Thursday, week 5...

I can't believe we've been here a month already. Sometimes it actually feels like we've been here much longer. 

Last Sunday we took the train to the airport and then a tram two stops further to go car browsing. Waiting for the tram outside the airport I realised it was exactly 4 weeks ago that we arrived here at this airport. So here's an anniversary picture at Zurich Flughafen!

We had a lovely day just cruising around. We were waiting for the tram to go back to the airport when the one going the opposite direction arrived. We had a quick change of plan, got on it and went in to Zurich. I think it's just one stop on from the airport to Zurich Hauptbahnhof (main station), but it took about 30min with the tram. It was fun though going a different route. And we got off whenever we saw more second hand car garages and then got back on again when we were done browsing.

We had lunch at Burger King at the hauptbahnhof. We both felt like some junk food! Burgers, chips and milkshakes and we were sooo stuffed afterwards!! Not used to it anymore! 

CHF26.40 = R219... Slightly more than we would pay in SA for burgers and chips! But hey, you can't compare it like that. We've also been out for dinner here, for pizzas, and then converted into Rands it's actually the same we've paid at some pizza places in South Africa. They say Switzerland is so expensive, but then South Africa is not cheap either. I think we just got used to the prices there and didn't have anything to compare to. Yes some things, like groceries converted into rand are more expensive but then the salaries make up for it. A teacher here would earn 5 and a half times more than a teacher in SA... mmm... Anybody want to join us here now? ;-) Maybe just wait until I get a job first!

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, after the lunch we took the train back home again. It wasn't great weather for walking around. André had a look at some kick scooters on the airport. They're fun and he walks quite a bit from the train to the office everyday. So we're looking into that.

We've also been looking at some bigger wheels as I've mentioned. André made the mistake of choosing a BMW X3 for our first test drive... I liked it! Let me see if I've got a picture to show you. No.. I didn't take one of the car, I enjoyed the ride so much I forgot. But here's Andé driving it, concentrating on staying on the right side of the road:

Smile for the camera, just keep your eyes on the road!

Ah ok here's a picture of the car, I got from google images. See why I like it? It's beeeg! It was also a black one.

But that was stretching the budget a bit, so we went to look at this one instead. Also very nice.

Now here's another story. Did I tell you how you shouldn't just get on a train if it arrives early? If your train is due to arrive at 8:04 and a train arrives at 8:00 DON'T assume it's the one you're meant to take and just get on! But do you think I listen to that? Nooooo... Quite often a train does arrive early and will wait in the station until it's time to depart. Then you can get on and pray it doesn't leave early, meaning it was NOT your train. But you can check the sign board telling you what train it is and I've never seen that being incorrect. Now at this station after we went to test drive above car there was no such sign. We had to wait about 25 mins. It was cold and late (8pm) and I was thinking of the warm potato soup I made, waiting at home, so when this train arrives 4 mins before the scheduled time I tell André it happens ALL the time. We can get on so long, get out the cold and we'll be home in no time. WELL. We hardly sat down and off goes the train. 

"But it's not suppose to leave until 20:04", says I with the clever ideas. 

(Husband just shrugs.)

"Now what, we're going in the wrong direction! I should have known! Richtung Baden is the direction we came not the way home!"

(Husband is not fussed, he of course has a monthly ticket to go just about anywhere, paid by the company.)

So I go check the map and inform André that we will just have to get off at the next station and go back as I don't have a ticket for the zone we're going into now. I am sooo scared of being caught in the wrong zone with the wrong ticket.

So he follows his bright ideas wife and gets off the train at the next stop. Starts checking on his phone for the next connection (work pays for internet...). Unemployed me goes to check the information boards. Guess what: Next train in exactly one hour!

We ended up taking a bus to another station and got a train home from there. I hate wasting money on train tickets. I had to buy a new ticket, for the bus and train since we were now coming from a completely different direction. After I already had a return ticket if I was only patient enough to wait for the correct train home.

