Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Heading back to the U.S. Apparently, in Switzerland, the residency renewal process is complex. You apply; the nice people at Migrationsamt tell you they're processing the renewal. Then you find out they never processed the application. They sent you a letter last year regarding your previous residency application telling you the last day you can remain in the country. That means that this year, they will not process another residency application. Even though they take your money and accept the form and you go for an appointment and get your fingerprints taken and an official photograph, etc. You ask them in person. They tell you they're processing the application. They will send you a letter in two to three weeks. Some time passes, and you call them on the phone, they tell you they didn't process the application. You paid the money to the "Community" who sends it to the Migrationsamt. Migrationsamt says you can go to the "Community" to get the money back. You go there, and they laugh. You can't get your money back. Furthermore, they tell you they have 'nothing to do with Migrationsamt'. You wonder why they take the money for Migrationsamt applications if they truly have nothing to do with Migrationsamt. Interesting. You return your residency card to the "City" offices. They charge you 30 CHF for a receipt. They tell you to go to the "Community" to get your 122 CHF money back for the renewal application. How did the "City" become involved with the Migrationsamt? Difficult to imagine. And everyone points fingers at everyone else. I asked the nice lady at the "Community" how I could get the truth from the Migrationsamt. She asked me, "What is the truth?" Then it all made sense to me.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Zheng Lab - Bad Project (Lady Gaga parody)

Monday, September 12, 2011

Miss America

I had one of those really weird days -- a story that would curl your hair. One day maybe I'll muster up the courage to write it in its entirety. It's much stranger than fiction. I finally had to ask friends in the U.S. to accept an order for me from Victoria's Secret and forward it on to me here. The mad lingerie burglar of our laundry room has struck so many times, I was reduced to only four pair of panties. One simply cannot live with only four pair of panties... And this country is SOOOO expensive that I cannot afford to purchase them here. Not to mention that I wouldn't know which brands to purchase. I have had no luck identifying the appropriate quality of anything. I would truly hate to be disappointed by making a foolish panty purchase.
But I also have to wonder: WHO would steal the panties belonging to a little old lady???
(At 52 I would think such problems are long ago and in the distant past.)
One considers: it's a stalker, or maybe a lady who finds it more convenient to swipe some else's panties -- naaaa!!!, or maybe it's a weird guy with a panty fetish, or who knows? It *is* a foreign country after all. There could be some idea with which I am unfamiliar that would make all of this seem perfectly rational.
And the city is just filled with foreigners.
What I failed to notice until it was too late was that my panty hose were also being pinched. I'm left with only summer and evening weight. And only beige panties. Very inconvenient. The situation had grown to crisis proportions. I tried making a purchase at Globus. Sixty Francs for a pair and they fell apart when I opened the package.
Then I came to discover quite by accident how the lingerie had gone missing. Turns out it's not a stalker. It's an 'activist' who hates Americans and the economically priviledged. Which apparently among some of the locals is considered to be the same thing. American women are princesses and queens; American men are princes and kings. I never knew!
Yes, wearing black I am told is an emblem of the economically priviledged. Who knew?
Part of the market economy imported to Zurich by Reaganomics and the Bush agendas where apartment rents are set by what the market can bear and are not based on notions of equitable housing. Everybody in Zurich could have experienced a peaceful and comfortable existance until the Americans corrupted the global economy. There are even posters all around the city warning of the problems foreigners will bring to the local economy.
I never considered myself to be an activist.
Now I have to pay with my panties.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Miss America 2011

On the anniversary of 9-11, I cannot help but think of what America means to me. For the past two years, I have lived abroad. I consider many things about the America of my youth, and the post 9-11 America.
I miss America.
There are many freedoms in America.
I hear many comments from people outside of America. They question America. What is it all about? The details are not so important.
Where ever I go, I am an American. I carry the freedom inside me. The ability to choose how I will live each and every day. The ability and inclination to have an individual opinion and endeavor to make tomorrow a better day, to change and grow.
There are many voices, people with varying opinions and backgrounds who are Americans.
An American can get up each morning and decide exactly what he or she wishes to be. It is a great thing, Freedom.