by MrsMac

Just a quick heads up - you might have noticed that I have taken a leave of absence this week as I am entertaining my family that is visiting... I just wanted to let everyone know that in case you did not hear yet, Knabenschiessen starts on Saturday here in Zurich. I wrote about it last year - or at least the fact that I missed it... but I won't this year! Make sure you at least check out the big fair, or Chilbi in Swiss German, that starts on Saturday and goes through Monday, open from 11 am until late. I believe the event is at Albisgütli...? Is that correct? So whatever you do, don't miss the fair, ride some rides, eat some sweets, and enjoy a half day off on Monday!

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Two weekends ago we partook in the annual techno fest in the streets of Zürich, otherwise known as the Streetparade 2009.

And let's face it - from that first shot above - you know it was a bit of a flop. Yes, it was still all about the music and the crazy costumes - but the rain really put a damper on the whole event and our spirits... and the crazies did not come out in the forces seen in 2008... pity.

Perhaps next time. :) Jace's sister Sarah is/was in town and she enjoyed the event as well. I hope so at least as she planned her trip around the date. Stupid rain. But we partook in the festivities - beer, then hundreds of trips to the toilet stands where we paid 2 CHF to pee, then more beer, dancing, good food, me complaining that no one wears ear plugs and they are all going to be deaf when they are older, etc... it was a good day in the end...


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If you are going to be in Vienna from the end of June to the end of August, you need to listen very carefully to the advice I am about to impart. These nuggets of wisdom are gold, I tell you. GOLD! Ok, are you ready? Repeat after me.

If I am in Vienna in the summer, I will visit the Vienna Film Festival at the Rathaus. I will come hungry. I will love it.

Now lather, rinse and repeat again.

From June 27th until August 30th this year in Vienna/Wien the Film Festival is on at the Rathaus (Google map). Every night from about 6 pm onwards the food stands along the Rathaus park open up, offering all kinds of delicious and exotic international food fare... we are talking Mexican, Chinese, Iranian (I had this, yum!), Thai, Austrian, and Czech foods to name a few - there was even an Australian booth! Thank goodness this is not in Zürich or else I would be atleast 10kg heavier.
Then after you fill your belly, wait with a cold Viennese beer in one of the seats set up near the Rathaus and await the show at 9pm (program here in German). The beautiful Rathaus building is an excellent backdrop for the film - and you might even treat yourself to a bit of Ben & Jerry's mid show. I did not make it to the film festival last year, but I am glad I went to check it out last week after work. It is really the place to be in Vienna in summer. I highly recommend it! Enjoy!

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One of the craziest, best events of the year is happening this Saturday and I beg you to check it out - at least for the schock and awe value if nothing else. Hey, you might even find you like a bit of techno... or just techno pants. Whatever rocks your boat, check out the Street Parade 2009 this weekend. Perhaps we will bump into one another! :)

My Street Parade links:

• Street Parade Website
• My Street Parade 2008 video and Tips
• My Street Parade 2008 review
  

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Saturday, August 1st, is the 718th Swiss National Day! Time to grab your grill and a few cervelats, head down to the river and light up those fireworks to celebrate.

Word on the street and on wiki is that the action is at the Rhein Falls near Schaffhausen, where they light up the falls and set off an impressive fireworks display. I heard that driving there is a nightmare - but then again, what would a fireworks display be without the annoying midnight traffic back-up? So hop on the train or check out what your local area is putting on for the big day (the chances are good something is happening locally - in Urdorf it's on baby) and enjoy the show.

(For all those hard workers - bummer the holiday didn't fall on a week-day, isn't it?) ;)
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So instead of taking photos of all the Latin music tents and food stands (and holy bejezus was there some great food on offer - I'm talking barbecue, steak sandwiches, Thai food, Mexican and all kinds of international fare the likes of which Zurich has never seen - um... can you say tamales? Yeah, it was that good...), I have about a dozen pictures of me taking photos of... myself...

