Category: Personal

Six Years In Switzerland

View of Lake Brienz, Switzerland. The water is greenish blue, forested mountains are in the distance and a blue sky with white clouds overhead.

It’s been six years now since we arrived in Switzerland. This is not quite a record for longest time in one town, but it’s getting close. This is certainly the longest I’ve been at the same address in my adult life.

So what’s happened in the past year since I wrote this post?

The Past Year

In August I attended (and spoke at) the last ever 360iDev conference.

Last Fall I did an online German test prep course, and at the end of October I passed the A1/A2 German language test that I will need to apply for permanent residency.

I continue to be active in the Swiss RPG “verein” (a non-profit club). I play regularly in a West Marches style game and a few months ago I began running the Tyranny of Dragons D&D campaign for a group of five players. I have hosted games as a DM at Zürich Pop Con, Fantasy Basel, and Free RPG Day.

I try to get out into nature as much as possible, either hiking, snowshoeing, or stand up paddling. I think I prefer showshoeing and winter hiking to downhill skiing these days as I get older.

For most of the year I continued in my role as iOS Chapter Lead for YML and heavily focused on building out a portfolio of robust, highly-tested, open source Swift packages that could be used across projects to accelerate delivery, improve accessibility, and reduce bugs. But in May after two years in the role, I was finally caught in a round of layoffs that have swept the tech industry.

I used the suddenly free time to take a six week in-person super intensive B1 German language course (for comparison, I studied for two years at the A2 level). I will consolidate my knowledge by taking another test prep course starting later this month which will culminate in the B1 Goethe exam in November. I will also enroll in a local German conversation course to help me practice.

Goals for our seventh year in Switzerland

  • Get hired locally
  • Apply for permanent residency
  • Pass the B1 Goethe German test
  • Complete the Via Engiadina hiking trail (I have hiked 6 out of 12 stages)
  • Exercise regularly

The Future

We would like to stay here another two years until our son finishes high school.

Interlude: German lessons

For the past six weeks I have been taking super-intensive in-person B1 German lessons. I studied A2 German for two years from Fall 2018 through Spring 2020, but then COVID came and I also became incredibly busy at work (first with BlockFi and then with Y Media Labs). I did an online test prep course in the Fall of last year (which helped me pass the A1/A2 language test that I will need to apply for permanent residency), but that was just a refresher and didn’t cover any new material. So it had been three years since I had learned any significant German.

When I found myself suddenly idle at the beginning of May, I realized that I had been granted an opportunity to continue my studies. I decided on a so-called “super intensive” German course that would cover the entire B1 level of German in just six weeks (with three hours of class every weekday). The language school location was not the best for me, but the closest schools offered nothing comparable. So for the last month and a half I’ve spent three and a half hours each day commuting to and from the language school. Fortunately Swiss public transport is top-notch and I can read, relax, or study on the trains and buses. Between the classes, the commute, and the homework, this was essentially a full-time endeavor.

The first week (and especially the first day or two) was especially tough as I adjusted myself to German-learning mode for the first time in three years. I’m proud to say that I completed the course and even aced the end-of-term test. My hope is that this will open up opportunities for me to do freelance development work with local companies (those that might not operate in English), although I may need to learn even more German. Regardless it will be helpful for my day-to-day life.

Sprachzertifikat, Deutsch B1, Mark Pospesel

My goal is to take an online test prep course again this Fall and then take an official Goethe B1 German test in November. I also intend to enroll in a weekly German discussion group that will meet locally on Thursday evenings.

Exercise

I joined a gym this week for the first time in I’m not sure how many years. Certainly at least since 2017. As a full-time software engineer (i.e. someone who sits in an office chair all day) I struggle with finding the time and motivation for fitness. I’m in my 50’s now, so I need to invest more in keeping myself (somewhat) in shape because with every year it becomes harder to get back into shape when you fall out of it. I have been doing well for the past 3 weeks: going for outdoor walks for about an hour every day (and some days hiking for much longer), which is good for cardio but doesn’t exercise my upper body at all. Also it can become a bit boring doing that every day for an hour. I try to vary the walks (I’m lucky to be surrounded by amazing scenery and to live in a walking-friendly area), but it’s still walking for an hour.

In order to mix things up and to give myself some strength training in addition to cardio, I decided to join a gym. I met with a trainer to discuss my goals, and he created a workout routine for me. My goal is to go 3 days a week and maybe attend the occasional spinning class or else go just to do an hour of cardio on days when it’s too cold/hot/wet to want to spend an hour outside. The gym is a 10-15 minute walk from home, so if I walk there and back I’ll get some extra exercise as well. Or I might bike there, but I need to change the pedals on my bicycle before I can do that.

