Observations of the Fit or Confessions of a Stalker

I've always been a people watcher! For as far back as I can remember a whole lot of anything, I have kept my "baby blues" okay maybe my "baby blue-greens" on those around me. Perhaps my earliest recollection of watching people was studying my babysitters----you know, how they dressed, how they did their make-up and hair, how they popped their chewing gum, and how they wrote when they did homework. But without a doubt, I know my people watching skills advanced to a higher level when I was in third grade and started going to the high school basketball games with my dad and my little sister, Livi. You see, Dad volunteered his time to man the microphone for each home game at Uintah High School. The high school in turn gave him two season tickets, pretty much center court. Once in awhile Mom would go with him, but as the mother of lots of little kids, often times she stayed home and let "the girls" go with Dad. I knew which player had which number, who had which moves, who had the coolest haircut, who was the best looking...and I watched the cheerleaders, too.

My people-watching skills never waned. I watched people everywhere---at the library (oh, was I supposed to be studying), at restaurants, at the Wilk at BYU, at church, at the symphony. Didn't matter where I went, I watched. I still do.

In my defense, I've learned a lot from watching. I think I learned how you should treat people (and what behaviors to avoid). I gained some fashion sense (that flew out the window when I got so fat). I watched some really awesome mothers doing some incredible things with their kids, and I tried to emulate. I've gained lots of insights about lots of things from watching people.

What does all this have to do with now. We live on the 4th floor (actually the fifth level---the entry floor isn't numbered) in a new apartment building (see above) in the section of Basel known as St. Johann. We are located right where the building starts to curl at the near end as it comes to the corner of the block. So when I sit and eat at our kitchen table which has elevated bar-height chairs, I see a lot of this:

That's right. We live right on the corner of a round-about with not 4, not 5, but 6 roads coming into the center of it. We're also about two blocks from the Rhine, not too far from the airport, just minutes from France (see the F on the street sign):

and on a rather busy tram route with trams going both directions all day and all night:

Anyway, it's a busy little corner of the world with lots of people coming and going, and I have come to the conclusion AS I WATCH, that people here in Switzerland are generally a lot thinner than their American counterparts, a lot more physically fit. BUT...I have a theory as to why that's so. Mind you, this isn't a theory based on scientific data, but rather it's based on my fine-tuned observation skills. So here it is.

Everything is more expensive here in CH. Housing's more expensive, a lot of clothing is more expensive, food is definitely more expensive, as is the price of fuel and cars and parking. So.... people walk to save money or because they have no car or because there's no place to park or they want to conserve on fuel:

And people ride bikes...a lot:

So...REASON NUMBER ONE that they are more trim, THEY EXERCISE EVERY DAY JUST TO GET WHERE THEY'RE GOING.

And it's not just a few of them (this pic's actually from Germany, but a common sight here as well):

Housing is expensive. Switzerland's a small country, space is at a premium. There's one place to build in the city and that's up. Besides, I have yet to find suburbia here in Basel. A lot of people live in apartments, whether it's new like this one across the street:

with its crazy angles on one end and sweeping curves on the other:

or the older variety like these which are across the street as well:

What does this have to do with my theory? REASON NUMBER TWO people are more fit is because THEY CLIMB STAIRS EVERY DAY AND A LOT OF THEM FOR AUTOMATIC CARDIO! Some of these buildings are too old to have elevators or if they're like our's, the elevator is so teeny and/or slow, it's not worth it. 71 stairs to our apartment from the ground level or 87 from the parking garage.

REASON NUMBER THREE is THE GROCERY BAG:

They provide automatic resistance. It's just like adding weights when you exericise. The Swiss don't need to add weights because they already have to carry the purse, the diaper bag, the computer bag, and the GROCERY BAG on their bike or on their person and then up the stairs---no throwing them into the back of the mini-van and in through the back door! The grocery bag contributes in another way as well. Because even if you can afford to buy more food, you have to be really careful what you buy at the store because it all has to fit in your grocery bag, maybe two if you can handle them or if they will fit in your bicycle basket. However, you have to be extra careful because you have to make sure your food will fit in this:

And ours is large! Most apartments have a refrigerator that's between 1/2 to 2/3 the size of this one. So REASON NUMBER FOUR is THE SWISS CAN'T KEEP TOO MUCH FOOD AROUND AT ANY ONE TIME. This one is backed up by the size of food containers as well. Like:

No five- or ten-pound bags of sugar here. The whole bag is in my cannister.

Want a gallon of milk? Think again, not even a half-gallon. Of course, they use the metric system anyway, but milk comes in a 1-liter carton like this.

Want some cereal? This is about the size of a small bag of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish.

And, this one doesn't need an explanation. Except to say that besides the fact that it's hard to get too much food in your house, and it's hard to store too much food in your house, and it's hard to buy anything with a lot of food in it, food is just darn pricey---almost a dollar an egg!

So that's my theory, they exercise to get where they're going, they do stairs, they carry a lot of weight around, and they can't store too much food in their house, nor can they afford to store too much food in their house (therefore, no binge eating for them).

So I say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. We walk a lot (DJ just put diesel in our car for the first time in almost four months of having it), we take the stairs a lot, we walk home with our groceries, and don't have much to munch on around here. Just hopin' that after 3-5 years, it makes a difference!