And this is why I'll be a better me by the end of this year...

http://www.powernet.co.za/demeynier/pic/buffalo_and_beer_theory.jpg

The Swiss office experience

Today I attended my first (personal) apero. For those of you that don't know, the Swiss have 'aperos' after meetings, after events or, as in today's case, to commemorate someone's departure. It essentially consists of a (few) drink(s) and some finger food supplied by the hosting party. I have been to - and taken full advantage of - some company sponsored ones already but today was the first I've attended held for someone leaving the office. Two of our Russian colleagues will be heading back to Moscow at the end of the week and as such treated our group to some Baden brewed Muller Brau, chips, pretzels and crackers. Some nice things were said by the boss and conversation about travel, drinking and, inevitably, Russia flourished while we enjoyed our beers. In the coffeeroom. At work.

Bruce and I noted how foreign this concept is to us as Canadians; back home, beer in the workplace would surely digress into belligerence and topless dancing on the photocopier... I have to say that, while I'm still leaning towards not wanting to work for a big company in the future, the swiss - nay the european - attitude towards work and labor is one that I can far more easily jibe with. From the 25 days vacation to the 1 month's salary christmas bonus to the un-metered coffee breaks, they seem to understand the best way to draw productivity from their employees. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, after all. Throw in the fact that there is a company sponsored doctor across the street and you see that the company really does care for its people.

Actually, the other day I was approached by someone from some labor group or union or some such thing here in Baden. He was trying to tell me how the working class in Switzerland has to fight to maintain and improve its working conditions and I had to stop myself from telling him not to be so bloody greedy!

Forgot to mention...

I think I forgot to mention that I had my first ever (that's right, EVER) experience camping at Gurtenfest. It was cool. But it was also cold and uncomfortable because the sleeping bag I had I bought for spain 2 years ago and was rated for much warmer weather. Also, the ground I pitched the tent on was all lumpy because it had been muddy and people had walked through it leaving large foot-holes... And now I have a cold (may or may not be related)



Still, I'm keeping in mind the extenuating circumstances of the experience and am determined to keep an open mind for the next time I partake: Oktoberfest. Who am I kidding, I'll be too drunk to care!

Flickr

So, recently acquired a shiny new DSLR. I hope to turn it into a bit of a hobby and everyone else who does that seems to use Flickr so now, so do I! (I am capable of being original but then so is everyone else)

My username is LukeyPru (courtesy of Rachel) if you'd like to check it out!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukeypru/

Unforunately I did it wrong the first time I uploaded and already used all my bandwidth so you'll have to wait another 10 days or so for any updates!

Where did June go?

So i'm terrible at this. To the one, maybe two of you that are interested enough to take the time to bother to read this, I apologize. I've missed an entire month and a half. More than a month and a half! I'm going to try and do this during down time at work now though. Hopefully I'll catch on...

So, recap of this lost period:

June: Went to Paris to visit my friend Catherine. Saw almost all the sights in my first day in an epic self-guided walking tour. As I was only there for 3 days I decided to make the most of my time and not waste it standing in mile long lines for the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre. Overall, though, my impression of the city was a very positive one. I really liked its atmosphere and its charm, especially when I was able to get away from the buzz of (other) tourists! It was good to catch up with Catherine and she showed me some hidden treasures, most of which were culinary! For instance, we went to a french restaurant where I enjoyed a nice hunk of duck with roquefort sauce and scalloped potatoes. On my last day she took me to the Jewish/Gay district (just a coincidence that they're in the same place I think) where we enjoyed the best falafel ever and indulged in some baklava and nut pastries! Flying through paris was an experience as Charles de Gaulle is an absolute nightmare! I'm told its one of the better French airports though...



