The Art of Garbage

Now one of the first things that really changed us already was garbage. The rules here around garbage are so extraordinary, that if this system was implemented in the US it would change the country overnight. What could possibly change the way you think about garbage? Well, let me explain...

First, food here is really expensive. Eric was notorious at home that if he wasn't in the mood for leftovers, he would eat what he wanted and throw the left overs away. Here, with basic meat for a meal costing $30 or more, you can virtually see little $$ on each bite. We are getting used to the prices slowly (Sue will probably go crazy next time she is in a supermarket in the States), but it still makes you cautious to eat everything. The other reason you don't want to throw it away is...

Here in Switzerland, you do not have a monthly fee for garbage service - you pay for every bag. In Basel you actually pay 2 CHF (about $2) for each special garbage bag (the little kitchen size bags) - here in the suburbs you can buy plain old trash bags, but you have to put these tax coupon stickers on each bag. So even though at home you pay a monthly fee that probably adds up to about the same, when you put that sticker on the bag, you are completely concious of the money you are spending to throw things away - so you do everything you can to not throw things away. There is less packaging that comes with food, so that helps. I think in the first week we actually only used one bag - much less than we would use at home. In the US when you have a whole garbage can to fill, you don't even think about it. Heck, if you make more than your can full, you go to the neighbors and borrow some space from their can - not here, no way.

And that brings us to recycling. Obviously, with the concern here about garbage, recycling is a big deal, too. Now in the US they come to your house and pick up the recycling - it is probably the only way we would actually do it. Here, remember, you don't want it in your trash because you would have to pay more - so they don't come to you - you have to bring it to recycling "stations" around the city. It isn't quite clear what to do, as each recycling station may only take some things - glass only, no plastic; glass and cans, plastic bottles only. So we have had a pile building up in the kitchen, that once in a while gets smaller when Eric can find a place to take those things - inevitably some things come back home as we can't find the place to drop them off.

The best, though, was the recycling section in the "Welcome to Basel" book we got from the relocation people when we got here. They have 5 full pages of items listed in alphabetical order, so you can read where to take it. Quite handy, and useful to figure out where everything can go. It covers the gamut, from electronic equipment, to car tires to the basics like glass and plastic bottles. But the best part of the directory was the added commentary regarding how you should lead your life - let me give you some of the best examples (word for word - no editing on my part):

Cans: Try to buy seasonal fruits and vegetables as much as possible. Take cans ot the metal collection or give them to the metal collector.

Battery Recycling: When possible use carbon zinc batteries. Avoid alkali/manganese batteries - they contain more mercury. Purchase rechargeable batteries and a recharger. Also consider a plug in AC/DC adapter or charger to use with appliances. Return old batteries to the store.

Disposable Diapers: In the garbage, never the WC. Here is another case where avoiding the use of something is better than disposing of it. The routine use of disposable diapers on most babies today is one of the major causes of hte growing refuse problem. Cloth diapers, while intensive in terms of human energy are still cost effective and environmentally friendly.

Wow, think what disposable diapers costs in terms of garbage tax coupons!

tulips. volcanos, and fire

Tulips

So spring has sprung here in Basel, and it is amazing. We can grow anything in California, but we can't grow tulips like they have here in Switzerland. Not only are people's yards full of them, but the city medians and tram stops are full of the most amazing arrangements - Corte Madera Beautification Committee, eat your heart out. To go past just tulips, the magnolia trees and other trees are all in crazy bloom - it is just wow wow wow everywhere you go. As there has been little rain and no wind, it seems like it will last forever, but today was the first day I saw the beginning of the end - tulips starting to open wide; leaves starting to show up on the trees - I need to keep enjoying these bulbs and spring blooms as I can tell that they will pass soon.

Volcanos

Some people e-mailed asking us if the volcano was affecting us - so here is the update: we couldn't see any ash here in Switzerland, but truthfully I don't think you could see it anywhere (except maybe Iceland itself). The impact was huge, though - not only for Sue's company (drugs don't ship either when planes are not flying) but people at her company (stranded for a week), and our friend Rob, our official first visitor, had to take a train from Brussels instead a plane. But he got here nonetheless, and we were thrilled with his second visit, on the way back from Milan, because he couldn't get a flight back to Frankfurt to get back home. It was also an amazing sight to NOT see any planes flying all weekend - ala September 11th - made us all realize how little control we really have sometimes...

