I forgot to mention one other aspect of our visit to Germany: the mall's restroom was run on an on-your-honor toss-your-money-in-the-dish system, sort of like passing the contribution basket at church. (I say this as someone who belongs to a church that doesn't pass a basket around, so forgive me if I have some of the those details wrong.) At the entrance to the restrooms was a bowl with a sign suggesting the appropriate contribution, 30 Euro cents, which is about 40 U.S. cents. As far as I could tell, everyone threw something in.
That's not unusual for Europe, I guess. The train station in Lucerne has a pay restroom, and if you don't have any money, you just wait for your bladder to explode. The one in Zug, thankfully, is free. The public restrooms in Helsinki also required money, and I think it was the same way in Paris, although we were able to use free restrooms at the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. I guess the moral of the story is that you don't want to drink too much while you're here in Europe. (And as I think I've mentioned before, don't be surprised when a member of the opposite sex comes in to clean your restroom and nobody even notices. It's a European thing.)
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Subways around the world
The Wood family continued its quest to eat a Subway sandwich in every country in the world by eating at a Subway in Germany today. Actually, we didn't have to go that far to get to a Subway; it just seemed handy since we were already in Germany. We took a little afternoon trip today to a city called Konstanz, just across the border in Germany. Stace went there a few months ago to go shopping. I wanted to check it out. It's only about 90 minutes from Zug.
Mostly, I was hoping to find Mountain Dew just like we'd found in Finland, but no dice. We did get some English muffins, some bubble bath for the kids, and a few other odds and ends that they don't seem to have in Switzerland. We forgot to take a picture of the kids standing in front of a Subway sign written in German. Oh, well.
In other news, Swiss sticker shock still gets me sometimes. It will be about $130 for me to get my Swiss driver's license, which I'm required to do, and it will be another $330 or so for us to renew our residency permits, which we'll have to do every year. Ouch.
Mostly, I was hoping to find Mountain Dew just like we'd found in Finland, but no dice. We did get some English muffins, some bubble bath for the kids, and a few other odds and ends that they don't seem to have in Switzerland. We forgot to take a picture of the kids standing in front of a Subway sign written in German. Oh, well.
In other news, Swiss sticker shock still gets me sometimes. It will be about $130 for me to get my Swiss driver's license, which I'm required to do, and it will be another $330 or so for us to renew our residency permits, which we'll have to do every year. Ouch.
Monday, April 13, 2009
What we did
First of all, I have to mention that, as expected, the most exciting activity for the kids was swimming in the hotel swimming pool. Unfortunately for me, the water was a bone-chilling 73 degrees. That doesn't sound so bad if you're talking about sitting in a room, but in the water, it's plenty cold. The attendant at the pool told us that they kept the water that cold so that bacteria wouldn't breed. Apparently, chlorine is an unknown substance in Finland. We went swimming three of the four nights we were there.
Anyway, that aside, we got to see plenty of Helsinki and the surrounding area. On Thursday, we took a bus tour of the important sites in the city. This included a stop at the Sibelius monument, which is shown in a picture below. Sibelius was a Finnish composer and is pretty much Finland's national hero.
Later that day, Tanner and I checked out the reptile museum. That was really cool, with lots of snakes and other cuddly reptiles.
On Friday, we went to the Helsinki zoo, which is located on a nearby island. The kids had a great time. We also visited the Olympic stadium. Helsinki hosted the summer Olympics in 1952. We ate dinner at one of the exotic Finnish restaurants, as you can see. Some of their restaurants have cool-sounding names like "Subway," "McDonald's," and "Pizza Hut."
On Saturday, we went to a nearby island fortress called Suomenlinna. It was interesting to learn about how Finland basically kept trading hands between Sweden and Russia over the years until relatively recently. On the island, I found an exotic Finnish drink known as "Mountain Dew," which was quite exciting. After that, we wrapped up the day with a visit to Finland's national museum, which was just down the street from our hotel. Here's a picture of Tanner and Lindsey standing outside.