That's how we learn.

Our welcome flowers

I must show you this:

On Thursday I came to the flat a little earlier to unpack and clean up. The owners wanted to do the hand over at 6pm that evening and check that everything in the flat is ok and so on. So I was busy in the kitchen, making lunch actually when the doorbell rang. I was confused, wondering who this could be. I don't know anyone here. Anyway I open the door and give Herr F, the owner, a bit of a fright! He is such a dear man. Well it turned out his wife sent him to put flowers and a card in our apartment and told him to do it before we arrive. Unfortunately I was there already! Isn't it just so sweet of them. I never expected something like this. 

Here's some close ups of our flowers and card.

They have also insisted that we call them on their first names. We were very honoured as this doesn't happen often here and they are MUCH older than us. Like they could be our grandparents. We call their son on his first name and they use our first names which I like but I'm not so sure if I feel comfortable using their first names... I think I'll stick to Herr & Frau F for now.

We've now finally and permanently moved into our flat in Dietikon. On Friday afternoon we went to get the last of our things at the B&B in Baden. Clever me of course left my key to the B&B at the flat. Luckily André had his so we could get in but this morning we had to go back there again to drop the key off. Now we've had enough of the train trip between Baden and Dietikon for a while!

I came here on Thursday with the intention of going to buy a vacuum cleaner. Didn't happen though... I found a place online with a really good price for the one we want. It's in Dietikon so I walked all the way there, about 20 minutes there. I prefer the walking so I can at least get some exercise. I'm afraid sometime I'm going to become lazy and just start taking the bus everywhere... Anyway, I got there and they said no, I have to first order it online and then I can come and pick it up. They don't charge for postage and deliver it the next day if you pay before 12 so I decided to get it delivered instead. It should be here Monday or Tuesday cos I only payed this morning. I'm going to stay home until they deliver it so I can make full use of this delivery to my door and not have to go fetch it at the post office! Can you believe how I'm looking forward to getting a vacuum cleaner? I don't like the dusty feel on the tiles after all the ikea furniture building last weekend!

Oh and of course we got our internet at the flat! I was so worried cos they said it could take up to 4 weeks. Thursday afternoon our landlord put our names up by the postbox and our doorbell and brought my mail in. And there was a slip to go and fetch a parcel at the post office... from Cablecom! I walked there as fast as I could. It was late afternoon and I was afraid that they might be closed already. Luckily not. But then we couldn't get it connected Thursday evening. After some phone calls to cablecom we discovered we still have the old plugs in the wall and need to get the new ones. No problem. Next day they send a guy out to come and change the wall  plug and we've got super fast internet! It's instant! I can watch videos and don't have to wait for it to load first. I can look at photos on facebook and just click away and see one photo after the other. It's so good :-)

Friday morning we also did some grocery shopping to fill our new cupboards. Luckily I now have my trolley for shopping. Didn't mean to copy you Jessica, but saw it at Ikea and just can't carry all that heavy groceries home anymore. I can't buy bananas milk and juice cos I know it would get too heavy. But now I can! So yesterday morning we tested this trolley to it's full capacity. 

Today we went car shopping. We had a look at some nice cars and drove two of them. Still shopping around...

That's our weekend so far. I'm off to bed now and looking forward to a relaxing Sunday at home tomorrow.

Auch Herren dürfen sitzen beim Pinkeln, Danke!

Here in this country we now live in they have many many rules. May I introduce you to one of them...

Guys, no standing up anymore!! Do as the girls do and please sit down.

Are you wondering why they have this rule? Let me explain. While most Swiss people live in apartments, you need to consider the needs of your neighbours and therefor BE QUIET. That includes when you use the toilet. So guys, reduce the noise you make when using the bathroom by sitting down please.

And in case you don't understand the English or German instructions, the picture makes it quite clear!

Oh, this is in the B&B we're staying at. Luckily I don't think we'll have this problem at our flat, we don't have anyone living above or below us and there aren't any such pictures on our toilets there!

