GstaadLife

photo credit: Nick Wallace/ fotogstaad.ch

Rellerli doesnt always get as much snow as it needs to have a full season. A little different this year. Rellerli is in full swing and of course for those who know, Rellerli provides one of the best ski experiences in the Saanenland.

An official event will take place at the Palace Hotel Gstaad on 9th February 2012 when Mr.Jean-Pierre Tappy, Swiss - Executive Managment member and Mr Aldo Kropf, President of the Municipality of Saanen will 'baptize' an aircraft of the Swiss airline fleet, Gstaad.The baptism will be symbolic on an aircraft model of the same type. 

Mandolyna

The human urge to migrate seems as strong as ever. People have been trekking out of Africa to colonize the planet for at least 60,000 years. Before us, Homo erectus had been making the journey for a million or so years. Surely the impulse is justified by our genetic code, motives notwithstanding.

Whether one is for or against multiculturalism, it is an unavoidable reality. Distinctions can be an asset, at least for individuals, and everybody likes a little variety. But groups have to be homogenous on a certain level. This is where things get confusing. How different groups choose to coexist is the contentious issue.

Sometimes I wonder if governing people and controlling immigration would be easier if adults were more like children. Most children hate to stand out. They often come home from school upset because of some inconsequential difference between their classmates and themselves. They simply want to be like everybody else. Some people remain this way into adulthood, while others prefer being different. For children, different is scary and abnormal. For adults, being different can make you an “individual.”

Pluralism works in places such as Switzerland because different groups adapt to the overall culture. In England, where foreigners can impose their own rules on the host country, some say that infighting diminishes the nation’s overall strength. While London is one of the greatest cities on Earth, given the choice, most people would prefer the quality of life in Switzerland. The racial scene is rather more peaceful. Foreigners mostly respect the host culture. One might recall that Arabs were not calling for the death of the Swiss when the people voted against building mosques in Switzerland.

In contrast, Arab fundamentalists often express their distaste for England, the English, and English culture. As yet another foreigner living in England, I prefer to fit in as much as I can despite my more American accent and other cultural differences. I chose to live in a country whose customs I share in some way or want to adopt. Otherwise I would not live here.

I have always been a foreigner among foreigners in a foreign place. When one has a mixed background such as mine—my father is Greek, my mother is half-Austrian and half-Colombian, and I was born in New York—this is hard to avoid. America was a good place to grow up for someone like me. Being an immigrant among immigrants isn’t bad, though I imagine having a true homeland trumps all.

Colonizing a place has to be done with grace on the part of the arrivistes and acceptance by the hosts. I think we have done quite well in Gstaad, though some of the indigenous folks might disagree. Regardless, I am grateful to the Swiss because I feel very much at home here.  Like me, Gstaad is ethnically mixed. Living among the Swiss, Spanish, Italians, English, Belgians, Germans, Arabs, Greeks, and others is only a microcosm of a greater reality, however distasteful this might be for purists.

Processing current human migratory patterns isn’t easy. Many of us are still adjusting to our ancestors’ moves. With the exception of Africans living in Africa, we might all be considered migrants or children of migrants.

The trouble is, open immigration can be the end of a civilization. If a people don’t defend themselves and keep themselves a people, they will disappear.

Vive la Confederation Helvetique!

by Mandolyna Theodoracopulos

Januaria Piromallo, Italian journalist lives between Milano and Gstaad. She also consults on the topic of Journalism at Suor Orsola University. From her first book, “Bella e d’annata”  she made a blog and now from the blog to another book “Come pesci nella rete”, a good example of ‘what goes around comes around’. The book covers the fascinating topic of internet compulsions (Internet addiction disorder) and the dangers of always being connected. Activities that would normally be considered troublesome, such as compulsive gambling or shopping are becoming ever present online habits in our modern society  - the writer poses the question of such activity and offers much insight into the phenomenon - therefore the books title, translated into English - ’So are we or are we not all fish in the Net’? Come and meet the Author Januaria in Gstaad at Cadonau on February 11 2012.

Januaria Piromallo with her new book at the first signing in ­December 2011 at Cadonau.

A new regulation affecting after-hours ‘on-call’ physician emergency services in Saanenland took effect January 1, 2012. Due to increasingly undersupply of primary care services in Saanenland and Obersimmental, general practitioners in the region are now only able to guarantee their emergency services on a limited basis.  These physicians have requested that the Spital STS AG take over night-time emergency ‘on-call’ services in the region between 20h00 and 8h00.