The following wednesday we took off for Sardinia, Italy. We flew into Cagliari, rented a car (a little Fiat 500 for four of us (Sondy, Olivia, Bruce and myself) and basically, over the course of 4 or 5 days, drove a loop around the entire island. First day we drove to Alghero, following day we drove to a place not too far from Olbia. We spent probably the majority of our time on beaches as we would often just stop on our way to wherever we happened to be going and take some time to go for a dip and catch some rays. While in Olbia, we did a day trip to Cala Ganone where we got a company to take us out snokelling. They through us in a little pontoon boat and took us on a tour of the coastal cliffs and caves. Really cool experience! We also elected, with my encouragement i'm afraid to admit, to try the local liquour: Mirto. In north america, it has another name, Pine-Sol, and we use it to clean furniture and leave a fresh pine scent. Gross. By far the best part of the trip though, as far as I was concerned anyway, was the driving. I'm so glad I made the decision to switch to and learn to drive a manual car before I came here as it allowed me to fulfill a number of driving dreams. While not an overly powerful or impressive car, the Fiat was bloody fun to drive around the mountain roads. There's something about blasting around a coast road, cutting corners and trying to get the best line while the sun sets over the mediterranean beside you that leaves an impression on a person... Absolutely spectacular, will NOT be soon forgotten.


Unfortunately, upon returning from that trip my foot started hurting inexplicably (possibly strained from covering the brake on the aforementioned roads?) and I had to take a weekend off, much to my shagrim.

The following weekend, Rachel, Olivia and I went to Marseille. I think we were a little aprehensive as our friends had been there while we were in Sardinia and had been robbed and generally didn't have very much fun. Despite this however, we ended up having accomodations in a great place near the old port, we went to see Chateau d'If (where the Count of Monte Cristo's jail part was set), fete bleu was on which (apparently) meant that there were free open-air dance and music productions going on every night by the port, we saw some extreme sports, skydiving and beach rugby in parc borely, and ate delicious and cheap kebabs from a place called Habib's EVERY DAY. All in all a pleasantly surprising trip!





Into July now....

The first weekend of July a load of us went to Amsterdam for Sensation White. It was basically a ginormous rave for 40000 people in the amsterdam ArenA to which attendees are obliged to wear nothing but white. So very cool. Among the highlights were lasers, sick beats, Black Eyed Peas (who knew that they'd be there?!) and women riding mechanical bulls. You had to be there... Unfortunately, due to the way the thing was organized we got split into two groups and didn't all end up seeing eachother. Nevertheless we caught up in the morning when we got back to our hostels at 8AM. Talk about your all-nighters! The rest of the time in Amsterdam was spent rather lazily as the party drained us. We managed to make it to the Van Gogh museum and check out the Heineken Brewery experience though so it wasn't a total write off!



The second weekend in July, hiked from Altdorf to Engelberg. This was probably my 3rd official hike ever and definately the hardest! We hiked 6.5 hours up a mountain before being granted repreive by a pleasant 1hour downhill past some cows to the hut we were staying in. When we got there we were greated by a big 12 person dorm room and a magnificent dinner of pasta, potatoes, cheese, onions and sourcream tossed together in a big metal pan. Breakfast the next day was bread, cheese, jam and hot milk with which to make coffee. We're fairly certain that everything we ate, bread and dairy anyway, was homemade and probably from the very cows we spent way too much time taking pictures of! The hike back that day was 3.5 hours all, mercifully, downhill. I then headed back to Baden where I met with Julianne for all of 2 hours before she had to take off to catch a train. It was good to see her, though, and hear of her exploits in Ethiopia and other places.




This past weekend was Gurtenfest in Bern. This was a 4 day music festival (I only went thursday, saturday sunday as I came back to Baden to work on friday and didn't want to go back as it was pissing it down with rain) and was definately one of the best I've been to. Of the bands I'd heard of, I saw Dropkick Murphys, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, Gaslight Anthem, Oasis and Kings of Leon. I also discovered a lot of swiss, german, and even some english and scottish bands I hadn't previously heard of that I will be checking out more of in the days to come I'm sure. Such a good time. The only disappointment was Oasis. They played the EXACT show I saw last year in Calgary, same set, same graphics on display, same complete lack of showmanship. There is something to be said, however, for 40000 cold and muddy people from all over Europe dancing and singing along to songs that they all know. It was pretty epic actually!



Now its monday and I'm at work doing this. I think I'm going to take the next couple of weekends pretty easy, save some money perhaps.. Dave finally arrives on the first of August so that'll be good when he gets here. After that, I have the Zurich Street Festival, La Tomatina, Oktoberfest, and Istanbul to look forward to - that'll take me to the middle of October. More on those though when they happen!