Happy Sunday

I have a love & hate relationships with Sunday.

We love it cos it is a day of rest and we get time to ourselves. Hate it cos tomorrow is a Monday.. But since I work from home anyway, it doesn't bother me as much as it's used to.

The husband made breakfast of Bagels, cream cheese, bacon and mushrooms (while I was still in bed). What a life!! Breakfast was yummy.. we then spend a few hours reading and doing work.

I made Mee hoon kueh for lunch today. It was a real experiment as there are soo many flours in the supermarket and most of them have a picture of a bread or cake on it! I just want plain flour and had no idea which to buy. I finally settle on one that says FARINA BLANCA. The packaging is white and has no picture on it...


LUNCH!

We decided to go for a ride before our dinner date in Lausanne. IT WAS COLD!!!!! I was in t-shirt, wind cheater and long tights... and still my fingers were frozen! I need gloves and a much thicker jacket for my next ride!


The nice scenery.... not quite your airport runway!


Mr Superman... Feeling a lot warmer than his run!


Me.. frozen with time...

We went our to Sandi's and Kheng Cher's place for a potluck dinner and we brought spring onion pancake that turn out to be gross! hahaha.. sorry guys!

Thank god the dumplings (made by Sandi), black Hokkien Mee (by Kheng Cher) and Chicken Curry (by Li Quan) were all yummylicious!


LiQuan and Zhi Xing... Such a sweetheart!


(L-R: Sandi, Kheng Cher, Kui Thong, Zhi Xing, Li Quan, Joyce and Jem)


FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD!

What a way to spend the weekend..... :)

Outlet Addiction

27 - 28 November - Cloudy; Sunny

We had bak kut teh & stir fry vegetables on Friday.. The spicy peppery soup is to-die-for on a cold Friday night. 1kg of pork ribs here cost CHF 1.60. I can't remember the price back home so I can't really comment.

Saturday is a day of shopping & activities.. the brave husband decided that he really needed a run.. and off he went in 6 degree celcius - in his running SHORTS and T-SHIRT! He ran all of 3.8km and came back frozen like a Popsicle! He then decided that we need to get the proper gear pronto! So off we went to Allaman Gare, the train station at Aubonne. The 6 minutes trip cost us CHF 2.60

Aubonne is famed for 2 things: IKEA (YEAH!) and OUTLET STORES (YEAH!!).. http://www.outlet-aubonne.ch/en/

The outlet store carries the usual sports brand - Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Puma, Ochsner Sports etc. Whilst not as cheap as the outlet stores in the states, it is much cheaper than the shops back home! A pair of Adizero LT (running shoes) is about CHF 55!

This is even better than the 30% discounts he gets back home!

Jem and I bought a pair of Adidas running tights each and Jem also bought a pair of gloves.



I think we could have bought a lot more! Maybe next trip!

The good thing about Ikea is the familiarity. It looks, feels and even smell the same! Their good ol' cheap and fashionable furniture to the yummylicious Swedish meatballs.

I have fish fillets and chips and Jem had is pasta with meat balls. The place is packed! It seems that loads of people will come over from France to shop there as it is the nearest Ikea to them! Gosh I wish I founded Ikea...

Thank GOD for.......

26 November - Cloudy

THANKSGIVING...
The Husband & I love our food. We will experiment and sometimes it will turn out well, sometimes it will all go horribly wrong.

The husband and I decided that we would celebrate our very first thanksgiving in Switzerland. The Swiss do not celebrate Thanksgiving, but Becky and a few of Jem's colleague does - so we decided to follow suit.


Menu: Pumpkin soup, Roast Chicken and Mashed Potatoes.. I don't have a blender so the soup is more puree like but I do like it! Thanks to Amy for her recipe!



Me pigging out....

