life in Switzerland | Jinglei Zhu

The New Year That I Celebrated Three Times

Posted on March 20, 2022 1 Comment

Life in Switzerland for a foreigner without family can be lonely. With the obstinate pandemic, lonely is an understatement. We all hoped the year of 2022 would be different and better. So we used our “witchcraft” by celebrating it again and again to ensure it. The international new year celebration for me and my Shanghai […]

Love Hard vs Love Is Hard

Posted on December 22, 2021 Leave a Comment

While entering again the miserable cold times in Switzerland, I watched a love comedy called Love Hard. It’s a story about online dating, catfishing, and being cliché about the girl and the boy eventually falling in love. Afterwards I saw a short interview with those lead actors and learned a new term “cuffing season.” Google […]

Back to Innocence

Posted on July 19, 2021 Leave a Comment

— my online dating stories in Switzerland About a year ago a girl friend in Zurich gave me a book, encouraging me to go online dating. To celebrate my regained dignity and freedom, she said,”I hope you will find true love. Never give up.” “121 First Dates” is the title of the book. By looking […]

The Misty Road to Refuge

Posted on May 11, 2021 Leave a Comment

On my way to the refuge searching for enlightenment, I saw Kai again. Was that a confirmation of my choice of the spiritual path?

Birthday, same same, but different

Posted on February 25, 2021 Leave a Comment

Each year, February 20th is a special day to me. It is my birthday and usually this day brings back our long-desired spring. This year, it was double special as I by chance found out my Chinese girlfriend’s daughter was born exactly on the same day…just 21 years after. Like me and many other Pisces […]

Love in the Time of Corona

Posted on February 12, 2021 Leave a Comment

Unrequited love. That is pathetic. That is undesired. That is unreal. What I truly want is: the like-mindedness, the same wavelength, the spark, the emotional connection, the chemistry, with one particular equal soul. For a brief moment, I thought I found it: the like-mindedness, the same wavelength, the spark, the emotional connection, the chemistry. With […]

Loneliness or Solitude?

Posted on January 18, 2021 1 Comment

Loneliness kills. I haven’t done my research. But I’m pretty sure it does. There are about one hundred forty thousand inhabitants in the city of Lausanne. There are about twenty-one units in the apartment building where I reside. But they are all total strangers to me, as I am to them. I know, we are […]

Hello New Year! Hello Undying Hope!

Posted on January 2, 2021 Leave a Comment

The new year has inevitably arrived. No matter how awful the year of 2020 has been, the arrival of the new year didn’t necessarily change anything, except that it brought us stronger hope. Hope. Who doesn’t need it? When I just moved to Lausanne, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, exactly a year ago, I had […]

欧陆黛尔《无童言》之开篇寄语

Posted on August 16, 2019 Leave a Comment

小女子今年四十又一岁，居住在瑞士偏远的山村。其实瑞士不大，四万一千平方公里，只有祖国母亲的千分之四，所以说自己的居住地偏远，实属夸张。从这里开车去瑞士最大最繁华的城市苏黎世，只不过一个小时多一点的车程。换在上海市区，交通稍稍堵一点，这才只是五公里的车程。但这里的确远离城市的喧哗，若不是Facebook和iPhone经常拿过去的照片来提醒，我还真的不会意识到五年的青春年华就这样悄悄从指尖流逝。因为在这里，时间仿佛是静止的。家门前是欧洲第三大淡水湖，博登湖（德语Bodensee，英语Lake Constance）。它瘦长的身段足足有六十三公里，紧紧抓牢了瑞士、德国、奥地利三个国家的肢体的一部分。它波光粼粼，夏季的湖面上经常飘扬着帆船。若不是对岸绵绵的山峦提醒着我它的宽度，我真的会把它当成蔚蓝的大海。到了冬季，它也会毫无留情地结冰，与一边的皑皑雪山呼应着，全然弄出一个冰天雪地的世界。它有它的尊严要维护，若是遇到狂风，它势必要掀起大浪。但如同大家闺秀一般的它，即使发飙也是矜持的。若是遇到暴雨，它势必会拉高它的裙摆，让大水冲进附近的村庄和小镇，凉凉行人的小腿肚。大部分时候它风平浪静，各种野鸭和天鹅携带家眷一起出来觅食和嬉戏。它保持着两岸土壤的肥沃，德国境内有一个著名的花岛和一个著名的菜岛，都是它的杰作。德语里，湖是个阳性词。在我眼里，它更像女性。融合东西文化，索性，我便用了“它”这个中性词。因为居住在乡下，买菜则要去城里。骑自行车出行是个环保、健身的选择。这里的自行车都带有山地车的特性，因为地形像蛇，蜿蜒却妖娆。伴着湖，仿佛是条美女蛇。夏季的“美女蛇”身旁遍地是牛羊，时不时也会见到结伴的马，要么与同类结伴，要么与人类结伴。当骑着自行车来到平地上时，只身穿越一个接着一个的中世纪小镇。倘若不是见到许多最最现代化的汽车，我会幻想南瓜马车的出现。这里可以是童话故事的一个缩影，也可以是陶渊明老先生笔下的桃花源。而事实上，这里是欧洲的一个角落，不如巴黎有文化气息，不如罗马有历史气息，不如伦敦有商业气息，不如米兰有时尚气息，不如马塞罗那热情，不如威尼斯多情，也不如维也纳深情。它的情谊，需要一个人静下心来慢慢地品味。从我家出门右转，上个坡，总共步行五分钟便是拿破仑三世的故居，又名拿破仑博物馆。想当年，拿破仑一世倒台，他的继女兼弟媳Hortense de Beauharnais （是的，拿破仑一世把自己挚爱的女人约瑟芬跟前夫所生的女儿嫁给了自己的弟弟Louis Bonaparte）带着儿子Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte逃难到了博登湖这里，买下了湖边的大宅，请人重新装修。宅内硬装和软装皆显法国皇室奢华，室外的花园也刻意修剪成当年巴黎盛行的模样。于是，两百年来这个鲜为人知的桃花源里一直有着一个小小的巴黎角。经过五整个春夏秋冬，我决定把我在这里的一点一滴的感受都写下来，与你们分享。“欧陆黛尔”这个名字便油然而生，它的寓意随着我的心情的变化而不同。你们心中的“欧陆黛尔”会是怎样的呢？