Fire

Now this is the best part. Some people have asked us what feels different - well, let me tell you, it is the joy of fire. Switzerland is every boy's dream come true - there is fire and the possibility of fire EVERYWHERE. We have gotten out frequently to go hiking - there are amazing trails everywhere, and just 10 minutes from our temporary housing there are great woods to go hiking through. And every 10 minutes or so in the woods you find fire pits - some like campfires at campsights - nice and official; some just spots off the trail where someone could not contain themselves and had to build a fire.

You think I am joking, but I am not - ask Rob - he saw it, too. He actually helped us stoke an old set of coals back into a fire.

The official fire pits are for people to come and grill and picnic - and the signs say it is ok to collect wood as long as it has fallen down (no chopping down your own trees) - but it is hard to imagine for a California girl that it is ok to start fires in the middle of the woods!

So the kids had fun adding to the stoked fire - closing it out with a pee-ing ceremony as you should put out any fire that you start. Next time we will have to make an official grill out and bring along the picnic.

What else is going on? Bennett celebrated his 7th birthday (got a Swiss Army knife), Karl is excelling at German class, and Eric lost both of their backpacks on the tram one day. All in a day in Switzerland...

Wilkommen Switzerland!!

So we can't believe we are finally here (see photo of our new doorbell)! After all the months of discussion and planning, we finally arrived here in Switzerland on April 6th. The weeks leading up to getting here were quite an adventure:


First, there was closing out the remodel on our house. Everything came down to the wire (funny how it works that way) with the final work both on the driveway (one contrator) and the interior finishing (another contractor) and refurbishing the pool (another contractor) all wrapping up in the last two weeks of our stay in California. Eric had a triple digit punch list that required daily management - at times hour by hour agendas to coordinate between people getting into the house, pick ups of various items - let's just say there was a lot to do those last two weeks just to get the house ready just to leave it.


Second, were all the festivities. Wolfe our neighbor actually characterized the last few weeks as feeling like the Christmas season - so many get togethers with friends! First, we had a going away party thrown by close friends; then Sue's brother and his clan came to visit; then there was the going-away party we threw, complete with taco truck for 140 of our closest friends; then three days later we had 20 or so people drop in for Eric's 50th birthday; then a going away dinner with the neighbors, and let's not forget Easter dinner with the Grams and Pardellas. And all of that does not include additional going away parties from the kid's friends (who will forget St. Patrick's day at Skunk Hollow with 800 gold coins hidden for the kids to find!), the kid's teachers, Sue's work... it was an amazing time to connect with friends and realize how lucky we are to have such great people in our life. A few special Thank You shouts:

- Thank you Rene and Sarah for the great going away dinner - complete with Switerland quiz!

- Thank you Jenny and Jamie for the suprise party and treasure hunt!

- Thank you Dana for the Rick Steve's book and protecting some treasures that we didn't want to move!

- Thank you Tom and Anke for feeding us our last three nights, taking the kids for a sleepover, and baby-sitting the cacti - we so appreciate all your support!



So the excitement really started on March 29th, when a random question from another coworker moving to Switzerland started a crisis: "How long will it take at the Consulate to process my visa?" What visit to the consulate? We didn't have a plan to spend time there -no one told us we had to do anything!! Logic would assume we knew this, but we had been told in December that we didn't need to do anything else. So balls were dropped, and we had to crash our schedules to get to the consulate, and through some amazing string pulling we got our visas in our passports by April 1st.

That was the day when the movers came to take everything away. We mean everything. Quick as a flash, two days later, all was gone, and we finally had the feeling that this was real, and there was no going back. We spent three nights at the Marin Suites (quite nice, actually) and tried to fit in all the last minute things: buy new school supplies for the kids (as much as is available in the US), clean the property of all final trash, install curtain rods (did not all get done), and get the kids haircuts (that didn't happen).

So our flight on Monday night was smooth as silk - and the kids must have slept at least 9 of the 11 1/2 hours (I guess when you are so small in that business class seat it really does feel like your bed at home!). We did get questioned at customs due to our cardboard boxes for luggage (any motor parts in there? anything purchased in the last 6 months?) - once we explained that we were moving here, the smiles started and all was good. Our arrival had the small hickup of no one there to pick us up, but one quick phone call remedied that, so we got to our temporary apartment in fine shape. We will be here until July when our permanent residence in Basel is available.

So Week 1 has been fine - sleeping is not so good but getting better (what fun to be up from 2 am to 5 am with Bennett who refuses to sleep and is asking questions like: why is life so long? how do you know if someone wants to be cremated or buried [and when he asked me what I want and I said cremated he started crying so I had to take it back]?), and food shopping is really expensive. But for the most part things have been really smooth - let's see what Week 2 brings as school starts for the boys...