A Well Kept Man

Last night I had a pression (draft beer, more formally a 'bière à la pression') with the husband of a colleague of Alli's from Medtronic. The purpose of the meeting was to get advice relating to securing a job here in Switzerland, as he had been through the same situation when his wife was transferred here nearly three years ago. For those wondering, the beer made in Switzerland is pretty much uneventful (so far...I'm determined to find a good one). As a result I tried to order a familiar beer at the "British" pub. There are many "British" pubs in Switzerland, which supposedly have all of the international beers that an typical expat would look for in lieu of the lesser Swiss varietals.

The gentleman I was with immediately ordered a Guinness, which the garçon (French for waiter...also refers to a young boy depending on the context. It appears that the original purpose for having children, at least French male children, was to have a servant who waited on you and brought you libations; apparently my father knew this as I often recall fetching his evening beer as a young lad) had no problems with. "Oui" he said, and then looked at me. Surely if they had Guinness, and being a "British" pub I would have no trouble ordering an ale or lager with a British Isles heritage. As there was no menu, and we were seated outside on the patio, I assumed that I could just pick a British ale and resume our conversation.

Now, for those that have enjoyed a pint or two with me know I don't prefer to drink heavy stouts and porters as they make me sleepy (and I find them too sweet and malty..nothing like a meal in a glass), so silly me I order a good British ale (at least in my mind)...a Bass. You would have thought I asked the garçon for a bucket of shrimp milk (if this isn't funny replace 'shrimp milk' with 'dolphin sweat'). It's like he's never even heard of such a thing. So then I figured, ok, maybe it's just Irish beer at this place, so I order a Harp Lager (similar to a Bass, but a lager instead of an ale). Again, he treated me like I was suggesting he drain the contents of battery into a glass and serve it to me.

So at this point I'm at a loss...do I order a beer I don't care for or try for another beer of the British Commonwealth (Fosters maybe...Australia was once a British colony. Maybe India has some good beer)? It was during this time the garçon became quite fed up and just leaves. He brought me back a draft beer from the very (un)British colony of Denmark (is that a hint of Lox I taste in my beer? MMMM). I am not sure what is going on here but when you think Carlsberg is a British beer you have some serious problems that can only be cured by retaking high school geography and history classes...

Needless to say next time I network I will be sure to study the beer list ahead of time for suitable choices. Heineken is readily available by the way, whereas Budweiser, Miller, Coors, etc. are not (pretty much impossible to find unless you are in a specialty shop that imports American goods). Don't even get me started about the lack of Bell's Oberon and Two-Hearted Ale...(Dad, be sure to stock up for my trip back at Christmas).

With respect to the networking itself, I received some great suggestions of how to go about securing a job (including the proper format for my CV = curriculum vitae; this is the equivalent of a resume, only instead of omitting anything that might indicate what you look like, what your family situation is, how old you are, etc., they are required. Thankfully there is a shortage of tall, skinny, American, house-husbands around age 30 in Switzerland.), some potential job agencies (for part-time or full-time work, which tends to look for trailing spouses who are in my situation), as well as offering some help getting my CV passed around to some of his contacts (of which he has many as he is basically a sales guy).

So once I can get my CV together I will begin looking (more intensely) for a job. Apparently all I really need is my residence permit, a job contract, and then I pay about $100 bucks and I get a work permit (it seems like everything here costs money to "process"...who would have thought I needed to pay the government for the privilege of providing economic growth and stability? Why hasn't the U.S. thought of this???....oh wait, the payroll tax is their version. Last time I checked that was a little bit more than $100.). It's probably a little more involved and harder than I have made it sound, but I will hopefully get some leads in the next few weeks and maybe be employed before the weather turns to less-than-bike-friendly (but then ski season starts, so maybe not...).