Switzerland in the world rankings

The OECD recently published two survey findings on the "happiest countries" in the world and its "better life index".  The happiest country index measured the satisfaction of the countries' citizens as well as how they scored compared to key economic indicators while the better life index measured a wider set of criteria (safety, civic engagement, GDP, etc.) that citizens consider imperative for living a good life. 

Switzerland won the top spot for the happiest country in the world and fifth on the "better life index", the OECD cited reasons such as the high income of its residents, good health, low unemployment, low probability of high working hours, high life expectancy, among other things.  Below are the links to some of the articles if you're interested in learning more.  It looks like we chose a pretty fantastic place to live. I can confirm that the living is easy and happy here: clean, beautiful, prosperous, safe, and a simple way of life.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/06/01/happiest-countries-in-the-world/2377563/

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/health/130528/australia-tops-the-world-quality-life-well-being-says-oecd

1. Switzerland
> Life satisfaction score: 7.8
> Self-reported good health: 81% (7th highest)
> Employees working long hours: 5.9% (17th lowest)
> Disposable income: $30,060 (4th highest)
> Life expectancy: 82.8 years
In no other country did residents have a better sense of well-being than in Switzerland. People in the country tend to be better off financially than residents of most other countries. In 2010, the average household's disposable income was $30,060, higher than all but three other countries. Meanwhile, the average household financial net worth in Switzerland was more than $99,000, higher than any other country except for the United States. As many as 79% of the country's residents were employed in 2011, tied for the highest employment rate in the OECD. People in the country work just 1,632 hours annually, compared to the OECD average of 1,776. Very few residents were unemployed in 2012, when the unemployment rate was just 4.4%, lower than all but three other nations studied.

Dreaming of sunny skies...

Europe has been stuck under a shroud of depressing temperatures and clouds this spring.  We have only had a handful of sunny, warm days and of course they tend to occur on weekdays while we are tucked into our cubicles.  News reports have been saying that this is the worst spring weather Europe has seen in 10 years, which means that we aren't able to enjoy the best that Switzerland has to offer -- the mountains and great outdoors.  At least when it was snowing we could go skiing! So we have been using the weekends to relax, hang with friends, plan future trips and our wedding, drink wine, FaceTime with friends and family from back home, and dream of sunny skies...

Switzerland better get its weather act together before my vacation (and Sarah's visit!) at the end of June...

My favorite topic, SHOPPING

Living in Switzerland is slowly turning us into cross-border shopping experts.  Although we do still buy quite a lot of things locally in Geneva and around Switzerland (chocolate, cheese, and wine happen to be the most frequent of these things of course), over the past few months we have started to take more advantage of shopping options outside of Switzerland to take capitalize on lower prices.

Shopping in France

Because France is only 5 miles away, we often find ourselves crossing the border to purchase various goodies.  For example, we needed new sneakers for our upcoming half marathon training and rather than purchase them for 300 CHF (approximately $300), we crossed the border into France to a shopping mall and bought the same shoes for 160 EUR (approximately $200) (still expensive for sneakers I know, but better than Switzerland!).  Its so intriguing to me that the second you cross a border (and the shopping plaza we went to literally was right across the border), prices drop immediately. The difficult part about shopping in France however is that the border patrol officers may or may not be at the border at any time and they may or may not stop you and ask to see your receipts and open your bags to make sure you haven't purchased over 300 CHF in goods and to make sure you are not over the required limit of meat and wine.  This has happened quite a few times to us (particularly when Ryan slows down at the check point and starts looking suspicious, at which point they ask him to stop and start asking us questions) and resulted in us having our groceries laid out on the pavement while the officer added up the number of grams of meat in your grocery purchase.  Its intimidating and just plain ridiculous to go through this experience, so this often discourages us to make shopping in France a weekly occurrence. 

Blurry picture, but this is a picture of one of the border patrol stations, you go through lanes and the border patrol officers stop you if you look suspicious.  Non-residents and newbies often get stopped because we slow down and don't know whether we should say hello or just wave and nod.... we have since learned saying waving and nodding gives you a much better chance of not being stopped.

Online Shopping

The other day one of our friends had on a jacket that I loved and asked her where I could buy it.  She gave me the name of the store (a popular European brand), and I was about to purchase the jacket online when I decided to just quickly check what the price would be if I switched the country listed on the online store to the UK.  Instead of it being $180, the jacket was $100 if I simply bought it through the UK store!  Bingo!  Saved $80 buy just changing the country of the online store, crazy Switzerland.

PS, shopping in online US stores doesn't work because the shipping and customs costs required to get purchases from the US to Switzerland is just cray cray.

