I hate this place!

yes, I hate it! I want to go back to comfort of my awesome double bed, cozy little car and easy banking. Spent panicky 30 min trying to find the 20 numbers and passwords and cards and what not required to access the bank account. Finally had to call help line which thankfully spoke English to figure things out. I hate this place, I don't understand the language, I miss Rainier, hiking at truly peaceful places and I miss my car, swimming, going for salsa :(

I hate this place!

yes, I hate it! I want to go back to comfort of my awesome double bed, cozy little car and easy banking. Spent panicky 30 min trying to find the 20 numbers and passwords and cards and what not required to access the bank account. Finally had to call help line which thankfully spoke English to figure things out. I hate this place, I don't understand the language, I miss Rainier, hiking at truly peaceful places and I miss my car :(

Judge food by taste not cover.

In so many ways Zurich or Europe is literally half way between India and US. People still know how to use brain and common sense here. I found this conversation on a hike interesting -
x: hey, what are you eating there?
y: Its dried apricot, a bit old, I am not sure if they are good anymore. Maybe I should not eat, that's why I am not offering to others.
x: If it tastes ok, then it should be ok. Let me try.
(x takes a bite and says its good)
z: Let me try too.
(z also declares that its good)
x: hmm, maybe its good. Does anyone else want to try?

At first I was surprised that no one looked at the cover or mentioned expiry date or even asked how old it is! It was all - if food tastes good, then its good.
Of course that is how we treat food in India, but I would have expected it to go like this -
x: hey, what are you eating there?
y: Its dried apricot, a bit old, I am not sure if they are good anymore.
everyone else - freak out! freak out!
x: what! have you checked the expiry date? How old is it? OMG! Don't even touch it if its expired! Throw it in this bin marked "bio hazard". I am not even sure if it can be composted! SEE THE EXPIRY DATE!

I am so glad the conversation went the way it did. I am beginning to feel more and more at home here.

Identity crisis!

I seem to be in sort of middle of an identity crisis here. I cannot at all decide where I am from. I feel Seattle is home and sight Starbucks brings feeling of 'home'. But then I can never identify myself with US, that will always be in India. But in some sense, I am lot more used to lifestyle in US and when comparing things, I always compare them with US. I have very little idea of current Indian lifestyle. But then culturally, I still feel much closer to Indian culture and nothing for US culture (if there is such thing as culture there!). Of course I feel some connection to Indian folks on street, but then if I find a Seattlite, I am sure I will feel even stronger connection with them, but rest of US, I don't care.

Don't even talk about telling people where I am from! I thought in US when visiting other places I had problems defining that, but its twice as worse here. Do I tell that I am from Seattle / US or do I tell that I am from India which I left 9 years ago. People around me get majorly confused by my answers.

If I say I am from US, they get confused as I definitely look Indian. And I do not exactly speak like a ABCD.

If I tell them I am from India, it works mostly. But it gets confusing soon when I start telling Seattle stories. Or when I say 25C is too hot and I can't tolerate sun. Then I have to explain I have been living in a cave for 6 years. And I have been told more than once that I speak english with an american accent! how dare they! Maybe they just don't know where to place my accent and dump it on America :)

So now I have settled on -
Where are you from?
"I have been living in Seattle, US for long time."
If they want more details - "I was in Seattle for 6 years"
Rest they can assume. If they don't look at me and realize I am of Indian origin, I don't know what's wrong with them and I can't help it!
If they are still interested, I can open the book of my life and tell them all about where I grew up, how I went to CA, then Seattle and then NY in between. Well, they asked for it, I have a complicated life! It has not happened yet :)

Also people seem very interested in why I am in Zurich. I did not come directly from India. I was living in US, a very comfortable life. And I have nobody here, and I did not go to school here. So what the hell am I doing in Zurich. Mostly I have settled on "I wanted to move from Seattle and Zurich is one of the few places which qualify as upgrade in natural beauty"
... or some version of it depending on how good their english is. Most people just agree.
Sometimes I say that I had hiked in most areas around Seattle, so needed a new place. But that is so not true! But partly also true. I was feeling less excited about trails around Seattle. You cannot beat the great views (I am doubting that even Switzerland can beat it), and the idea of hiking will always remain exciting in itself. But in some sense 4 out of 5 places seemed 'seen' or 'familiar'. I had stopped taking pictures and hiking just for the fun of it. Here on the first hike, I could not stop taking pictures. Even though it was not the untouched mountain slopes you see in Seattle, but it was new and different. I do miss getting out into places with no cars or human civilization, just the hikers out there to enjoy nature.

One more hike

yeah, well sort of. I am getting disappointed by the state of 'hikes' here. We would never call such things hike. We started on a nice somewhat foresty train (think Tiger mountain), which was ok, but soon there were houses and sheep, which was cute. But then soon there was a road and cars and random people on 'top'. And from there we took a motor road down. Well, my friends, that's not what you call a 'hike'. Its a walk in park with some elevation gain. We did get to see Alps, but there was also civilization in between. Beautiful lake had 2 bridges and houses all around it. Rolling hills were all dotted with houses. You get a much better remote experience on Tiger Mountain. It did not even meet that standard (which is the lowest of any hikes in Seattle). Maybe its too early, maybe I should just appreciate the fact that I am out hiking in sun while its all cloudy and snowy in Seattle. But the scenery needs to get better else I will be packing my bags soon. I don't think I can spend many months without getting away from the civilized concrete world of houses and fences.

