We have a flat!!

Last night we signed the contract and paid the deposit for the flat. Our move in date is 1st May but we already have a key and the owners said we can even move in now already if we want.(They are super nice and so helpful.) We'd love to but we don't want to sleep on the hard, cold floor so we'll wait until we (hopefully soon) have a bed.

Today I'm going to Ikea to find out how soon they can deliver. I can get 50% discount on the delivery fee if I travel there with public transport, which I will and I want to get all the details about that too. Don't want to get anything wrong and lose out on that discount! I need to start making a list of all the essentials we need, e.g. toilet paper and dishwashing liquid! And of course bed, cupboard and couch. 

Today I'm also going to de-register us here in Baden so that we can register in Dietikon. 

So that's my plan for today.

Yesterday I went for a second interview at TAZ-Horgen school. It went well and I had a good morning there. I spent the morning in the pre-kindergarten class and then a bit in the kindergarten class. Both were great but I'm thinking I'd enjoy the kindergarten kids more. So everyone please hope and pray for me that I will get the job there. I will hear from them by end of next week...

Ok, here's some more pictures from the apartment last night. I still want to put up pics Andre took of our forest walk last Sunday but he hasn't downloaded them yet..

This is the view down the street, taken from our Wintergarten.

Another view from the Wintergarten.

André checking out the fire place. Wonder where one buys wood here...

We were impressed with the cupboards!

View from the kitchen windows.

Money in the bank!

Yay! I have money in the bank! This weekend Andre said I should try registering my cards online. I got THREE! No credit cards, just bank cards. I didn't know I was getting so many! For at least a week I was receiving packages and letters and all my top secret numbers and this weekend I thought maybe it's the end now so I tried logging in to see if I have everything I need. It's quite a process to log in to check your accounts. Andre says it's good cos it's for security. Then was our online banking in South Africa not that secure?? 

Here I put my card in a little yellow card reader machine thingy (see picture on facebook). Then it tries to challenge me! I have to be on the website where I get a challenge code to punch in, then I have to put two codes in the pc, then another lot of codes into the card reader and then, I think that was about all, I am logged in!

So after registering my cards online over the weekend I went in to the bank today and handed them over some Euros to put into my account. Again I had to put my card into another card reader there, punch in codes and ok buttons and the money is in! I checked in now, after again entering all those codes and it's there. I haven't tried using the card yet. I'm to scared they tell me in German that it doesn't work... 

Now André is still waiting very impatiently for the rest of his secret letters and numbers and things to arrive. We think his salary has been paid in there already but he can't get to it yet!!

Oh I just remembered I was busy tidying up here before André gets home from work when I spotted my wallet. Let me continue that task now. 

The washing powder challenge

Yesterday we had our biggest grocery shopping day yet. That was because André was with me and could help me carry. We didn't have a SFr 2 coin for a trolley so André had to carry the basket. After the basket had been full for a while already, and André said we have to go pay now, he can't carry anymore, I remembered we need washing powder! Remember I said before I didn't know which one to buy so just didn't get any? Well, we couldn't put it off any longer. The clothes needed washing. 

Obviously the tub I used to buy back in SA would not be here so we squat down to try and figure out which brand to get. My mom recommended Ariel. I excitedly found the Little Mermaid brand, but it was a liquid something in a plastic bag. Not practical for us as we'll have to pack and move in 2 weeks. (Yay!) So we continue our search. André spots 3 boxes with OMO on them. Ahh that's a name we know. But no it won't work. They are only for whites or sensitives. Not sure what will happen if I wash my non-sensitive clothes with sensitive washing powder. We are in search of one for colours as most of our clothes have that: colour. And anyway, we were told by a Swiss that that's what we need. On the bottom shelf in the corner I see one lonely box of Surf. That is also something we know, I think? Yes I'm sure I remember seeing Surf ads on TV. And can you believe it, it's for colours! 

I tested it this morning. Did two loads and it worked! Clean clothes! And even my light pink t-shirt is looking better now after it's previous wash with new black socks... Hope washing on a Sunday was allowed?

Here's the video to go with the previous post

Our first apartment viewing in Switzerland. from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.

Apartment viewing here in Switzerland

Yesterday afternoon I took the train and met Andre in the town where we've made an appointment to see a flat. It was for quite a large flat at a very good price and I guess that should have made us a bit suspicious already.

