Between Heaven and Earth

Ok, I confess -- got this one from the web. This is the lake I passed yesterday, I didn't have a chance to take any photo.

Views from Jungfrau: Top of Europe -- the highest train station in Europe

At the bottom of Jungfrau

View from the balcony of my hotel room

A passenger sitting in front of me on my way to Jungfrau

The Lord of rain

Ever since I arrived Basel the weather has been sunny every day. There hasn't been even a single drop of rain from the sky and the temperature reaches 30 c almost everyday. Swiss people are complaining that just right before the Easter, weather was miserable that they were wearing winter jacket, suddenly after the Easter weather has become so warm and dry and now the government has prohibited outdoor BBQ.

I couldn't help but relate to the word "Easter" because I left Tokyo on the Easter Sunday.

I feel sorry for those who love BBQ but no, nothing could stop me from wanting that beautiful sunshine 12 hours a day!

Since I was leaving Basel today for Interlaken, I thought, well, now I don't mind if it rains in Basel.

There is a direct train from Basel to Interlaken West, which takes about 2 and half hours. Since the lastest one left at 5p and I missed it already, I would have to make at least 1 transfer.

5:00p Left office building with my small luggage. Put on the pair of sunglasses I got during the lunch break when I sneaked into a nearby department store.

5:35p Arrived Basel SBB train station. There was a long line at the ticket window, so decided to venture to one of the ticket vending machines.

5:40p Great, it has English instruction. But could not find "Interlaken West" station, only "Interlaken Ost". Fine, let's just take "Ost" as the German word for "West", got the ticket. Tickets says I need to go to Olten --> Bern --> Interlaken Ost.

5:45p Checked the departure info, next train for Olten departs at 6:00p. Rushed to a shop in the station to do last minute shopping, got a shoulder bag for hiking, several pairs of socks.. (very important since I didn't pack enough when I moved here)

6:00p Train departed, I turned on my ipod. Suddenly noticed that it had started to rain... (now, please take a second to imagine how I felt)

6:30p Got off at Olten, looking for trains going to Bern. Couldn't find any. Asked someone who seemed to work there, he told me the train I left actually goes to Bern. But don't worry, he said, there is another train... now his coworker who's on a moving train asked him: are you getting on the train? He shouted: Hold the train! Then explained to me: you should go to the next platform, there's a train departing at 6:36 for Bern...

6:36p Headed on to Bern. Though there was a 6 minutes delay due to my mistake, now I had a window seat!

7:20p Got off at Bern, discovered next train for Interlaken Ost departs past 8p. Planned to kill some time by looking at the map in the station. Found out the train route is Bern --> Thun --> Spieltz --> Interlaken Ost, and there's another train that goes Bern --> Thun --> Spieltz --> somewhere else departing at 7:30pm. Decided to play wild and got on this train.

8:15p Got off at Spieltz, so shocked to see the next train that goes to Interlaken Ost departs in more than 30 minutes! Wandered around, saw a bus sign. Read the bus schedule, it seems there's a bus that goes from Spieltz to Interlaken West at 8:14p. Disappointed, walked to the platform for the 8:45 train, saw the bus, ran!

8:17p Bus departed. It turned out the bus route is much better than the train route, since it goes right by the lake. Lake is so beautiful with moutains around it. There's snow on the mountain top.

8:50p Arrived at the hotel. Hotel is so close to the train station.

9:00p Went to a Chinese take out restaurant hoping they're still open. There's only a Korean chef in it and he told me I could eat there. While eating debated with him about Christianity (because he asked me first). Bought tomorrow's daily train pass from him (it seems that it's also part of their business) and he explained to me in every detail what to do tomorrow.

10:00p Headed back to hotel. In my last minute's conversation with the Korean chef, I suddenly realized that there are indeed two stations "Interlaken Ost" and "Interlaken West", and my hotel is right next to "Interlaken West". So after all the craziness including buying a wrong ticket, I unknowingly arrived at the right station!!!

11:00p Shower, wrote this blog, and PRAISE GOD. I can never stop praising God.

YAG bible study at BCF

I went to the YAG bible study in my new church last night. It was their first session of a new study material so my timing was just perfect. The study material they use this time is quite unusual: We were studying the "Westminster Shorter Catechism", you can find details here:
http://www.reformed.org/documents/WSC_frames.html

There were 6 people last night, it seemed that many others are taking vacations around this time. We met in the apartment of the YAG leader, a Swiss American guy. By the time I arrived another American girl was there, and the host was offering drinks to us and he asked the other American girl: Would you like some mugi cha?

