Finally!

Our boxes which we packed two months ago in Cape Town finally arrived yesterday. It was a very long wait for me and I bugged the poor lady in charge of the imports so much. It actually arrived in the UK on May 11th, then in Switzerland on June 4th. Took them a while to get it to us...

The delivery guy phoned me an hour before the time to let me know he's on his way. I was going to ask him on the phone if he'll be able to carry it up to our flat on the second floor, but he couldn't speak any English and only spoke which must have been Swiss German because all I understood was "about one hour". And it was only because I was expecting his call that I knew what it was about! (An English speaking person called Andre the day before to say they'll be delivering in the morning.)

Anyway, so I thought I'll manage with high German and gestures when he gets here to get him to help me. He phoned to say he's outside. I go downstairs but he's not there. So I call him and give him my address and ask if he's at the wrong address. He talks and talks. I keep quiet since I don't understand anything. Then he repeats my address so I say "Ok bye". But he keeps talking and talking. I didn't have a clue what he was saying so again I kept quiet until he says "hello? hello?" - a sign that he must have asked me something.

Eventually he finds the flat. Note that it is only him. I would have thought there would be two delivery guys when heavy boxes would be involved. In Cape Town THREE guys showed up to load our boxes into the van.

Ok, so he asks me where should he leave it and I ask in my best German with my best smile if he would help me carry it upstairs to the flat. "Kein Zeit, kein Zeit", he says. (No time.) So I look around outside indicating that he can't exactly leave me with 12 heavy boxes on the sidewalk. So in the end he carried the boxes (I helped too) up to the first floor.

Then I managed to get three boxes up to the flat after I realised I'm not going to survive this. So I started unpacking the boxes downstairs and carrying bits and pieces upstairs until I had everything in the flat.

I worked hard all day yesterday and by lunch time today I got everything packed away. I'm loving my full kitchen cupboards. Finally I get to enjoy all the lovely wedding gifts we received! Thank you thank you everyone!! :-)

I've realised now over and over again that we, or actually I, have way too much STUFF. It made me feel quite guilty. I have not done ANY clothes shopping in the two months we've been here and I won't, I'll try my best not to do any for a long time. Ok, except I'm going to need a rain jacket for cycling. That's all I'll have to buy, otherwise I can't go out cycling in the rain.. But NOTHING else. (It helps that I'm not earning any money at the moment to spend!)

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!

Packing continued...

I've been sooo nervous about not getting this visa in time. We just got an email saying that it was all a mistake, I never needed to get this visa! What a relief! So  will be traveling with Andre next Saturday! Now we're busy booking accommodation. We found a B&B in what sounds to be a nice town. A bit out of Zurich but it sounds good. Just hope they still have the room available after all the uncertainty with the visa... We didn't have much choice of accommodation. Close to Zurich gets really expensive, close to the office was all full and it seemed that a furnished apartment for only a month or two would also be more expensive and not that many available.

So anyway, Andre sorted out his cupboards last weekend. He's got loads of cupboard space so had loads to sort out. I lied on the bed saying "out" for just about everything coming out of his cupboard. He ended up having a 'recycling' box and a 'For Sale' box. He's opened his own Sport Shop in the lounge selling something for any sport you can think of. We took pictures of everything and 

emailed a list and also put it on gumtree. 

On Monday our boxes for shipping will be collected. One day earlier than planned. I keep on finding MORE stuff that needs to go with... I packed my duvet this afternoon. Wanted to see if it will fit in a suitcase. Juergen is coming to visit over Easter and is bringing an extra suitcase so I'm thinking of sending my duvet with him. 

Ergh I just remembered I still have to phone Discovery health. I've been struggling to get my claims through to them for so long. Have to check that they got it this time. 

