Monday, February 10, 2014
Sirene testing season
Any kind of defense is taken seriously in Switzerland. Among others there are sirens for water and general alert signals and they are tested regularly.
It happened last week when I heard the sirens outside. They were not the regular police, ambulance or any kind of sirens so I figured there must be something else going on. As I looked outside and no one is running anywhere I figured I would just stay where I am and wait. It was over in a minute or two. Afterwards I googled what was going on and indeed, that was a test. Apparently there were TV and radio announcements about that but as we do not own a TV nor listen to the radio we missed the announcements. I usually read the local newspaper to stay informed but obviously I missed this one. Oh, and there is another test coming this Wed.
More information about the testing can be found here and here.
It happened last week when I heard the sirens outside. They were not the regular police, ambulance or any kind of sirens so I figured there must be something else going on. As I looked outside and no one is running anywhere I figured I would just stay where I am and wait. It was over in a minute or two. Afterwards I googled what was going on and indeed, that was a test. Apparently there were TV and radio announcements about that but as we do not own a TV nor listen to the radio we missed the announcements. I usually read the local newspaper to stay informed but obviously I missed this one. Oh, and there is another test coming this Wed.
More information about the testing can be found here and here.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Cornbread
It started months ago when I laid my eye on a cornbread recipe. I have never made a cornbread before for some reason nor I tasted any but I always wanted to try. Last week I decided to make one and I remembered there is some corn flour in the cupboard. Well, I was wrong. When I was all set up to start it turned out the cornflour was in fact semolina. I did not give up, so when I went to the store I grabbed some and was all ready.
I made one yesterday using the following recipe and adapted slightly.
112 g butter
200 g cornmeal
130 g all purpose flour
2 tablespoon cane sugar
1 and a half teaspoon baking powder
2,4 dl cream
3 eggs
pinch of salt
The preparation is the same as described in the recipe.
It turned out to be moist and delicious. I wanted to take a few pictures pictures but my husband liked it so much there is almost nothing left and believe me it was not a small pan. That's the last piece basically I managed to save for the picture.
I made one yesterday using the following recipe and adapted slightly.
112 g butter
200 g cornmeal
130 g all purpose flour
2 tablespoon cane sugar
1 and a half teaspoon baking powder
2,4 dl cream
3 eggs
pinch of salt
The preparation is the same as described in the recipe.
It turned out to be moist and delicious. I wanted to take a few pictures pictures but my husband liked it so much there is almost nothing left and believe me it was not a small pan. That's the last piece basically I managed to save for the picture.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Cost of living 1
I have not touched one of the most important questions when it comes to Switzerland. Prices and the cost of living in the country. Well, as for a start, let me just say it's crazy expensive. Wherever you live you think that Switzerland is expensive think twice. Switzerland in reality is probably two times more expensive what you think.
I will post more on this topic in the future but let me just start with a slight mistake we made without us knowing about. We got a mail from one of the cantonal offices about our insurance and since we have a new address which they did not know about they charged us extra 30 CHF (30$ or 25 EUR) for 'finding' it out. Obviously we forgot to tell that specific dept. that we have a new address but that's a cantonal office that should have our address since it's registered there.. confusing.
I will post more on this topic in the future but let me just start with a slight mistake we made without us knowing about. We got a mail from one of the cantonal offices about our insurance and since we have a new address which they did not know about they charged us extra 30 CHF (30$ or 25 EUR) for 'finding' it out. Obviously we forgot to tell that specific dept. that we have a new address but that's a cantonal office that should have our address since it's registered there.. confusing.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Current topic - Immigration
Although it's winter time things are heating up in Switzerland. The hottest topic right now is immigration of course. This is a topic that is always around but this year it's going to be even more important. One way or another it's a very sensitive one to everyone. Immigrants along with a group of Swiss obviously defend their position why immigration is good while the other group basically wants to put an end of it. The latter group says that immigration in the form as it exists now needs to be ended because it's ruining the country.
Roads are overcrowded, rent is rocket high and the country is loosing land to new developments.
As I mentioned in my previous post there will be a voting in a couple of weeks whether or not Switzerland should restrict immigration and introduce quota for every country including the European Union countries.
Moreover, this topic is even more interesting if we consider that if Switzerland restricts free movement of people it would mean to an end to many bilateral agreements between the EU and them.
I am curious to see how it turns out.
Roads are overcrowded, rent is rocket high and the country is loosing land to new developments.
As I mentioned in my previous post there will be a voting in a couple of weeks whether or not Switzerland should restrict immigration and introduce quota for every country including the European Union countries.
Moreover, this topic is even more interesting if we consider that if Switzerland restricts free movement of people it would mean to an end to many bilateral agreements between the EU and them.
I am curious to see how it turns out.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Understanding the Swiss
To understand what Swiss people are about one of the most important things is to understand how their country (and political system) operates.
Switzerland is not an ordinary country. Swiss people like deciding about their own future and their country's. In practice this means that they actually decide what would happen in their country. That's part of the direct democracy, the system they are running over here. Basically citizens directly vote on anything that would affect their country. Does anyone (and that does not mean the government!) want to increase the yearly highway fee? They cannot unless the citizens vote with yes. And that's about every single thing.. Anyone who has enough signature collected (not sure about the number exactly but want to raise it in the future) for an initiative can put it up for a vote and citizens do have to vote about it nationwide. Consequently, there are a LOT of voting going around here but maximum 'only' four nationwide each year.
The next one is coming up in February on several topics including immigration and who is paying for the bill in case of an abortion. Yes, that's a unique country indeed.
Switzerland is not an ordinary country. Swiss people like deciding about their own future and their country's. In practice this means that they actually decide what would happen in their country. That's part of the direct democracy, the system they are running over here. Basically citizens directly vote on anything that would affect their country. Does anyone (and that does not mean the government!) want to increase the yearly highway fee? They cannot unless the citizens vote with yes. And that's about every single thing.. Anyone who has enough signature collected (not sure about the number exactly but want to raise it in the future) for an initiative can put it up for a vote and citizens do have to vote about it nationwide. Consequently, there are a LOT of voting going around here but maximum 'only' four nationwide each year.
The next one is coming up in February on several topics including immigration and who is paying for the bill in case of an abortion. Yes, that's a unique country indeed.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Rent in Switzerland
A couple of weeks ago we got a letter from our 'landlord' (which is not a private person but an association) that the rent is changing from 2014. I did not write 'increase' on purpose because it will actually decrease. Hm..strange country, isn't it? (To be fair, the decrease is about 20 CHF but still.)
Happy 2014!
Happy 2014!
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