2) it was Caliente. You have to drink mojitos so it was my civic duty. Yes, MY DUTY. So much so that I think below Andrea was telling Christian that I needed another mojito. She is a good friend. She understands the law of the land when it comes to Caliente. ;)

The day was awesome (but expensive... then again, what is not when it comes to special events in Switzerland?!) and pretty low key, which was great, as around 10 pm it was as though everyone in Zurich came out to lambada all over me and you inched from bar to bar and could barely breathe. They need to do a better job of spacing the events out next time - so if you have kids, I say go in the afternoon for the food (can you say ribs?! and perhaps 1 mojito... it's ok, I won't tell..) and get out before the crowds come into town and just after you get a bit of salsa in ya - that's dance I mean, not dip, but you can do both, I said I won't tell.

Did anyone else go and get to experience more than a bit of lime, mint, rum, and summer loving?

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During our tour of the Zurich Google offices, we were lead all over from floor to floor, down two poles, over the bridge (outside connecting the two buildings with an awesome view of the Alps in the distance) and through the woods (nature floor)... and eventually we were led to the sea. By that, I mean the quiet room. There are about 3 or 4 massage chairs in this totally dark space and about 6 different fish tanks. More than one of us (Kerrin especially!) got a bit comfortable here. I was happy to plop myself into this tub. If I had had a magic marker with me, I might have been tempted to write "Jessica was here" European graffiti style on the bottom of the tub.


After checking out all the floors and meeting spaces, the gym, large conference rooms, games room and more, it was time for the big finale... and well, it's Google, so why wouldn't you expect an in house slide that leads straight into the on-site cafeteria. We all had a bit more luck with this than the pole. Nik, one of the Googlers that joined us for the tour and had all kinds of interesting stories and anecdotes on hand (love the story about the coffee machine rack!), said that from time to time the table in front of the slide is staffed with Googlers at the ready with score cards. I am sure my slide performance was a perfect 10... I so nailed that landing. I am so in. ;)

After the tour we met up again for drinks in the library, and Kannan, our host, also came in on his Sunday after a long week of traveling to meet up with the group. It was awesome to hear about his experiences at Google, and he mentioned an article coming out soon in Wired Magazine about a recent uber fascinating trip he took. I will link to that at a future date. Stay tuned.


All in all, I think we all know that Google is an amazing company to work for and that they take care of their employees almost as well as they they take care to keep their search algorithms secret... (I threatened one passerby for the secret formula but he said no and offered me some free gummy bears and a game of guitar hero and I was soon distracted... )

But what I really learned from this awesome opportunity is how generous Google is when it comes to giving back to the blogger community. The Google office was a great place to kick-off our Swiss Expat Blogger Meet-ups, and I think everyone was well impressed and invigorated by the opportunity to tour the amazing Google Zurich offices - I know I was!

Thank you again to Kannan and Marie for this awesome opportunity to get a close up view of the company that creates many of the cool online tools we use to connect with friends, family and expats while living in Switzerland. If you ever need someone to clean all those whiteboards full of Google secrets, you know who to call...

The bloggers that went on the Google tour - Juanita, Carla, me (and my hot stuff... I was taking those glasses off, I swear...), Kerrin, Kylie, Isaiah, Amanda, Jace, Rob and Tina. Thank you, Kerrin, for sending the photos through and to Marie for taking them!

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This is an essential and the latest edition is due out in July. Pre-Order your copy today! Living and Working in Switzerland, 12th Edition: A Survival Handbook

After we got our name tags, Marie started our tour with the library. It is really posh and has hundreds of games and books that Googlers can borrow. That fireplace is a video on loop by the way! In the library was one of the many kitchens at the Google offices with free drinks and snacks on offer, too. Jace just told me that was his favorite part - the free coke. I wish I could say he was kidding, but he is probably not. He loves his diet coke. ;) We dropped our bags in the library faster than you could say "Tell me the algorithm or I will shoot" and we were on to the tour!


Each floor has a theme... there is a sports floor and a nature floor. And everywhere they have cute little meeting rooms or conference rooms - places where you can just lock yourself away and have a chat in an atmosphere that casually reminds you that you work at the coolest place on the planet. Must be nice...

Google has not one... but TWO fireman's poles. I told a coworker about this today and he said... "What! A pole? What kind of pole? What do they do with those poles?" Obviously my German needs improvement... and it turns out, so does my pole sliding! Many of us jumped right on and slid down to the next floor, having a chuckle at the note on the door leading to the pole that says "No laptops on the pole" (poor sucker that learned that the hard way!), but some of us scooted down, and others just could not overcome the fear and took the stairs...no names will be mentioned... Juanita! (But she did go down the other pole and she ROCKED IT!) ;)

As I mentioned, there are like a dozen micro-kitchens in cool designs and with cool entertainment features throughout the office (fussball, air hockey, and about 4 million bean bag chairs)... and food and drink are all free...! That means three meals a day and all the Ben and Jerry's you can eat, baby.

