After the past months have barely left me enough time to breathe, I have finally found myself finding some time in my new home: Zürich, Switzerland. I'm sure many of you will have several preconceptions about Switzerland, and one of them is probably related to extremely good public services, including transportation.

Those are certainly not all wrong. Indeed, public transportation here is very good, and not expensive compared to other European countries in general and the Swiss prices, in particular. Also, the trains are generally outrageously punctual. More than once we've found ourselves sprinting to the train by now, because the train was a few seconds early. Personally I get the impression that for Swiss train conductors, being 1 minute late is a matter of grave shame that can only be addressed by committing ritual suicide.

Courtesy of VBZ Züri Line: How to lose your stress

However, the public transportation companies also have other ways to relieve stress and frustration, and encourage physical violence at the workplace for relief. Above is a picture I took in central Zürich, at the Parade-Platz where you can find many of the largest banks, and a hub for trams. And since it is not so easily readable like this, here is a close up of the most interesting part:

Courtesy of VBZ Züri Line: Paradeplatz-KungFu (close-up)

And since some of you may not be able to read German, here is a translation:

For back and arms -- 30 seconds

1: Stand with feet parallel to your shoulders, and slightly
   bend your knees.

   Bend the arms by the side of the body, and make your hands
   into fists. The back of your hands pointing downwards.

2: With the left fist, push forward like lightning, and turn the
   hand inward (back of your hand is now pointing upwards). Pull
   arm back.

   Change to other side, repeat 9 times each.

Effect: Will strengthen back and arms.

As far as the strengthening goes, I am quite sure it has that effect. I myself have done this very movement many thousands of times, for this is precisely how our Tae-Kwon Do teachers taught us to hit effectively and they had us repeat this at every training many times. Indeed, the image of the apparently asian man demonstrating the movement looks remarkably like Kung-Fu, don't you think? So far so good, but what really amused me was the text at the bottom, here is the translation:

Recommendation: Also do this exercise when your computer crashes
and when you have conflicts with colleagues at work, or customers.

Although I cannot condone violence against computers, I guess it also has that effect, especially when annoying colleagues or customers are at arms-length! Thanks, VBZ Züri Line for this really effective tip how to relax worked-up Swiss employees who need vent some stress and frustration.

So when you come to Switzerland, beware: If you plan to annoy someone, make sure they did not study this anti-stress technique at the Parade-Platz in Zürich.

As some of you know, the past weeks have been rather busy because I was preparing to move to Zürich in Switzerland. After some weeks of preparation, last week was the big step: On Monday the Hamburg office of FSFE was cleared out and back home I finally turned off the fusebox. Besides some hardware replacements, this is the machine that originally hosted the first temporary FSF Europe web page over a coupled channel ISDN link in 2001.

The next days were spent packing and cleaning up, Thursday the truck came and everything (including my beloved motorcycle) was stowed away. After intensive renovation on Friday and Saturday I was finally ready to hand over the keys for my old appartement, just in time for the flight on Sunday.

Monday was filled entirely by first needing to buy a sofa and cupboard because delivery always takes a few weeks. The first station was IKEA, which turned out a somewhat stressful experience: IKEA is near the station Dietlikon, but we almost took the train to Dietikon, which is on the opposite side of town. What a difference an l makes.

The trip to IKEA was not exactly successful, but we found the things we need in a store nearby, also a power drill and some other necessary things for people who move into new appartements. We got back in time for the truck bringing all the furniture and spent until 22:00 unloading, storing and sorting things.

Today I did most of the necessary administrative tasks already, and also started to deal with the customs, which still feel uncomfortable about my motorcycle: because the Hamburg traffic administration has been on strike for 5 weeks now and is likely to continue until at least 3 April, most of my papers are still with them. So I have an unregistered motorcycle with no plates that has incomplete paperwork thanks to the strike in Hamburg. Sorting this out will have to wait until the strike is over, but meanwhile I need to deal with the Swiss customs authorities who threaten to impound my baby. Oh well.

Other than that all things look good so far, though. I found the Swiss authorities very friendly and helpful. Also, although people here speak a little funny from my perspective, I am already willing to swear that people are a little more friendly than most Germans.

Time to get going to sort out some more necessary prerequisites to get back to work here in Switzerland, like a mobile phone and an office for FSFE. I'll keep you posted.