Day Three: 18. August 2011

It's only been three days, but it seems like my German is improving like nobody's business. A long day of work in the newly renovated Trollstrasse gave me ample opportunity to expand my vocabulary with such features as: der Bohrer (drill bit), die Bohrermachine (drill), der Deckel (cap), die Schraube (screw), and der Staubsauger (vacuum cleaner), with which one staubsaugt or simply saugt ab (to vaccum). It was also a great chance to get to know some of the other people around SalZH. This morning I was under one Daniela Pinösch for cleaning crew, who among other things speaks fluent English, started her own fashion label while living in Vancouver for 6 years, and instructs metal and woodworking class at SalZH. She showed me a few of the upcoming projects, which included students fashioning their own metal rings and hunting knives. Don't you want to be part of that shop class?? Probably would break about 100 regulations in an American school. 

Lunchtime was great. We had pizza, which was delivered on a motorcycle that had 2'x2'x2' metal box, from which about 10 or 15 personal pies were unloaded. They got the size of my pizza wrong (perhaps the delivery box was too small to handle it :P ), but the meal was tasty enough after adding some salzh. For "official mid-afternoon break" around 2:30 our boss, Schulleiter Bär treated us to some Budget Beer (the brand name), which was quite tasty after contorting one's sweaty body in order to install stubborn classroom furniture for several hours. The Budget Chocolate, which accompanied this little repast, I must say trumped many American brands.

After work was all done around 5:15, I went by foot back to the Zeughausstrasse building, about a 10-minute walk through the old city center. Killed some time talking to colleagues there, one of whom was an MK (missionary kid; ie. child of a missionary) with a distinct British accent and facebooking with that Mahler kid. At 6:30 I picked up David Schneider, my host, from the Winterthur train station. "How did you pick him up?" you might ask. Well, I'm going to tell you. It was with none other than the pristine Volvo station wagon that I dropped him off with this very morning. Gorgeous dark-brown leather seats, ultra smooth ride, just beautiful--and in one piece, something I was very concerned about as soon as my host handed me over the keys. Luckily, David showed me the basic routes to follow, so I wasn't surprised by any strange itinerant road signs. FYI: No Rights on Red allowed in Switzerland. When I went to pick up my host, I had a choice to make about that. When I looked at the traffic light though, and saw that there was a distinct arrow for every direction, and the "right" arrow was red, I decided it was worth the risk of sitting there and waiting for it to turn green. I was right. 

It seems I may get the chance to do a lot more driving in Winterthur. In one week, one of the current praktikants will be leaving SalZH to pursue other things. Among his jobs were driving the SalZH-Bus, a big-old honking thing, which is sometimes to be seen pulling a trailer decorated with the SalZH butterfly. When I told David I had experience driving such vehicles, he said he had a job for me.

There are other things I could write about: the handy 14-year old who helped me install shelving on the 4th floor of the Trollstrasse and used the shop-vac to suck his hair in spare moments; the pleasure of a work day with 3 planned breaks, all with delicious nummies; the perception I have of a highly valued workforce and general investment in people. "It's not like in the United States," one co-worker mentioned to me describing the Swiss school system. It's certainly not.

To end on a fun note, here are a few pictures of my house and surroundings. Stay tuned-in for indoor pictures next time!

The drive leading up to Schneider's home. Shared by a number of other neighbors.

 

The Schneiders's.

Schneider's Garage. Sadly, the above-mentioned Volvo was gone. You can see their other beautiful vehicle however...

A Manual Mini-Coop. :) Maybe I'll get to drive it, if I learn stick!

One part of their backyard, located behind the garage. You'll notice a hammock and lounge chairs in the back.

The patio, complete with sun-shade, wall, and out-door pizza oven.

They're hanging from the trellis above the patio. They're real. Silly question, right?

Houses behind Hedges: the view from the patio. Nice camouflage, no?

Looking down from the Patio.

The view from my bedroom. Finally figured out how to raise those dang blinds.

The one-eared stray cat that visits our house.

The End...or is it?