"Visitor" or "Travel" Shopping

I will apologize that many of you have (or will be) subjected to "Visitor" shopping while we live abroad.  It involves having visitors from the US bring things over to us when they come to visit.  Not only is this cost effective, but it also means we can enjoy some of our favorite brands from back home.  So far visitors have brought peanut butter, Frank's hot sauce, garlic salt, Reese's peanut butter cups, Sour Patch kids, Tom's shoes, toothpaste and the list goes on. While it is often obnoxious to visitors that they have to use up room in their suitcase with these goodies on the way over, I like to this that it makes room for souvenirs and purchases in their suitcase on the way back :) 

"Travel" shopping involves Ryan and me bringing things back with us after we visit in the US.  I have found that the best way to do this is when going back home on a business trip because a business class ticket means that I can check two bags for free.  So I arrive in the US with only 1 bag packed and then bring along another empty bag to fill with purchases.  Voila! 

The Ascension holiday

Spring seems to be the time for holidays in Europe.  It started with a 4 day weekend over Easter and continued with the long weekend for the Ascension holiday this past weekend and continues next weekend for Whit Monday.  Essentially all of the holidays are related to Easter in one way or another (check out the links above to get more information).  The holidays have been a nice way to do some semi-local traveling around Switzerland this month.  This past weekend, we spent our time in the canton of Valais (outlined below in purple), which is about 2 hours from Geneva and contains some of the largest mountains in the Alps.

We first went to a town called Leukerbad, the largest natural thermal spa area in the Alps. A plethora of thermal spas have crept up around town due to the natural springs in the area. The town is surrounded by some superb mountains and scenery as well.  It was pretty neat to be sitting in a thermal spa while watching the winter's snow melt into waterfalls and tumble into the valley, it felt very "alpine"!

On Thursday we checked out the 'Alpentherme' spa, which consisted of 2 large thermal pools, a sauna "village", and a Roman Irish bath experience.  This spa was very quiet and relaxing and is known for the different spa treatments you can get. The funny thing to us as Americans and likely you as the reader, was that the sauna village and Roman Irish baths do not allow clients to wear any bathing suits or clothing inside.  The answer to your obvious next question, is no, we only partook in the thermal pools in which bathing suits were required; but, we did find it amusing how open Europeans were with nudity at these spas and this is also a general theme that we have noticed throughout Europe -- just one of the many cultural differences!

On Friday, we checked out the other thermal spa in town, 'Burgerbad'.  Burgerbad had many more thermal pools (10+), but was filled with many noisy kids and locals playing around in the pools for the day as opposed to using it as a relaxing respite.  Essentially, this spa went for quantity over quality while Alpentherme went for quality over quantity.  We decided to get massages here since the massages at the Alpentherme were all booked.  The massages were... interesting. Ryan's masseuse was a nearly 7 foot tall guy that spent more time talking to him and telling him stories about Switzerland than actually giving him a massage. Both massages took place in the equivalent of a high school locker room with makeshift massage tables.  Of course, as is everything Swiss, everything was very clean and the people were nice, but overall... not quite worth the money we spent to splurge on massages.  Overall, our assessment was that the thermal spas closer to the Geneva/Lausanne area are nicer; but, it would be fun to come back to Leukerbad when the weather gets warmer and melts all of the snow so that we can go on hikes during the day and indulge in the thermal spas after.

One of the thermal pools at Burgerbad

Thermal, spring water flows from the town fountains

Water slides at Burgerbad 

Impressive surrounding mountains with snow that is still slowly melting down into the valley below

After Leukerbad, we went to stay with our friends in the town of Nendaz for 2 days.  Nendaz is one of 4 connecting ski resorts that make up the 4 Vallées ski area (one of which is Verbier, which we had been skiing at before).  They just bought an apartment in the town of Nendaz and graciously invited us to stay with them for a few days.  The view from their apartment is SPECTACULAR to say the least.  You can look across the entire valley to the surrounding mountains from their porch. It's fascinating to me to see the snow still covering the mountain tops while spring is in full bloom in the valley below, what a beautiful contrast. I don't think I will ever get tired of the views within this country!

Our friends' uper cute pups taking in the views from the porch

Sunset over the mountains

On Saturday, the town in the valley below, Sion, was having a wine festival where you could pay an entrance fee of 30 CHF to taste the wines of some of the local vineyards from the canton of Valais that were gathered at the festival. Since my knowledge of wine is very primitive (but growing at least), this is a snippet that describes the local Valais wine area:

With over 5,136 ha (13,000 acres), 20,000 winegrowers and 700 winemakers, the canton of Valais is not only Switzerland's biggest wine-producing region, but it also offers the greatest diversity of wines, both red and white.
Even though the Fendant and the Dôle are the most well-known terms of origin, the Valais' specialities are now winning more and more importance. These specialities are issued from indigenous grape varieties, which are vinified either separately or in blend.

