Border Crossing

Located on the edge of Switzerland, Geneva is surrounded by France. French influence permeates the city evident in food, language and culture. Geneva is also notoriously expensive, listed at number seven on Mercer's 2017 list of top ten costliest cities for expats.  New York City is number nine by way of reference. 

Going to the grocery store was something I enjoyed when I lived in the U.S. and South Africa but in Geneva I find it unpleasant as everything is ridiculously pricey. Often, I stop myself from purchasing certain things based on principal. For example how can it be that a tiny package of chicken costs 6 Swiss Francs (CHF) which is about $6/ZAR81? Upon seeing the price I am no longer in the mood for chicken. The outrageous prices are not limited to meat and chicken. Everything, every item in the grocery store, costs much more than it should. Yes, I am coming from South Africa where prices are cheap for expats being paid in foreign currency but prior to that I was happily shopping at Whole Foods in New York and those prices never shocked me as much as the ones I find here. 

In my local grocery store in Geneva less than half a kg of chicken costs 6CHF which equals $6.00. I was reminded of the fact that in Diepsloot one can buy a whole chicken for just ZAR50 ($3.87)

Thursday, my friend (no need to specify which one as I only have one friend in Geneva) asked me if I'd like to go with her to France and go grocery shopping as the prices are much lower there. She has a car and offered to drive. 

You might think of grocery shopping in France as a delightful excursion. You may imagine an overload of fancy sights and smells as happy voices speaking French language drift through the air. You might imagine lovely items for sale such as bundles of lavender from Provence, the finest mustard from Dijon, crunchy perfect baguettes just waiting to be put in a bike basket and driven home to a chateau as well as cheese to die for and of course endless wine. These things may be true in some cases but the store we visited was no fancy market. Instead I would compare it to a Makro for the South African readers and to a Target Superstore for the the American readers. It seems that even France is full of regular people who like a good deal on pork chops and want to buy their toilet paper in bulk.

The grocery store we visited in France, just outside of Geneva.

The trip to the store was a quick 20 minutes from home. I brought my passport knowing we'd have to cross the border but there was no need as there was no one at the border crossing and we didn't even stop. There was nothing more than an unmanned booth there. I find it funny that it's easier to get into France from Switzerland than it was to go and visit a friend in Joburg. In Joburg a visit to a friend almost always involved a guard, a gate, a checking of the boot (trunk), a call to said friend to confirm entry, and a showing of ID. But we just glided into France without any problem. 

Thursday was a holiday in Geneva and I think all of Geneva had the idea to head to France and pick up some less expensive goods. The place was mobbed with shoppers. 

Have you seen this? The trolley carts are all locked together and to release you must insert a coin. Then, when you return the cart and re-lock it the coin is returned to you. So basically, you can steal a grocery cart for the cost of a coin if you are so inclined.

I ended up spending 113 Euro for three large reusable size bags of groceries and a 12 pack of beer. As France uses Euros and Switzerland CHF, and as my mathematical skills are underwhelming at best, there was no way that I could convert on the spot the cost of each item to ensure I was getting a good deal. I could have used my phone and currency converter but as I was in France I would have had to turn on my data roaming so instead I hoped for the best. I think in Geneva the same groceries would have been three times the amount I spent in France but that is just an estimate. For those of you counting at home 113 Euro equals $136, ZAR1758 and 128CHF. 

For anyone who has wondered what a rabbit without its fur and skin looks like here you go. 

Cheese

This was in the section featuring American products. No, I didn't buy any.

My haul

The Execution

On Sunday I saw a woman kill a chicken. She cut its head off. Depending on how you look at it I was either in the right place at the right time or the wrong place at the wrong time. Regardless, it all started with Mr. T. Yes, the guy with the mohawk. 

Last week I found out that our friend Gift is a huge fan of Mr. T.  Gift was born in 1980 in Zimbabwe. He grew up in a poor family and he and his siblings did not have a TV in their home. According to Gift, there were only two homes in the neighborhood that had televisions and those were small black and white sets, not the huge furniture-like TVs that many of us remember from the 80's in America. Somehow, Gift, his siblings and the other kids in the neighborhood became fans of the show the A-Team starring Mr. T. In Zimbabwe, the show aired on Saturday and Gift and the other kids would show up at the home of a TV-owning neighbor in hopes of being allowed to watch the program. The TV-owning neighbor, as you might imagine, was less than thrilled to have tons of kids appearing at his house every week. The neighbor would yell at the kids for tracking dirt into the house but would sometimes relent and let the kids crowd into the doorway of the house and watch the television from there. 

