The Grass is Always Greener

While living in Switzerland, it was easy to compare (and sometimes complain) about the various aspects of work in Zurich as compared to San Francisco. When anything went wrong, it was easy to exclaim...“that would never happen at home” or “why can't they do things like the US”…. I was less than happy about my job in San Francisco when I left for Zurich, but after a few weeks in Switzerland, I couldn’t stop singing its praises…how does the saying go “You don’t know what you’ve got, til it’s gone.” And now, after a month of working back in San Francisco, I have to apologize to my Swiss counterparts; they definitely got some things right over there. My bias towards San Francisco was, in some instances, unwarranted and it became all too obvious as soon as I stepped on public transportation for my daily commute. So in an effort to even the score -

• While in Switzerland, I never gave a thought to the always on time and clean trams, although I never hesitated to give the locals a hard time for throwing elbows to get on and off the tram or never giving up their seat to a lady (whether old, pregnant or in uncomfortable shoes). Back in San Francisco, I was immediately excited when people allowed me to get on the bus before them and I almost fainted when a gentleman offered his seat to me. Although that joy was short lived...come quitting time, I was unable to get a bus home due to overcrowded and always late public transportation. San Francisco only redeemed itself with the abundance of cheap and available cabs.
• While in Switzerland, it took me a few months to build up a repore with my team, co-workers, admins and favorite lunch ladies. I had clearly taken advantage of the fact that everyone knew me in the San Francisco office...but they should, I had spent 4 years there, on the social committee, Involve committee and Local Action Committee... I don't have a real excuse as to why or how my breakfast burrito lady recognized me after 2 and a half years (I thought I only went there when I was hung over, so I am not sure if I was that memorable or always that hung over). But I am thankful that those relationships in Zurich finally did develop and my impatient desire to speed up the process was a bit unrealistic
• While in Switzerland, I initially complained about the excessive coffee breaks taken by the team (I could never find anyone around 4pm) but I ended up embracing them (if you can't beat em...). Back in San Francisco, I have tried to re-instate the coffee breaks, although it is more of a coffee walk to get the goods and some fresh air, rather than a proper coffee break.
• The Emergency Martinis enjoyed by my co-workers and I in Switzerland are only trumped by the quantity of people who attend the happy hours in San Francisco - quantity and maybe classiness. Emergency martinis were primarily with just a few people and held at a posh hotel bar which attracted business men and high class hookers alike, our happy hours in San Francisco include everyone, including their roommates, friends and uncles, and are at the local dive bars… and we may or may not have recently had an an ugly x-mas sweater themed one during the holidays.
• And to tip the scale in favor of Zurich, technology and accounting support in San Francisco has far surpassed my belief as to how long it takes to get something done. In Zurich, I received a blackberry on my very first day, without asking and never had a problem with back office support. In contrast, I have tried for the past four weeks to order a Blackberry via Tech Support and IT still can't get it together, plus accounting messed up my payroll, tax withholdings and job title, all of which had to be sorted out through numerous phone calls and emails.

When it is all said and done, I would call it a tie. Both locations have equally great and frustrating things which you can only fully appreciate after being gone.

Merry Christmas and a Snuggie New Year

Happy New Years everyone! Another great year has passed and another exciting year to look forward to. And despite the Airing of Grievances from a couple of weeks ago, this past holiday season showed me I had plenty to be thankful for both reflecting back on 2009 and looking forward to 2010. Just to name a few things, in 2009: I lived in Europe, fell in love, took a five-month sabbatical from work, became an auntie to so many new babies (Baby Block, Peyer, Colt, Mark, and am still waiting on Baby Worl) reconnected with old friends and met a few new ones in the process, and moved back to San Francisco and right back into my old job and life here. In 2010, I can look forward to many more trips back to Europe, my thirtieth birthday in France, the hope of Martin moving out to California and, as always, catching up with new and old friends where ever they may be.

So what sparked this change of heart, you might ask. It is as simple as spending the holidays in California with friends and family and having Martin come visit for New Years. It also helped that after three grueling weeks at work, I had 9 days off to recover. In the past two weeks I overcame the nightmare of Christmas shopping with a simple, yet festive cab; enjoyed the sunny and warm weather in California knowing it was snowing and cold in Europe (although I did slightly miss having a White Christmas from the past two years): made homemade raviolis on Christmas Eve to compliment the fresh dungenous crab; overdosed on MSG at Dim Sum with the family on Boxing Day; was reminded of the sheer joy and anticipation of Christmas after seeing my 9 year old cousin tear threw her presents in San Luis Obispo; and introduced Martin not only to my new home and neighborhood (with a local happy hour, dinners cooked in and walks along the marina) but to a proper San Francisco style theme party on New Years Eve– Cocktail Attire with Snuggies (the epitome of American culture).

To properly visualize the cab and Snuggies, I have included pictures.

Happy New Years, and hopefully 2010 can live up to the hype.

Airing of Grievances

With Christmas just around the corner, it is time to also celebrate those lesser known holidays – specifically Festivus for the Rest of Us. And with this glorious holiday comes the tradition of the Airing of the Grievances - a time to share with loved ones all the ways they have disappointed you over the past year. And while I won’t necessarily air out all of that dirty laundry (primarily because my loved ones have not only not disappointed me at all this year, they surprised me with their constant friendship and support), there are a few gripes/annoyances that I would like to air out. Normally I wouldn’t waste my time (or yours) posting a blog to complain about the little things in life - especially since my grievances are minimum compared to most (I have a great group of friends and family, great health, the ability to travel around the world, and a good job…and for that I am truly thankful) - but in the spirit of Festivus, here it goes.

