"Guten Morgen!", sucky flights, and European keyboards...
Guten Morgen y´all!
I´m currently in Schaffhausen, Switzerland trying to figure out the European keyboard. The flight to Chicago on American was aces. I'd give it an A-. I think that an A+ would require a happy ending or something. The Swiss International flight really, really sucked scheisse. I think that it may be better to be a sardine than to be a passenger on an Airbus 330-223. At least a sardine has something to look forward to...being eaten. These were the narrowest seats that I´ve ever encountered. Horrible, horrible flight.
My aunt picked us up at the Zurich Flughafen (airport). We then ran a quick errand to her house and then had to drive through Germany for a quick spell to Schaffhausen. (It´s funny like that!) We then went to visit Oma (grandma) at her retirement building. It was really, really fantastic to see her again after 17 years. We chatted for about an hour and a half and then headed to my uncle´s for Mittagessen (lunch). He made a great pot of vegetable soup and we had some damn fine crusty bread and some damn fine Emmentaler and Appenzeller cheese. I was a little worried about this trip as I´ve essentially forgotten all of my German. It wouldn´t really matter. The Swiss speak a whacked-out dialect referred to as Schweizer-Deutsch. It´s very fast and I think they make it up as they go along. The Swiss pronounce it "Schweetzer Dootch" rather than the proper Hoch Deutsch (high German) "Schwytzer Doytsch". My supremely cute grandmother commented that Hoch Deutsch is like a completely different language that she doesn´t understand. We then headed from there to the Co-Op supermarket. I stayed in the car as I was extremely tired. I hadn´t slept essentially since Sunday night. We then headed to my aunt´s boyfriend´s place which is where I am currently staying. I took a nap and then had a nice dinner with my aunt and her boyfriend and my mom is staying with my uncle. We had a nice simple salad and some risotto with some merlot from Ticino. That was followed by a delicious plum tart made by Alfred (my aunt´s boyfriend). He left to go to a geology class and my aunt and I talked for a couple hours. Alfred is a retired mechanical engineer whose current hobby is geology. He is technologically-minded and there for has this wonderful computer with a crazy European keyboard (the "Z" and the "Y" are swapped and other things are in different crazy places and there´s a second shift key for other thingies. Today I think we´re going to my uncle´s for lunch (sausages and such).
The weather is cool, overcast, foggy, and hazy. That´s all well and good for me, but limits some photos for now. I don´t remember what else we´re doing today. Alfred said I could dowload pictures to his computer. I may try posting pictures later, but I don´t really have anything to post as of yet. I´m currently enjoying a damn fine cup of European coffee and a view of some woods. From Alfred´s covered terrace there is a view of a soccer field and a handball stadium as well as some horses. He´s on the top of a hill. The house is quite nice and a great balanced of old fashioned European and ultra-modern. Looks like I´ll be able to post again... I wish everybody fun in the land of Dubya. By the way...they REALLY hate Dubya here. Smart people.
Tschau,
Jason
I´m currently in Schaffhausen, Switzerland trying to figure out the European keyboard. The flight to Chicago on American was aces. I'd give it an A-. I think that an A+ would require a happy ending or something. The Swiss International flight really, really sucked scheisse. I think that it may be better to be a sardine than to be a passenger on an Airbus 330-223. At least a sardine has something to look forward to...being eaten. These were the narrowest seats that I´ve ever encountered. Horrible, horrible flight.
My aunt picked us up at the Zurich Flughafen (airport). We then ran a quick errand to her house and then had to drive through Germany for a quick spell to Schaffhausen. (It´s funny like that!) We then went to visit Oma (grandma) at her retirement building. It was really, really fantastic to see her again after 17 years. We chatted for about an hour and a half and then headed to my uncle´s for Mittagessen (lunch). He made a great pot of vegetable soup and we had some damn fine crusty bread and some damn fine Emmentaler and Appenzeller cheese. I was a little worried about this trip as I´ve essentially forgotten all of my German. It wouldn´t really matter. The Swiss speak a whacked-out dialect referred to as Schweizer-Deutsch. It´s very fast and I think they make it up as they go along. The Swiss pronounce it "Schweetzer Dootch" rather than the proper Hoch Deutsch (high German) "Schwytzer Doytsch". My supremely cute grandmother commented that Hoch Deutsch is like a completely different language that she doesn´t understand. We then headed from there to the Co-Op supermarket. I stayed in the car as I was extremely tired. I hadn´t slept essentially since Sunday night. We then headed to my aunt´s boyfriend´s place which is where I am currently staying. I took a nap and then had a nice dinner with my aunt and her boyfriend and my mom is staying with my uncle. We had a nice simple salad and some risotto with some merlot from Ticino. That was followed by a delicious plum tart made by Alfred (my aunt´s boyfriend). He left to go to a geology class and my aunt and I talked for a couple hours. Alfred is a retired mechanical engineer whose current hobby is geology. He is technologically-minded and there for has this wonderful computer with a crazy European keyboard (the "Z" and the "Y" are swapped and other things are in different crazy places and there´s a second shift key for other thingies. Today I think we´re going to my uncle´s for lunch (sausages and such).
The weather is cool, overcast, foggy, and hazy. That´s all well and good for me, but limits some photos for now. I don´t remember what else we´re doing today. Alfred said I could dowload pictures to his computer. I may try posting pictures later, but I don´t really have anything to post as of yet. I´m currently enjoying a damn fine cup of European coffee and a view of some woods. From Alfred´s covered terrace there is a view of a soccer field and a handball stadium as well as some horses. He´s on the top of a hill. The house is quite nice and a great balanced of old fashioned European and ultra-modern. Looks like I´ll be able to post again... I wish everybody fun in the land of Dubya. By the way...they REALLY hate Dubya here. Smart people.
Tschau,
Jason
posted by Jason at 3:42 AM
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