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.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
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!
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Surprising stuffs in Switzerland - flyers
When it comes to promoting a product sending out flyers is a common way and Switzerland is no exception. I am huge fan of stickers having on our mailbox saying we do not wish to get any promotional material. However, this has not happened yet here. The main reason is that I did not (and sometimes still do not) have any idea which store I should go to pick up let's say a pillow (ok, besides the obvious choice of Ikea) or a mop or anything besides supermarkets. In fact I was not familiar with the name of the supermarkets either. There are not many huge international chains in Switzerland (and that's common in the Netherlands as we know), so even figuring out where to buy a specific item can be challenging.
But back to my story. So every week several flyers arrive in our mailbox and let me say that some of them are pretty surprising. This includes a weekly flyer about different car brands. Honestly I have never seen anything like this before. Flyers in our mailbox every week about brand new cars? I understand that Switzerland is supposed to be a rich country but seriously?
One of my other "favorite" just arrived a couple of weeks ago.
Yes, this is what it seems. It's a flyer about old Swiss military equipments. Who on earth would want to buy any of this? Actually, considering how important the military is in this country probably this should not even be a surprise. In a country, where houses have bunkers to hide in a case of anything and everything happens these products should come handy. Still, I pass on that and nobody should expect any of this for Christmas either.
But back to my story. So every week several flyers arrive in our mailbox and let me say that some of them are pretty surprising. This includes a weekly flyer about different car brands. Honestly I have never seen anything like this before. Flyers in our mailbox every week about brand new cars? I understand that Switzerland is supposed to be a rich country but seriously?
One of my other "favorite" just arrived a couple of weeks ago.
Yes, this is what it seems. It's a flyer about old Swiss military equipments. Who on earth would want to buy any of this? Actually, considering how important the military is in this country probably this should not even be a surprise. In a country, where houses have bunkers to hide in a case of anything and everything happens these products should come handy. Still, I pass on that and nobody should expect any of this for Christmas either.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Lindt factory outlet
As Christmas is approaching fast and we visit friends and family we decided to pay a visit to Lindt. In the supermarket there is a huge variety of chocolate, mainly Swiss of course but since there is a Lindt chocolate factory not far from us, we decided to go there and check out what they have especially after the great experience we had at the Kambly cookie factory.
There used to be (or still) factory tours but we were mainly interested in shopping and discovering seasonal flavors. This time around there is a special Christmas Lindt shop with all the seasonal items and there is the regular shop with the all-year round items. There is a short walk between the two but the best part is the air smells like chocolate so walking from one place to another is so much fun!
When I was living the San Francisco Bay Area I visited the Guittard Chocolate Factory, which was an amazing experience. I was lucky enough to get a private tour and experience the way of making chocolate. This tour made me really appreciate good chocolate and be selective of which one I eat. I am not saying I am not tempted by a Kit Kat bar once in a while but I prefer having a small piece of a great chocolate than a bigger piece but low quality.
Now, I have a confession to make, which may seem crazy: I am not a huge fan of Lindt products. It's not about the quality but rather than the flavor or the texture. As I am not a huge fan of the taste of Hershey, I am not a huge fan of the taste of Lindt either. To be fair, I rarely eat any chocolate bars. I just simply not that into them. I love a really nice piece of cookie or some pastries instead.
But let's get back to the Lindt outlet. We bought several packages of kugels and bars for present as my family and friends DO like them. This is a selection we bought with the Christmas Lindt bear.
There used to be (or still) factory tours but we were mainly interested in shopping and discovering seasonal flavors. This time around there is a special Christmas Lindt shop with all the seasonal items and there is the regular shop with the all-year round items. There is a short walk between the two but the best part is the air smells like chocolate so walking from one place to another is so much fun!
When I was living the San Francisco Bay Area I visited the Guittard Chocolate Factory, which was an amazing experience. I was lucky enough to get a private tour and experience the way of making chocolate. This tour made me really appreciate good chocolate and be selective of which one I eat. I am not saying I am not tempted by a Kit Kat bar once in a while but I prefer having a small piece of a great chocolate than a bigger piece but low quality.
Now, I have a confession to make, which may seem crazy: I am not a huge fan of Lindt products. It's not about the quality but rather than the flavor or the texture. As I am not a huge fan of the taste of Hershey, I am not a huge fan of the taste of Lindt either. To be fair, I rarely eat any chocolate bars. I just simply not that into them. I love a really nice piece of cookie or some pastries instead.
But let's get back to the Lindt outlet. We bought several packages of kugels and bars for present as my family and friends DO like them. This is a selection we bought with the Christmas Lindt bear.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Recycling 2
So what happens to the stuff you collect in your house?
The household garbage is collected once a week. For compost, there is a huge bin outside and is taken away probably in every two weeks. For carton and for paper there are separate ones obviously.
As for the rest and for big piece of cartons or paper or everything else, there are places called รถkihof, the dumping places for (almost) anything that collected separately. It's free to take things there although you have to pay for dumping plastic.
It's pretty convenient to get rid of everything at once although the opening hours are ridiculous as it's only open from the mornings till 5 pm and on Sat until 12.30, which means if you work you can only go on Sat and if you are out of town you have to wait another week. It's almost true for all the shops though in Switzerland so no surprise here. Scheduling and planning is the key and once you set it up everything goes smoothly.
Besides that you can also bring your stuff to the supermarket where you can find recycling points.
Obviously it's not an option if you have a ton of garbage left from the moving in or renovation or a couple of weeks piled up paper and plastic but can be a solution for a quick clean up.
The household garbage is collected once a week. For compost, there is a huge bin outside and is taken away probably in every two weeks. For carton and for paper there are separate ones obviously.
As for the rest and for big piece of cartons or paper or everything else, there are places called รถkihof, the dumping places for (almost) anything that collected separately. It's free to take things there although you have to pay for dumping plastic.
It's pretty convenient to get rid of everything at once although the opening hours are ridiculous as it's only open from the mornings till 5 pm and on Sat until 12.30, which means if you work you can only go on Sat and if you are out of town you have to wait another week. It's almost true for all the shops though in Switzerland so no surprise here. Scheduling and planning is the key and once you set it up everything goes smoothly.
Besides that you can also bring your stuff to the supermarket where you can find recycling points.
Obviously it's not an option if you have a ton of garbage left from the moving in or renovation or a couple of weeks piled up paper and plastic but can be a solution for a quick clean up.
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