In closing, here are a couple of other cool pictures from Helsinki.
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Sunday, April 12, 2009
Our Finnish adventure
Okay, so I now have a better idea of why Helsinki isn't the first place that leaps to mind when most people think about spring break. I was wearing shorts in Switzerland on Wednesday morning before we left for our trip, but by the next day, I was wearing my winter coat, gloves, and earmuffs in Finland. It wasn't so much the cold; temperatures were in the high 30s to low 40s, which is pretty nice for a Minnesotan. It was the wind, at least on Thursday. When it's 40 degrees outside but you've got a 30-mile-an-hour wind, it's not real pleasant. It's all greened up here in Switzerland, but Finland still looks like Minnesota in early April.
Overall, though, it was a good trip. The weather greatly improved on Friday and Saturday, and we got to see and do lots of cool things. Most of all, I just enjoy the experience of getting to know a new city and different types of people. It was a good chance to compare the Swiss and the Finns. I've mentioned before that the Swiss national motto seems to be something along the lines of, "We are Swiss and the rest of you are not. Is there any way we can secede from the planet?" (And they don't mean it as just an anti-American thing. It's a whole anti-world thing, including anti-the rest of Europe.) English is sort of a hit-or-miss proposition, at least in our part of Switzerland, and those who do speak English don't always seem so thrilled by it.
In Helsinki, by contrast, every single person I spoke to had a good grasp of English, and they seemed happy to speak with us. (Or at least they're good at faking politeness.) I learned that the official languages of Finland are both Finnish and Swedish, although only about 5% of the population speaks Swedish as a first language. Children in Finland learn both languages, and they also learn English, German, and French. Many of them also learn Russian to boot. Sheesh! I wish we Americans did a better job of learning foreign languages. To confirm what we'd heard, we asked our server one night how many languages he spoke. He said that he indeed spoke five languages, and his English, at least, was almost perfect.
I'll do another post in the next couple of days detailing our adventures, and I'll enclose some pictures. I needed to get something on the blog, though, because I know some family members will want to know that we arrived home safely. (I'm not naming the concerned family members, but those of you who know my mom can make a pretty good guess.)
I'll make two other points before closing for now. First, it's amazing how much one's perspective can change based on life experiences. The flight to Helsinki takes about the same time as the flight from Minneapolis to Salt Lake, a tad under three hours. A three-hour flight used to seem like a major ordeal, even without kids. Based on our recent travels, though, this flight was pretty much an afterthought. The kids didn't even blink at the prospect of sitting on a plane for three hours.
Second, I did indeed eat something that I wouldn't be able to eat in most other places, although I pretty much had to spit on Santa Claus to do it: I ate reindeer. That was a little difficult, because Rudolph is basically imprinted on my mind as a real person due to the number of times I watched that show as a child each Christmas, but I soldiered through it. It was pretty good. It was quite tender (and, of course, it tasted like chicken).
One final extra point. Poor Lindsey is just along for the ride on this whole experience. She struggles to pronounce "Switzerland," and that's when she can even remember it. At one point on Friday, she was trying to make a point about something. She paused in mid-sentence, got a confused look on her face, and asked, "What country are we in again?"
Overall, though, it was a good trip. The weather greatly improved on Friday and Saturday, and we got to see and do lots of cool things. Most of all, I just enjoy the experience of getting to know a new city and different types of people. It was a good chance to compare the Swiss and the Finns. I've mentioned before that the Swiss national motto seems to be something along the lines of, "We are Swiss and the rest of you are not. Is there any way we can secede from the planet?" (And they don't mean it as just an anti-American thing. It's a whole anti-world thing, including anti-the rest of Europe.) English is sort of a hit-or-miss proposition, at least in our part of Switzerland, and those who do speak English don't always seem so thrilled by it.
