Imported Chocolate: Oh wow, this is interesting to know. I will come back to that topic in a second

Hot Chocolate with a Local Before you read any further, grab a cup of your favorite hot chocolate, coffee or tea. Do you have it? OK. Now read on :0). Hot Chocolate with a Local will be a recurring post where I sit down with a guest and chat about travel over a delicious virtual cup of hot chocolate. avis car rental coupons discounts I created this series to bring you real advice about travel from around the world. Today we catch up with the lovely avis car rental coupons discounts Dançoise Koechler aka The Cake Lady ! Not only is this beautiful lady living avis car rental coupons discounts internationally, but she also owns a cake decorating business and makes some of the most beautiful cakes I've ever seen. Sit back, relax and let's have a chat with this inspiring woman!
Imported Chocolate: Omg! Yes! A new way to say hot chocolate! So, I will rephrase my greeting. Thanks for having a virtual cup of hot choggi with me. And wow! Only running on one hour of sleep? That s hard core! Was the play place, the Swiss version of Chucky Cheese?
Dancoise: OK. I m at the computer with my hot chocolate and ready to chat! It s called Trampolino. It s pretty awesome for kids, actually. I could imagine going crazy there as a kid. I only go crazy for the kids now, so I was running up inflated mountains, etc. on no sleep. But that s me!
We live just about 150 meters from the lake so I love waking up in the morning and seeing the sun rise over beautiful Lake Zurich on days like these. And on a weekend like this, we BBQ on the balcony, take our son to the lake to feed the ducks and have a stroll. avis car rental coupons discounts I really love how picturesque Switzerland is.
To anyone who visits, I say forget the typical Eurotrip where you ride the hop on hop off bus and visit museums. Switzerland is ALL about the nature. I won t drone on about it, but it s really some of the most luscious greenery I ve seen anywhere.
Imported Chocolate: Lucky girl you, living by a lake! Your life sounds so romantic! Thanks for the tips! I know the measurements are different in Europe and I m not even going to try to translate, but 26 degrees means it s hot and summer over there, right? Lol!
Dancoise: I won t dare speak for the Swiss, just for my Swiss family. I believe it was hotter earlier in the day, but I d say lower 70 s might be more comfortable. It rains a lot here so they re used to milder temperatures.
Dancoise: I love that question! I used to hate it because everyone would mispronounce it when I was a child. Well, everyone on my father s side of the family has a name that begins with the letter "D" So when I was born, of course, the name had to follow the "D" rule.
Then my parents went to school together and they knew a girl Dancoise and both loved her name and passed it on to me. Her name is Dancoise Clayborn. I believe her family is from Louisiana and that s where the French comes into play.
Dancoise: I live in the north, which is the German speaking part and the has the largest population of the three. I don t know if you know this, but there is a French part, German part and Italian part. The French part is the second largest.
Imported Chocolate: avis car rental coupons discounts I didn't know that. Wow, this is really interesting to learn. I wonder if it plays any part in them never getting involved in conflict. It s almost like they have three nations living together in harmony.
Dancoise: Quite the contrary, actually. Swiss are extremely avis car rental coupons discounts peaceful and on average hate conflict to a fault many times. You know they re neutral and have been for some time. That neutrality carries through pretty much every aspect of life and their culture. As an outsider, is pretty obvious.
People avis car rental coupons discounts go to countries like France, Italy, Spain, Greece, etc because they love the country. That very rarely happens here, and I only say rarely because I don t like to say never. I ve yet to meet the person who came here because they just loved it so much and ended up staying forever.
That s not because it s not a lovely country, but it s because it s really difficult to break into the Swiss circle. That left me feeling a bit depressed and conflicted for quite a while when I came here. It s difficult to feel like somewhere is home when you don t have any native friends.
Imported Chocolate: Oh wow, this is interesting to know. I will come back to that topic in a second as it s one of the questions I want to ask you, but if you don t mind me asking, how did you and your husband meet?
Dancoise: We met at San Diego State University when he was studying abroad there. When we met I had just transferred avis car rental coupons discounts and he was there for a second avis car rental coupons discounts semester. The really interesting thing is that everything really just worked itself out. I thought that after his second semester it d be ciao ciao, but I ended up doing my mandatory study abroad in Barcelona at the exact time he was going back home. So everything worked itself out and we re here now.