Some of the coolest pods around the office are the refurbished, reused Swiss gondolas or chair lifts. If I ever get an interview at Google... pipe dream... I think my first question will have to be,

'Um, so what kind of pod are you sitting in now?'... 'Oh yeah...the Swiss chalet, eh?... That's a nice one...'

'Uh, can you see the deer on the wall? ....Oh... no? How about the Matterhorn... can you see that?.... '

'Oh... ok, cool... Sorry I just had to ask. So about that job cleaning the gym...' ;)

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This is an essential and the latest edition is due out in July. Pre-Order your copy today! Living and Working in Switzerland, 12th Edition: A Survival Handbook

Yesterday was our first ever Swiss Bloggers Meetup in Zurich and it was actually a two part event.

Some of the bloggers that RSVPed early on met up at the GOOGLE OFFICES in Zürich - YES! IT WAS AWESOME! (full write up tomorrow - just waiting for the pic from Kerrin!!!)- for a super duper tour, and then we carried on to the meet up with the rest of the bloggers and Blog lovers at Cafe Balthazaar on Bahnhofstrasse. I have to say... IT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME! I am still on a buzz. Everyone was so great to meet, and if felt like we all already knew each other from sharing our lives and loves in Switzerland on our respective blogs.


After following Tina on her adventures in Cinque Terra and around Geneva (thanks again for making the trek for the meet-up!), it was great to meet her and her husband Rob. We are so going over to the dark side - and by that I mean the French side of CH- and visiting. Just you wait and see! ;)
And my first blogger first date, Juanita, was in attendance and handing out goodies in the form of pins promoting her awesome shop on Etsy. So talented that girl - even if she can't slide down a pole... more on that tomorrow. Jace also loved meeting Kylie, another Aussie, who has a really fun perspective on living and working as a Swiss Aupair. We will definately need to work together more for the greater good of informing peeps on where to find alternatives for sausage rolls and lamingtons in Switzerland. It is our civic duty! ;)

I am so amazed by Jesse. Not only did she run the Zürich marathon that morning before joining us, but her smile and personality are infectious. I feel there are many more hilarious encounters around the corner and I hope I am a part of some of them! ;) (Oh and Kristy, I thank you for telling your daughter to come to the blogger meet up. I owe you one! I hope you will comment on Swisstory one day, too! ;)

A lot of newbies and blog lovers also attended - like Vivian, Karen and Romy. What a gorgeous group of blog lovers, right? It was great to meet you, ladies. I am looking forward to catching up on your blog, too, Remy!


I unfortunately did not get shots of everyone - but here are the blogs of all the attendees in case you want to read something new! Thanks again to Amanda and Isaiah for the great idea to meet up. I think everyone had a great time and we cannot wait for the next event and the network... more details to come this week!

Bloggers at the meet-up with blogs:

• Carla - Who'd Say - http://whodsay.blogspot.com/(in Portugese)
• Amanda - Queso Suizo - http://quesosuizo.blogspot.com/
• Tina -Finding Simplicity - http://francesandaustin.blogspot.com/
• Kerrin - MyKugelhopf - http://mykugelhopf.ch
• Kylie - Chaupair - http://chaupair.blogspot.com/
• Romy - Romy's Ramblings - http://romysramblings.blogspot.com
• Virginia - Zuritopia - http://zuritopia.wordpress.com/
• Juanita - Juanita Tortilla - http://juanitatortilla.blogspot.com
• Gwenyth - Switching to Switzerland - http://switchingtoswitzerland.blogspot.com/
• Fernando - http://fserb.com.br/ (in Portugese)
• Stephanie - Ploft! - http://ploft.tumblr.com/ (in Portugese)
• Edie - Suche nach Sonne - http://suchenachsonne.blogspot.com/

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This is an essential and the latest edition is due out in July. Pre-Order your copy today! Living and Working in Switzerland, 12th Edition: A Survival Handbook