One new thing I’ve done this year is to change the Exercise and Stand goals on my Apple Watch from their defaults. I reduced the Stand hours to 10 because I really only care about the notifications during my work hours. In the evening while I’m relaxing on the couch, I don’t need my Watch to nag me to move around. I’m increasing my daily Exercise goal by 5 minutes each week until I reach 60 (currently I’m at 45).

The important thing for me to succeed in an exercise routine is to create habits. So I need regular days to go to the gym or to walk outside, etc. Without a habit it quickly falls apart, and before long I’ll find that I haven’t exercised in a month.

Five Years in Switzerland

Five years ago today we arrived in Switzerland to start a new phase of our lives. 2022 has been a definite improvement for us over the previous two years. COVID of course is still a specter looming over us, but we’ve learned how to live with it (being vaccinated and twice-boosted helps). We’ve traveled extensively within Switzerland, getting to know some of the most scenic parts of the country (focusing on the mountains and high alpine valleys).

In the Spring I returned to the US for the first time in three years and finally got to visit family.

I attended (and spoke at) an in-person tech conference for the first time in three years (and promptly got COVID). I’ve been serving as iOS Chapter Lead and building internal IP at YML for over a year now. The role continues to bring me enjoyment and satisfaction.

I hike regularly and when it’s too hot to hike I hit the lake on our paddle board or our foldable kayak.

Integrating into Swiss society remains a challenge, but over the past year I have finally joined and am active in a Swiss “verein” (a non-profit club): Swiss RPG. It’s an RPG club through which I run a D&D campaign (The Wild Beyond The Witchlight) and play in a West Marches-style shared community world. My son and I got into D&D 5e in a big way last year. Now instead of doom-scrolling Twitter I hang out in the Swiss RPG Discord discussing the merits of different character builds or how to DM particular adventures. This past year we also attended our first fantasy convention, Fantasy Basel where we were able to play some in-person D&D at the Swiss RPG booth.

At the end of this month I resume German lessons after a two-year hiatus. In October I plan to take the A1/A2 Goethe test that is a requirement for applying for permanent residency.

I’m looking forward to at least another year living in this beautiful country.

4 Years in Switzerland

view from the Klausenpass

Four years ago today my plane touched down in Switzerland. I’ll be honest: I had higher hopes for 2021 a year ago. In some ways things are definitely better: Trump is no longer the U.S. President and amazing COVID-19 vaccines have been developed and are widely available in both the U.S. and Europe. Everyone in my immediate family has been vaccinated. On the flip side, the Delta variant is worrying and I don’t know when if ever things will be normal-ish again. I haven’t had any German lessons since the pandemic began, and I feel like we haven’t made much progress on integrating into Swiss culture. But unable (or unwilling) to travel abroad, we have gotten to know more out of the way parts of Switzerland over the past year.

I spent a 9-month stint working with the amazing mobile team at BlockFi on a native re-write of their mobile app. I’m quite proud of the accessibility support that we built into the app. In May I returned to work at Y Media Labs in a role as principal engineer.

It’s been a cold, damp, rainy summer so far in our corner of Switzerland. The weather for water sports has not been very good. It feels like the summer that never was.

What’s next? I’m still not sure, but it looks like we’ll get another year here, maybe two. Hike even more mountains. Snowshoe through the winter. Work on my cross-country skiing.

3 Years in Switzerland

Wow. It’s sort of hard to believe that it’s been three years to the day that we arrived in Switzerland. Also hard to believe that it’s already been two years since I wrote this post. On the other hand, the past five months have felt like two years unto themselves.

Some things have changed, others have not. We still don’t know how much longer we’ll stay here (our right to stay depends upon a local job and a permit that must be renewed annually). We still have not really integrated into society here.

On the other hand, I’ve learned a lot more German (after two years of twice-weekly German classes), we’ve traveled pretty extensively both within Switzerland and around Europe (not so much in 2020), and I’ve hiked quite a few mountains.

I still love it here. It’s not perfect. No place is. As much as we complain about the (belated, confusing, mistake-ridden) coronavirus response here, it’s worlds better than the tragedy/disaster that is the United States’ handling of the pandemic.

What’s next? I’m not sure, but it looks like we’ll get another year here. Hike some more mountains, I guess. Explore Portugal more when it’s safe to do so. Work on our bagel baking.

Cooking in the time of coronavirus

More coronavirus cases are announced every day. Switzerland is a small country (population 8.2 million), but not only are we in the top 10 for total number of cases, we’re #2 for cases per capita. It’s not surprising really considering that we’re next door to Italy and precautions were not taken.

A few weeks ago the government banned events with more than a thousand people. Last Friday the government closed all schools until April 4, banned events with more than a hundred people, and limited restaurants to 50 people. On Monday the government closed all non-essential shops, restaurants, bars, cinemas, pools, gyms, etc. Today the government issued a recommendation that everyone should stay at home unless they need to leave for work, buy food or supplies, or help others. Maybe tomorrow that recommendation will be made mandatory.

