Well, it’s the end of week 5 for me (week 3 for Devan) and we’re still here...
Things have been ok actually, though not without its trials and tribulations. So let’s go with my review of the highlights and lowlights (or not so really bad lowlights, just not so very high-lights). We’ll start with the lowlights first, so we can end on the good stuff.
We spent much of our time over the last week or so torturing over whether or not to take the one apartment we saw. It was right in the heart of Zurich city (kind of like the center of Manhattan, only on Zurich scale which is significantly smaller…here is a picture of one of the cute streets in that neighborhood).
The location of the place was the ‘Old Town’ district right across Zurich’s main art museum. There is a café down the street from the place that had (a direct quote from Devan) ‘The best croissants I(he) ever had’. Ok, so then, here are the downsides: the place is slightly smaller than we like and it’s on a main street near two major hospitals (translation…it doesn’t exactly offer a serene atmosphere…the sounds of sirens, trams, and cars can be heard for many hours of the day). In the end, we decided not to take it. For me the process caused a lot of stress…I was up for taking the place, but Devan had doubts. Since he’s the one working from home, in my mind, he had the bigger stake in it. Finding an apartment in Zurich is no easy task.. Inventory is low (particularly this time of year) and there are often many people you have to compete with to actually get a place even if you find one you like. Devan is confident we’ll find a place that is perfect for us…at least that makes one of us. In any case it’s back to the drawing board for us. We went out for Ethiopian for to celebrate NOT getting an apartment. At least it was some good eats.
Another tribulation…getting Devan a cell phone. So Devan went TWICE to get a cell phone and they said that ‘no’. They said he had to have the registration permit (which takes 2 months or so after you get here) in hand before they would give him a cell phone. The Swiss are very serious about making sure people are permanently here and able to pay when signing up for stuff...they want all kinds of paperwork. Needless to say he was not happy.
Bank accounts. As you can imagine the infamous ‘Swiss bank account’ security is alive and well. In order to get our ATM and online banking set up, the bank send the cards to you mailing address and then send the related passwords and security authentication stuff to the post office. So, 5 weeks after I have arrived…we still do not have everything set up to withdraw money from out account! I wish we had the kind of money that would warrant the security measures they have here!
So now, let’s get to some of the good stuff.
For me, work has been busy but good. There is one woman on my team (half American, half German) that has been educating me, in context, about how people’s personalities from different parts of Europe are different. I have been working with some people from Germany and trying to communicate things that were just not getting across to them. She explained to me how Germans think and I saw exactly what she was saying in practice. The fascinating part about being here is the variety you get in culture, perspectives, etc. on a day to day basis….challenging at times, but a great learning experience.
Devan has also been working hard getting up to speed as his new company, Jive Software. He is pretty excited about the product and there is clearly a lot he can do to make a difference to the company. Let’s hope it leads to early retirement…or, to be more realistic, at least the ability to pay off a house in the bay area! He’s going on his first real business travel next week to meet with customers in the London, Munich, and Basel.
I never knew that my religious affiliation would be profitable, but here is Switzerland. Because we are NOT Christian, we don’t have to pay the church tax that many others here have to pay. Lucky us…
Zurich is really a very pretty city. Christmas lights are starting to go up throughout the city and the weather has actually not been nearly as cold as we expected. We have met a few couples that we have had dinner with and there are a couple of social groups that have events. I wouldn’t say we have a raging social life yet, but the possibilities seem to be there.
All in all, we can’t complain. As challenging as things seem on some days, so far, it feels like the experience is and will be worth it. We are really looking forward to finding a place, settling in and entertaining the many guests we expect will be visiting us :).