So we meet on the train station and walk the short distance to the address we've got. We immediately notice some differences to this place compared to other areas we've seen... It's really busy and the area is just not looking that great. But anyway, we continue. We arrive on the opposite side of the street to the apartment building. It's right on this main road that's so busy. And there's a line of people outside already. Viewing was from 6-8pm and I thought being there at 6 would be good. Well many others were there already, obviously long before 6! Very "international" crowd (not many swiss people, I mean).

We've already decided this won't work for us but were curious to see the flat since we made it there and also to see how this thing is done here. I'm not sure how long we stood in the line but to give you an idea, the apartment was on the 4th floor and the people stood all the way down the stairs out the front door. We also started waiting out the door and when we left after seeing the flat there were still people all the way down and out the door!! 

The apartment inside is actually really nice. Very spacious and light. But it's just the area there that's too busy. And we've gotten used to our nice green view here at the B&B and there was maybe one tree visible from a window...

I'll post the video a bit later or tomorrow. It's still downloading and then I still have to edit it.

Do the Swiss really want to rent out their apartments or do they just enjoy posting ads?

Yesterday I encountered the first person here who was not prepared to speak English to me. Up to now I've been really surprised at how well everybody can speak English, even older people, which is not usually the case in Germany. And they are actually really eager to speak English when they hear your German is 'nicht so gut'. We would still try a German word here and there and say "Auf Wiedersehen" when we leave a shop, but no they are going to use this chance to practise their English all the way till we're out the door! Really really nice of them. Makes us feel more welcome here.

But over the telephone it seems to be a different story. I can understand that. It's more difficult understanding someone in a foreign language when you're not face to face. You can't use body language to help you make sense of what's being said. 

So yesterday I called to set up an appointment to go see a flat in Schlieren. I'm already going to see one at 16:30 so I want to try set up a few more appointments while I'm going to be there. I phone Herr E. since he doesn't seem to have email like the rest of us. I've looked up and translated my first few sentences so I start off well in German. Then ask if I may speak English. He says "nein, Düütsh". Which is Swiss German for Deutsch. Not sure if he wanted me to speak Swiss german or German, but there's no way I know anything in Swiss German except for Grüezi (Hello). So off I go in my best German. Ask if we could come on Saturday, he says "schlect" (bad). Thursday afternoon then? "Schlecht." Oh well, then I've got plenty others to see in that town. And anyway, the bathroom tiles were an awful shade of brown, floor and walls, all of it. Some of these places are just very different to what we're used to! Different culture, different taste I guess.

I've been hoping to get email replies to the messages I sent on the website, but nope. Nothing. So number two on my list is Frau S. Also doesn't want to speak English. Instead, after I tell her ok but my german is not very good but I'll try, she goes babbling on at top speed in what I assumed was German. I got a word here and there. Waited patiently for her to finish. Then asked again, so can we come see the apartment? Uh no, she doesn't have her diary with her. She'll call me back.

Now I can't yet call number three because I have to see if number two will be able to see us after we see number one. If I had a car and knew where I was going it might be easier. I have very carefully planned my route with the help of google maps and worked out the times it will take to get from one to the next.

Oh I just want to get this part over. I really hope we'll have a place by the end of this week.

Last thing, about them not being all that keen on showing their apartments they advertise to rent, number one also didn't give any options of when we can come and view. It's Thursday at 16:30 and that's it. That's when everybody who's interested must come. 

It will feel so good to finally have our own place... Better keep on looking then!

                                     

                                

Tuesday in Baden

This morning I walked in to Baden. I've been wondering how long it takes into town. Well it took exactly 30 minutes one way. Some good daily exercise!

First I went to complete our registration. I had to hand in another form and some more documents. Then walked down the 'shopping street' and they were having a farmers market there, selling fruit and vegetables and flowers.

Yesterday I did quite a bit of grocery shopping thinking that today I could have a shop free day. But we needed milk! I also need to get washing powder... I went to a small grocery store close by but I couldn't figure out which one to buy so didn't get any. I'll have to try again some other time! I'll try a bigger shop next time with more choice.

That's it for today. Nothing much happening. Will find something on the internet to keep me busy now..

