The Aargau Factor

The Frau and her husband recently went through the passport control at the Zurich airport. She showed her "C" permit proudly. And why not, after all, to receive it, she had gone through bureaucracy and back. 

Then the agent asked her where she lived, so The Frau dutifully answered, trying to act as pleasant as one does when pretending to enjoy the third degree.

"But that's in Canton Aargau," the agent said, with that oh-so-familiar I live in Zurich and we are so much better than you attitude. 

He was not just a passport agent. He was a cool detector and a pride plunderer. One of the many who live within the Canton of Zurich's borders.

The Frau lives below the castle in Baden. How uncool.

Yes, over the last six years, many Zurich-dwellers have reminded The Frau that because she lives in Canton Aargau she is automatically uncool. 

So let's rewind six plus years to that fateful day when The Frau had to answer a very critical relocation question.

"Do you want to live in Zurich or Baden?" was the question. But the question should have been: "Do you want to be cool or a complete loser?"

Can you believe The Frau's response? "I don't know," she said. 

The Frau didn't see a big difference between being cool or a complete loser given that they were only a short 16-minute train ride apart. "Can't we just look in both places?" she asked.

"No," was the reply. "Because different agents are used."

They didn't mention that not only did Zurich and Baden use different agents, but the two cities were actually on different planets. At least according to the Swiss you-live-a-16-minute-direct-train-ride-from-Zurich-that-is-so-far-into-the-Middle-Ages mindset.

In fact, a 16-minute commute turns out to have consequences almost as far reaching as the fried potato ditch separating the German and French-speaking areas.

Fine, world. The Frau is uncool. The Frau is backwards. The Frau is a farmer.

But who cares, sophisticated Zurich people. Call The Frau uncultured and go back to your 10 m2 apartment that costs as much as the Frau's 120 m2 one and smoke a cigarette out the window while watching your neighbor use the toilet. The Frau will be going back to her big fat Baden balcony and enjoying her castle view. Yes, there she'll be, gazing up at her 9th century tower while the kings and queens of Oerlikon enjoy looking out their window at a brick wall with their noses as high in the air as the Alps.

Have you experienced the Aargau Factor?

God save the Frau, Stadtfest Baden is here.

Are you ready yodelers? Because it’s that time of year. Time for the festival with the worst logo the Frau has ever seen. 

Can someone please explain the comma?

In a way, the

Stadtfest Ba-

den,

logo is so bad, it’s good. And it’s everywhere. On bus wraps. On billboards. On the festival plakat that the Frau will probably be forced into buying just for going out her front door. Even the shops in Baden are getting into the action, arranging the logo in the proper

Stadtfest Ba-

Thank goodness they didn't forget the comma!

den,

arrangement on their windows. Yes. With the comma and the bad word break and everything. It’s almost too much fun for the Frau to handle. And you know the Frau. Would she ever be sarcastic?

In case you can't tell, the Frau isn't overjoyed for this Fest. She learned from experience that a 10-day festival in Baden will make her completely sleep deprived and overly anxious to never hear a collective drunk scream at 5 a.m. or a Swiss-German rapper played at ear-defending decibels again.

Ja, die Frau hat Erfahrung. She lived through another one of Baden’s 10-day festivals in 2007. It was called Badenfahrt and it taught her that even Swiss buildings made with 100% concrete can shake when placed next to a rock and pop stage featuring, you guessed it, Swiss German rappers.

Anyway, Badenfahrt had a better logo but a much more unfortunate name. Not that the Swiss minded. In fact, they actually sold T-shirts with Baden on one side and Fahrt on the back. The Frau now regrets not buying one so she’ll most likely be ponying up the CHF 40 for her plakat featuring the worst logo she has ever seen just for the novelty of actually owning such a souvenir.

Are you coming to Stadtfest Ba-

den,? 

Reader Appreciation Day

To counter a certain kind of “who cares about the customer” customer service in Switzerland, The Frau would like to have a reader appreciation day.

Here's to the yodelers

It’s high time she thanked some of her readers. Because without them, she would just be blogging for one person: her mom. And if she wanted to do that, she could just write emails. So thanks, readers.

Anyhow, the Frau loves all comments—even anonymous ones—but obviously Anonymous is hard to thank. So if you’ve left a traceable comment since June, and you’ve got an up-to-date blog, you’re included in the list below. And fellow yodelers, if you like this blog, you’ll probably like some of the following readers’ blogs too:

Queso Suizo: In Search of the Cheese Life

Kelly & Wojtek’s Blog

Newly Swissed

Made in Suisse

Dibulous

From Bratwurst to Bulgogi: A NJ girl’s journey from Germany to South Korea.

Swiss Side Jewellery etc

Miguev.net

Moms, Tots, & Zürich :hiking with kids in Switzerland

Wandering & Blathering

Tra mucche e cioccolata: la svizzera tedesca vista da una italiana

Alli McBally: A nail polish fanatic with too much time on my hands as some people say