Dancoise: I was living in a suburb of Zurich where they don t speak much English. For example, in the grocery store, post office, bank etc. I didn t speak any German at the time, so it was literally like restarting life. I had to learn how to speak the language, drive a manual car, maneuver avis car rental coupons discounts these crazy windy streets and learn how to survive in minus temperature/bitter cold.
And the list goes on. I also had a difficult time at work and really had to fight to prove my worth to the team. In general, felt like I lost my freedom/independence avis car rental coupons discounts entirely and I hate relying on anyone for anything. But the experience taught me a lot about myself and I grew tremendously from it. I m thankful for the good and the bad.
Imported Chocolate: But your two chapter answer was perfect and inspiring! avis car rental coupons discounts So no worries! I can relate to the not liking to rely on other people avis car rental coupons discounts thing. I believe you just covered my third question which is: what were your initial thoughts on your new country in the beginning? Is there anything else you would like to add?
Dancoise: Well, that wasn t my initial experience. I was living in Barcelona (BCN) for seven months before I moved to Switzerland. But I d say of those seven months I was living in BCN, I was here 2/3 of the time. THAT was my first encounter and that was nothing, but amazing. But visiting somewhere is much different to living somewhere.
Dancoise: All I can do is throw up a huge grin . And with that I ll say that it is a very interesting challenge. It s different as compared to being a black woman in the States and also very different to being a black woman in Spain. You only really find black people avis car rental coupons discounts in the largest cities and as I did not live in one. When I first came here, people looked at me as if to say, Wow they do exist!
What bothers avis car rental coupons discounts me is that there seems to be a general acceptance of ignorance when it comes to people of color. For example, I was walking avis car rental coupons discounts at the lake with my son on two separate occasions just this week. And both times two different people- I had dogs bark and growl at me. And the owners both say, Oh sorry, he just hasn t seen a person of your color before.
Dancoise: Or babies some times cry because they ve never seen a black person before. I think it s sad and coming from California it s shocking and unacceptable in this age of information. Now to answer the actual question…
Dancoise: The challenge avis car rental coupons discounts is not getting avis car rental coupons discounts upset at Swiss people for the staring because I find that Swiss people generally don t mean it in a derogatory way. They are genuinely curious and I think on some fronts they would like to learn. The other challenge is not getting upset when people automatically assume I don t speak German. If we go to a government agency, my husband and I, they will tell him, She should do . And I answer them in German saying, She knows what you said and she will do that .
Dancoise: I suppose the real challenge is getting comfortable enough to not take the staring, assumptions, etc personal and become part of the conversations in order to not only let them see, but also meet a positive black woman. Now let me flip it. It can also be a positive. I obviously stand out more than most, which is positive for things avis car rental coupons discounts like business marketing and making connections.
Dancoise: Yes, there are, actually. There is an African community here and it is possible to get hooked up. But I take care of my own hair and do a pretty great job if I do say so myself hahaha! My mom had a salon for 10 + years so I know how to straighten my own hair. And I have my mom cut it when I go back home. Or I may get a cut here.
Imported Chocolate: Lol! You hear that ladies? If you re ever in London look up Daniel at Tony Guy! Lol! Thanks for the hair tips! You re married so I'm going to have to flip this next question. OK, so, do you think a single black woman would have a hard time finding dates or love in Switzerland?
For anyone planning avis car rental coupons discounts to come here single and ready to mingle, Thursday nights are the best. Thursday night at Amber and Jade I think they're called. The other really popular one is .part of Movenpick and starts with a P. Palavrion—prime place to pick up a banker and the older men ready to spoil someone are at the Hyatt around the corner.
Dancoise: Actually, let me just tell you about the first one. That s easier. I lived in Spain in three cities for a total of about one year and one month before I ever came to Switzerland. So I had some experience with living abroad. The difference was that I had been learning Spanish for like six years before I ever went to Spain and had enough knowledge to get around with no troubles. Well, one of my first experiences here was going to the grocery store with my mother-in-law to be and trying to find bread crumbs.
I had my German dictionary and I found the word for bread which is Brot and the word for crumbs which is "Kruemel." Long story short, it took thirty minutes and a huddle of like six people to figure out what I was trying to buy. That s when the gravity of living in Switzerland hit me. I went home and cried for like an hour. Then I started taking German lesson the next week I think.
Dancoise: By the way, "breadcrumbs" is "Paniermehl hahaha." Has more of a L