Week one

I just arrived here on Tuesday, Oct. 13 2009 at 8:00am(1:00am Texas time). I am in Pesuex, just outside of Neuchatel. Neuchatel has a population of about 30,000, and is right next to the mountains and Lake Neuchatel. We are located in the French-Swiss portion of Switzerland.

Things I have noticed here so far are the following: They kiss three times, as opposed to the French who kiss twice, when greeting or parting. They play American music in stores and on the radio, some of it recent and some is outdated 90's ish. They have cheap or some times free childcare in the malls (awesome!) and have shopping cart friendly escalators. They have roundabouts everywhere! I think I have only seen a stop light twice. Priority rules are slightly different. When you are traveling straight on a road and the road is intersected, but there is no stop light or roundabout the vehicle intersecting your road on the right has the right-of-way. There are very few houses here, too expensive. Most buildings have several flats or apartments. Almost every building if not every building has shutters, that actually shut. And there are often cute flower pots beneath the window.

Things that are neat about Switzerland: Fondue originated here, I only knew fondue as a 70's fad. Switzerland produces a lot of different kinds of cheese, I only knew about the one with holes in it. I haven't even seen that one here yet.

The following pictures are from around my block:












The first is the view from my bedroom, and the next is a view from the front room, if you look closely you can see the steeple of my church building!


This is the church building I attend, it is literally just down my street! The next picture is our view of the Lake Neuchatel and the Swiss alps from the front room.