Newsworthy...

I had heard from family and friends that there have been heavy rains in Southern California this week, but I didn’t expect it to make news in Switzerland. However, when I opened the local paper this morning there was a brief related article with a picture of travelers at LAX getting towed through a parking lot on luggage carts in order to avoid the three-inch deep standing water. The city of Long Beach was also referenced in the article, as well as the fact that 800 homes “near Los Angeles” had been evacuated due to the rain.

I find it kind of funny that whenever California is referenced in the local newspaper, it is always referred to as the state governed by Arnold Schwarzeneggar (“L’Etat gouverné par Schwarzie”). I guess when a former world bodybuilding champion and movie star from neighboring Austria becomes the most powerful state government official of the most populous U.S. state, it’s hard for the Swiss to associate the state with anything else.

I also find it funny that celebrities from the U.S. always seem to be given a nickname by the local newspapers (e.g., “Schwarzie”, noted above). The other nickname that comes to mind due to all his recent press involves Michael Jackson. For whatever reason, he is referred to as “Bambi” in the local papers.