Here's the video I took this weekend of the two hardworking furniture builders

Enjoy! ;-)

Moving into our new flat. from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.

3 weeks in Switzerland

Today is the first day that I'm actually a little bored at home and don't know what to do with myself. Maybe it's because there's no more flat hunting or furniture shopping and we're half way moved in.

Next on my list was to find health insurance for us here. That I did last night and we're now waiting for two quotes. The price is actually not that bad, similar to what we paid in South Africa if not less. The only difference is that we will have to pay up to a certain amount which we decide on. For the one quote we chose CHF 1500 and for the other CHF 2000. That means that we have to pay all medical bills up to that amount and only then when we go over that amount per year will the insurance start paying. (Make sense? Took me a while to understand.) In that way our insurance in SA was better because for the same monthly price they also payed for just about any little bits of meds or dr's appointments. Dentists are not paid for by the basic insurance here apparently, which is a pity because André's got toothache again. Which reminds me I must get him something for the pain. It's still where his wisdom tooth got extracted that's giving him problems...

Anyway, what I actually wanted to tell you about was our move into our flat this weekend. On Friday we went to IKEA and made final decisions about what we're going to buy on Saturday. They give you little shopping list cards and a pencil and measuring tape if you need one. Then you go around writing down what you want with it's price and some things also tell you on a card on the piece of furniture on display in which row and on which shelf you'll find it in the self service area downstairs. You write that down too. Here's a picture of my shopping lists or Einkaufsliste - everything German of course.

Then the we went to someone at one of the many information desks who was wearing a badge with a UK flag on it (meaning they can speak English). They printed a list of everything we want with the rows and shelf numbers all in order which really helped otherwise we would have been running around from one end to the other. André and I each took a trolley. We loaded as much as we could. It felt like a treasure hunt, following my list and looking for the correct row, shelf and then product number to make sure we got all the things we need. 

When our trolleys were full we went to get the keys to the van we hired. Luckily someone came to help André load the boxes which were quite heavy. Then back in again to get the rest. Five trolleys later we had everything in the van.

I was very proud of André's driving skills. First time driving on the other side (I won't say wrong side!) of the road and with a big van full of furniture. He did so well, while I was just about a nervous wreck!! Luckily we didn't have far to drive. It was just in the next town, about 5 minutes drive.

When we arrived at the flat, Jürgen was there waiting for us. I don't know what we would have done without his help this weekend. Actually, I know there would have been lots of tears (from me) and arguments (also from me) and André would be patiently putting up with it all while at the same time trying to build our furniture. 

So instead, while I kept myself busy in my new kitchen, the guys worked extremely hard. They were building on Saturday from about 4 - 9pm. They did the sleeper couch, desks and chairs, and our bed and two sets of drawers for our room. Then on Sunday morning they worked from about 9am-2pm building our cupboard, headboard and the kitchen table.

And I prepared them their well deserved meals!

Unfortunately my camera's battery died halfway through the weekend so I will post some more pics of the rest of our apartment later. I'm back at the B&B today since we don't yet have internet at the flat. This is something that's making me very nervous. We applied online last week Wednesday and it said that it could take up to 4 weeks... We've already got cable there (we're getting internet through cable) so I don't know what they have to do... Press the start button for us or something? Maybe they have many people wanting them to press the start button for them? But this is sounding like the waiting period in South Africa. Hopefully we will get it soon. Let's stay positive and not panic.

Oh I almost forgot! I also got some presents!

An ironing board and iron to keep me busy!

And here's two pictures Jürgen took of what our room looked like at the end of Sunday. I like it! :-)

I love the headboard part. It has a cupboard/ drawer/ shelf that pulls out on both sides with shelves. Smart!

I'm going to edit the video I took this weekend and will post that later too. 

Wordle...

I came across wordle via another Swiss expat blog. I entered my blog URL and this is what I got. Try it, it's fun! :-) I especially like that chocolate is in there large enough!