Here's a list of things we are thankful for...
- a DAMN GOOD marriage
- the nice, cold weather (Jem)
- the internet
- Facebook more specifically Farmville (Joyce)
- Singaporeans & Malaysians in Lausanne
- yummy sauces from home

and the list goes on....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

So it's my birthday...

25 November - BEAUTIFUL!

The weather is gorgeous... Looks like a darn good day to run, cycle, or just laze in bed, which is exactly what I did.

Going through my birthday wishes, I felt old! Turning 30 means I am now in a new age group of 30 - 34 aka the older, more mature and more serious group! Eewww.. For the first time in a long time, I decided that today will be all about me. I have been working on my birthday since I was 19! So today is a special day..

Started by going out for some much needed Chinese food in Lausanne with Becky. We had:
- Fried Wanton
- Steamed Dumplings
- Bean sprouts
- Mongolian Chicken
- Sweet & Sour Pork

YUMMY!


THANKS FOR THE WONDERFUL CONVERSATION BECKY! I can still laugh when I think back about it...

After our 3 hour lunch, I decided to walk around Lausanne whilst waiting for Jem. Then we submitted our 2nd rental application for a 2 bedroom place in Morges that is just as awesome as Albert's place... I decided to take Jem to the Nespresso Cafe in Lausanne for some coffee...


This is a gorgeous cafe!


Jem and I had Ice Machiatto and Ice Cappuccino and free NESPRESSO chocolates to go with it!

After coffee, we walk around Lausanne and did the much needed shopping (in true Jem's style, I get to pick out my own presents! Thanks darling! I love my new H&M buy...


Purple is the new black!

After shopping for my own presents... we went back to Morges for a dinner of Pizza and Pasta... what a night. Today is a great day... Thanks love :)


Me and my La Cantina (tomato, mozarella, sausages and rucola leaves)



The Husband and his POT of pasta!

3 Ladies & a Baby

24 November - Cloudy

I went over to Lausanne in the afternoon for 2 reasons:
- Submission of Rental Application
- Crepe & Kopi with Sandi, Elsie & baby

some weeks ago, Jem & I visited a 73m2 apartment in Rue Louis De Savoie (on the street we currently live on) and fell in love with the place. The current tenant is Albert Meyer (coincidentally is also the HR Director at EPFL!). He will be moving to the apartment next door and Jem decided to bribe him with my cooking (shd we get the apt) in exchange for a recommendation letter from him!!

So armed with a recommendation letter from Albert, I made my way to the real estate agency armed with the completed form and all other important documentations.. and VOILA! We are in the queue! Now we need to wait for about a week before we get an answer.

Elsie, Sandi and I decided to meet for Crepes and Kopi in Lausanne Old Town but alas, it was closed till 4.30pm. We went somewhere else and I had a great time being out with the ladies... we exchange stories and loads of plans for the next few weeks from snowboarding to apartment viewing to potluck party! Can't wait...



(L-R: Sandi, mua, Elsie and Baby)

What a day...

Jem and I went house hunting tonight.. we saw a total of TWO units and 1 was in a bad shape and another unit is being rented out because the previous tenant was killed in a car crash!

I am telling you - it just seems eerie that the building "superintendent" would tell us that. Why would we want to rent the unit after hearing that?!?!

Finding a place here is a strange experience. In Singapore, you call up a few agent, tell them your requirements and they do the work. They will find a few places for you to visit and you decide.

Here - it is different:
1 - We have to search the Internet and make our own appointments to visit the place directly. Most of the time, it would be direct with the current tenant or the superintendent or "Concierge" as they call it here.

2 - We view the place and if we are interested, we will need to go to the real estate agency responsible for the unit, fill up and application form and wait for them to pick you out of all the applications!

3 - If we decide not to take the place once we were selected, there is a cash penalty of CHF 100.00 (in some cases)!

4 - to improve your chances, apart from submitting all the usual forms, we need to write a letter to introduce ourselves and if at all possible, a recommendation letter from the current tenant!