The smart marketing ploy at this wine festival was that if you purchased 12 bottles of wine your entrance fee was refunded, so collectively, the four of us ended up bringing back 48 bottles of wine after all was said and done. A delicious (albeit expensive) end to a fun day!  

Enjoying wine at one of the tents

The pups are clearly pleased with our wine case purchases

On a side note, happy mother's day to all of the mothers out there! Lots of love especially to my spectacular mom! XO

Golfing in Switzerland

Hi everyone, this is Ryan on the blog for a guest appearance to tell you about golfing in Switzerland.  Now that the spring weather has arrived, we have been finding ways to continue our golfing habits here in Switzerland (as I have been somewhat addicted to the sport for the last 3 years). At first we thought this might be a pipe dream; but, we managed to find a few suspect driving ranges over the past few weeks and today marked the first day we actually went out and played on a course.  Of course we were curious to see how the sport compares to what we are used to and here are some general observations on the differences in Swiss/European vs. US golf:

1. To play on any course in Switzerland, you need a special card that essentially certifies that you are not a beginner.  This ensures that the pace of play is fast on the courses but presents a difficulty to us because we don't have one.  To get the special card you have to pass tests with a golf pro, including a written exam that pertains to golf etiquette and the rules as well as a practical exam that is comprised of 9 holes with a golf pro where he documents your play and scores the round.  This may seem ridiculous, but that isn't even everything.  Those two exams enable you to play most courses, but some of the courses also require you to have a second golf license with your official handicap.  Needless to say, we are embarking on our mission to secure both cards ASAP.
2. Driving ranges are generally more numerous (as these are the only places that non-card holders can learn); but, the infrastructure is a little shady (i.e., tires for practice targets, no ability to hit on grass, etc.).
3. The courses (well the one that we have been on!) are very nice and actually have some cool features like spray guns to wash off your clubs and shoes at the end of the round.  If anyone knows me well, this capped off the round because I would normally come home after and meticulously clean our clubs and equipment by hand.  I asked our friend who we played with if the washing machines were common and he said it was the norm....winning!
4. Memberships and fees to play rounds are expensive, as to be expected in one of the world's most expensive countries.
5. Golf carts are not commonly seen at courses, typically you carry or tote your golf bag around on a little trolley.
6. Although we keep being told that golf is considered a bit of an elitist sport in Europe, a surprising amount of people here (and many of our friends) already play or are learning to play.
7. Drink/snack carts (beer carts) do not exist on the courses...major bummer!

So, all in all, golf isn't all that different and just as enjoyable in the Swiss version. I am searching for some lessons and Lauren has some lessons lined up with some coworkers through a program at work.  We are looking forward to continuing to enjoy golf while we are in Switzerland.

Lake Geneva views

Lake Geneva views 

Cows in the background, so Swiss of course 

Suspect driving range

Saturday mornings

As it is Saturday, I thought I would share one of my few frustrations about living in Switzerland, store hours. Stores in Switzerland are only open Monday to Friday 9-6 and Saturday 9-6. Now the reason why this always frustrates me on Saturday in particular is that I always feel rushed to get our big weekly grocery shopping trip in. Which means that as I am sitting here in my PJs on a Saturday morning, relaxing after a long week, and trying to think of fun/relaxing things to do for the weekend, the question in the back of my mind is always "OK, when should we go to the grocery store"? From what I have gathered since living in this country, the reasons behind these store hours are as follows:

1. to protect blue collar workers: in a society like the US where stores stay open 24/7, you often have people that are working non-stop, 7 days a week to make ends meet and they don't have time off. The Swiss shop hours ensure that everyone is able to enjoy their evenings and weekends.

2. the land of the stay at home mom: In one of the cantons (i.e., "states") of Switzerland, women just gained the right to vote in the 1970s and it never fails to drive me a bit mad that the citizens of this country refuse to acknowledge that not every family has a stay at home mom, dad, or nanny that can go to the grocery store while the rest of the family is at work.  The other interesting tid-bit on this subject is that kids don't go to school on Wednesdays in Switzerland, translation: one parent must stay at home every Wednesday or hire a nanny because the cost of childcare in Switzerland is equivalent to 30-50% of family income.

3. cost: In the land of uber-expensive, Switzerland has determined that employing workers for a few additional hours might not actually be worth the extra revenue that it would bring in.

4. importance of personal/family time: having stores open past 6PM means that time people would spend shopping would be cutting into time they should be spending with their family.

So where does this leave me? Well, still annoyed that I have to spend my Saturday mornings grocery shopping and a bit annoyed at Switzerland's "its my way or else" approach to family values, but I do appreciate their ability to stand up for worker's rights and a world economy that constantly pushes for more. And with that, I'm off to do our weekly grocery shopping trip! Happy weekend everyone.

