I have completed my first week of German lessons. It turns out I was overly optimistic. I thought I had the vocabulary, and speaking ability of a two year old….. Not so much. Between my limited vocabulary, and awful pronunciation of all the different CH sounds in the language. I am not even sure I am on a scale for how much German I could speak. I got lucky yesterday. Julie has been on me for a week to get a hair cut. So I walked to the nearest Barber. I tried to make an appointment for Friday at 11:00 AM. I figured the words Haarschnitt (haircut) Freitag (friday) elf Uhr (11) would maybe get me an appointment. Thank goodness there was another customer in the place, that was able to figure out what I wanted, and could translate for the owner. 🙂 So anyway. Today, I went and got my haircut. I knew I could never say what I have said for the last 30 + years. “Taper it on the sides and back, and two fingers on top.” So I got online and got some images of a “military style haircut” and came to the shop with a couple of different images on my phone. Well, I was able to get my haircut. I was able to say Danke, and Tschüss (bye). I did forget to set an appointment for a couple of weeks… I am hoping that another week or two of German lessons, will allow me to make an appointment!
Other than my hair cut. I am fascinated watching the house go up in front of us. Every home I have seen here is made of concrete. Not something we see much of in the US. It took about a week, but the garage and basement walls are up. The forms are laid for the Ceiling and floor (Decke and Boden). The rebar has been placed, and Monday I would expect to see the conduit for electrical wires, and the other plumbing being put in place waiting for the concrete to be poured. It has to take a lot more planning than traditional wood construction. I mean think about it. If you forget the wiring for an outlet. You either live without the outlet, or tear out the wall to run the cables. I think I need to get my friend Mike Collins over here. He can explain it all to me. He is a concrete expert!
On an aesthetics front. I am really not a big fan of the newer construction. Everything is all right angles, and flat roofs. The vast majority of the new homes are white, so there isn’t even a lot of color to see.
The interiors can be very nice, as referenced by our apartment. I simply do not like the exteriors. I am impressed how the architects make the most effective use of the available land. Newer homes do not have an attached garage. Everything is underneath the structure. Allowing you to have more living space with the small lot sizes.
I really like some of the older homes in the area. I do not know how much older old is, I am thinking 20 years plus, but I really have no clue. I have some pictures of my favorites on the walk to the train station. I would really love to get a look on the inside, to see if the inside has as much character as the outside.
This weekend is going to be another quiet one. It is Quarterly filing for AMCOR; so Julie is going to be working. If the rain holds off, I plan on going on a bike ride tomorrow; so I will have a bunch of pictures from that. Then on Sunday we are getting together with the other people that moved from Wisconsin to watch the Packer game. Since it is a noon game (Central Time), we should be able to watch the whole thing as it will be 1900 (Central European Time). We have been able to watch the other Packer games. I simply record them and watch the next day! On a side note. I don’t know if it is a European thing, or a Swiss thing to use the 24 hour clock, but all those years in the Army have finally paid off!
Wonder about the concrete thing – is it more energy efficient than wood for that climate?
I think it may be more energy efficient in almost any climate. 😀 But I also think it may have something to do with resources. There is a lot of rock that can be ground into concrete. The Country is small and imported wood is expensive.