And I thought to myself: Did he say "mugi cha"?

It turned out all three of us had stayed in Japan for at least a year and we all speak broken Japanese to some extent. This Swiss American guy has a kitchen full of Japanese spices, soy sauce, etc. Soon later Kim arrived and the four of us started to talk in funny Japanese and for a moment I felt I was still in Japan. It was actually Kim's first time to join the YAG bible study and that Amercian girl has been in Basel for only two months, so last night was also their first time to discover their common Japanese connection. The whole thing was amazing.

Long weekend

I suddenly discovered that this weekend is going to be a 4-day holiday (sat - tue) so today during my worktime, I was very busy making some last-minute booking for my holiday. Since I'm staying in a hotel in Basel anyway, I might just quit this one and stay in some other hotels in the lakes or the Alps. I found some information from this website last night:

http://www.myswitzerland.com/en.cfm/travel/trips

And the short movies of the trip planning plus the exciting music made me feel I want to run to the train station immediately.

For this weekend, I'm planning to go to Interlaken and Zermatt first. My friend Hattie will be coming from Germany again and join me in Interlaken, we'll stay there for two nights, she heads off back to Germany and I keep traveling to Zermatt and stay for another two nights. People say the scenaries there are like Switzerland postcards. I'm really looking forward to it.

I found a very nice apartment just a block from where I live right now, it will be available from May. It's on the 4th floor of a 5-floor building, the building is more than 100 years old with a very historical look from outside, nice thing is that it has been recently renovated so the interior is pretty new, with all the necessary appliance in my own apartment, including a washer&dryer (yes! very important, since in Switzerland if you're sharing a laundry room with others there's usually weird rules, such as you can only do laundry one day in a week, and no laundry on sundays..) The apartment is unfurnished and I'll need to buy some furnitures. I had thought about renting a furnished apartment but the price is usually doubled and I'll get stuck with several pieces of ugly old furnitures which I can't get rid off. So it's quite funny that even though I'm staying here for only several months, I'll need to get furnitures.

But there're a couple of second hand furnitures shops just around the corner, and I kind of liked it. I've decided to get a new mattress and everything else second hand. They have a collection of "antique" looking furnitures (meaning, they're really old), and I liked them better than new ones.. :p There's a huge standing lamp that I definitely want to have, and there's a green wooden dining table with 4 green chairs that I hope they'll still be there when I move in (I'm obsessed with green). I'll take some photos once I'm done with furnishing my new apartment. (And I'm so happy that it's a lot bigger than my apartment in Azabujuban!)

Another exciting news is that I'm going to have a phone interview with a hedge fund in London. More excitingly the interview will take place when I'm travelling to Zermatt, in the Alps... I wonder if those people in London would wish they could do it face to face in Zermatt..

Weather is so adorable.. I'd always dreamed of travelling in Europe when the weather was not so miserable, now things seem too good to be true. I need to remind myself to enjoy more of this best season of the year, who knows, my next chance might be many years later.

Updates about myself

I'm planning to rent an apartment from the beginning of May. It's kind of complicated for me because I may not stay here for long. First of all my contract period is only 6 months initially, and I'm still looking at jobs in UK. My own estimate is that I probably would get an offer in several months, so again I'll need to move. Here in Basel, we need to give 3 months' notice when moving out, slightly tricky situation but I think with God's help, I'll know what to do in the end.

I took a couple of photos on a bridge across the Rhine River. The light was very strong and this was actually almost 7pm. In the second photo, the tall square building belongs to novartis and I live just right behind the red old building right next to it.

The last photo is my new church. (^ ____ ^)

A lazy sunday afternoon

There is a nice inner garden in the place I live right now, and since I always get off work early I'm usually back before 6pm. I enjoy sitting in the sun and dosing off with my new friend the silly cat who's always sun bathing in the garden. She is apparently overweight and she doesn't do any exercise except for rubbing my legs with her round head.