Interview in Oberrieden

This morning (Monday) I went for an interview at another bilingual school, close to the other I went to. Also a nice school. Very small still, only one group which they divide into two classes it sounds like. Really young kids, some are not even quite two years old yet, up to I think about 4. Max 12 kids in the group which is nice and often they don't even have that many since some don't come every day or only come for the morning.

Oh I forgot to mention... they are open from 7:30 - 18:30! They're offering a 50% post and are very flexible. It might be 3 full days per week or everyday for half the day. Don't know how anyone can work such long hours with kids FULL time!! No school holidays... they're open right through the year so you get 20 days leave per year. They also offer language

classes and asked if I might be interested in teaching English as a second or foreign language. I said I would like that a lot.

The school has another branch, the original one in the next door town called Thalwil, where they have kindergarten, so the kids are a bit older.

Now I have to wait and see...

The pictures I took while waiting for the train in Oberrieden after the interview. Stunning view of the Zurich See...

This afternoon I prepared my lesson for next week which I'll be teaching at the school in Horgen with the pre-K class. I've also been hunting for more apartments today. I tried calling a some and after a few unsuccessful calls remembered it's a holiday in Zurich. Only in Zurich city though. I must go find out why it's a holiday today... Ok I found it: Here's the info from a website:

Sechseläuten:

20 April 2009, Half-day holiday in Zürich City. (they now take a full day holiday) Celebrated to mark the end of winter, this is one of Zürich's most colourful festivals. The name signifies the six o'clock bell which called the workers home. A costume parade of the 26 guilds leads from the Hauptbahnhof down the Bahnhofstrasse to Sechseläutenplatz at Bellevue. Around 3000 guild members, riders and horse-drawn vehicles take part. The climax is the burning of the Böögg, a figure of a snowman, on a bonfire at 18:00; the quicker it burns, the better the summer will be.

Good excuse not to go to work!

Unfortunately Andre's company chose today to welcome him at their head office which is NOT in Zurich. So he didn't get the day off. Instead he had to get up at 4:45 this morning and travel 3 hours in four different trains and one bus to get there! I'm still waiting for him to get home (19:24).

Here's a short video clip I took on my walk before the interview.

Oberrieden, Switzerland from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.

First interview

Yesterday I went for my first interview. It's a private Swiss school and is bilingual so children are taught in English and German. Both mixed, they don't choose the language they want. In kindergarten and pre-kindergarten, which I applied for they get both language all day everyday mixed. From grade one they are taught half the week in English and then the other half of the week in German. It looks like a really nice school, meaning they have GREAT resources! But then that's expected if the parents are paying huge amounts of money... In the pre-K class's art room one whole wall is filled with shelves of art supplies. Lots and lots of it!

Pay is good for a teacher salary, but then you work normal office hours. No going home at 14:15 like I got to do last year... Teachers must be at school at 8:15 and school starts at 8:45. There are very long lunch breaks and play time and lots of free play of course for the littlies. But all kids then only go home at 15:45. That includes the 3 year olds in pre-K. Shame what a long day for them (and for the teachers!) So I guess that's why the pay is better than in SA... You WORK for it! Oh and you also only get about half the holiday time to actually be on holiday, which ends up to about the same as any other working person in Switzerland. The rest of the holiday time is spent on courses and some of it at school, planning etc.

Yesterday's interview was for a 100% post, i.e. full time. They work with percentages you can e.g. have a 40% or 60% or whatever job. Monday's interview is for a 50% post so only part time. Will be interesting to compare the hours and salary.

mmm... What else happened yesterday... Oh yes I managed to also travel on the bus and two trains to the interview all by myself! I was more nervous about the traveling than the interview. All went very well though. I went in the right direction on all the right trains and got there exactly on the minute as the schedule said I would. If you're on the train wondering how far it still is to your stop, you can just check your watch and know exactly how long it will still take. I was so focused on getting there, had my directions all written down which I checked every two minutes. But I never gave one thought to how I would get back! Was very easy though. So that's another accomplishment. I should make a list of accomplishments, will be quite a few all in one week!

Yesterday I also went to open a joint account for me and Andre. So I will now have my money in my account and his money in our joint account. Clever don't you think!