Deny a kid anything and it only becomes more magical and so to this day Gift thinks Mr. T. is "a cool American Black actor." Because Gift hasn't seen many movies and he doesn't own a computer, he was not familiar with Mr. T's full body of dramatic work. He had never seen or heard of Rocky III. I felt that he should see Rocky III, Mr. T's breakout performance, even though Mr. Deep pointed out Mr. T's loses the fight with Rocky at the end which could be a major disappointment. Regardless, Mr. Deep and I invited Gift over for dinner and to watch Rocky III with us. 

Unfortunately, we were not able to successfully download or stream Rocky III (thanks a lot Netflix.) Mr. Deep suggested another movie, DC Cab, but we had the same problem so instead we watched the A-Team movie, which starts Quinton Jackson as B.A., the role made famous by Mr. T. Not a bad substitute. 

But back to the chicken. 

I went to Gift's house at 5:00 to pick him up to bring him to our house for the movie viewing and dinner. When I got there, Isaac, Gift's brother-in-law, had just returned home with a chicken. A live chicken. This situation was like hundreds of others that I've faced since coming to live in South Africa. It is a situation where something is entirely foreign yet entirely relatable all at the same time. 

It is foreign, at least for me, to bring home or have someone bring into my home a live chicken with the intention that we will kill it, prep it, cook it and eat it. What was relatable was that neither Isaac, Gift or Beatrice wanted any part in killing the chicken. I am assuming that each of them have probably killed a chicken at one time or another, but all of them said they were now too scared to do it. They asked me if I wanted to kill the chicken but I declined. Gift's youngest sister, Loice, did not have a problem with it. It seems as though Loice is the designated chicken killer of the family.  As the chicken sat quietly in the doorway of their home, Loice sharpened her knife and created a little hole in the dirt out back so that she could position the chicken properly when she cut it's head off. 

Meanwhile, I knew Mr. Deep was waiting for Gift and me to arrive back at home. He was preparing the mashed potatoes and gearing up for a fun night of A-Team watching. But, for a reason that I can't describe I wanted to watch Loice kill the chicken and so we stayed a bit longer and I watched her do it and I video'd it. I knew Mr. Deep would understand the reason for my delay.

I'm not going to post the video because I know there are a large percentage of you who would freak out. There might even be a few people who have already stopped reading because they can't bear to read about the demise of the chicken. But for those of you who are still with me, let me tell you what it was like. 

First, though the chicken sat relaxed in the doorway for a while, as soon as Loice picked it up, the chicken knew what was up and did not go quietly or without a fight. Second, it did not die right away. There is a reason for the phrase "chicken with it's head cut off." Third, Loice is a total badass. As she killed it, some blood dripped on her feet but she didn't let it bother her. She is a pro.

It's now been over 24 hours since I witnessed the killing. I have not become a vegetarian and I have not stopped eating chicken. In fact, I went to Nando's on Monday and ate some chicken without pause. But watching the chicken get killed did impact me.

First, some might chalk this experience up to hanging around with people who might be characterized as backward or third world. But I would disagree with that. I would argue that killing a chicken you are going to eat is actually more natural then going to the store to buy one. Just because most of us no longer have to kill our own chickens doesn't make it wrong if someone else finds it cheaper, fresher or tastier to do so. Just as we wouldn't think having a garden or going to a farmer's market to get the best and freshest produce is strange we should not be offended by or concerned with a person who chooses to kill his/her own chicken. I calculate that over the course of my life I've eaten chicken a minimum of 5,000 times and the number could be as high as 10,000. So how is it possible given my tremendous amount of chicken consumption that I've never seen a chicken die before? Isn't that a major disconnect? Obviously, I know that chickens and other animals are killed for food and if I see chicken on my plate I know intellectually that it was once alive, but now I really know. 

I have been trying for a while to be more conscious of not letting food go to waste. It seems like it should be easy...just don't buy it or don't order it if you are not going to eat it. However, most of us know it's not easy for those of us who have plenty of food not to waste it on occasion. Now, I really want to re-double my efforts on this and try to consume the food that I purchase so as to not let it go to waste. And if I can't use it, I will give it away. There is no shortage of people here to give it to. Don't worry, I am not going to start making chicken stock from all of my chicken bones or constructing pillows out of chicken feathers. I have not lost my mind.  But if an animal gives its life for us, we, at a minimum, should try not to waste it. And Netflix should do something about their severe lack of Mr. T movie streaming options.

The chicken after the fact.