Grand Archives

Photo by Hafenkneipe-zh.ch.

Coming from "The Live Music Capital of the World", Austin, TX, it seems only fitting to check out the music scene here in Zurich. Is it cheating that we saw a Seattle-based band? We got a solid recommendation from our music-guru friend, Marc (yes, the Marc that visited us over New Years). He described the Grand Archives as a mix between Band of Horses (one of my favs), My Morning Jacket (one of Josh's favs), and The Flaming Lips (a lot of people's fav). Can't go wrong with that description.

Pretty straight forward. Buy a couple tickets. Go to show. But, you know with me there is always a story. The night almost didn't happen. Josh of course had a meeting that wasn't supposed to be done until 8pm. Ok. Not too much of an issue. The band goes on at 8:30pm. Hopefully the venue wouldn't be too packed and we could still squeeze in. Well, at 8pm guess who I hear from. Joshua saying his team hadn't even presented yet. Argh...Google...Marissa...why do you always get in my way of having a good time?

Now it is 8:20pm (it takes at least 20 minutes to get to the venue from our flat). Josh leaves me one quick AIM note saying "meet me in 10 minutes". Ummm...where? Now you see where I am going.

We both end up running all over town in the freezing cold trying to find each other. Mind you, Josh's phone is of course dead. I think Josh remembers to meet me over at Schmiede Wiedikon tram stop, but not sure he knows how to get there. He thinks I might meet him at Maneeseplatz bus stop. I start to wonder if he meant to meet him at Google because I don't think he knows where the band is even playing. It was one big cluster. We both basically made circles around one another finally seeing each other at the tram stop next to the show venue.

I jump off my tram to run over to him just in time to see him get on the tram to go back home. I start banging on the window, he sees me, tries to get off, but he is stuck going to the next stop. Eventually he makes his way back to me and we get to see the last two songs of the show. What a mess.

From the small amount of music I got to hear, I can say I wish I had seen the whole show. They didn't disappoint. And, Hafenkneipe reminds me of Emo's back in Austin. Dug it for sure. Maybe we will meet again back in the States. Check out their music if you are looking for a little something new.

Top 10 List: Things Y'all Take for Granted When Living in the States (con't)

Without further ado, here are the final TOP 5 "Things Y'all Take for Granted When Living in the States". You may see a reoccurring theme here. Trust me. This isn't only my stomach pains talking, but each of my other expat friends as well.

Photo by Made in Mississippi

5. The Traditional American Breakfast. The very reason the majority of Americans are overweight. A staple of our culture. Pancakes and bacon. Oh, that sweet smell of grizzle. There are no more Sunday brunches or even Bisquick to be bought at the grocery. And, they say they have bacon, known as speck over here, but it is no crunchy, blackened, fatty strips like we see at home. I am sure somehow the Swiss have also managed to make this healthy for you. It probably comes from "happy" pigs, which means no extra goodness and no extra yummy taste. I have had to learn how to make pancakes from scratch and Mom had to smuggle in the Aunt Jemima. Gotta do, what you gots to do.

4. Turkey. You can go to the grocery here and pick up any cut of pork possible, but there are no "happy" turkeys laying around. I shouldn't say none because they do have a few turkeys in the store around Thanksgiving if you want to pay about $10 a pound and there are a couple tiny slivers packaged up in the refrigerated section, but there is no walking into Central Market (oh, I miss you too) on any Tuesday morning to pick up a 5 lb breast to bake up for the week. Oh, no, no, no. There is none of that. And, not that my kosher upbringing has made me stay away from pork for the religious reasons, but I just didn't grow up eating it and my taste buds reject the squealing now. Leaving only chicken and beef as choices. Poor Josh. He is stuck grilling up hamburgers at least once a week now. For that, I am not complaining.

3. BBQ. I think I might have to bust out the last vacuumed sealed package of Rudy's that Marc brought tonight. Surprising that this is number three on my top 10 list since I grew up hating the stuff. But, once I figured out not all BBQ was the same and that there was way better out there besides Angelo's, now my heart beats for some 1/3 lb moist brisket, small cream corn, and an orange Fanta from Rudy's to wash it all down or even some baby back ribs from Artz Rib House. I'm flexible.

2. Mexican Food. Including, but not limited to, queso, quesadillas, fajitas, and margaritas. If I could only have one more day at Curra's. There is nothing even close to mexican food out here, which you could probably guess considering where Switzerland is located in relation to where Mexico is, but still. I need to start developing my business plan for the first queso/margarita food trailer in Zurich. As long as I can control myself from eating and drinking all the profits, I think we could have a winner.