In Helsinki, by contrast, every single person I spoke to had a good grasp of English, and they seemed happy to speak with us. (Or at least they're good at faking politeness.) I learned that the official languages of Finland are both Finnish and Swedish, although only about 5% of the population speaks Swedish as a first language. Children in Finland learn both languages, and they also learn English, German, and French. Many of them also learn Russian to boot. Sheesh! I wish we Americans did a better job of learning foreign languages. To confirm what we'd heard, we asked our server one night how many languages he spoke. He said that he indeed spoke five languages, and his English, at least, was almost perfect.
I'll do another post in the next couple of days detailing our adventures, and I'll enclose some pictures. I needed to get something on the blog, though, because I know some family members will want to know that we arrived home safely. (I'm not naming the concerned family members, but those of you who know my mom can make a pretty good guess.)
I'll make two other points before closing for now. First, it's amazing how much one's perspective can change based on life experiences. The flight to Helsinki takes about the same time as the flight from Minneapolis to Salt Lake, a tad under three hours. A three-hour flight used to seem like a major ordeal, even without kids. Based on our recent travels, though, this flight was pretty much an afterthought. The kids didn't even blink at the prospect of sitting on a plane for three hours.
Second, I did indeed eat something that I wouldn't be able to eat in most other places, although I pretty much had to spit on Santa Claus to do it: I ate reindeer. That was a little difficult, because Rudolph is basically imprinted on my mind as a real person due to the number of times I watched that show as a child each Christmas, but I soldiered through it. It was pretty good. It was quite tender (and, of course, it tasted like chicken).
One final extra point. Poor Lindsey is just along for the ride on this whole experience. She struggles to pronounce "Switzerland," and that's when she can even remember it. At one point on Friday, she was trying to make a point about something. She paused in mid-sentence, got a confused look on her face, and asked, "What country are we in again?"
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
You're going where for spring break?
As I mentioned earlier, our adventure in Finland begins tomorrow. I get the same reaction from people when I tell them where we're going for spring break. They look at me quizzically, and then they ask a one-word question: "Finland?"
Well, yes, Finland. Will it turn out to be a disaster? Temperatures should be in the low 40s, and it doesn't look too rainy, so how bad can it be? Either way, I'm sure it'll be something we'll never forget. My goal in Finland is to eat something that I wouldn't be able to eat anywhere else in the world. Stacie's goal is to quickly find the McDonald's in Helsinki (and there actually is one). Wish us luck!
Well, yes, Finland. Will it turn out to be a disaster? Temperatures should be in the low 40s, and it doesn't look too rainy, so how bad can it be? Either way, I'm sure it'll be something we'll never forget. My goal in Finland is to eat something that I wouldn't be able to eat anywhere else in the world. Stacie's goal is to quickly find the McDonald's in Helsinki (and there actually is one). Wish us luck!
Monday, April 6, 2009
I only owe $19,000??
This will be a highly wonkish post, so those of you who don't delight in digging into some of the more arcane provisions of Title 26 of the United States Code, also known as the Internal Revenue Code, might just want to skip this one.
This is kind of a good news/bad news day. The good news is that my company deposited $19,000 into my checking account today. The bad news (and this is not a coincidence) is that I need to send a check for $19,000 to the IRS tomorrow. Now, it's not every day that I write a check for $19,000. The reason that I owe so much money to the IRS is because of how I'm taxed on the expenses that my company covers for me to live in Switzerland.
All kinds of things that the company pays, including housing, school for the kids, the cost of living allowance, and other things, count as taxable income. Well, school for the kids runs about $50,000 per year, which would result in a substantial tax bite to the Wood family. So my company pays the tax for me. Let's say that the tax on the $50,000 is $15,000. That $15,000, of course, counts as income to me, so the company pays the tax on the $15,000, but that tax paid by the company counts as taxable income, so the company pays the tax on that, but that tax paid by the company counts as taxable income, so the company pays the tax on that, and you can see how this goes. Eventually, this diminishes to the point where the company is paying the tax on one cent of taxable income, which is zero. (Some of you may know this as "grossing up," which doesn't have anything to do with tossing your lunch.) So as far as the IRS is concerned, that $50,000 school payment counts as something like $80,000 or $90,000 of income to me. There's a mathematical formula for figuring this out. It goes something like this: reimbursed expense divided by (1 minus the tax rate).
