waiting…and apartment hunt October 26, 2007
Posted by armina in Uncategorized.Tags: apartment story
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is hard…but it can be bearable and even fun, if you put some effort in making it so…
i am waiting for my contract and work permit (more precisely). i got the job offer and i accepted it and now i have to wait. which is ok, because waiting doesn’t mean “will not happen” – it just means there are many procedures which take time.
the bad part about it is that i have to find an apartment in Zurich until the end of December. From what i heard from different people, and read on www.englishforum.ch (a very useful forum with a lot of information and helpful people, made by expats in CH for expats in CH), it is very very hard to find a place to live in Zurich.
So even if i didn’t have the work contract, i said i could use some “interview for apartment” rehearsals and i sent around 10-14 e-mails this Monday for some flats which seemed nice in the ads. I got 4 answers and the visits started. i saw the first one and the girl chose someone else. i saw the second one and the guy said he likes me, so i found a place to stay in 3 days…incredible…i should still have visited the other 2 places next week, but i just wrote back and said i already found something…
Overall it was a very very interesting experience and…i am looking forward to my next apartment hunt in 7 months from now 
)… so my waiting became fun and fruitful also…
Theoretically here only 5% of the apartments are on the “for rent” market, and there very many people looking for a flat, which makes the “apartment hunt” even harder for the foreigners…especially when you don’t have a work contract to prove you can pay the rent and when your German is not very great so the potential landlord looks very concentrated at your face during the entire conversation . For me this was just in theory and i guess i was really lucky…but the idea is that it is possible, and that “waiting” is not healthful, and it can be productive if you decide so…
Xenofobic Political campaign in Switzerland October 19, 2007
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it is very hard for me to believe what i am seeing in here…
there will be national elections in a short while…and there is this party with a very xenofobic political campaign.
here you can see the games they created to support the messages they want to transmit: http://www.zottel-game.ch/
in Switzerland are 7 mil people, out of which most probably 1,5 mil are foreigners…most of which have a secondary education, having a white collar job or doing research or a Ph.D. It is true that the rest are “political asylum” people from poor and tormented countries, but still this campaign is, i think, extremely aggressive.
And this party has 25% of the votes…which is quite a lot and might mean they will have quite a big slice in the Parliament and so on. I think it is a disgrace to Switzerland – such a beautiful and great country, with such a leading party that will bring it back to the 15th century…what a shame:(
MBA October 7, 2007
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in my plans for the future …an MBA is included…so i have been searching a lot about this topic and i read through many websites and brochures.
the best one i recommend is: www.findmasters.com enjoy searching and choosing:)
to smoke or not to smoke October 5, 2007
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i have no doubts that is better not to…and i have no wish of starting it…but it is amazing how many breaks the smokers get…
i mean…where i work you are free to plan your time as you wish as long as you do your job and your hours…but these gusa see more sun than the non smokers cause the need to stay outside the building (where the smoking place is) …and they also socialize…so …15 minutes for each cigarete…in total is a really nice break…
for the entire day i see only neon light, and i try to make breaks to stretch my muscles and bones a little bit…like 3 times per day or something…but i don’t really stay in the sun…i just see it through the window…
so i guess is it breaks and cigaretes or neon and seldom stretching? which option is healthier?
horrible services in Zurich October 3, 2007
Posted by armina in Uncategorized.Tags: switzerland
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today i was with my friends in a restaurant. it seemed to serve specific food, it was crowded…which is a “quality” hard to find in Zurich and the atmosphere was really nice. …until…we told them we want just some soups, deserts and drinks. the lady who took our order told and that there people come to eat and that they don’t give deserts before 10 o’clock. we didn’t know what to do…she took our order but they way she acted seemed she wanted us to leave. especially when she called the bodyguard to tell us that people EAT here they don’t come just for drinks…so i dared and asked if they want us to leave? she didn’t say anything …she just left.
she didn’t speak any English, but that wasn’t a problem, we all speak and understand enough German to order something and explain what we want from a menu…but she seemed annoyed that we don’t speak proper German…incredible…i thought a client is a client, no matter the fluency in different languages….the money have the same color!
i have to say the desert i took was great, really great…but the service made me feel like eating it fast and leaving as fast as possible…the same the others…so it wasn’t such a nice evening as we hoped…because of the “Swiss quality”…and should i mention they also had the “1Q” for quality? (on a scale from 1q to 3q, is the way the quality is measured in here…you can find 3q in 3-4 stars hotel, and 1q for…in general really good restaurants…the food was good, but the service…i never got that lousy service in a restaurant in Romania
i mean…i had great service at Uncle Sam (American foreknown pizza place) where a happy opened Spanish native speaker, Afro-American served us..that was real quality, and it was NOT the “Swiss quality”…even though in Switzerland…
not criticizing…just facts…
wonderful NY Times article about Bucharest October 3, 2007
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I just read an article in the online version of NY Times about housing in Bucharest. Well..the prices are growing extremely as everybody knows, but what is beautiful in this article is the fact that is the first that i am reading and is not criticizing. It just takes Bucharest and Romania for what they are, and surprise surprise New Yorkers like it…
The tone is really peaceful and not sarcastic, not ironic, and the finishing is really great.
here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/greathomesanddestinations/03gh-bucharest.html?ex=1192075200&en=4b0e9012b0eb962a&ei=5070&emc=eta1
Enjoy reading and Bravo! to the writer:)
efficient meetings October 2, 2007
Posted by armina in Uncategorized.Tags: special post
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hi,
i am supposed to organize a planning meeting for my team…and i bumped into something nice: www.effectivemeetings.com it is a very interesting site i would recommend to all the people that want productive, efficient and entertaining meetings!
last post on yahoo first REAL post here October 1, 2007
Posted by armina in Uncategorized.Tags: news
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Hi,
i decided i need a change…in writing and “blog image”…i just got bored of this place and i moved on wordpress. As you probably saw i didn’t write too much lately…it is because i felt no motivation anymore…i didn’t have much time either…but the motivation was the “Click” …so i moved my blog in a place that motivates me to write…you can read further at: http://armiberries.wordpress.com – you can subscribe to RSS there if you want to keep yourself updated.
another reason for which i moved it all is the fact that on facebook i couldn’t import posts from 360.yahoo.com but i CAN import them from wordpress;) and most of you, my friends are on facebook.
well…keep you posted…and soon…you might be interested to check out also : www.dareberries.com the website i am preparing to launch by the end of this month, which should bring a positive change into people’s lives…my way of giving back:)
hugs,
armina