And....the NUMBER ONE thing Y'all Take For Granted When Living in the States...drum roll, please...

Photo by benketaro.

1. Velveeta and Mac 'n Cheese. Hands down this is the number one requested item to be smuggled into the country. I realize we are living in cheese central, but there is just no replacement for good old fashioned, processed cheese food. On my first trip to the grocery store, I may have even cried as I walked endlessly up and down...and up and down...and up and down the aisles hopelessly looking for a blue box of goodness. I found one microwavable meal that they called mac 'n cheese, but it was no Kraft. Mom has now been responsible for my macaroni needs. I have to ration the stuff out to me depending on when the next trip from the parents is scheduled. The stash is getting low. Just another reason for the trip to San Francisco. I think I can make it another couple weeks. It will be  hard, but I will be strong.

Here's the take home message for all you friends of expats living in the States. You need to take one for the team and on your next trip don't question our crazy rantings for which processed foods we need brought over, just smile and nod your head "yes". We need your help.

I think it is only fair that a Top 10 List of what Switzerland has to offer that the States can't make an appearance on Peterthals.com. This probably won't be driven by my obsession with food. And, even as I look at all the snow falling outside, there are still many other reasons to be here. Next list coming soon.

Top 10 List: Things Y'all Take for Granted When Living in the States

I can see the dirty disease of homesickness starting to creep into the room. I have been pretty darn successful stuffing it away in a closet and not opening the door. But, with all this talk about jealousy and now that I bought a plane ticket for San Francisco early February, home has been on the brain. I think it's time to share with you what it is really like living on the other side of the pond. What you have to give up for this experience. For all those soon-to-be expats making the big swim over, be aware that life of endless travel does have its' downsides. So...here is my "Top 10 Things Y'all Take For Granted When Living in the States" list. Oh, how I miss thee.

10. Lines Meaning Something. There is this weird phenomenon here that lines mean nothing. People do form and stand in lines here, but for no reason in the long run. Example. The airport. The plane is here, people start walking over to the gate, and form a line. Once they start boarding the flight, the once beautiful, straight line turns into a mosh pit. Elbows out. Each passenger for themselves. Europeans actually make fun of us Americans for being such pushovers. We interpret it as being courteous.

9. English. I think it took me a good three months before it didn't completely throw me off when the first words I heard in the morning were "Gruezi" or "Morgen". Who? What? Is this a dream? Something so simple as language is a comfort you seldom realize til it ain't there anymore.

8. No Reservations. My new, fav restaurant here is Lily's Stomach Supply. Not sure if it is because it ONLY costs us $65 for dinner (cheap by Swiss standards) or the fact I don't have to call and make reservations before hand. Even for lunch, you are supposed to make reservations. It puts a little damper on being spontaneous.

7. Lululemon and Vinyasa Yoga Classes with Gio. For a girl that lives in workout gear, there is nothing...nada...zip...for comfy, cool, "I never want to stop wearing you" exercise clothes. Nothing. And, yoga classes in general have been a disappoint to put it nicely. I miss all the equipment back in the States, especially the yoga walls. Which I promise you, someday, I will have in my house.

6. Alamo Drafthouse. Josh and I must have gone here once every couple of weeks back in Austin. This is more than just your regular, boring, old movie theater. They had Iron Chef nights, Air Sex competitions, special appearances by movie stars, sing-a-longs and quote-a-longs, TV show nights, you name it, they had it. It definitely fits the city motto of "Keep Austin Weird". Plus, you get to eat and drink during the movie. Popcorn, pizza, fresh-made chocolate chip cookies over ice cream...ahhhh. I am starting to drool a little. Here you have the standard flick, maybe some popcorn if you have cash, and a 15 minute intermission right at the climax of the film. Oh, and it will cost you about $20 for all that (not including the popcorn -- that's another $11).

Do you have tears in your eyes yet? The things I have to go through. Let's take a breather. I don't want to drown you in my sorrows. So I leave you with this. Here's a hint for the final Top 5, coming to you very soon. We haven't even gotten to the food aspect. And, you know how I love me some food!

It's Getting HOT-T in Hier

After writing yesterday's post, surprisingly everyone seemed overly excited about my dog humping comment. Who? What? Dogs humping? Calm down folks. I am actually surprised this was my first run in with some dog-on-dog action here in der Schweiz.

