Cultural Adjustments

Here are a few random pieces of information that people have asked about. BTW, a Jimmy Jones laugh is a term given to a laugh when you really want to scream or cry. Jimmy Jones was my dad's long time running partner and world traveler. Before we left, Jimmy told Amy and I there would be moments we would want to scream at each other or cry and the best thing to do was just laugh. So when we get in stressful situations we...Jimmy Jones laugh!.

Food: The grocery store in Lauterbrunnen is about the size of a convenient store in the States. Wow! It’s quit an adjustment to such small quarters, carrying a basket while shopping (no cart), everything in German, and not having near the selection. We have certainly survived though and have made several trips to the store. On average once a day, for two reasons…the size of the refrigerator and the size of store. We can’t figure out if Europeans shop everyday because of the size of the fridge or if the fridge is so small because Europeans shop every day. The milk can only be found in a 1 liter container. We used to barely make it with 1 gallon in a few days. We were able to find peanut butter our first trip to the store so that has made Abby and Austin very happy to have PB&J’s. We’ve made several chicken dishes, pasta and pizza. We’ve also eaten out a few times and have been lucky to get our hands on some English menus (some with pictures not words). We’ve enjoyed some Swiss / German foods such as cheese fondue, bratwurst and cheese & crackers for snacks. All’s good!
Chalet/Sleeping: The chalet we are staying in has a 2 bedroom apartment with 1 bathroom with the kids sharing a room with 2 single beds. We’ve all slept really well since arriving. Our covers are down comforters which is perfect for the cold weather outside. The chalet owner’s live above our apartment. We’ve decided that they tip toe around and whisper because we’ve barely heard them. It’s a good thing it’s not reversed! Since we are downstairs on the first floor, we have a backdoor access to all the snow. It has been great for letting the kids go out and play in the snow several times a day. The apartment is heated by small wall heaters that are placed in each room. One item that has been enlightening to not have is a garbage disposal. You don’t realize how convenient it is until you don’t have one. However, you also don’t realize how much food you waste until you don’t have one. We have a small green bucket to put all our “compost” in that then is dumped in a barrel in the back. This has caused us to cook smaller portions and eat everything on our plates (Mike has become the human garbage disposal for any kid’s leftovers). We have a TV in the apartment with about 40 channels, however only 4 are in English (CNN, BBC, MSNBC and MTV). It has been really interesting to watch the kids sit in front of the TV watching Disney in German. We’ve also found a BBC version of Grey’s Anatomy. Not a lot of TV watching with all the outdoor opportunities.
Transportation: We have been on trains and buses daily since arriving in Switzerland. Our apartment is about 8 minutes outside of the main town of Lauterbrunnen. In order to get there, we walk to the bus stop which is about 100 meters from our Chalet and hop on a bus that runs every 30 minutes. It’s really easy! From Lauterbrunnen, that is where we board the trains that then take us to our destination. If you read our blog (posted on 2/9/09), then you know that we learned the hard way that a train can split off at any station. It’s a good thing we learned that now and not later since we plan on using the train as our major form of transportation throughout Europe.
Weather: Temperature wise it is cold here, but the wind hasn’t really blown so it makes it bearable. On a cold day, it is definitely below freezing, but mind you we have to calculate it from Celsius to Fahrenheit. On a warm day, the temperature hasn’t gotten above 40.
Culture: One of the first things we noticed on the train out of Zurich was how quite the other people on the train were. We’ve now noticed it ever where. Restaurants, trains, buses…everywhere. It has been a little of a challenge with 2 kids but we are working on our quiet voices.
I've posted some more pictures as well....enjoy!