I am happy to report that things are starting to look up for a change, at least technologically speaking. You would think that life in Europe is pretty similar to life back in the States, wouldn’t you? After all, Switzerland is a pretty advanced country with a firm grasp at least on the watch and chocolate industry! One of the biggest adjustments for me so far has been getting used to how long it takes to do very simple things around here. For example, I have been here for almost three months now and am just now (hopefully) getting a regular phone connection in my apartment. Internet access should soon follow, but I’ve been through this drill before which has ultimately led to disappointment. I have come to learn that the Swiss phone system has recently been deregulated so that are still a lot of hoops to jump through to even get a phone line, let alone choose a competitor who might have better prices. And, just because you choose a competitor, they might not be able to even install service, which is what happened to me…only they forgot to tell me for over a month that the wouldn’t be able to connect my service…ever. Nice.
I seem to have had a string of technology disasters recently that started with the phone/internet connection, or lack there of and have steadily progressed. I returned from my recruiting trip to Rome to find no electricity or heat in my apartment. The smell from the refrigerator was a clue that the power had been off for some time (I had been gone for 5 days). Getting ready for work the next morning by candlelight, I wondered if I had mistakenly been transported back to the days of Little House on the Prairie. I had tried flipping the circuit breakers to see if a fuse had blown which I thought at first was a strong possibility since my parents were visiting and had brought along what was supposed to be a dual voltage hair dryer (it wasn’t). When that didn’t work, I knew that a call to the dreaded landlady was in order…did I mention that she is at least 85 years old and is truly from Transylvania…I thought only bats and Dracula where from Transylvania! She only speaks Italian and French and looks as though she escaped from some cave on a hillside with only the mismatched clothes on her back…seriously. She owns at least half of the apartment buildings in Lugano but knows how to pinch a penny (or a Swiss Franc, to be more accurate) until it bleeds. I am unable to communicate with her because my Italian is still pretty basic (hello, goodbye, how are you) and I certainly didn’t know how to say that I had no electricity! Luckily, one of my coworkers is Italian and offered to make the call for me.
As if all of this wasn’t bad enough, I returned home from work that next day (still no heat or electricity…did mention that the weather had turned cold and that it had stared snowing a ways up the mountain?) to find out that the washing machine was broken. This was about the absolute breaking point for me considering that there is one tiny washer for the entire apartment complex to share and no dryer. For some strange reason, the Swiss don’t believe in using clothes dryers so everything has to be hung to dry. I had been traveling for work for the past week and had about two weeks of laundry to do before hitting the road for work again and a broken washer didn’t fit into my plan. So, I did what all good American expats do when they are stressed out and frustrated and they have no groceries…I headed to Mc Donalds for dinner. A cheeseburger royale meal later and 12 francs poorer (about 10 dollars), I headed back to my candle lit apartment to do the only thing I could in the dark…sleep.
It is now a week later and I finally have heat and electricity again (they were connected two days after I got back from Rome). The washer is finally working as of today and I am trying to catch up on about three weeks worth of laundry which will probably take me the remainder of the evening because each load takes about an hour and a half just to wash.
Tomorrow I am off to Milan again for the second time this week. One of the international schools is hosting a college fair for US colleges and we have been asked to participate. The big Ivy League schools will be there, so I am curious to see if we get many inquiries but also to see their admissions people. I should have some interesting stories to report in my next blog!
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