Ideas for Boston contributions

I mentioned last week that I would be on the lookout for ways to contribute in the wake of the events last week in Boston and wanted to share them with you.  I don't want to make anyone feel in any way compelled to contribute in the same manner, I just wanted to share with you some of the ways in which we decided to help in case anyone else back home or here in Switzerland has also been looking for resources:

In case you haven't already heard, The One Fund Boston, Inc. is the official fund that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Tom Menino established to collect donations to help the victims.  It has already raised over $20 million so let's keep it going! 

In addition to this general fund, I donated to a fund for Brittany Loring. Brittany was one of the interns in my Boston office last summer and was one of the people hurt.  She is in the process of recovering but will have rehabilitation ahead of her.  I have heard that it could take awhile for The One Fund Boston, Inc. to start distributing funds to the victims, so to make a quicker impact, you could donate on the Give Forward fundraising site set up for Brittany.

Operation Beach Body

As I alluded to in my last post, we have had indulged a bit too much in local Swiss delicacies this past winter (i.e., cheese and chocolate).  So a few weeks ago we decided to embark on "Operation Beach Body", which just translates into stop eating cheese and chocolate, get our butts off the couch and go for runs, and eat healthy food. So, we have set a goal of running a half marathon in Fribourg, Switzerland on June 23 and we have been making lots of healthy meals at home.

Now I know this isn't exactly a food blog and what I'm about to share with you really has nothing to do with Switzerland -- but in the spirit of healthier living this spring, I wanted to share our new weeknight dinner obsession -- spring rolls! The ingredients are surprisingly easy to find in grocery stores here because there are big international sections in the grocery stores to accommodate all of the expats from around the world. So we buy spring roll wrappers at the store and once its meal time, we quickly soak them one at a time in hot water to soften them.  Next, we fill each one with all kinds of deliciousness, mainly grilled/curry-flavored tofu, cold rice noodles, shredded carrots, sliced cucumbers, chopped avocado, chopped cilantro, and sweet chili sauce.  The best part about this meal is that you can prepare the ingredients on the weekend and save them in tupperwares for weeknight meals so that all you need to do come dinner time is dunk the wrapper in water and stuff it full of goodies, and Voila, its like a burrito except WAY healthier! Join us in Operation Beach Body by trying the spring rolls out for yourself and leave us a comment to let us know what you think (especially if you come up with new filler combinations!)

The yummy goodies in pre-wrapped form

The finished product

Whenever we eat dinner, Pumpkin jumps up into a chair next to us to join in on the company :)

Prayers and thoughts for our beloved city and country

The news of the tragedy in Boston quickly reached us here in Switzerland last night. Words cannot express how sad and angry and sick it makes me.  Boston is very close to our hearts and we have fond memories of celebrating Patriot's Day and the Boston marathon each year. Thanks to modern technology, we were able to quickly verify that all of you are safe, although understandably shaken up. Our prayers and thoughts go out to you and to Boston and the USA in general, we are thinking of you from across the pond and so is the rest of the world -- many of our friends and coworkers here from all countries have checked in with us to make sure that our friends and family are safe. In the midst of such terror, I find bits of comfort in the stories of heroism and kindness and I think Obama said it well this this morning...

We also know this — the American people refuse to be terrorized.  Because what the world saw yesterday in the aftermath of the explosions were stories of heroism and kindness, and generosity and love...So if you want to know who we are, what America is, how we respond to evil — that’s it.  Selflessly.  Compassionately.  Unafraid.

If anyone hears of specific charities, contributions, or other ways we can help over the coming days, please do pass them along. Love to you all.

Spring has sprung!

After a month of really terrible, rainy, miserable weather in Geneva, this weekend marked the turning point and entrance to spring in Switzerland.  With sunny skies and temps in the 70s, it is a glorious turn of events that has the entire city waking up from its winter slumber.  Cafes have put their tables/chairs out for the seasons, tourists are strolling by the lake, the fields outside of town are popping to life with bright green grass (which is wildly juxtaposed against snow-capped mountains -- ski season is still going strong!), and people are lounging in the parks soaking in the glorious sun. Since we moved here in late September and at the time we were very consumed with moving errands like going to Ikea, etc., we haven't really had much of a chance yet to explore this area in the warmer seasons, so we are re-discovering it over the past few days. We have been running by the lake in the mornings (a great way to work off the winter "raclette body"!), having lunch outside at cafes, walking everywhere to take in the sights and warm air, and then this weekend we went to a friend's chalet in Chamonix for an evening out in the town on Saturday night and a lazy Sunday soaking in the sun on his patio that had the most amazing views of Mont Blanc.  I just love Spring time, its such a happy time of the year, full of new life and greenery.  Happy Spring everyone!

Our host opening a bottle of Champagne for breakfast

Breakfast spread

Boys manning the grill

Lunch time