So on Thursday the 6th of January in the year of our lord two thousand and eleven (or the tail end of the Year of the Tiger as the Chinese new year for 2011 will enter into the Rabbit) is a day that will live on forever, as the day that I went back to work.
So I did the usual on the first day. Got a laptop, blackberry and other corporate accoutrement. Met the people in the area where our office is (we are in the middle of Accounting but there are only a few of us).
You know how first days go... you feel like you don't know ho to do anything. We have a big trip in February to Australia and the Philippines for six weeks so from now until then it will just be planning and organisational things to get ready as well as learning the particulars of the company and how we do what we do.
However my first night, I went with some people from couchsurfing (CS) over to the group meeting in Lucerne. The meetings are just a group of like minded people getting together and having a chat, nothing formal or heavy, just something to do. Here that is the key. Zug (pronounced zooooog, not zuug like bug) is a nice quiet town. Read between the lines - not much to do. So days consist of going to work, going for a run, eating dinner and going to sleep... any diversion is a good one. But don't get me wrong, its really nice here. Actually Switzerland is amazingly beautiful. Even on the train ride up to Zurich on Saturday, its nice to look out the window and actually enjoy seeing the countryside (unlike in the UK... just saying...).
Back to Saturday, my friend Martin from Stuttgart decided to come down. Its only about 2 hours or so. We met up and had a beer waiting for his friend Marie to meet us. Somehow we decided that we were going to a big 80s party that night. So after a big night out and catching up with my friend, it was time to head back to Zug on Sunday afternoon.
Another week of work went by (really not much to say about it, its work...) and I meet up with the local CS group again. It was good to see some people I actually recognized and then we wen out to a local bar. Its funny here - there is so little crime that the bar has a coat rack near the door, that everyone seems to use with concern for their things. Thats kind of nice.
Saturday I stayed in, did some cleaning and stuff. - you see as I only have an "L" permit, I can only stay for one year. So it was decided that I could stay in the corporate apartment instead of having to find my
own place, since it would be harder with this permit type. Whatever, sounds good to me, one less thing I
have to try and worry about finding. One thing though - Thursday I came home from work and had the eerie feeling someone had been in my apartment. Apparently I have a cleaner, but no one told me. But I am not sure what they cleaned - they did some dishes and took out the trash but didn't vacuum or mop. Kind of odd.
So Saturday I stayed in and did laundry and cleaned a bit. Then headed south a bit, to a small village, to have some beers with a friend, Chris from Germany, that I met at CS. It was cool and nice to get out of my apartment. Sunday I decided to go up Zugerberg.
Zugerberg is our local mountain. I bought a monthly Zugerland pass (good for all buses, trams, boats in the Canton of Zug (canton are like
states) for about 65 USD. So all I had to do was get on the bus, ride up to Schönegg and then the cable train up to Zugerberg. It is a hugely
popular area and since it was a beautiful day - clear skies and not really cold at all, it was fairly crowded. There were people with strollers, people "Nordic walking" (slightly ridiculous looking as it is just walking fast
using walking poles in each hand), mountain bikers and loads of people just out walking. I walked around for a couple of hours then headed home. All in all so good so far. time to get ready for another week at
work.
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