Episode 10: February 2006
Neal would like to start this month’s blog entry by boasting about something he considers truly spectacular. The Shorg Blog can now be considered a rogue publication. Why does he say that? Well, our sources (my friends, Pat and Glen, who live in Shanghai) tell us that the Shorg Blog has been banned by the Chinese government! How fantastic is that?! Apparently, the Chinese government does not view blog sites too kindly, given the whole freedom of speech “thing” that is not conducive to the day-to-day operation of country that severely limits the civil rights of its citizens. Neal cannot bear to think of all those people in China who do not have the luxury of reading the “highly informative, occasionally banned” Shorg Blog.
Alright, now that that is out of Neal’s system, I can have the computer back to turn to the other events of February. Despite having entered the heart of winter, we had a very fun month. On the first weekend of the month, we focused our efforts on wedding planning. Neal did a fantastic job finding a local printer that arranges wedding invitations...and in English to boot. We visited them on Saturday – after an invigorating pilates lesson – to look over their offerings. The small business is run by a lovely old couple in the nearby town of Würenlos. He is British, and she is Swiss. They set out a number of sample books for us to peruse and even provided some coffee to make us feel at home. In the end, we found a simple, yet elegant design for our invitation cards. Even after agreeing on the arrangement, they would hardly let us leave because they were so interested to talk to us and tell us about everyone they know who is living in Australia, as well as update us on their recent adventures to the US. They were very sweet, and we look forward to working with them.
For the second weekend of the month, we took an adventure with some friends of ours – Dani and Kurt. They had previously done a day hike that they wanted to take us on. So, on Sunday, we drove about an hour away from Zurich to a place called Egg where we parked our cars and began the hike. Although the weather in Zurich was terrible that day, we found that since Egg is about 800 meters higher in altitude, we were greeted with a beautiful bright sun and blue sky. We hiked up a somewhat steep path for about 1.5 hours – altogether climbed up in altitude about 300 meters – until we reached the cutest little hut. It was a typical Swiss chalet-style hut, clearly one that doubled as a restaurant for the hikers and a house for the owners. Rather than “sustaining the gain” of the calories we just burned in the hike up, we chose to pack on the pounds by ordering the house special: cheese fondue. For those that haven’t had cheese fondue before, it is literally melted cheese, sometimes thinned out with the addition of a vile-tasting alcohol known as kirsch. It is presented in a special fondue pot and comes with a bowl of cubes of bread that look like uncooked croutons. You take a special fork, stab a piece of bread, swirl it in the melted cheese, add some cracked pepper, eat the bread, and then repeat until your belt buckle pops. It is clearly not a dish for the diet-conscious! For us, fondue is a once-every-six-months kind of dish. It is not a must-have in our diet – as a heart attack is not something we strive for – but it is nice to have occasionally, especially on a cold winter day. This fondue was absolutely awesome. Neal reckons that it was the best fondue he has ever had. (That doesn’t say much, as Neal has only had three fondues in his life, but this one certainly did raise the bar quite high.) The fondue was made from local cheeses made in the Alps, and best of all, it did not have the strong alcohol taste that some fondues have. Making it more special was the fact that the fondue was served in the traditional Swiss style with a raw egg. Raw egg, you say? That’s right, and what a great addition it makes! The idea is that when you’re done with the majority of the cheese, you are left with some crunchy, burnt bits at the bottom of the fondue pot. These bits are fondue gold and are not to be wasted. You are supposed to crack the egg over the burnt bits and then use your fork to scramble the egg while freeing up chunks of the burnt cheese, resulting in warm, cheesy scrambled eggs. Yum!
After lunch, Kurt talked with the chalet owner and came back with two sleds for us to get down the mountain. Sledding is common at Switzerland’s mountains, and it is probably the craziest thing a person can do. Nevertheless, it was, by far, the highlight of the day! The sled is exactly what you might imagine. It is basically a plank of wood on top of two legs with, most importantly, no brakes or steering mechanism except your own feet. Neal and I got on the sled and quickly learned that these things can fly! Amazingly, we made it down the mountain without so much as a scratch, and we did not have to change our pants (if you know what I mean) at the bottom.
Between the second and third weekends of the month was Valentine’s Day. Neal and I decided to have dinner that night at a restaurant that neither of us has been to. So, Neal organized dinner at a fabulous seafood restaurant in the center of town, a short tram ride away from our house. It was there that we decided that we should make this a tradition and visit at least one restaurant each week that neither of us has seen. In fact, ten days later, we made good on our vow and visited another famous seafood restaurant called the Hummer Bar (Hummer is the German word for lobster), which had the most beautiful antique décor and seafood that was amazingly fresh and fabulous.
The third weekend of the month took us on another hike, this time to the top of the hill that overlooks Zurich, known as the Uetliberg. The Uetliberg is about 800 meters above sea level and provides a fantastic panorama view over the city. We took the train up and – contrary to the signs telling us we could not – walked from the top of the hill to the suburb of Adliswil. The walk took 2.5 hours to do and was lovely. It overlooks the lake for most of the time, and is generally an easy stroll. Once we reached Adliswil, we got back down by cable car and then walked to the train station to catch a ride back home. It was a great little adventure and one we will recommend to future visitors, particularly in the summer.
On the last weekend of the month, we headed back to our favorite ski slope: Flumserberg. Flumserberg has become our “neighborhood” mountain because it is very well-equipped, close to home (about an hour’s drive away), is beginner-friendly, and has breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains. We picked up my friend, Maria, and headed off for an afternoon of fun (and falling on our butts). To our disappointment, when we got there we were not greeted by sunny skies. Rather, the sun was blocked out by thick clouds, and the visibility was very poor. (Houston, we have a problem: We can barely turn on our boards, and that’s with perfect visibility!) We could see about four meters in front of us at any given time, so it was a little touchy in parts, but we managed to make the most of our time…and did not run over any unsuspecting children. Progress-wise, we are now to the point that we can use the T-bar lifts without falling on our butts (thankfully) and are starting to get the hang of turning and being comfortable with speed. I must say that Neal is much better at it than I am. If something gets in my way – or I have to make a left turn – look out!
Besides the above adventures, there were a few other things that occupied our time. In the middle of the month, Neal joined the University of Michigan Business School alumni club for a dinner at traditionally Swiss restaurant in Zurich. He said that the Switzerland club is quite small, as expected, and that only six people turned up for the dinner. Nonetheless, he enjoyed getting plugged into the alumni “scene”.
I had two work trips this month. For one of the trips, I visited Milan for three days and, among other things, enjoyed the fabulous Italian food. The highlight of that trip was not the work-related stuff but rather the soccer match we watched one night between Italy and a rag-tag team of non-Italians (mostly French). Although the event was a wash out (Italy won 15-5), it was great fun. My second trip was to Vienna, which is such a beautiful city! Besides seeing the inside of the hotel that the meeting was held at, my colleagues and I did get out for a teambuilding exercise at an exhibition at one of the many museums that Vienna has to offer. The exercise involved choosing our favorite painting and then recreating a copy of it ourselves. It was very fun and fitting given that we were in one of the world’s (supposedly) most-cultured cities.
In short, although February is the shortest month of the year, we managed to pack in a full schedule of adventures. As we look forward to March, we are excited to do more activities that make the winter more bearable, but we also hope to catch some glimpses of spring! This winter has been fun, but we are definitely looking forward to warmer weather!