The resident general practitioners of the Obersimmental, Saanenland and the Spital STS AG along with hospital sites Zweisimmen and Saanen were able to secure the ambulatory health care of the region thanks to this new regulation.

How it works
During the day, the resident general practitioners in Obersimmetal and in Saanenland are accessible as usual through their practices. Between 20h00 and 8h00, however, general practitioners will no longer offer home visits; and they will no longer be accessible during this time. Please contact the emergency number: 0900 57 67 47 (Medphone). If necessary, Medphone will forward your call to either Zweisimmen or Saanen hospital or to an ambulance. For the most urgent and unavoidable situations such as death, the hospital sites of Zweisimmen and Saanen will contact the appropriate GP who has the background information. The 24-hour emergency departments of both hospitals remain accessible and receptive at all times. The other inpatient and outpatient services of the hospitals remain unchanged.

 Recently the head of Gstaad Saanenland Tourism, Martin Bachofner, made a public appeal to the residents and patrons of Gstaad. He asked us to be conscious to the fact that as a society we should remain collectively confidential regarding visiting celebrities and people of VIP status. This is something Gstaad has always prided itself on and is a part of the reputation of the place. Discretion and confidentiality have long been a part of the Gstaad intrigue.

So what went wrong when Madonna recently arrived in Gstaad for a whiff of Alpine air and a fondue? It seems that the paparazzi that followed her up from Geneva airport were a little too pushy. The press machine and its commandoes are a lot more assertive than in the days when the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson arrived in the Saanenland. The Madonna watchers, be they professionals or not were swarming and asking questions, pressurizing the public.

Of course Martin Bachofner is quite right to reminds us that when asked, we are not obliged to answer. We all lived through the Roman Polanski saga of recent and I think as a society we handled the sensitive matter well and with a quiet decorum. I guess if Madonna’s brief was complete privacy then a different routing into the Saanenland skipping Geneva Airport could have been a solution.

Anyhow, in proof that all is well in Gstaad I share with you an observational experience of this past weekend. Following an excellent morning of skiing I headed to the lounge of one of our 5 star hotels for a light lunch with my family. Peering around I recognised the world’s most prominent diamond merchant doing just as I was, so too were a few family members of one of the leaders of Europe, no- one seemed bothered at all. Just another day in Gstaad. 

By Peter Sonnekus-Williams      

Picture credit: Hans Bettler

There is certainly no shortage of snow this winter with good snowfalls again this past weekend. Temparatures for the week to follow range between -4 and 1 degree's celcius in the village and -6 to -2 degrees celcius at 2000m. Fabulous mild winter weather with the pistes stacked up with snow.  

Reader wrote: The busy Gruben snow path was entertained by a all too short musical interval of Alpine horn ! Many thanks to this gentleman I hope he comes again soon!

When Jan Grünig lived in Thun, he often ordered pizza to be delivered. So numerous were the providers in the city, that it was often difficult to decide from whom to order.

“It was practical,” Grünig said, “to have possibility to call a pizza service if one hadn't cooked anything or hadn't gone food shopping.”  Living in Saanenmöser, Grünig, 24, realized that something like this was lacking in Saanenland. He and Raik Süss discussed the idea and were spurned into action when they learned that Pizzeria Rütti was closing.

Raik Süss and Jan Grünig founded Pizza Montagna in February 2011. The bakery is located in Saanenmöser. Philipp Brand, 25, from Gsteig jumped in to stand in for Süss, who had a full time job and a family. Grünig acquired his pizza chef diploma and transferred his knowledge to Brand.

“Baking pizza is a little science all onto itself,” Grünig says. “A normal pizza delivery uses an electric oven. We have a wood oven. This makes everything more complicated, but the pizzas are more delicious.” The oven allows for five pizzas to be baked side-by-side.

“Last winter, we received nothing but positive feedback,” Philipp Brand said. In the meantime, both young men have fine-tuned their delivery system and have found a process that is potentially worth patenting.

Customers can receive hot pizza on the table, even if the drive takes 30 minutes. Pizzas are delivered in a special box, in which temperatures are clearly higher than 100 degrees.

“The pizza dough is everything,” Grünig says. “When it is not good, you can't get a good pizza.”
The two men make everything themselves, from the dough to the tomato sauce to the desserts. They buy local fresh meat. The house specialty is “Pizza Montagna,” featuring special dried beef and the best mountain cheeses.

They may remain open in summer. Until recently, it was difficult to deliver to households, because there was no house numbering. “Now that there are street names and house numbers, this was made easier for us,” Grünig says.

www.pizzam.ch, Phone 033 511 21 11