comp day in exchange for the Sunday at work. Happy employees make productive employees, in my opinion, and Swiss law seems to support that mindset.
At some point on Sunday, I went to use the restroom, and noticed that something was very different. It wasn't freezing cold. The windows were closed. For some reason, a lot of companies, stores, bars, and restaurants in Switzerland like to keep their bathroom windows open. It's fine in the summertime, but when it's snowing and cold outside, there is nothing pleasant about walking into the restroom and realizing that you should have brought your coat and hat. Switzerland has a good shot at winning the award for Coldest Bathrooms in the World. It gives me flashbacks to Girl Scout camp, and using the latrines at night. Yes, there's a ceiling over your head, but it's cold, and the chill in the air only hints at the coldness that is yet to come when you sit down. You wash your hands, and the water sucks any remaining warmth from your fingers, and then you go back to your desk and try to warm your hands up on your dog so that you can type again. It's very odd. They have heat, they have ventilation, so why do they open the windows and turn the bathrooms into walk-in meat lockers?
So today, the front page of the newspaper that everyone reads had an article about the snowstorm that has hit the Northeast, with a picture of people cross-country skiing through Times Square. The article is continued on the second page, where there is another article whose headline says in German, "Three Swiss Flights Cancelled," and goes on to say that Swiss Airlines has cancelled three flights due to the snowstorm, leaving 235 Swiss passengers stranded. This is top news here, folks. A snowstorm in another country that caused three flight cancellations. It's sort of relaxing to have those kinds of headlines, instead of headlines about wiretaps, roadside bombs, and murder-suicides.
My college roommate is coming in for the weekend, assuming that flights have gone back to normal by tomorrow night. She gets in Thursday morning, and I'll take her on the grand tour of Zurich, which will take about an hour, then we'll go to the Turkish baths, have some fondue, and get a good night's rest before heading off to Prague for the weekend. Neither of us has ever been to Prague, and it's been almost a year and a half since we've seen each other, so good times will be had by all. Except for the people who aren't going with us, which is... all of you. After a long weekend of awesomeness, she takes off Monday morning. Watch this space next week for deep thoughts and reliable observations on the Czech people.
I came into work on Sunday in order to be extra-productive, and I thought back on the weekends I used to work when I was at the firm in New York. And then I realized that it was the first Sunday I've worked since coming here (Swiss employment law really protects employees' personal time), and felt rather smug about the fact that I'm getting a comp day in exchange for the Sunday at work. Happy employees make productive employees, in my opinion, and Swiss law seems to support that mindset.
At some point on Sunday, I went to use the restroom, and noticed that something was very different. It wasn't freezing cold. The windows were closed. For some reason, a lot of companies, stores, bars, and restaurants in Switzerland like to keep their bathroom windows open. It's fine in the summertime, but when it's snowing and cold outside, there is nothing pleasant about walking into the restroom and realizing that you should have brought your coat and hat. Switzerland has a good shot at winning the award for Coldest Bathrooms in the World. It gives me flashbacks to Girl Scout camp, and using the latrines at night. Yes, there's a ceiling over your head, but it's cold, and the chill in the air only hints at the coldness that is yet to come when you sit down. You wash your hands, and the water sucks any remaining warmth from your fingers, and then you go back to your desk and try to warm your hands up on your dog so that you can type again. It's very odd. They have heat, they have ventilation, so why do they open the windows and turn the bathrooms into walk-in meat lockers?
So today, the front page of the newspaper that everyone reads had an article about the snowstorm that has hit the Northeast, with a picture of people cross-country skiing through Times Square. The article is continued on the second page, where there is another article whose headline says in German, "Three Swiss Flights Cancelled," and goes on to say that Swiss Airlines has cancelled three flights due to the snowstorm, leaving 235 Swiss passengers stranded. This is top news here, folks. A snowstorm in another country that caused three flight cancellations. It's sort of relaxing to have those kinds of headlines, instead of headlines about wiretaps, roadside bombs, and murder-suicides.
My college roommate is coming in for the weekend, assuming that flights have gone back to normal by tomorrow night. She gets in Thursday morning, and I'll take her on the grand tour of Zurich, which will take about an hour, then we'll go to the Turkish baths, have some fondue, and get a good night's rest before heading off to Prague for the weekend. Neither of us has ever been to Prague, and it's been almost a year and a half since we've seen each other, so good times will be had by all. Except for the people who aren't going with us, which is... all of you. After a long weekend of awesomeness, she takes off Monday morning. Watch this space next week for deep thoughts and reliable observations on the Czech people.
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