So much for going for walks in the farm fields. That seemed to me to be harmless enough, but ok. Stay home it is.

Fine. I’ve worked from home for nearly two decades now. My wife was working from home two days a week, but now it’s full-time. Our son has online learning arranged through his school for 6 hours every school day. He’s on day 2 of that and really enjoying the novelty of it. It’s a bit hard to concentrate at times with everyone here, but we’re so lucky that we are able to stay put.

I’ve been cooking a lot recently. I started cooking more frequently in January when I got some new cookbooks and began adopting a new diet (more on that some other time), but in the last few weeks it’s been even more. Part of it is wanting to stock up the freezer in case we get quarantined. Whereas in the past I might make a big pot of beans or soup and eat it for three days in a row, now we’ll eat it for one day, freeze the rest, and I’ll cook something new the next night. Part of it is wanting to eat as healthy as possible in the hope that it will help our immune systems. Part of it is just indulging myself with delicious food. The world may seem as if it’s coming apart at the seams (it’s not really– I know that), but at least right now in this moment I am with my family, our bellies are full, and our tastebuds are happy. Part of it is probably that cooking is one aspect of my life where I can easily assert control. The world may feel like it’s spinning out of control, but here in our kitchen I can cook good food. Some people hoard toilet paper. I cook.

I suppose it’s a coping mechanism. I’m ok with that.

Hiking Group: Mattstock

17 September 2019
7.6km, 630m ascent, 3h, 14°C

This was a difficult hike for me. I kept myself hydrated and good on salts, but it was very difficult nevertheless. The last time my heart worked this hard was the Stanserhorn hike almost a year ago (which involved twice as much ascending and is a much harder hike). I think it was because I let the group push me to hike faster than was good for my body. I can definitely do the hike, just not quite that fast. I also think I was feeling the altitude at the end of the hike.

It was a beautiful hike. The Mattstock is located in St. Gallen just north of the Walensee. We parked at Amden and then took a chairlift up to around 1,300m. From there we hiked to the summit at 1,935m. It was all steeply uphill and technically a bit difficult (T3 rating). While it was 14°C at the beginning of the hike at 10am, it was surely in the 20’s by the end and while we were approaching the mountain hut, I felt like I was burning up. Most of the hike was above the treeline, and the sun beat down upon us relentlessly. We should have had nice views of the Walensee throughout the hike, but it was mostly or partly obscured by clouds.

100m below the summit we stopped at a mountain hut to rest. When we first got there I was already exhausted and thought I would skip the summit. But after 5-10 minutes of rest I decided to try the summit at my own pace (stopping frequently). In the end I did make it to the top. The last bit involved scrambling with both hands and holding onto a steel cable bolted to the rock.

At the peak there was a cross and a logbook for hikers to sign their names in. This was the first time I have signed such a book. I hope to get the chance to sign a few more mountain books on this year’s hikes.

This was an out-and-back hike, so we had to retrace our steps and descend everything that we had climbed. The steep descent with tricky footing meant that it was not necessarily easy, but at least it was not a challenge cardio-vascularly. I developed a blister on my right big toe during the descent, probably because that boot was not tied tightly enough.

Route Map

Mattstock map

Hiking Group: Sattel Hochstuckli

10 September 2019
11 km, 510m ascent, 3h, 9°C

First group hike of the new school year! This is my second season hiking with the group from my son’s school.

This was only my second time hiking up to the Hochstuckli, but I skied from there many times last winter.

Here’s the view from the top in winter and summer:

Status: 2019-09-11 19.14.14
Status: 2019-09-11 19.14.31

We took the gondola up from Sattel (in the valley) to Mostelberg and then did a loop hike from there up to Hochstuckli, the peak. The weather was gorgeous and the temperature perfect. The hike wasn’t too difficult considering how little hiking I’ve done since June, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t creaky and a bit sore by the end of it.

All in all a great start to the hiking season. I’m hoping to be able to do even more hikes this year. Last year I chickened out several times when I thought that the hike was either too hard or the weather too cold/rainy/snowy. I know now that I can manage all the hikes even if it takes me a bit longer than the (super fit and super awesome) leaders.

Route map

Hiking Group: Boden-Zugerberg loop

21 May 2019
8.3km, 300m ascent, 2h, 10°C

This was my first group hike since 9 April due to Spring break, a dev conference, and other scheduling conflicts plus inertia.

This was a new route up the Zugerberg for me and could become a regular workout hike since it is close to home and neither too hard nor too easy.

Boden hiking group

The Spring flowers are out in full force in the farm fields of the Ägerital. The first part of the hike works its way up through successively higher meadows before entering the forest for the final steep(ish) push up to the top of the Zugerberg. From there we followed the ridge south for a while before descending back into the valley to return to our starting point.

Hiking through Zugerberg forest

Route map from my watch:

Status: 2019-05-27 14.01.01