Anyway, enough of that. The other trick here is that I can't actually file my 2008 taxes until early next year, because for complicated reasons having to do with the foreign tax credit, I need to live in Switzerland for an entire calendar year to establish my foreign residency. The IRS will grant me a filing extension to see if I actually establish foreign residency. However, the IRS isn't willing to let me sit on their money for another nine months, so they want a payment of what they think my ultimate tax liability will be. That's where the $19,000 comes in. My company's accountants think that my company owes the IRS another $19,000 on my grossed-up income, so I have to pay that amount along with my application for a filing extension.
In the end, to us, this is just a numbers game. In the eyes of the IRS, my income for 2008 was around $250,000 because of all of those expenses paid by my company, but rest assured, I didn't see anything close to that amount in my paycheck. Nowhere near. The company works up a hypothetical tax return and expects me to pay the amount of tax I would pay if I were still living in Minnesota without all of these other expenses being covered. The company then pays the additional tax on the housing and the school and all of that stuff. So the bottom line for us is that we're no better and no worse than if we had stayed in Minnesota, which is the whole point of the company's relocation policy. (Although the view from our terrace in Switzerland is slightly better than the view from the deck of our house in Minnesota. And it doesn't take as long to fly to Finland for spring break.)
This is kind of a good news/bad news day. The good news is that my company deposited $19,000 into my checking account today. The bad news (and this is not a coincidence) is that I need to send a check for $19,000 to the IRS tomorrow. Now, it's not every day that I write a check for $19,000. The reason that I owe so much money to the IRS is because of how I'm taxed on the expenses that my company covers for me to live in Switzerland.
All kinds of things that the company pays, including housing, school for the kids, the cost of living allowance, and other things, count as taxable income. Well, school for the kids runs about $50,000 per year, which would result in a substantial tax bite to the Wood family. So my company pays the tax for me. Let's say that the tax on the $50,000 is $15,000. That $15,000, of course, counts as income to me, so the company pays the tax on the $15,000, but that tax paid by the company counts as taxable income, so the company pays the tax on that, but that tax paid by the company counts as taxable income, so the company pays the tax on that, and you can see how this goes. Eventually, this diminishes to the point where the company is paying the tax on one cent of taxable income, which is zero. (Some of you may know this as "grossing up," which doesn't have anything to do with tossing your lunch.) So as far as the IRS is concerned, that $50,000 school payment counts as something like $80,000 or $90,000 of income to me. There's a mathematical formula for figuring this out. It goes something like this: reimbursed expense divided by (1 minus the tax rate).
Anyway, enough of that. The other trick here is that I can't actually file my 2008 taxes until early next year, because for complicated reasons having to do with the foreign tax credit, I need to live in Switzerland for an entire calendar year to establish my foreign residency. The IRS will grant me a filing extension to see if I actually establish foreign residency. However, the IRS isn't willing to let me sit on their money for another nine months, so they want a payment of what they think my ultimate tax liability will be. That's where the $19,000 comes in. My company's accountants think that my company owes the IRS another $19,000 on my grossed-up income, so I have to pay that amount along with my application for a filing extension.
In the end, to us, this is just a numbers game. In the eyes of the IRS, my income for 2008 was around $250,000 because of all of those expenses paid by my company, but rest assured, I didn't see anything close to that amount in my paycheck. Nowhere near. The company works up a hypothetical tax return and expects me to pay the amount of tax I would pay if I were still living in Minnesota without all of these other expenses being covered. The company then pays the additional tax on the housing and the school and all of that stuff. So the bottom line for us is that we're no better and no worse than if we had stayed in Minnesota, which is the whole point of the company's relocation policy. (Although the view from our terrace in Switzerland is slightly better than the view from the deck of our house in Minnesota. And it doesn't take as long to fly to Finland for spring break.)
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