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.
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