Job interview - Mianshi

Tomorrow will be a big day. I am invited to a job interview in Zürich.
Yes, I figured out a little income on the side wouldn't be bad, either. Dandy times aren't the same now they used to be before.
Jokes aside: I am really excited about my assessment at Swiss International Air Lines. I applied for a job as a Cabin Crew Member in August and tomorrow, they will be picking their attendees for the training. I offered them to bring in my knowledge of a few languages I learnt throughout the times I went to school or travelled countries. So they kindly invited me to tomorrow's check-up-day.

As for the wardrobe: "Correct clothing and a well-groomed appearance are welcome" is what they write in the invitation.
So I decided I'd go for a dark blue suit underlined by a checked, clear-blue shirt with single cuffs and a two-tone red striped tie. To set an accent, I chose an off-pattern, slightly lighter red handkerchief for my breast pocket.

Let's keep fingers crossed everything goes well tomorrow and they find whom they are looking for as Cabin Crew Members. It would be very pleasant if I was included in their final choice.

The character suiting is "Mianshi" for "interview, audition".
"Mian" on the left is the common term for a human's face, also included in "lose face", "diulian" (god beware that happening tomorrow). "Shi" is generally used for "test" "try" as in "kaoshi" for exam.
That means they will be examine my face tomorrow. That makes it sound like back in the days at Swiss Armed Forces where the corporal used to stand two inches away from me and searched for remaining facial hair on my cheek. I'll make sure I will be well shaved and my hair nicely combed tomorrow.

And for those missing today's cigar: I'll enjoy it after the interview. I promise.

Update Friday, Oct. 23:

As promised, I got my cigar later that day. The interview went well and I met some very friendly co-workers-to-be (hopefully). We were six invited, of which I was the only gentleman.
The whole interview and test-process was more demanding than I had imagined, which explains that the after-work-cigar had to be a little bigger than usual.
I was suggested a "Ramon Allones Gigantes" by Maggy, the best-looking representative of La Corona's Staff.
"Gigantes" is "Double Corona"-sized. That means you get a 49-diameter (19mm) smoke with a length of 194 mm, or two hours, or: quite a few puffs.
Beautiful and impressing cigar with lots of taste right from the beginning. The dark-brown, oily wrapper was a pleasure to hold and its rich aromatics came in just right for unwinding.
The cigar was accompanied by a scottish single-malt whisky also chosen for me by Maggy.
Oh, and: I'll get the interview's result by wednesday next week. I'll let you know.

Yusan - The umbrella

Today's saturday. After finishing some work I was lucky enough to have a free afternoon. That means I was off to my second "Living room", the "La Corona" Cigar store and lounge in the ancient town of Rapperswil City. Fortunately, friends of the cultivated smoke are still welcome for a good cigar in this location. It was definitely not outdoor-smoking weather: I even thought I saw some first ice-rain dropping. Grabbed my umbrella and off I was.

No need to walk by sight: The pleasant tobacco flavours emerging from the "salon" already caught me when I was still three blocks away. Some familiar faces were puffing the rainy weather away. You have to love the guys. They're always in for either a nice chat or, if you prefer, no talking at all. But without anyone having that arkward "silent moment" feeling. People appreciating good cuisine, fine wines or premium smokes are masters of non-verbal communication. I claim that places designed for aficionados are the best spot to make some interesting encounters, as everybody feels like a part of a family of similar-minded individuals. There was an air of relaxation filling the room beside the obvious smoke of various cigars.

Following the weather, I decided I'd go for a tea bought five minutes earlier a few shops down the alley. As for the cigar, an aficionado friend suggested I'd try the "Partagas Salomones". It's a special edition reserved for sale by "Casas del Habano", the chain working closest with Cuba's distribution monopoly Habanos S.A.
As Andi Stachl is well connected in the world of cigars and especially those of cuban origin, he had a box to pick from nonetheless as he and his shop are officially marked "Habanos Specialist".

The brand "Partagas" always stands for great quality and a very distinctive taste that suits many "connaisseurs". This stick was no exception: It started smoothly and could be clearly divided into three  parts of flavour during the smoke. The second third was rich and aromatic, but without the usual "Partagas-kick". Co-smokers who were "working" on the same model found it to be better balanced than the standard cigars of this brand. I for my part really missed that oily sweetness you find in the "Lusitanias" for example. The last third came along with a dry harshness filling the whole palate. I was happy to have enough tea for breaks in between.

The cigar's format is indisputably great. "Salomones" sizes are always a pleasure to see and smoke with their ring gauge of 57 and this one also had a nice dark coloured wrapper and that additional "Casa del Habano"-anillo that tag it as a special edition.

After two very pleasant hours of smoking and discussions about wine and tobacco I was ready to go home for 5'o'clock tea. But Andi wouldn't let me go until he had showed me the latest arrival to his stock: The Cohiba Gran Reserva. This series is so special and rare (and thus expensive) that I'll give them an own post to duly present them.


With regards to the weather, today's item is definately the umbrella, "yusan" in chinese. "Yu" on the left side stands for rain. You can clearly see the "rain drops" embedded in something that could be an abstract cloud. Whereas the character on the right "san" doesn't need any explanation: If you drew an umbrella with a couple of lines, that's what it probably would look like. Notice the resemblance?