Speaking of sun - its way to strong here. I was completely dehydrated yesterday and its suppose to be spring! what's with that!

PS: I do have pictures from hike, I will post soon. Right now I dont' have internet at apartment.

Apartment!

Got the keys to apartment today! finally! It seemed lot less painful than what people described. I guess I did not have too many constraints. I can slowly move now in next 4 days of chutti!

funf minute!

I forgot to mention another exciting moment. When I was coming back from signing lease for new apartment (oh! I found an apartment! if it was a surprise to you, pay attention!), I stopped at the bus stop to see when was the bus to train station. There was a very old lady there, she was looking at me with interest. I saw the timetable and then looked at my no-watch wrist (yeah, I live in Switzerland and don't own a watch. (Oh! wait! did I just say I 'live' in Switzerland!!)) [back to point].
So I looked and obviously did not find the time. The lady who was looking at me with interest said - "sthg sthg auto sthg funf minute sthg sthg sthg", and guess what! I understood she is saying the bus will be here in 5 minutes. Then she also said "die post", and then I was all confused! But I got it!
It was a Dei Post bus and it came in 5 minutes! woo hoo! Of course I still have no idea what all the other things she said, but I did get 5 words!

4 & 1/2 day weekend!

The looooong weekend is here and I have no plan. I can't help compare it with the July 4th weekend when we would always take a long trip somewhere hiking / backpacking. Its kind of too early for me to plan here. I am sure there are bizzare amount of options here, I just don't know them yet. I do feel like going out somewhere and camping for a day. Snowshoeing would be just awesome! Or I might spend the days in city doing nothing (I bet there are things to do in a city also!).

Hike, train, bike and marathon weekend

Finally got started on hiking in Zurich. I think Uetliborg does not count like Tiger Mtn does not count in Seattle. But was kind of disappointed, as I had completely different expectations. I was expecting mountains, wilderness, snow covered peaks. But this was more of a urban hike, going through city and little hills. I have a feeling that when it comes to wilderness and real mountains, I will have to lower my expectations here. Seattle and its never ending views of Cascades, Olympics, Rockies, Rainier and all other ranges totally spoil you. I miss that getting out of city and being on mountain feeling here. Maybe I need to get further into real Alps.

The highlight of hike though was train back to Zurich from Brugg. We caught TGV coming from Paris. What a train! Its a bullet! luxury! carpet! I want to go to Paris just for the experience of sitting in that train. Also I have to admit, when we got back into Zurich I had this slight feeling of home!

This was also Zurich marathon weekend. I am sure I could not have run a full marathon this year with all the stuff going on. So that was a good decision. But looking at all returning marathoners in their bright yellow 'finished' shirts, I felt like I really want to run this next year. Timing is also perfect, just getting out of winter, starting summer in super form.

Finally getting around to looking for bike. This is truly a biking country, there are bikes everywhere. Weather definitely favours that, its been sunny 15 of the 17 days I have been here. Will probably end up buying a new very similar bike as I have.

1 year commitment to travel on swiss rail

Today finally I went and bought the 1 year half-price swiss rail card. As days go by it feels more and more like I am actually going to be living here. I also went and checked out some bikes and might soon buy a new Swiss (actually German) bike for every day commute. All the talk of travel is so exciting, the reason why I am here :).
Though I still feel that I am here for short time and Seattle is still home. Though actually I am thoroughly confused! Is India home? Is Seattle home? Do I live in Zurich now? Sometimes I wake up and don't know where I am. Yesterday I went to an Indian restaurant, kind of hole in wall, but awesome food. And I felt that I am still sitting in Seattle and then I hear someone speak an incomprehensible language and realize no, its Zurich!
Everything is still strange, but its getting familiar. I am able to understand some German words and my igoogle is also insisting that it should be in German.
ich: hey
Am Samstag um 17:42 gesendet.

15 days - Apartment!

hmm, I think finally found apartment. Nothing fancy, no view, not cheap, not walking distance from office, not bikable, not a gas stove, but that is Zurich! I can still get into office in under 30 min, and there are plenty trains and there are mountain views outside apartment.
apartment

Nothing more exciting after finding the salsa club.

12 days

ok, 12 days as no significance, but its just that I am finally feeling like I am indeed living here and its going to be good. (fingers crossed). In office there is an actual Indian chef who makes real Indian food. Its so awesome! So much better food than what I got in Kirkland, and of course I have already mentioned the quality of food here, no fake GM stuff.

Also went to an 'actual' authentic Indian (Sri Lankan actually) place. Of course I had samosa because I can't make them and they were not good. But the person I went with had idiappam, real good iddiappam with nice daal and what not. Totally unexpected. I had thought here you will get an even worse imitation of Indian food, but it turned quite different.