ALL THIS WORK FOR OVERPRICED UNITS!

We don't think we will take any of the unit we saw tonight. So we went home dejected and looking forward to dinner of Kung Pao Chicken & Lettuce in Oyster Sauce. :)

Groceries... and more groceries...

Everyone have been asking us – Is it expensive to shop in Lausanne / Morges? What is cheap there? I will list some of the things we buy every few days and you can decide…

EXCHANGE RATE: CHF 1 = SGD 1.37

Conversation between 2 parties:
A: This is a great recipe! What type of meat should I cook this with?!?
B: Any meat that is on offer is good with this recipe

This is so true. Now when we shop - we look out for neon yellow sign that says "ACTION". This roughly translate to: "This is on offer, so if you don't wanna burst your budget, buy this NOW!!!!!!"

Here are some of the items we bought and you can decide on the price:
- 200g Nutella: CHF 2.90
- Margarine: CHF 1.95
- 6 cans of Coke: CHF 3.95
- Iceberg Lettuce: CHF 1.95
- 1l of fresh milk: CHF 1.40
- 4 pcs of marinated pork chops: CHF 8.95 (ACTION)
- 4 pcs of marinated chicken legs: CHF 9.90 (ACTION)

Cheap? We think it is comparable... hence we cook at home most of the time. The 2 times we ate out:

1 - 2 economy rice (a portion of Rice + Sweet & Sour Chicken) from Asian Cafe (where we regularly steal the internet bandwidth) = CHF 23.90


Jeremy @ the cafe - before we have to pay the bill

2 - 1 regular McRaclette (cheese burger) meal + 1 kid-size Oriental Burger = CHF 16.20

(In case you do not know - Switzerland is in the top 5 of the McDonald index)

Supermarkets... one of my favourite things!

There are many supermarkets near where we live. The list below are within 10-minute walk…

WE LOVE WHERE WE STAY!

- Coop (pronounced as KOOP):
Similar to Cold Storage in Singapore. They have very good variety and reasonable pricing. The Coop here do not stock up as much Asian items as the one in Lausanne Old Town.

- Migros:
Similar to Cold Storage as well. Huge selection of fresh vegetables. Slightly further away from where we stay (about 10 minutes walk)

- Denner:
Denner is owned by Migros. It is like NTUC Fairprice. Good value but limited variety.. they tend to concentrate on wine, and frozen food. You cannot find fresh produce here

- Manor Food:
This is similar to Jason Supermarket.. It is overpriced with limited variety (although the one in Lausanne is da bomb!)

- Ly Thanh:
This is the only Asian supermarket near our place. We stumbled upon this little gem on one of our walks and they carry Lee Kum Kee sauces and vegetables from Thailand like Kai Lan, Lemongrass, Chilli Padi and Kang Kung – Can I get a Hallelujah?!?!!

Neighbours...

Oscar Busset - owner of the building - has kindly organised a get together for us on Sunday 15 November at his place... we met all the other families that stays in the building and it was a great way to make new friends!

Here are the occupants by storey:

Ground Floor:
Front unit is rented to a Beauty Clinic
Back unit is rented to us!

1st Floor:
Oscar and his wife Silvana stays here with their 3 Kids... Sophia, Olivia and Oscar Charles....
Oscar is Canadian by birth and his wife is French (I think). They have gorgeous kids and aged between 3 - 11 years old (I guess)

2nd Floor:
Becky & Mike have just moved here from London and Mike works in Eaton (They are the makers of Golf Pride!) Becky is a full time mother looking after her kids - Maddison, 13 and Kyle, 17.

3rd Floor:
Another lovely family with 2 very young kids - a baby and a beautiful 3-year old daughter...

4th Floor (attic):
Olivier and Carly used to stay in the studio and moved to the 4th floor not too long ago. Carly is a Filipino who travels very often for work...

So that is our neighbour.. awesome people and the gathering was a great way to welcome us to the building...