Fuzhuang - Dressing up

Today's weather can best be described as English autumn cliché. Not too cold, eight degrees, but heavily clouded and with occasional rainfall.
I was therefore very pleased when I discovered Charles Tyrwhitt's new catalogue in the mail.
Tyrwhitt is a London based clothing house with their style being rather conservative english gentleman's attire. And what's best: Their pricing is astonishingly reasonable.
After finishing working out around 4pm, I went home immediately and set up an "Afternoon Tea". Time to get cosy, light the candles and have a nice cup of tea and good lecture in the living room. 

As for a suiting cigar for that afternoon, I was thinking of a "Bolivar Belicosos Finos" in a special "Gérard Père et Fils" edition.
Gérard is a family business selling premium cigars from Cuba. It's also one of the most noble cigar houses in Switzerland with a very high reputation. Their "boutique" is situated in Geneva's famous Kempinsky Grand Hotel. When I visited the shop in summer last year I was received very friendly and shown around the big walk-in-humidor. They preferred no photos to being taken so instead I suggest you go and let yourself impress. It is indeed imposing to see that many boxes of different years stacked up. I could just sit there for half an hour and let the "great wall of cedar" impress me.
The friendliness of the staff, combined with the beautiful french language that is spoken on site gives the situation a good edge of "savoir-vivre". Make sure you are dressed appropriately when you appear there. That's where we close the circle to my today's afternoon lecture.

The suiting chinese character shall be "Fuzhuang" for "dress" or "clothing".
"fu" stands for "serve" and "obey", "submit oneself to...", "zhuang" means "dress" but also "pretend".
Thus, the word for "dressing up" also has a taste of "submitting" oneself to a dress code or "pretending" to be something or somebody by the choice of your clothes.
That means chinese defined the saying "clothes make the man" quite early.

Naive: Tianzhen

Do you remember the time when you just discovered the mystics of the brown gold for yourself?
The feeling, that there was something big kicked off but you still had no idea of where it would lead you? How you were amazed by the fact that there's so many variations dried tobacco can appear in? All these sizes and shapes of the cigar, the beauty and diversity of the brands and their "anillos"?

The beautiful thing about growing into a passion, is that at the beginning, we still have the time to just observe and be amazed. Because are still very naive, we're not thinking in schemes and dogmas yet.
If someone asked me now: "What does a "Punch"-Anillo looks like?", I'll answer something like "It's reddish/golden and has a crown somewhere and "PUNCH" written on it".
True. That's what it looks like from far away. If I had never seen one before, I'd have answered: "No idea. Gimme one, I'll take a closer look at it."

It was in the bunch of the first maybe 5-6 cigars I ever bought back in 2002 at the age of 18. I had heard that cubans were considered the best of cigars, but at that time still had no idea whether they would suit me. I was lying on my bed with a "Punch Punch" in my hands, thinking "And I just spent 12 Francs for that brown stick, right?".

Then I discovered a "monk" on one side of the cigar ring, embedded in a medal. And the other side showed something like two people working. I was enthralled. I had not just bought some dried leaves with a pleasant smell but also a mini-sized comic-history-book!

I wish I could re-find my foolish naivity from these times a little more often. I thought I had it replaced by knowledge from "Cigar Enthusiasts" and the kilos of Books I've been reading about my favourite subject. But now I know: I'll never learn more about something than by just taking my time to watch it closely and listen to what IT tells me about itself.

And I'm happy enjoying cigars goes far beyond just watching them.

So this post's character is "naive", "tianzhen". It consists of the characters "heaven" and "true, really, pure".

What does chinese culture want to tell us with that constellation? Is naivity the way to go if we want to see "heaven"? Or is the door to heaven human's ability to "naively"(=unbiased) use the senses nature gave us?

Lake of Zurich: Cool Water

Still in China – preparing for my final exams at the university, I enlisted for this year’s „Davidoff Schiff“-Tour. It’s quite an unusual concept: Cigar smokers are invited to a trip in a private boat on the Lake of Zürich on certain dates during summer.
I was just back in Switzerland when the day of the trip arrived. During the three-hour boat ride, passengers are served refreshments, a good dinner and – as it is organized by „Davidoff“ – a good smoke or two. I was accompanied by a friend of mine who also enjoys culinary pleasures and knows quite a bit about wine.

We were blessed with great weather and enjoyed a magnificent sundown on the Lake of Zürich, puffing away our first „Davidoff Robustos Millennium Blend“ while being refreshed by the cool breeze blowing on deck. During the following three-course-dinner, I was especially delighted by an avocado-shrimp salad spiced with vinegar and pepper. We concluded the night with two hours of a Zino Double Corona.

I’ll give this experience the characters „Bing Shui“: „Cool Water“, with regards to Mr. Fröhlich, owner of „Premium Cigars“. He came up with this suiting name for the picture when I first sent it to him. If you take a close look on the background, you can find Rapperswil Castle throning in the middle of the city’s ancient town. Which is also a beautiful place to go for a stroll.