Haben Sie Fondue, bitte?
Guess what? I remember some German from high school. Not actually enough to talk to people yet - because the swiss german is different from high german, and seems to be only spoken at several hundred words per minute -
but I can say "gruezi" (hello) and "danke" (thank you) and "Sprechen Sie englisch?" (do you speak english), and most people speak at least some English. Armed with a trusty pocket dictionary I'm able to read a lot of street signs. The funniest-sounding word I learned today is "einfahrt" (entrance).
Last night we had fondue at Raclette Stube. The menu, while in English, posed some challenges - like, what is a "dl" of wine? How many of those does one person drink? The menu had wine in 1dl, 2dl, 3dl, and 5dl servings. Some quick computation - a two-liter bottle of soda is 64 ounces, which means that a deciliter is 3.2 ounces - suggests that "1dl" is a teeny tiny glass and "5dl" is what you order for a group to drink. I didn't recognize any of the names of the wine, so we picked the only one that had a recognizable word in the title (Chardonnay) and it was a swiss white wine that turned out to be really good, not too sweet. We discovered later, after consulting a few guidebooks, that one reason the prices are so high is that the tip is already factored in - so you should round up to the nearest franc so the waitress doesn't have to make lots of change but you aren't supposed to tip extra. Oops.
Today we explored the town center. One thing that quickly became apparent is that the swiss must not drink a lot of water or soda - it's really expensive. (4 francs / half a liter at a restaurant; 2 francs / half liter at the grocery store.) So how do they keep from being dehydrated while walking around? And why is Diet Coke called "Coca-Cola Light"? It's a mystery.
There's a ton of stuff to do in the town center, and shopping was super convenient. (We now have cell phones that work, some books, and on Monday will have bicycles.) Lots of people are just hanging out and talking, and there's sometimes more bicycle traffic than car traffic. There's a park near the apartment, and a local garage band has blocked off a street and is holding an impromptu concert / block party right now.
but I can say "gruezi" (hello) and "danke" (thank you) and "Sprechen Sie englisch?" (do you speak english), and most people speak at least some English. Armed with a trusty pocket dictionary I'm able to read a lot of street signs. The funniest-sounding word I learned today is "einfahrt" (entrance).
Last night we had fondue at Raclette Stube. The menu, while in English, posed some challenges - like, what is a "dl" of wine? How many of those does one person drink? The menu had wine in 1dl, 2dl, 3dl, and 5dl servings. Some quick computation - a two-liter bottle of soda is 64 ounces, which means that a deciliter is 3.2 ounces - suggests that "1dl" is a teeny tiny glass and "5dl" is what you order for a group to drink. I didn't recognize any of the names of the wine, so we picked the only one that had a recognizable word in the title (Chardonnay) and it was a swiss white wine that turned out to be really good, not too sweet. We discovered later, after consulting a few guidebooks, that one reason the prices are so high is that the tip is already factored in - so you should round up to the nearest franc so the waitress doesn't have to make lots of change but you aren't supposed to tip extra. Oops.
Today we explored the town center. One thing that quickly became apparent is that the swiss must not drink a lot of water or soda - it's really expensive. (4 francs / half a liter at a restaurant; 2 francs / half liter at the grocery store.) So how do they keep from being dehydrated while walking around? And why is Diet Coke called "Coca-Cola Light"? It's a mystery.
There's a ton of stuff to do in the town center, and shopping was super convenient. (We now have cell phones that work, some books, and on Monday will have bicycles.) Lots of people are just hanging out and talking, and there's sometimes more bicycle traffic than car traffic. There's a park near the apartment, and a local garage band has blocked off a street and is holding an impromptu concert / block party right now.
posted by Lexi Baugher at 8:54 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home