Oh and I also accidently found the shopping area of Baden. I think it's what they call downtown Baden. It's a long street with shops on both sides. No cars, only for walking in this street. And it's by the river. Really nice. Everyone was outside having their lunch.

Ok, let's see what else I can find to do today... Andre's working from home today. Yay! So nice to have company here all day.

Enjoy your Friday!

How to weigh your fruit in Switzerland:

Last night I got directions to another grocery store here called Migros. The one I shopped at yesterday, Denner, is quite small but closer to where we're staying. So off I go to explore the other side of the river. The pictures are taken from the bridge on my way to the other side.

It's quite a bit of a walk to get to the bridge, I

must find out if there isn't a bridge closer. Anyway it's a really nice walk, fine weather (I wore 3/4 pants today, t-shirt and sandals!) and I can do with

the exercise.

So my directions takes me quite a distance through the residential area. I'm thinking it doesn't look like

there could be any shops in this area but anyway, I admire the houses, tulips and pretty trees.

But then after a while my shoes start hurting me and I've had quite enough of the houses, flowers and trees. I decide to give up, try a

different route back as I thought I could see the main road lower down

closer to the river, and decide to again shop at

Denner. (I only had a choice of about 3 brands of shampoo there yesterday... but that's ok, it turned out to be a good shampoo & cond. My hair is smelling nice!)

Anyway, I've hardly turned off the road I was on to go back home when I saw this sign!

This is another grocery store and with it was a whole little shopping centre. Don't expect much, I'm serious when I say little. So I shopped here at Coop. (Pronounced co-op, not the coop you keep chickens in.)

Ok now about the fruit and veggies. First there are 2 types of bags so I'm not sure which to use. I walk around and around the fruit area with an empty basket, pretending to look at the fruit but actually spying on the other shoppers to learn how

to do this. I get the correct packet. Now I have to weigh my bananas. I see another lady on her way to weigh her kiwi fruit so I stand sort of behind her trying to see what she's doing. The weighing computer thing is quite similar to ours in SA, but it only has buttons with numbers on. Nowhere does it say bananas. Ok so somewhere there must be a number for the bananas. I see a red number one above the bananas, stroll around again to check this number thing out on the other fruit. They're all numbered. Back to the scale, I press 1 and it says bananas! Ta-ra! And gives me a sticker too. Yay I weighed my bananas successfully!

I bought some yoghurt, ready made dinners for the microwave and also these eggs:

They are for Easter time. Boiled chicken eggs. Normal chicken egg inside.

Some of the chicken eggs are white, that's why the colour comes out so nice on them. Apparently it's a different kind of chicken to the one's laying the beige eggs.

Oh and last thing! Look what else I found! It wasn't easy.

Haha! This makes me happy :-) Plain rooibos tea, even a Cape Town mix whatever that may mean. Haven't actually tasted it yet but I'm hoping it will be close to the Rooibos from home. Even the same price as all the many other teas. I thought it might be more expensive coming from Cape Town. They have sooo many flavoured teas/ herbal teas. All I wanted was plain rooibos. I'm going to make a cup now and test it.

xx

Arriving in Switerland!

We're here!! Our flights went smoothly, but with little sleep as usual. We had one stop in Dubai for three hours. Arriving on Zurich airport we had to wait a while for our luggage and then made our way to the train station. It took a while to figure out which tickets to buy and we missed our train with a few seconds! We had to wait for the next train which arrived an hour later. In the meantime Andre went in search of a sim card for his phone which he found at Swisscom. We later found out that this is one of the more expensive places to get a sim. The first of many expensive lessons we are learning! Anyway we had communication and internet :-)

We arrived at B & B Villa Felice, our home for the next month. It's very nice. We have a good room a lovely view of the forest. The house is up on a hill a bit out of town. Oh yes we had to take a bus from the train station here in Baden and then pull our heavy luggage up the hill! We'll have to make a different plan when the time comes to move out here... We also have our own bathroom (some B&B's you have to share) and the use of the balcony outside our room and the kitchen, a shelf in the fridge and the laundry room. So we're quite comfortable here for now!

Yesterday (Monday and public holiday) we walked into Baden to the train station instead of taking the bus. A nice walk, I think it took us about 25 min or so. When we got there I remembered that I wanted to bring along ID photo's which I had in the room so Andre could get his monthly train ticket and a discount year ticket for me (I can get 50% discount when I buy any public transport tickets). Anyway I forgot the photo's so I convinced Andre that we had to take the bus back to the B&B after we just walked all the way into town!

