Welcome to “the Writing Room of Europe”, or as I like to call it “the waiting room of Europe”. St. Gallen is the city in which I work both as a ESL teacher and a Starbucks barista. It is a city where I still wait for my professional dreams to come true, yet seem to… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Briar Patch City
Tradition disrespected: James Bond and Peter Parker
When did the marketers take over culture? It seems that every day there is an old idea being repackaged and reinvented to the point that the idea has been corrupted or even eliminated. Take much of today’s music. How often does one hear a cover version of an old classic? How rarely is the cover… Continue reading Tradition disrespected: James Bond and Peter Parker
Biel-Bienne the undecided
There are places in the world and especially in Switzerland that are amazingly easy to fall in love with. Biel-Bienne is not one of them. It is a place that even its residents seem undecided about loving or hating. Biel is the German name for this city of 52,350, located exactly midpoint between Geneva and… Continue reading Biel-Bienne the undecided
Happy Hallowe’en
Hallowe’en (short for hallowed evening or holy evening, because it is the night before All Saints’ Day, November 1) is a strange thing. Children go outdoors into the darkening streets which they are normally not encouraged to do. They go door to door to visit strangers that they are told to normally avoid. They ask… Continue reading Happy Hallowe’en
Lingua Helvetica: Language(s) in Switzerland
Buy some medicine in Switzerland (if you can afford it). (And considering how generally the Swiss worry about life far more than they actually seem to enjoy living may be a great reason to run (not walk) to the nearest Apotheke!) You will see that the instructions (the message in the bottle, so to speak)… Continue reading Lingua Helvetica: Language(s) in Switzerland
Impressions of Lausanne
Last week I investigated, in my Tour of Nine, (Switzerland’s nine biggest cities: Geneva, Lausanne, Biel, Bern, Basel, Lucerne, Zurich, Winterthur and St. Gallen), the employment prospects of Lausanne. A city of hills reminding one of Rome or San Francisco, Lausanne is Switzerland’s 4th largest city. (Lausanne has 130, 000 inhabitants, behind Zurich (380,000), Geneva… Continue reading Impressions of Lausanne
Frank about the Franc
“In the world of central banking, slow and predictable decisions are the aim. So on Wednesday 15 January 2015, when the Swiss National Bank (SNB) suddenly announced that it would no longer hold the Swiss Franc at a fixed exchange rate with the Euro, there was panic. The Franc soared. On that Wednesday one Euro… Continue reading Frank about the Franc
New Zion vs the Taxman
Thursday 22 October 2015 – Two International NY Times articles capture my eye and imagination: “The black hole in Starbucks’ tax strategy: Obscure London affliate is focus of EU regulators investigating illicit deals” “Irwin A. Schiff, fervent opponent of income taxes, dies at 87” It has been often said that the only two certainties in… Continue reading New Zion vs the Taxman
Geneva: the good, the bad and the beautiful
As those who’ve been following my posts here or on Facebook know, yours truly has been actively trying to improve my career by looking farther afield from the northeastern Switzerland market where I reside. Since the end of last month I have been to Geneva almost every week and the city of Geneva has left… Continue reading Geneva: the good, the bad and the beautiful
Interplanetary communication
Events of recent days have made me think about women and how men, including myself from time to time, have difficulty knowing how to peacefully and harmoniously co-exist with that strange and mysterious phenomenon known as Woman. My good friend Sumit and his wife Varsha are the proud and happy parents of their first child,… Continue reading Interplanetary communication