This blog is two-fold, but let's start with the story first. Yesterday was one of the first sunny days I have seen in a while, so I figure I better take Stinky (aka Stella) over to our Swiss version of Town Lake. This is a leash free area at the base of Uetliberg. The day couldn't have been more beautiful. Stella and I are enjoying our stroll, making friends with other pups, I am chatting it up with another dog owner. Nice. Normal. Regular day. We split for a minute from our new friend and her dog....who you should know is a boy dog. A second later I look back just to make sure Stella is in sight and WHAM! there it is. Our new boy dog friend going to town on a girl dog in some sort of a dominatrics getup. Come to find out that was a diaper she was wearing. The dog was in heat!

Both owners start yelling at each other. My best translation is that both are blaming each other for not keeping their dogs on leashes. The woman with the boy dog rightfully screaming at the woman with the girl dog not to bring a dog in heat to an off-leash park. And, the woman with the girl dog screaming back that the boy dog should be on a leash if the owner can't control her dog. A smile just crossed my face. I found it all too humorous. And, then there is Stella trying to bury her nose in the middle of the two lover dogs. Not quite sure Stella had any idea what they were doing. Her virgin eyes are gone forever.

The dogs finally get separated with the boy dog getting put back on his leash while the girl dog is left to roam free to attract the next suitor. We ended up running back into the girl dog and guess who was going through the same argument with another boy dog owner. Yep. Ridiculous. There were some frustrated dogs leaving the park that day.

Which brings me to my second point. How is it that no one neuters or spays their dogs over here? Haven't they seen "The Price is Right" where at the end of every show Bob Barker signs off with his speech about controlling the pet population? Man. Stella got fixed as soon as it was possible. There was no way I was going to deal with that mess. Poor Stella. Just another frustrated dog. Works for me.

Jealousy

I was going to write about the dog humping show at the park today, but after I got home and checked some email a few interesting pictures caught my eye. Let me start from the beginning. The other night I am out with a girlfriend having a beer (or two...ok, maybe three) and I get a message from my dad saying that he got two tickets to the Cowboys v. Vikings football game. Seriously. If you don't know, I am a HUGE NFL/Cowboy/Farve (you can be both) fan and going to this game would have made me cry tears of sweet joy for years to come. But, since I live over here...who gets invited instead...of course...the always lucky brother of mine. I was even checking flights into Minneapolis and my dad actually told me that Dave was already coming and that he would be seeing me in a month anyway. What's the big deal?

Sorry to tell you Dad...I wasn't gonna fly back for you. Love ya, but in your own words, I would see you in a month anyway (insert smile).

Now it is a day after the game and I finally get to catch up with the daddyo. The video chat went something like this...

Me: So, how was it?
Dad: You are going to hate me.
Me: (interested look)
Dad: I actually ended up with FOUR tickets to the game. Dave and Carson ended up coming.
Me: (steam coming out of my ears)
Dad: You are going to hate me even more.
Me: (thinking to myself...oh really, how could that be possible?)
Dad: Our seats were three rows up from the field, on about the 40-yard line.
Me: (thinking to myself...oh, that's how.)
Dad: It was actually a little hard to see some the time. We were so close to the Cowboys bench.
Me: (heart officially broken)

Oh yeah?! Well, I got to sit on our super uncomfy couch and try to make out which of my Cowboys players just fumbled the ball or who threw the interception on my lovely computer screen. But, on the bright side...at least the bench of Cowboys players wasn't getting in my way.

No jealousy here.

*This is all in good fun. I am happy Dave and Dad had such a great time together. I am holding out for Superbowl tickets.

Oh, the Places We'll Go

The next few months are going to be crazy ones. I told this to our friend, Stacie, yesterday over coffee and she just looked at me and laughed. Like when isn't it crazy travel time for us? We have a million cities on the books to see and Josh is finally going to be taking some real vacation time.

After my upcoming father/daughter trip to Vienna in February (so excited), Josh and I are going exploring on our own through southern Spain and Portugal. Figuring we will fly into Malaga and then drive along the coast, with a few detours of course, and end in Lisbon. Some cities of interest are: Malaga, Grenada and the Sierra Nevada mountains, Ronda, Sevilla, Cariz, Faro, Lagos, and ending in Lisbon. I know this all can't be done on our 10 day time frame, but that is where y'all come in. I am looking for your thoughts on which cities are a must see, where to stay, what to do, where to eat, and any other words of advice.

Who would have thought we would be doing this stuff? It still blows my mind. It makes being so far away from everyone and everything we love, a little easier.

Comments are welcome!

Snow beard

While the husband's gone, the kids will play. Took Stella and Josh's macro lens out for some fun in the snow today.