One more stumbling block

I just realized I never let you know here when we're leaving.. We booked tickets to Zurich leaving here the 11 April. Today Andre phoned the embassy to see how my long stay visa is coming along and we got another little surprise: It could take 8-12 weeks :-( And it's only been 2 weeks now. We're going to see what we can do. The very nice embassy lady said my visa shouldn't be a problem, it was Andre's permit that was the difficult one. So maybe we will be lucky and still get it in time. Otherwise we will try and find a way around it. I really don't want to only fly out later. Then I will have to change my interview too and I don't want to do that...

Packing

I started packing today!

We're using Biddulphs to ship some boxes over to Zurich so I went to pick up empty boxes, bubble wrap and tissue paper from them. Today I started unpacking my classroom boxes which I packed when moving out of my classroom end of last year. I need to minimize those boxes quite a bit... I changed Andre's lounge into a colourful classroom! 

After unpacking just about everything I decided I first need to sort out my files. No space to do that in the lounge with half a classroom all over the floor, so I moved all my files to Andre's room. It took me just about all day but now I have super organised files!

(Andre's lounge is still looking exactly as it is on the picture above.) Packing to be continued tomorrow...

Finally off to Switzerland soon!

On Wednesday we decided we're now giving up on the Swiss permit. We had all the documents ready to apply for the EEA Family permit to go to the UK. I even had an hour long telephone interview with a teaching agency to be able to teach there. We had all our supporting letters etc. and was just about to pay the deposit when we got an email from Switzerland! 

They said that the AWA and BFM (?) approved Andre's permit and that we now only have to wait for the final OK from the Migration office. Not sure exactly what these abbreviations are for... I found American Watchmakers Association for AWA, maybe cos Andre likes the watches over there! No, it must have something to do with immigration and work permits. So still we didn't get excited because we have now learnt not to get excited in advance about anything to do with the Swiss work permit!

This morning we received an email to say we have to go to the Swiss embassy in Cape Town to fill in some Entry Form. We got there just in time this morning and luckily the same friendly lady we had last time helped us again! Filled out the form, Andre went to get ID photos taken and then when she checked on her PC she said that Andre already has the permit! According to the system he has been approved and only needs to bring his passport 24 hours before we want to leave.

YippeeYipeeYipee!! Still feels a bit unreal. Shame and Andre had his wisdom teeth removed yesterday so he wasn't feeling to great. Maybe I can give him some champagne through a straw later to celebrate...

Next week I'll start finalizing the shipping. We're thinking of leaving here middle next month.

Swiss update

And we are STILL waiting patiently. Ok not always that patiently, but we are still waiting for Andre's work permit for Switzerland. While I'm writing this he has probably (hopefully!) already boarded the plane in Zurich to come home to his wife (me:-) He's been there, working very hard, for the past two weeks in beautifully white snowy weather...

Anyway, what I wanted to say was, we still don't know when (or where) we're going. I'm really starting to think that we should just go to England instead, but oh those many grey clouds!! It would probably be another 20 YEARS before it would ever snow there again. White is just so much prettier than grey.....

Andre said they (the Swiss people over there at the company) are still positive that he will be getting the work permit. So I guess we'll be waiting for a little bit longer to see what happens. Positive thinking - that's The Secret!

Ok. I'm off to bed now so I can be up early tomorrow morning. I still have to vacuum the car and paint my nails before picking up my husband from the airport.

** night night **

Switzerland: permits and visas

So we are hopefully on our way to Switzerland soon soon. Andre is supposed to start working there from the beginning of next month. We've been waiting for his B-Permit which is a work permit and it's been sounding positive. We're hoping to have it by the end of the month.

Then while on honeymoon we discovered that he also needs a Schengen Visa. Switzerland became part of the Schengen states on the 12th December. A very friendly and helpful lady at the Swiss embassy told us that since it's for business it will take 2-3 months! Not good news... Now we just heard from the company that it's not necessary so we'll hope for the best!

The PR lady there sent us a link to look at some flats so that's what I'm going to do now. Exciting stuff! :-)

xx