Rice Cooker.....

All of our items were shipped from Singapore to Zurich on Monday and the estimated arrival date is Thursday, 19 November.

I was soo excited the previous night I couldn't sleep. We ate Korean instant noodles the first day we arrived (because we are too tired to go to the supermarket and since it was cold, needed something soupy - PRONTO). For the next 2 days, we had various "western food" like roast chicken, roasted potatoes, pasta etc. So you can imagine my excitement at getting all my sauces, spices and RICE COOKER!

All our items are in 8 boxes! Bicycles took up 2 boxes and the rest were made up of clothes, food items, prima taste sauces, lee kum kee sauces, pillows, towels, etc etc.

I nearly wept as I unboxed my rice cooker. Rice at last.... YIPPEE!!!



Gosh... loads of boxes for just 2 person!



Jeremy's thoughts "Dear God, I hope my bikes gets lost in transit so that I can claim insurance & buy a new spanking bike, Amen!"


PS: I did try cooking "Carolina" rice using a pot. It was gross.... The rice was too starchy and didn't taste as good as the Thai Jasmine Rice back home.

Some info about Morges
- Small town on Lake Geneva near Lausanne (about 20 minutes by bus)
- Population: 18,000
- Average weather temp from 10 - 17 Nov: 9 - 13 degree celcius

MAP OF SWITZERLAND:



MAP OF MORGES:


Like most town in Switzerland, Morges have one main train station, churches, parks and a town centre boasting high-street fashion labels such as Pinkie, Tally Weil, Manor Shopping Centre.



A beautiful church in Morges



Morges Town Centre


After a few more weeks - you will realised that all the town centres look the same! :)

In Morges... at last

The journey from Geneva Airport station to Morges took about 35 minutes. The scenery of the country side is gorgeous but there are a lot of graffiti everywhere. I don't know why - but I think this just spoils the look and as a fact:

Switzerland is not as clean as Singapore - despite what everyone says!!!!

We took a cab from Morges Gare (Morges Train Station) to our apartment because we have tooooooo many luggage (2 massive backpacks, 2 trolley luggage, 2 carry on bags and 2 umbrellas) - hence it is soo important to pack-smart.

The journey took us 5 minutes and cost us CHF 8. Later we realised, we could have walked the distance in 8 minutes.

The apartment is nice and beautifully furnished... Whilst small - this is the perfect temp place for us for the next 2 months.



Our humble home....



- 2 x sofa bed
- a TV which doesn't work
- Dining table with 2 chairs
- Dishwasher
- Vitro ceramic cooker
- Oven
- Fridge (very decent size!)
- Side table
- Huge toilet (built in wardrobe, bathtub, shower, sink and WC)
The toilet is 1/3 of the apartment


The apartment overlook a big garden with loads of toys and playthings for kids. We later discover that there are 4 kids under the age on 10 in the 4 storey building.





The beautiful garden....

1/2 Price Card

We touch down at Geneva airport at approx 7.00am. As we arrive in winter, it was cold and cold and cold.... we made our way to the connecting train station.. (turn left as you exit the bag belt).

As we will be here for a few years, we wanted to get the 1/2 price fare card so that we can enjoy immediate savings as for our train ticket to Morges. We can use this card for ships, trains, metros (similar to MRT in Singapore) and busses. Don't let the name fool you - we do not get 50% off every ticket... it ranges from 20% off - 50% off.

What you need to do:
1 - Go to the counter, they do speak English. Ask for 1/2 Price Card..
2 - Produce the following:
- Passport
- 3 photos
- Home address to which they can send the card to
- CHF 150 per person
* Hence it is important that you have this in your backpack as Jem spend 45 minutes looking for his photo.

3 - They will give you a temporary card for 10 days.
4 - Buy your ticket on the spot.
Trains are very punctual in Switzerland. They are after all the country with the most well known (and bloody expensive) watch brands!