Took the train in to Zurich and walked south along the west side of Zurich See (a huge lake). It is absolutely beautiful!! There are beautiful parks, green with big trees, where people have picnics, braai, play badminton, frisbee or tan in the spring sun which was surprisingly hot. There are also little beaches (with sand!) where kids build sandcastles.

For lunch we each had Bratwürst in a baguette on the grass by the water. We carried on walking in the direction of Horgen where I have an interview at a school on Thursday. When our feet got too tired we sat by the water and watched some people and a labrador swimming in what must have been very cold water! At Kilchberg we got onto the train and rode the rest of the way to Horgen. Found the school, then went to buy tickets to go back to Zurich by boat.

The boat to Zurich was scheduled to arrive at 15:15. At 15:11 a boat arrives and we decide it must be a little early and will probably wait a few minutes and then leave at 15:15. So we get on and the boat doesn't waste any time departing again. In the wrong direction! The 'conductor' (what do you call the person who checks tickets on a boat?) checks our tickets and tells us we are on the wrong boat! Argh! We got off at the next stop, had to climb a hill and then down the steps on the other side to the train station to get a supplement ticket since we now traveled to another zone. Then back up what felt like a hundred steps (see photo's on facebook) and back down the hill on the other side to wait for the next boat. It actually said Zurich on the boat. Now we know! 

We sat outside on the boat and the guy next to Andre started talking to us in very broken English. He had already had a couple of beers and was very funny! He kindly told Andre that he paid WAY too much for our drinks on the boat. You would expect it to be more but I'm not even going to tell how much more it was! Well we didn't know. He showed us his packet with beers bought at the supermarket... One of Andre's favourite German sentences are "Das ist güt!" This guy's favourite sentence was also (in English) "That is good!" He said it all the time and we had a good laugh at him. He told us that he was in trouble with his wife because he has to go barbeque and is late!

So that was our day yesterday. It really felt like holiday; a warm evening when we got off the boat in Zurich with people out everywhere along the water.

Today I walked into Baden again and managed to open a bank account. It was surprisingly quick and easy. A young guy who looked a bit like Owen Wilson patiently helped me in his best English. In a couple of days I will get my card and account details in the post.

Ok, that's more than enough blogging for one day! I'm going to put pictures on facebook now so go have a look there if you haven't yet.

xx 

Earth Hour Braai

On the 28th of March it was Earth Hour. I hope you switched your lights off during that time! We did and here's what happened!

Earth Hour Braai from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.

Biddulphs comes to pick up our boxes

I roughly estimated that we might have 10 boxes to ship over to Switzerland and got a quote for the 10 boxes from a couple of different companies. Biddulphs turned out to offer the best price.

After finishing the packing on Thursday we had 8 full boxes and the 9th one with only the two motorbike helmets in. I was impressed that we managed to stay under the estimated 10. At times I thought we were going to have more like 15 boxes. So Sunday evening I filled the 9th box with some more odds and ends. 

They would be collecting on Monday. Oh by the way- note that they said they'd come Monday late afternoon and would phone before arriving.

So Monday morning after going to the consulate to hand in Andre's passport for his visa and sorting out bank stuff we're just sitting around at his house when he decides maybe we should pack another box... So we're sitting thinking what could we put into this 10th box and actually coming up with a couple of stuff when the doorbell rings. Andre says it's Biddulphs and I say don't talk nonsense they're only coming later and anyway they haven't phoned yet.

But yes, it was Biddulphs arriving unannounced at 12:55.

Now we had some stuff in mind that we actually decided would be a good idea to also take with in this not yet existing 10th box. So off I rush to my house to fetch the things we decided to pack as well as a few other souvenirs along the way. Throw it into the car and rush back to pack this 10th box. Biddulphs was patiently waiting for us to finish this rush. Well they better had been waiting because I made them understand that they were way early. They did appologise and were actually very good about everything. 

The 10th box got taped up and off goes all our things. They said it would be in Zurich in about a month which is great. I expected it to take longer.

Now all we have to do is pack our bags. Hope it all fits!