Sunday afternoon is nice and slow and lazy. The church service and the coffee hour finishes around 1pm, then I took a stroll back home. There is a "YAG" in my new church as well, and like in TUC they go out for lunch together after church. I still haven't had a chance to meet most of their members but I've met their leader, a Swiss American guy. When they were going out for lunch today and asked me whether I would like to join, I suddenly realized that I got only 20 swiss francs in my pocket since I did not carry my bag today, and I was too embarassed to tell the truth.. :p

But if it were in Tokyo I would have gone because 2000 japanese yen is most likely enough for a lunch. Or I could always ask Lily to pay for me. :p Here 20 swiss francs is most likely not enough for a simple lunch -- plus the service is bad. Though I ate out only several times after I arrived in Basel, the service was bad every time. The waiters or waitresses acted like I was not planning to pay after my meal. My friend explained to me that this is just a very german thing, people don't smile unless there's something funny.

Of course the food is bad too. Speaking as someone who just made a fresh landing directly from Tokyo. But still it is much better than berlin, so I'm very thankful for the french influence to this border city. During weekdays, I can have lunch from the novartis canteen. It actually tastes better than the restaurants I've been to so far and the cost can be managed to be within 10 francs after the employee's discount. So disappointing that the canteen doesn't offer dinner as well, if they do I'd prefer live in the novartis campus.

Supermarkets and shops close at 5:30p mon-sat, they are closed all day sunday. I think the life style and the business style in this small european city is designed for family life, or retirement life. Only housewives and old people would have a chance to go shopping when the shops are not closed. For me, I found it very frustrating that whenever I need to go shopping, I would need to take a day off from work. In Basel, nice residential areas boast that they have supermarkets that close late -- at 6pm. However on sundays, nothing opens even in the nicest residential areas. If you're unfortunate enough to need anything urgently, you would have to go the the airport, where shops open on sundays. So yes, a lot of new things to learn, a lot of adjustment for me after living in azabujuban for 2 years, for example, remember to fill my frige on Saturdays!

And the groceries are stunningly expensive, they are more expensive than the peacock in azabujuban but the quality is not as good. 1kg of beef cost 40 francs, but these are not kobe beef! eggs cost almost 1 franc each.

Breads are scarily big.. and they don't taste half as good as those from the bakery in front of my old apartment in azabujuban. Well I think maybe I'm a little bit "homesick".. :p

But at least it would be a good start to get used to a life generally deprived of oishii food under a reasonable budget. I heard in UK things could get even worse. I have to remind myself everyday that life is not just about eating, there are things much more meaningful than satisfying my tougue. And best of all, I've come here in the best season! Weather has been fantastic everyday. My apartment in tokyo didn't get much sunlight all year round. Now I'm indulging myself in this beautiful sunshine as much as possible.. since I'm planning to work in UK in the near future, I think this would definitely do me good. Maybe I should come back every year around this time to warm up a bit.

God has guided me to my new church

Right after I decided to move to Basel, some church members (including myself) in the Tokyo Union Church worried that there might not be many English-speaking international churches in Basel since it's such a small town. They were really trying to help me gather information about Basel, some even recalled that there's a Korean lady named Kim who used to be a member of the TUC and later moved to Switzerland. They were not sure which city she moved to and since she moved two and half years ago they were not sure whether she's still in Switzerland or not, they said "maybe you should contact her" but none of them has her contact. I thought: well, this doesn't help really but thanks, at least I'm touched by your kind gesture of caring about me..

So I searched the web and found a couple of small English speaking churches in Basel. One is called "crossroad" and it looks ok. I had planned to visit this one for my first Sunday here then I found another one called "Basel Christian Fellowship", which is located near the city center and I thought this one might be better since I could then take my friend Hattie with me. Hattie is Chinese and she's not a Christian. But she said she's interested to go and we went together this morning, thanks to Hattie's help in reading all the road signs and map written in German.

The congregation is small but quite cozy and friendly. Like what we do in TUC I stood up and introduced myself. The service and the selection of the Hymns were very good as well and I felt very comfortable there. I asked myself: Could this be the church that God has called me to go in Basel, after coming all the way from the far east? (To most European people, Japan, China, etc are simply "far east" that they know nothing about) And I immediately answered myself: of course God will make it clear and guide me to the right church, since church would be the most important aspect of my life!

After the service the lady sitting just behind me came up to me and told me that she used to go to the TUC as well. She looks Asian and her name is Korean, so I asked her a funny question: "are you Kim?"