Apartment also I think mostly resolved. Whoever said getting apartment here is hard. It did turn out to be ok, just complicated by the fact that I was too scared that I am not going to find anything.

People are definitely nicer, rather more genuine. In US everyone around you was friendly. Which was good, I have met some kinda mean people here. But then folks who act friendly are genuinely friendly. Almost daily I am surprised by generosity of my teams here - genuinely interested if I found an apartment, if I need help with German, even accompany me to see apartment! Its just not the same in US. And as I learn more things, it feels its really half way between India and US, so many things are so India like here, still its so different from India.

half-day Monday

Yesterday there was interesting event in Zurich, parade and burning of the snowman. It was one of those rare 2 - 3 days in a year when Zurich actually gets crowded. It was interesting to see all the marching parades from different cantons of Switzerland, dressed in their very traditional outfits. Then there was a big "snow" man that is burnt to predict how good the summer will be, its kind of like ravan dahan. This year its support to be very good, and the snowman's head was blown away really fast.

Second weekend

Sunday night found a salsa club, thanks to friends in office. Definitely highlight of my 10 days in Zurich. It was great. I did miss Danceworks, its just different when you know all people at the party. I could see some folks doing the moves that we learnt at Danceworks and I wished it was Wednesday and I was at the party in Redmond. But oh well, at some point I might get to know more people here and dance away the night.
At the party also met someone who spoke little English, but was Spanish! Vola! Time to practice Spanish. It was interesting how I could slip into speaking broken Spanish over trying to speak mix of few German words and English. I guess its all relative :)

Apartment hunting seems to be coming to an end. Seen good places, 2, both good, both ok, it will be whatever its meant to be.

Also did some shopping over the weekend - bought salt! It is interesting how I could not find bulk rice and aata here. And of course its impossible to shop when you cannot read the labels. I spent 10 min trying to figure out what kind of oil I am looking at till my translate told me that its vinegar. Never seen so many types of vinegars.

Another interesting event on the weekend - while walking down a path by river (its more like a nala but clean), a little girl stopped by me. Probably wanted some attention. So I obliged, and told her "look at you how cute! riding that little bike! What's your name?" Yeah I was in really good mood! She looked like at age where she should be able to understand and speak basic language. So I tried again "what's your name". More blank smily stare. So I thought - what a dumb child. Till then her mother caught up and said something to her, and then I realized - I was speaking a foreign language to her! how interesting!

1 week - Feeling better

1 full week spent here. Can't say it flew by. It did not, I was counting each day and it seemed really really long. But I guess feeling somewhat better, coming to terms with living here. Everytime I can understand a word of German spoken by stranger, its like awesome! wow!

Day 7 - overwhelmed

Almost 1 week complete. Now is the time to feel overwhelmed with apartment search. I have seen 5 so far and all are ok, something wrong with each of them.

Day 5 - Its finally sinking in

yes, its finally sinking in that this is a big change, that I am by myself in this strange country. The initial shock of OMG! I am in Europe! is over, and its S***! I am Europe by myself!
What triggered this - I won't go in details as its office related and confidential and what not. But I suddenly found that I have 0 money here. With one click money transfer from US -> India, you would think it will be half-a click to Switzerland, its after all half way from India. But no, not possible. Of all the things, I did not think that finances is something I would have to worry about.
(don't worry, I am not out on street begging, I still have dear old credit card from US, it is kindda difficult to use it to pay my apartment deposit. Of course working at Google I can eat 5 days a week and fast for 2 days)

... and that was just the beginning. After being spoiled by friendly Seattle folks in office, everyone seems rude here from HR to the security guys. I miss the smiley security folks at Kirkland who always asked me if I am working late - with a smile. Not like why are you entering office so late!

... and bank people. Ok, they are not rude, they are polite in their own way, especially after they look at where you work. Its not their fault that its so complicated to get a bank account here. Don't even ask about getting a credit card when you need it the most. In Seattle, its always smiles - how can we help you today :), can we interest you in this credit card and also give you $40 to take it :). Oh well, no more happy banking.

As is clear, totally feeling home sick today. Need to remind myself why I am here - because I like complicated life and it was getting too easy and comfortable in Seattle.

Looking fwd to some swing dancing tomorrow.

Day 4 in Zurich

Day 4, Monday, new week, back at work. Still trying to decide if I like it here or not. Its strange, its like I have no feelings about this move. Or that I have strong positive and negative feelings and they have mixed to form a no-feeling zone. Still super excited to be in Europe, to start a new life in country with new language, culture and what not. Of course looking forward to traveling all over Europe. Its exciting, its adventure. At the same time, leave all my friends behind, getting started from scratch in this new place where I don't even speak the language is super scary. Yesterday while walking back from office, I had a strange feeling of loneliness and vulnerability! Its like there was a safety net in Seattle, if something happened to me, there were people there. Here its like there is nobody.

The weekend came and went, and there was no party to plan, no one to talk to. Still hard to justify why I took the big step, but of course deep down I know, I wanted to do this. I needed this change, the sense of adventure, knowing and learning something new to feel alive. I am really going to miss salsa, the weekend parties, the mountains that were always there (just behind the clouds).