She's really gone!

My BFF Bonnie is truly gone.  A moment of silence for Bonnie and her wonderful X3.  Now some of you may be asking "why didn't you buy Bonnie?"  Well, the price for a car is generally twice of what it is in the States.  Makes a lot of since, huh?  This is including buying a car in Germany, here, whatever.  The X3 was 45,000 Swiss Francs, or approximately $47,000 american dollars.  Anyone who knows me knows that I won't do that, ever, never.

We are working out the details of buying a car from another expat family.  (What does expat mean, you ask?  It means expatriate, or an American living overseas.)  I will soon be the proud owner of a 2003 BMW 3 series silver station wagon with 60,000 miles, for a mere $20,000.  This is less than twice what it would cost in the states, so we are feeling pretty lucky.  Funny how your perspective changes over here.  The swiss cars have to follow much more stringent emmissions standards, and everyone is required to switch all 4 tires to winter tires by the end of October, and back to regular tires end of April, so this price actually includes 8 tires.   Hopefully I can get the car soon.  We are living like real Europeans, walking and using public transportation everywhere.    

Speaking of prices, did I mention how freaking EXPENSIVE everything is here?  Here are some daily examples so you can relate:

Hamburger Happy Meal from McDonalds - $7.50
6 inch sub meal from Subway - $15
Pound of chicken breast - $16
Pound of hamburger - $20
Box of cake mix - $8
gasoline - $1.60/liter.  Gas doesn't sound so bad until you realize a liter is basically a quart, so we are paying $6.40/gallon!

Pasta, yogurt, dairy, cheese, and fresh  veggies are comparable to the States.  Coupons do not exist, nor will we experience the thrill of "triple coupon weekend" at the Teeter. 

We were well warned about how expensive things are, and brought approximatly 200 pounds of food from costco with our luggage.  We brought peanut butter, kashi bars, pop-tarts, dried beans, and toilet paper, you know, all the essentials.  Some items just can't be found here, like brown sugar, nestle toll-house morsels, baking soda, and hard candies like air-heads and jolly ranchers.  All of Tom's traveling has a little advantage - we didn't have to pay any luggage fees with the airline so we took advantage of it. 

Going out to eat is insane.  I just spent $30 on essentially a grilled chicken breast on a salad.  It is common to spend $100 for a family of 4 to go "out to pizza".  Frau Betor has been cooking her little heart out. 

Well, off to bed for us!  I spent most of the day in classes to learn the rules of daily living and how to avoid the garbage Nazi.  You think I'm kidding?  Stay tuned...