Some Kind of Groove, Pt. 1

Self congratu- lations are decidedly in order, as I just completed my second work week. Consistent with animal nature (humans are also animals), establishing a routine generates feelings of increased comfort and security and after only my second week of commuting I’ve more or less established mine (ten weeks of forethought waiting for my work permit helped immensely).

I pack for the week on Sunday night, taking great pains to conceal the process and obscure the readied suitcase from Hobbes, who despises readied suitcases and sulks incessantly in their presence. I rise Monday slightly before 6am (ugh) to catch the train departing slightly after 7am from Zürich direct to Lausanne. I forsake a train station espresso to maximize my sleep time, riding 2nd (cattle) class with earplugs and snoozing more or less the entire 2 hour 10 minute journey to the Röstigraben and beyond. I half-open my eyes every 30 minutes to spy several curmudgeony co-passengers eyeballing me, shocked by the potential scandal of oversleeping my destination. Their fear isn’t misplaced, but I’m lucky that my only stop is the final one. I go to sleep hearing Swiss-German dialect and wake up hearing French (I understand neither).

Although I hopped a cab this week, normally I’ll hop in a pre-reserved Mobility vehicle at the Lausanne gare (that’s French for Hauptbahnhof, oops, I mean train station) after buying a croissant to replace the calories burned while sleeping. The office lies about 20-25 minutes distant, I arrive about 10am. For now, until the apartment is ready, I commute Mobility-style between the gare and office using a different car every day--sometimes station wagon or economy or comfort class, sometimes manual or automatic, sometimes keyless or with keys, but always bright red--keeping it from morning to evening but returning it overnight.

The work atmosphere is French/international, light manufacturing, high-tech analytical instrument assembly, like Swiss watches on steroids. My coworkers are analytical chemists and physicists and PhD’s, often with a long company history (20+ years is not uncommon). So far I’m mostly learning about the instruments--like a rapid recall of high school elemental chemistry and physics (!)--and acquainting myself with applications in petrochem industries. Who knew that argon’s ionization potential makes it the noble gas of choice for characterizing x-ray dispersion spectrums? Sheesh.

I limit myself to two double espressos per day, one AM and one PM, excellent for the rock-bottom price of 0.70 per shot (2.80 total, tea is free). Lunch is always in the cafeteria, there’s virtually no other option (I’m not set up to brown-bag it), and I’ve decided that the cafeteria rocks. Two new menu choices every day, you name it: trout, salmon, lamb, rabbit, braised leeks among other more pedestrian choices like penne alla’arrabiata and pork cutlet. It’s not haute cuisine but pretty good considering they feed nearly 300 people daily.

OK, we're only halfway through the day, gotta break here and continue later. By the way, I snapped the above picture one evening carousing around Lausanne (ha! yeah, right), some big public building floodlighted for Christmas...