Phew. The last time you all heard from me, I was living in a different country!
Yup, that’s right, I’m now a resident of Zurich, Switzerland. Well, technically, Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. I live in the city of Zurich which is in the kanton (kinda like a state) of Zurich. To be more specific, I live in quarter 3, or Alt-Wiedikon (which is technically a subset of quarter 3). Ah, but you don’t care – I live in Switzerland, and that’s the exciting part!
The last 3.5 days before I moved, I clocked a total of 1 hour and 4 minutes of sleep. I was so busy I still don’t know how I pulled it off. A huge thanks to all of my friends who pitched in, you know who you are. I also clocked 3 Metallica concerts the week I left. 🙂 I’m still catching 12+ hours of sleep most nights as my body catches up from that week.
Anyway, I’ve now been here just over a week. I’ve been apartment hunting, and doing all the things one needs to do in a new country like get a bank account and a video-rental membership card, etc.
I’ve run into surprisingly little local food as of yet, but I expect that’ll change once I start work and meet people. Most of what I pass is Italian, Chinese, or, less often, Mexican food. I’ve passed a few Indian restaurants as well. But, short of the first night I was here, I’ve been buying food at the store and cooking my own meals until I get more situated (I’m in a temporary apartment with a mini kitchen).
I’ve seen lots of green (trees, plants, grass, etc.), enjoyed laying by the lake, and done a lot of walking around. I can definitely say that so far, I really love this place. It’s definitely a huge change of pace for me, but that’s exactly what I wanted. Something new and different. I’m really loving it!
I have to admit, within the first week I already had 4 things I couldn’t find that I miss: creamy peanut butter, grape jelly, cheddar and American cheese, and Mtn. Dew. At the stores around my place they only had crunchy peanut butter, which of course, suffices, but isn’t quite the same. Fortunately today I was out walking in a new direction and passed a double-M Migros (more on this in a second), and low and behold, I had creamy peanut butter! One thing off the list!
Lets pause here for a moment. There are a few main grocery store chains here in Zurich: Migros, Coop, and some other one I can’t recall. Migros stores will have a big “M” outside of them… or maybe two “M”s. Or, occasionally 3. These refer to the size of the store. My local Migros is a single-M Migros, and as such has a relatively small selection of everything. Today, I found a double-M Migros within walking distance, and it was the size of a small grocery store in the states. It had much better selection of everything – including peanut butter!
Which brings us back to the list. Jelly. OK, so jelly is funny. Even single-M Migros has about 7 different kinds of jelly. Strawberry, blueberry, peach, prune, cherry, raspberry, and a few others. Who’s ever heard of cherry jelly? The Swiss! But no grape. And from asking around, it’s not a selection thing. No one I’ve spoken to (including Europeans not from Switzerland), have never even heard of grape jelly. They look at me like I just grew another head when I say it. So no grape jelly for Phil for a while. No worries.
Cheese. They have Swiss (duh!), brie, feta, cottage, cream, gouda… but neither cheddar nor American. I did manage to find a pack of 10 individually-wrapped slices of cheese that looks roughly like white American cheese. It has roughly th same consistency too. And it’s tasty. I think it may be an approximation of American cheese, but I don’t believe it’s American cheese. The wrapper claims that it is “sandwich cheese.” 🙂
Mtn. Dew. They have both Coke and Pepsi here as well as the respective Diet versions, and 7-up and Sprite. Other than that, none of Coke or Pepsi’s other soda products seem to be available.
Alas, these are things one can live without! I’m looking forward to replacing them with new local foods that I find out I love! It’s all part of the adventure of living some place new and learning a new culture and a new way of life. I’m having a lot of fun out here, and I’m looking forward to the next few years!
I leave you with my My first week in Zurich pictures and story I finished up yesterday. The peanut butter bit is obviously outdated as of today, but other than that, it’s a good account of my first week here.
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