The Three Bears go to Zürich

Nico, Corrin, and I are spending May and June in Zürich this year. I'm working here, and we'll be doing various fun things on the weekends.

(In case you don't understand the title of the blog: When Corrin was born, she seemed very much to us like a small frog. But within a matter of only a month or so, it became clear that she was not, in fact, a frog. We realized that, in actuality, she was a bear. After she had been a bear for some time, Michelle and Naomi came to the somewhat obvious conclusion that we must, all three of us, be bears. So, now we're the bears.)

In fact, Nico and Corrin aren't even here yet. They arrive this week. So I've been hanging out more or less by myself, stocking the kitchen, learning my way around the city, working a few days, and so forth.

So what exciting things have I done?

Ich habe um deise Wochende um den Zürichsee radgefahren. Es war 70 km.
This weekend, I rode my bike around lake Zurich. It was about 45 miles. Lots of traffic though, so I don't think I'll be taking Corrin on this ride.

Ich habe um Donnerstag mit mein Freund Mike ins eine Kneipe Bier getrunken.
On Thursday, I drank beer in a pub with my friend Mike.

(My German is terrible, so if you have corrections to offer, don't hesitate.)

Enough about what I've done, here are some strange things I have discovered about the Swiss:

• They seem to drive as aggressively as possible while still obeying the exact letter of every traffic law. For example, they respect pedestrian crossings, but if you are still in the cross walk when the light for the cars turns green, expect to get honked at. Drivers will floor it coming out of stop lights, but my co-worker tells me that you will get honked at for driving over the speed limit here. Unfathomable. They also have preternatural parallel parking ability. I walked past a line of 5 or 6 cars that must not have had more than a foot between any two of them.
  
• You have to throw your trash out in Züri-Säcke, white trashbags that cost about 2CHF a piece. This is how you pay for garbage collection. That's all perfectly normal, but what's interesting is that the garbage collectors will actually dig through your trash to find out who you are, should you try to put an unapproved trash bag in a dumpster. Not only that, but apparently your neighbors will report you if they see you using a bag other than a Züri-Sack.
• We've all heard that the Swiss are clean, but after you've been here for a week you start to realize just how clean they are. I took the trash out for the first time today, and the inside of the dumpster was clean. The mind boggles.

That's all I've got for now. I've taken some pictures, but I can't get them off of the camera until Nico arrives with the card reader. So, look forward to pictures later.

I'm going to make a serious effort to post here once a week while we're in Zürich. We'll see how that goes.