Overheard at Starbucks, pt 2

It's NaNoWriMo, and by some miracle, I am almost halfway through the month and still within shot of potentially 'winning' (winning = writing 50k words in 30 days, an average rate of 1,667 words/day).

I work well at Starbucks. It's a productive space for me (which is how I justify the 7 franc chai latte). Lots of other people also bring their laptops to work at Starbucks. Students, casual people, older people, business-y people. This conversation just happened between two men who were sitting near me. Business man starts to leave and says goodbye to man at next table.

Man at next table (MANT) in Swiss accent: "Goodbye. Where are you from?"

Business-y man in perfect British accent: "London."

MANT: "Where?"

Business-y man: "England." (smiles)

MANT: "Oh, you don't look like it."

Business-y man: "Chinese blood." (stops smiling and leaves)

Uggggh. Conversations like this make me cringe. I know they happen all the time, and I certainly heard similar ones in the US regularly. And to be fair, my cringing is a minor issue - I have never been on the receiving end of these conversations. When I say I'm from the US, people nod and leave it at that. Because I have the fortunate coincidence of looking like what an American citizen 'should' look like. (Interestingly, within the US, when I say I grew up in West Virginia, I often get a puzzled look and the comment, "But you don't have an accent." Or the less innocent "But you have all your teeth." Har har har, people).

Just yesterday I read this NPR article looking at this exact question (their entire Race Card series is fascinating), so this topic was on my mind. I've certainly been witness to these conversations - hasn't everyone? Perhaps you've even unwittingly been guilty of it yourself (no judgment, keep reading). My sister's partner was born and raised in the US to parents who immigrated from India, and I know he's been questioned in the US. One of my good friends here grew up in Zurich and (from what I can tell) speaks Schweizerdeutsch with the best of them, but she is technically a Korean citizen, and often feels the need to clarify that in conversations when asked the above question. Mortifyingly, when I met her, I showed surprise to hear that she grew up here - I made the embarrassing mistake of assuming she was from the US, since she spoke flawless American-accented English. It was an extremely gauche move of me, regardless of whether I was questioning her Asian appearance or not, and a reminder to me that I now live in a multi-lingual country where many people speak a variety of languages flawlessly.

I'm not a philosopher and I don't study race or ethnicity or appreciate my own white privilege as much as I should, so I just want to say this, as a reminder for myself and everyone else out there: when you ask someone where they are from, please do them the courtesy of believing their answer (their first answer). Unless they are an international spy or hit man, there is no reason for them to lie about it.  The answer to "where are you from?" can provide a myriad of conversation starters. So if you want to ask a follow up question, take a moment to check yourself, then ask one - about whether they enjoyed growing up there, their experience in the area, when they moved, or if their family still lives thereabouts. There are many options that don't dwell on a person's racial or physical appearance, so - in my opinion - try one of those.

Overheard at Starbucks

Two or three times a week, I like to take my editing or writing to Starbucks. It helps me get out of the house, and I'm more productive outside the apartment (I don't do it every day because of the prohibitive expense. Not only the chai tea latte that is my standard, but also because it's right next door to a crazy tasty salad restaurant that has to-go dinner salads that make me feel all healthy. I'm weak, I know). I usually go to a specific Starbucks that has an upstairs, away from the loud coffee grinder and clinking dishes. It's never full but is consistently busy, so I can usually guarantee myself a spot.

While German/Swiss/foreign-type people definitely hang out at Starbucks, I've never been to one without hearing native English (British or American). This puts me in the somewhat unusual (at least in Switzerland) position where I can eavesdrop on other people's conversations. I've been privy to some inappropriate flirting (a girlfriend was mentioned early in the conversation but apparently conveniently forgotten), a couple actually making out, a painfully slow English tutoring lesson, and various other conversations that cannot so easily be pigeonholed.

I am currently listening to one such conversation now. The setting is an elderly British gentleman and a woman approximately my age whose native language is not English, although her accent is slight enough that I cannot guess where she is from. They started by talking about a name for a project and story arcs - I thought they were going to talk about a screenplay or book. No.

For the most part, the older man seems to be lecturing her about...well, I'm not sure. He has referred to a study by Harvard psychologists about body "power positions"and told her a (very) longwinded story about a friend who, by choosing the scenic route after a leg injury required less rehabilitation time than anyone could have predicted (this story, much to my surprise, was not a metaphor. Driving an actual scene route, mountains and everything, helps heal, apparently). She then responded by saying "that's funny, because I have the exact same thing going on," and then told a story about a younger girl who was being being very competitive about working out or team stuff (I may have missed the connecting thread here). His response: "I feel that you are upset because you are missing something in how you are responding to this girl." Or maybe she's just a pain in the ass. Just an idea.