• The couch – I spent over 2 months sitting on over 100 couches in search of the perfect couch – a dark brown leather couch with a left facing chaise lounge. When I started the mission, it seemed pretty straight forward. I now stand corrected. Like Goldilocks and her search for perfection, the couches were all too big, too firm or facing the wrong way. I finally found one that fit all of my criteria at Macy’s, bought it online, had it delivered and set up only to find out that after 1.5 days that I hated it so much it made me physically upset…too dark, too much leather, too much couch all together. The good news, I was able to call Macy’s to return it; they will be picking it back up next week and I only have to pay a 10% re-stocking fee. The bad news, I still don’t have a couch and am even more hesitant to buy anything…especially now since I no longer want a dark brown leather left facing chaise.

• The Paycheck – After not working for 5 months and living off my savings account, I was really looking forward to getting my first paycheck on December 15th. On payday I eagerly opened up my online bank account to notice a little blip of $300. Upon further review, I realized that this blip was in fact my “paycheck”. Yes, for the 88 hours of work I clocked the first two weeks back to work I was paid just over $300, or less than $4/hour. That is less than half of minimum wage in SF. So either my company, an accounting firm, messed up the accounting or they are not- so-subtly trying to get rid of me ala Milton from Office Space…my friends are convinced it is the latter. While Accounting is in the process of figuring out what went wrong, I am stuck without a paycheck and Christmas presents to buy.
  

• The Apartment –Like the couch, I looked at one too many apartments and finally settled on a spacious one bedroom apartment in a great location. The downside, it lacked all charm that I would normally expect from a SF apartment (i.e. bay windows, crown molding, built-in cabinets, etc). But I had to compromise at some point and I decided that what it lacked in charm, I could make up for it in decorating (so far, I am failing miserably, i.e the couch). However, what is more frustrating than the flat, blank walls is the constant clicking noise coming from the wall in between the bedroom and living room and the broken heater…and I don’t mean the heater doesn’t work, unfortunately not, it in fact works too well. Yes, it is 40 degrees outside and a whooping 85 in my bedroom. The damn thing won’t turn off. So I have two choices, sleep with the window wide open and listen to cars all night, or enjoy a sleepless night tossing and turning in the heat. For me, it is the equivalent of Dante’s second circle of hell.
  

• And finally the pieces of straw that are breaking my camel’s back – my ugly Christmas sweater that I order online didn’t make it in time for the ugly Christmas sweater party at work, my work pants no longer fit after 5 months off requiring a whole new wardrobe, and I haven’t seen Martin in over 4 weeks, with one and half left to go.

Santa all I want for Christmas is a break…Happy Festivus!

The Gimbel Family Christmas Tree

The holidays are one of my favorite times of year, with all of the traditions, festivities and eating and drinking. My family is a sucker for traditions so there are a handful of things we do each and every year to properly celebrate the season including: crab and homemade raviolis on Christmas Eve; buying a new ornaments for the tree; Dad giving us advent calendars to count down the days; and chopping down the Gimbel family Christmas Tree…which for some reason always ends up looking like Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tree.

For as long back as I can remember we have always cut down our own Christmas tree. The adventure begins in the morning with the drive out to the tree farm, laughing about the misfit trees we had gotten in the past; us wandering around the hill in the mud and sometimes rain in search of the perfect tree; each person picking out their favorite tree and the discussions and negotiations that follow; always returning to the first tree we had seen after concluding it was the best; Dad cutting down the tree with Cody’s help while the girls supervisor; the required call of “Sept-timber” to signal the fall of the tree; tying the tree to the car/suburban and now truck; and then deli sandwiches afterwards. This formula has been followed, more or less for the past 20+ years, for better or worse (including the one year I decided to take up smoking the afternoon we were to pick out the tree resulting in me subsequently puked in the toilet because I couldn’t handle it…thankfully I was given the front seat of the car to prevent any additional sickness).

As the years go by the tradition has evolved and slowly adapted. And now that we are of age, it has become a tradition that at least one, if not all of the kids are hung over for the occasion resulting in fewer fights over what tree we get (sometimes you just can’t be bothered, what with a throbbing headache and the spins), but typically less stellar trees …To prove our commitment to traditions, Cody may or may not have been accidentally roofied the night before one outing a few years back but he still managed to pull it together.

So! With the whole family together this past Thanksgiving weekend up at the Lake, we took the opportunity to carry on the tradition and cut down a tree (this time on the top of Hull Mountain, rather than a tree farm). Cody and I awoke Friday morning perfectly hung over from the night before, ready to tackle the mountain to get our tree. We all piled into the pick-up truck, with Dana and Ray, Ray’s parents and approximately 15 other friends and family members in the other 7+ trucks, and made our way up the hill. After the hour long drive on the winding, dirt road, through snow and severe road ruts we reached the top and hopped out to find ourselves with a wide selection of perfect trees, and a whiteout snow storm.

True to form - hung over, cold and tired - Cody, Mom and I found the first decent looking tree and considered the task complete… thankfully Dad, the voice of reason, refused to settle and wandered off to find a more presentable tree. It took about 5 more minutes and less than 20 feet to find it…and before my hands had frozen completely Cody and Dad were on the ground, cutting down our perfect, less Charlie Brown than usual, Christmas tree.

And while we didn’t have the local deli to supply our lunch (the Thanksgiving leftovers did just fine), the Gimbel Family Christmas Tree tradition continues on for one more year.