It is important that you keep this card with you at all times, as there are frequent checks for tickets on the train...We got on the train and at last on our way to Morges...

NB: If you have a job at EPFL, they will give this to you for free (when you meet up with your HR Officer) - So please do not apply for this

Before you arrive...

Before you leave - packing is the most important activity. You need to know what to pack... so here are some handy tips (we found out the hard way)

* Check if the apartment you have is fully furnish. Ask the agency if the inventory of the house. Most agency should have this information....

* Arrange for all your items (which you are shipping) to arrive the same week as you. Give 2 days for custome clearance and 2 days for transit...

* Ours stuff are air-freighted so we have better control of the arrival timings..
(No, we are not rich. My dad works in the freight industry and we got it all for free)

So here is what you must pack (to last us a week):

CLOTHES:
- A pair jeans
- Fleece Jacket
- Shawl
- Gloves
- Long sleeve cotton tops
- Few T-shirts
- Long pants
- Socks
- Shorts (yes, it is winter - but we do have heater at home)
- Long johns (we bought a set each from Cold Wear - Black in colour.. best buy ever!)
- Waterproof boots (with Gore-Tex materials). We got our from Timberland... nice!

KITCHEN ITEMS:
- Maggie Noodles
- Pot, Bowls and Cutleries (if your apartment does not have them)

OTHERS:
- Towels
- Toiletries
- Bedsheets, Pillows and Duver (if your apt does not have them)
- English Magazines

All your important document shd be placed in a clear folder in your carry-on backpack - including photocopies of EVERYTHING and at least 10 - 12 Passport Photos on white / grey background. Very important.. you will know why later..

The Flight...

Jem and I needed to take the cheapest 1-way flight (to save money) so we decided on Etihad Airways... about SGD 750 per person. You can obviously get cheaper return trip on KLM etc

When we told everyone we are taking Etihad - the first reaction were this:
- Huh?!?!
- What is that?!?
- Eti-wat?!?

I was based in the Middle East for 2 years and trust me - Etihad Airways has some seriously awesome planes... Here is what we like...

- Fantastic in-flight entertainment with Touch Screen capabilities!!!!!!!
Jem watched a total of 5 movies on board ranging from "I Love You Beth Cooper" to "The Proposal". For whatever reasons, he was into chick flicks on that flight...

- The EY flight was hardly ever full (due to the reaction from people) - which means I manage to get a row of 4 empty seats to myself for my much needed sleep!

- Food was actually edible.. Jeremy had a very yummy spinach-ricotta ravioli in tomato sauce.

- Good looking Air Stewards... (I don't fancy the stewardess for obvious reasons)
I think they are Lebanese... so they are tall, well built, great smile and very cute..

It was a fantastic flight and we are big fan of Etihad-huh?!?!-Airways...

Why this blog....

Background: Jem (aka the husband) got a job here as Scientific Collaborator at EPFL and my employer is kind enough to hire me on project basis (for about 8 months) in a year to work on golf events back in SEA...


Objectives: This blog aims to keep everyone up to date with our daily lives in Vaud, Switzerland. This will saves on phone bills and do away with the time difference. This blog will have a lot of nonsensical and unnecessary details like what we ate for lunch, how much we spent on cappuccino, what we currently weigh and bowel movements...

Basic Details:
Location: Morges, Switzerland
Dwelling: A 30m2 Fully Furnished Studio Apartment
Time Difference: 7 hours behind Singapore (GMT +1)


Disclaimer:
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am hopeless with blogs for the following reasons:

(a) I blog whenever I am free and in the mood. I have a tendency to do it consistently for a month or two and stop for a year or two...

(b) I dunno how to make my blog look pretty. I use the standard template and my biggest achievement in blogging is posting photos

(c) This blog is not meant to attract followers and I do not re read my post leading to double spaces, grammatical and spelling errors and at times incomplete sentences..