And she said: Yes! I am Kim! How do you know me?

So everything that followed became very easy and I had no problem in getting to know people around. They have several fellowship groups in the church and I'm going to a Women's bible study tomorrow with Kim. They have a fellowship for young adult every tuesday, unfortunately they meet in Germany right now and I'm still waiting to get my schengen visa. I also met a couple from Hong Kong and they invited me to their chinese bible study group every friday. Things are looking good since I haven't wasted any time to get fully involved in church life again! I haven't missed even one single sunday service..

I'm now convinced it is God's will for me to come here and God has prepared my way even before I came. It is beyond my imagination what exactly God's plan is for me in Basel, but I keep my fingers crossed and look forward to each new day to come.

Here is the website of my new church if you are interested in taking a look:


www.baselfellowship.org/

Encountering Paris Hilton

My friend Hattie who came visit me from Germany said she's interested in the Basel Internatioanl Watch and Jewellery Show so we went together on Saturday. The show was held in many locations, with one of the exhibition in the Basel Hilton hotel. As we were wondering around in the exhibition hall in the Hilton hotel, we saw a crowd of media people holding camcorders, cameras and microphone awaiting in front of an elevator. As a Chinese, I usually get excited whenever I see a crowd so I went closer to find out what's going on. The moment we found out that they were only waiting for Paris Hilton, Hattie and I looked at each other, and walked away as quickly as possible.

The day after (today, Sunday) it became a famous local joke what Paris Hilton said at the news press of the show. She said "I really like it here your city of Zurich..." The audience had to boo at her to remind her that the city is Basel rather than Zurich. Well at least she got the country right!

Landed in Paradise

Dear friends,

I finally arrived in Basel! Weather is so nice here and the city is very pretty. It is my first time to visit Switzerland and I've come to love this small country already. My flight from Tokyo to Basel ended up in Zurich (because Basel airport is shared by France and Switzerland and I happened to fly with Air France, which is located in the French side of the airport) and I took a train to get to Basel. It was the most pleasant train ride I've ever had! I was like Alice in the Wonderland, sometimes I was moving up to a hill, sometimes I was moving down to a valley, with pretty country houses and endless green pastures always in the background. The earth in Switzerland is a vast botanic garden. Just imagine the following photo multiplied by a billion times until the whole earth is covered with it...

I'm still staying in a hotel near my company. In this photo of the city overview, you see the city is divided by the Rhine River. If you can find a bridge in the very right side of the photo, my hotel is located at the bottom side of the river, just right by the river actually. You can also see a white chimney near the bridge, that's where the company campus is, the chimney is for the production plant there. The company campus is huge, my office is located just across the bridge from my hotel, with a nice view of the Rhine.

If I walk out from my hotel and walk towards the river, as I do every morning on my way to work, this would be a typical scene in front of my eyes:

The sky is always blue, nearly transparent, and the water is as green as jade. It is as peaceful as heaven, though I can not imagine exactly what heaven is like. :p

So life here is very different from Tokyo. It is like a silent movie of all the beautiful things rolling very slowly. Sometimes when I walked along the river I felt like dreaming, or dream-walking. It has already become very hard to believe that I used to have a life filled with events in a metropolitan only last week! Tokyo and everyone in it is indeed unforgettable, but now I feel that all my past life is rather a movie I watched, or a book I ever read, that remains in my memory like someone else's experience than my own experience. Nevertheless, I know my experience was real. I know I had been to a wonderful place called Tokyo and had met wonderful people that I'll remembe all my life.

I'd been working under jet lag this week so haven't had many chance to explore the city. People here are very nice and kind. The city is quite international probably because of the two big pharmaceutical companies here, lots of German and French people and of course Swiss as well. I'm thankful that God has again given me such a friendly work environment, all my coworkers are extremely nice. My mentor has started a 6 months training program for me -- even though I'm just a contractor and my contract period is only 6 months..

I'm going to see more of the city during the weekend and I will update more photos. Thank God again that He has prepared my way here, He will never let me be alone. I'm already making friends here and I haven't even been to church yet! A friend is coming from Germany to visit me tomorrow (yes already!) and I'm planning to take her to church on Sunday morning. I haven't decided which church to go though, not many choices of English-speaking international churches here and they are small. But I trust God will give me guidence, as He has never failed to do so.

Missing you all,

YSIC, mindy