Other gems include:
"I need to work independently. Some people get projects done by working together, but I just do the entire thing myself. Because I know myself and know that is the best way to get something done."

"Most people don't even realize he's dominating them. I do, because I'm that type of person."

"I'm saying the words as I breathe in. I watch that happen, then I'll start seeing clouds of blue."

Is this dude supposed to be some sort of advisor, or did he set up this meeting just to talk about how awesome he is?

Rainy day update

Life continues apace here in Zurich! B and I sat in our darkened apartment with all our fans on this past weekend in an attempt to survive 36C highs (that's well over 90F - Europe does not believe in air conditioning). However, today the predicted high is 20C, and there is a lovely cool rain that's been falling since late last night. Given how much rain we had this past spring, I never thought I'd be this excited to hear the pitter pat of the drops on our windows.

Last Monday morning, in an attempt to organize, I created a weekly schedule for myself. One week later, I have yet to follow it exactly on any given day. Despite this failure, however, I've found that I have been satisfied with how productive I've been - I'm back into daily German vocabulary cards, I managed to write almost 7000 words on my current story, worked out regularly, prepped several awesome dinners, and actually finished the baby blanket for my grad school friend. Just in time, since her baby is almost 2 weeks old! I'm currently working on a little hat to accompany the blanket before sending it off (I'm using this pattern - so adorable!).

How cute it this!? And yes, it's small on purpose. You can admire my color coding, but if you actually read what I'm doing, that's just dorky (well - it's dorky of you, but of more concern is that it reveals what a dork I am, as well). Ok, fine - if you read it, then the point is that I put most of my 'fun' stuff (eg, baking and crafting) later in the afternoon - so if I am running behind, I don't get my fun reward. It's been surprisingly effective.

I've learned that I am about 6000x more productive with writing and editing if I am not in our apartment (especially since I am currently addicted to Murder, She Wrote, and all eight seasons are available on Netflix), so I have been frequenting a large Starbucks almost daily. I appreciate that it allows one-hour of high-speed internet access and then reduces bandwidth, but doesn't cut me off entirely (is this how the US stores work? I can't recall). Definitely smart. I focus better in coffee shops - my dissertation was largely written in ones around Boston - but it also gets me out of the house regularly (important for my sanity). Another bonus is that I get to people-watch and eavesdrop. I hear a surprising amount of English, although usually not American (or native-speaking). But I also have lots of opportunities to practice my German comprehension (and without any pressure to actually speak it).

I was quite happy with how the baby blanket turned out; I think it looks much better in person than any picture I managed to take (maybe it's time I started trying out those DSLR camera tutorials on DVD...that can be part of my 'craft time'). It's a little knobbly around some of the edge, but the border greatly helped to 'normalize' the blanket - definitely a useful trick to remember in the future. However, as much as I was satisfied with the design, I will never, ever make it again. It was the SLOWEST progress I have ever made on any crochet project (hence why I'm sending it as a post-birth gift).

The blanket, folded in fourths. It's quite a good size (exactly how big are baby blankets supposed to be, anyway?). The shell design is from this blog, but I didn't follow the number of rows or the border part of the pattern.

Also, I realized that I haven't posted any pictures of our living room since Ikea shipment #2 arrived. There are still a couple sets of shelves to be assembled, but, overall, voila! We have a living room!

Yayy, a place to lounge! It needs some throw pillows and maybe a second chair, but it's enough to host!

And it even LOOKS like a living room! A side table! Places to sit! A coffee table! A rug! Yes, in case it's not apparent, I'm excited to finally feel that we are living in our apartment, and not just squatting. We still have some lingering boxes (see the right of the above photo), but their numbers are dwindling. And a former college classmate came to stay with us last weekend (she found herself in Luzern for work), so we are officially hosting visitors, if anybody is interested (hint, hint).

This upcoming Thursday, August 1, is a national holiday in Switzerland (think 4th of July in the US or 14th of July in France - complete with the fireworks). B will be taking the Friday off as well, allowing for a long weekend. We wanted to travel somewhere, but we are officially the world's worst trip planners - we only started looking at destinations last night around 11 pm. HOWEVER - we are still hoping to snag a train to somewhere fun, and I have sworn up and down that we will buy some cheap tickets from Easy Jet for future weekend getaways. Swiss blog people - where were some of your favorite weekend trips? I'm taking suggestions!

Baking/cooking post due soon! I'm way behind on sharing what I've been up to in the kitchen.

NB: I think I may have broken my own record on asides and parenthetical comments in this post. I've used up all my 'good' writing on my story, apparently.