Well, the little chick and I are back in Calgary. It's good to be with my family again, but strange in many ways. It's very, very odd to try to get my head around the fact that, a year from now, I'll be living here.
Everything is so far apart... I haven't even been here a week, and I miss walking. I almost never drive at home, and here, you don't have much choice. I'm really not crazy about that.
Things are so inexpensive. We're about to head out to the grocery store, and I'm looking forward to it. We stopped in for a few minutes before, and I was shocked, again, at how much variety there is, and how low the prices are. There is a lot of variety in Switzerland, too, but in strange ways... there will be 300 kinds of olive oil, but only two types of salad dressing (with maybe 3 brands of each).
The people are really friendly. My parents were commenting that customer service has really gone downhill lately, but when we were in one store and just turning around to go back and get something we had missed, a guy actually stopped and asked if there was anything he could help us with. In Geneva, if you can find someone in a store, they usually make you feel like they're doing you some immense favor just by opening up and letting you in. If you're going to start asking questions, maybe you should just shop somewhere else.
That said, I'm looking forward to going to get some ranch dressing, and good tortilla chips, and probably a whole bunch of other stuff that I didn't even know I was missing. I just hope that I don't get hungry for rösti, fondue, and fresh truffles...
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3 comments:
Well I hope Troy and I have a chance to hang out with you, and your little munchkin. I was disapointd we missed out on that, the last time you were in Calgary.
Culture shock in advance, eh? I'd have it too.
Don't worry, The Real Canadian Superstore has very, very good pre-packed fondue, deemed fit by Jenny Ibby and my Schwyzertuutsch friends. I am somewhat jealous of this advantage. It even has a little kirsch in it.
But I never checked to see if they have rosti. Let me know if you find it. Because as you know, I miss that supremely, and I'm too lazy to shred my own potato.
I've been back in the States for a year and STILL have to resist the urge to say "Bonjour" to everyone I make eye contact with.
On the way back from my first trip to Geneva, I had a long layover in Newark. I stopped at a kiosk to buy a sandwich and ordered a $1.79 soda. I was expecting about four ounces of flat coke, no ice, and was pleasantly shocked to be handed a cup roughly the size of my head. North America isn't ALL bad...
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