Shopping!

On thursday we had gone shopping - nothing great, just normal groceries. Most of the times here in Switzerland, we end up shopping in one of the shops named Coop, Migros or Denner - these being the supermarkets and the cheapest among all shops around. The worst thing about Switzerland is that the shops close really early in the evening - sharp at 7:00 p.m. on weekdays - and it gets worst on weekends - with closing time 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays and almost no shops are open on Sundays - really strange!
But anyway, we did manage to find time on a weekday to rush from the lab to a Migros store - one of the largest stores around - the one with 3 M's - at Lausanne FLON at around 6:15 from the lab. We finally reached the store at around 6:35 leaving us with a mere 25 minutes to shop our normal stock of groceries. So, all us moved around briskly, with Saurabh pushing a trolley around and we were just collecting stuff - all that we thought we could consume sometime here - until we realised we had shopped much more than what we normally do. Lots of things bought ... and no wonder, the bill was a whooping 76 CHF - the highest we had gone so far in a single shopping spree! And it didn't end there - Saurabh and Singla went to the Indian shop and Saurabh found things worth 39 CHF to be purchased from there as well! Thus making it 115 CHF spent just on daily eateries shopping in around 45 minutes time - I was amazed when I realized that converted to Rs., it meant we had shopped for things worth around Rs. 3832 (courtesy Google :P). I don't think I had ever shopped for such a large amount ever before in my life - and definitely not in a short span of just 45 mins! Singla and Rishabh also had their shopping done - though they didn't shop as greedily as we did - but Migros supermarket must have earned quite a fair bit from just these three quick shoppers coming in at their closing time :-). For the records ... just putting down a list of the things we purchased that day - with their prices!

1. Milk - 2L x 2 : 4.20
   
2. Multifruit Juice 2L x 2: 3.80
   
3. Apple Juice 2L x 2: 3.80
   
4. Yogurt 400g x 2 : 2.70
   
5. Pasta (maggi style - white sauce) x 1 : 2.80
   
6. Pasta with mushroom x 1: 2.60
   
7. Mayonnaise 265g x 2: 2.80
   
8. Onion 1kg: 2.60
   
9. Tomato: 3.85
   
10. Bread x 2 : 2.80
    
11. Cheese slices x 2: 5.00
    
12. Cottage Cheese x 1: 3.90
    
13. Mozarella cheese x 1: 3.20
    
14. Chicken burger patties 1kg: 14.00
    
15. Some other chicken stuff - Poulet Cordon Bleu 1kg: 12.50
    
16. Corn flakes : 2.10
17. Fish Fingers x1: 3.45
18. Indian shop - Maggi x 4: 4.00
19. Indian shop - Parathas x 5: 15.00
20. Calling cards x 2: 20.00

I hope all this adds up to the right amount, else we were cheated :(

Feels fundu though ... now won't have to shop for some days ... and also relished some of the chicken stuff yesterday night! Was awesome :)

Google downtime!

While we all have always felt great about Google doing cool new things and engulfing almost everything that can be done on the internet ... it is sad that (at least) I have become quite heavily dependant on Google services during the time I use the internet.

So, now, currently when GMail is facing some downtime (really rare, but still ... it will happen once in a while!) I am in a fix and can't find a way to do some things I want to do! Tejas and me had decided we would meet online right now and chat online - that was going to be on GChat and hence that is not doable. I thought of mailing him to say I am not able to connect, but then GMail is down anyway and hence the mail is not accessible! Luckily this blogger service and youtube - also among google's services are running - else I would not have found much to do online and would have probably slept off immediately.

I just wonder what it will be like if one (not so) fine day all of Google's data servers break down - what a loss to the e-world it will be! Hard to imagine that!

First call back home!

Well ... in between all these interesting battles I have had, trying to make sense of what people around are saying and trying to tell them what I am trying to say ... it is such a nice feeling to be able to hear some Marathi words being spoken from far far away ... reaching my ears directly, crystal clear! Really ... this world has become a small place ... such an amazing feeling to be able to talk with parents and my brother without caring about any money being spent ... and describing them in detail what view I am seeing from my room and what things I did during the day.
This might be something which seems to be attractive only for the first few days after I am here ... and later it might become something routine ... but the fact remains those words which I am able to hear mean much more than what they do, when I am back in Pune or IITB! Amazing what places and situations can do ... and how seemingly trivial things gain so much importance in one's mind!

Why do these people not speak English!

The first few days of our stay here in Swiss land were really difficult, in terms of trying to communicate with people. I haven't really been faced with such problems before and this has been one learning experience which I would have liked to avoid (well, probably not, once I am not settled here!).
General people around do not understand English ... so it is difficult to even ask them directions and get basic groceries. Some times, we are lucky to find maps and directions written in English, but then French pronounciations are so weird, that one cannot ask for directions even after reading a place's name! So, Rennens is pronounced not in the usual way, but as 'Hanoe' or something like that! And if one says Rennens and asks people around, they make expressions as if I am asking them about some addresses on moon! We found it difficult to explain to store-keepers that we want milk, cheese, bread ... everything ... its amazing how one can face difficulties doing these stupid, simple things!
The most important thing to do here seemed to be learning a bit of French and the websites are helping me out in that regard! Now that I have got settled in EPFL though, things are much simpler, because there people luckily understand English and hence life is peaceful. But I can still see a form unfilled on my table, which is supposed to my room checklist and I have not handed it over to the Concierge just because I do not know what is written on that! Phew ... not having a universal language is painful at times :((

First sight of Switzerland

On my flight from Mumbai to Zurich, I could get a glimpse of this place and it seemed to be a really beautiful country. But the flight from Zurich to Geneva was just beyond words ... amazing mountains seen below, with a stunning view of the lake, it was really a very pleasing sight.

One might feel ... upar se sabhi kuch achcha hi dikhta hai yaar ... but I hadn't seen anything remotely as beautiful before. This was just too good! I hope to see some of the places which I saw on that short flight of around 30 mins ... those were locations which I have no intention of missing out on!