The Protocol

The handover of an apartment is a very different processes in Switzerland. We were asked to arrive to at our new apartment at 3:00 pm. When we arrived we were greeted by a short German speaking woman. She begain to speak to us and I immediately interupted to tell here in my very crude German that I did not understand German and asked if she spoke english.

She replied 'nein' and countinued speaking to me in german obviously disregarding everything I had just said.

What was strange was that the couple that lived there before we got the apartment was also there. As part of the handover process the leasing agent and the two parties fill out a "Protocol" form which is essentially a condition report. You are asked to go from room to room and identify anything and everything that is wrong. Tiny scratches, holes in the walls, scratches on the floor, discolorations on the floors. Everything. There was even debate as to what constitued something that should be reported and what shouldn't. The process took about 45 minutes.

Luckily we had Frau Hildigard with us and she was translating for us. The couple that lived there before us also spoke very fluent english and were nice enough to tell us about some of the quirks of the apartment.

Finally we had the apartment to our selves. All we had to do next was go back to our temporary housing and start to drag the luggage over. This wouldn't be so bad except that it is about a half mile between our hotel and apartment, of course its uphill, and we have a 16 pieces worth of luggage to get over to the apartment by noon tomorrow. I'm tried, sore, and ready for bed. I have a feeling its going to be a very long weekend.

The Ship Sets Sail

I found out today that our belongings left port in the U.S. on June 22nd. This was about 2 days behind schedule. I was a little disapointed because I'd like to have my stuff but I was reassured that our things would arrive in Switzerland on July 1st.

Great, July 1st is the end of the week. Not much longer until we get our things. Finally I'll be able to sleep in my own bed.

Not so fast. I need to give the moving company copies of passports, apartment leases, and a work permit. I tell you this whole moving thing is a sham. They told us 4 weeks to ship your things. Which in a perfect world would be true. What they don't tell you is that after you arrive it takes about 3 to 4 weeks to get your work permit. At the current schedule I won't have my permit until the second week of July because we just applied last week. It also takes 7-10 business days for the moving company to process the customs paperwork after they have both our container at the port and all the required documentation including my working permit.

So, in the end, we'll be here about a month without out stuff. Two weeks of which we'll be sleeping on an air matress. Tell me that doesn't stink.

Oh, but the bread here is really good. Did I mention that?

Stale Bread

Fresh bread gets very stale after three days.

I would not recommended buying a loaf of bread on a Thursday and expecting it to make it through an entire weekend. By Sunday you will feel as if you are chewing on an incredibly dry piece of leather.

Second lesson, all stores including grocery stores are closed on Sundays in Switzerland.

Next time I'll make sure to buy bread on Saturday.

WM 2006

The world cup is a crazy thing. While I enjoy watching soccer on TV I guess I don't understand the hype.

We went out to the local beer garden last night to watch the game between Switzerland and South Korea. If I understand things properly this was one of the last games of the first round of games. Meaning that there are still 32 teams in the tournament.

Watching the game and drinking a few beers was great fun. There was definately a lot of excitement in the air. What I didn't understand is where there was so much excitement. The Swiss team was essentially guaranteed to make it to the next round, they had already secured enought points. Regardless after the victory the whole town went crazy. People were driving around the streets honking their car horns and waving flags until what seemed to be about 1:30 in the morning.

To me, this is like the secound round of the NCAA tournament, not to much to get excited about just yet. I could see going a little crazy at the last 4 or even 8 teams, but this is still the first round.

Maybe I just don't have socce....excuse me, football in my blood.

Hopp Schwiez!! Hopp Schwiez!!

mylostbag.com

So, we made it to Switzerland. Not without difficulty. As we were sitting in the airport at Chicago's O'Hare, the swiss air staff asked us to check two of our carry on bags because they were too big. I find that hard to believe as we have taken these bags on numerous trips before as carry on without incident.

Regardless, away went our two carry ons. I was glad on one hand because I wouldn't have to lift the obviously overweight bags stuffed with paper up into the overhead compartments.

On Arrival at Zurich, we waited, and waited, and waited.....but our two carry on bags never came. little did we know that they were not put on the plane with us. So for a day we pondered what had happened to our checks, bank statments, passport photos, and worst of all wedding album. Everything that the movers had said we should not pack and should take as carry on had for one short day been lost because it was taken as carry on luggage.

Luckily swiss air has a website, mylostbag.com. Who would have thought that an airline would have such a website. Just the fact that this exists speaks volumes as to how many bags must go lost each day.

Twenty four hours later our lost bags were being delivered to our temporary apartment and once again all was well in Switzerland.

Taste of Chicago

We have been in a constant state of planning, chatting, eating and attempting to sleep for the past several days. We have finally made it back to Chicago and have been squeezing in all the friends and family that we can.

At the same time we are trying to keep tabs on the sale of our home. Inspections, contractors, preparation of deeds. It is plenty to keep a normal person extremely stressed, add an international move and you can't really sleep. I feel Like I've been up for about 2 weeks straight.

Atleast there is food. My one refuge in all of this. I have been enjoying my own personal taste of Chicago over the past few days.

There was my mothers homemade salmon patties. I would describe them as being very similar to crab cakes. I've loved them every since I was a kid, boy were those good.

I had the infamous Chicago style hotdogs at portillos. If my friend Chris could only understand. I'm afraid growing up in the south it would be analogous to his collard green cravings.

And then there was the italian beef (Sandwich). The one that Joe from New York couldn't comprehend. Was that good.

I had the crazy sauce of top of the cheese pizza from Giordano's pizza last night. That was so tasty. And the best part is I got to share it with some very special friends of mine. If you want to try a pizza you can actaully order one on their website and they'll airmail you one. My friend ordered one and had it shipped to Richmond, it actually wasn't that bad.

I think the last thing on my list are the every popular White Castle burgers. I must get a sack. Preferable for breakfast. Breakfast burgers have long been a tradition in my family as my father works the night shift so he used to bring them home in the morning. Dinner for him, breakfast for me, either way they are always good.

On The Road Again

The movers and gone and the house is empty. It was tough leaving Richmond but our time had come to move on. The movers actually did a pretty good job. They were fast and efficient. Except for one incident with a sofa I think everything should be okay.

For the past day and a half we have been driving back to Chicago. We planned a stop in Urbana, Illinois to visit our old Alma Mater, the University of Illinois. This was the first return visit for me since I have left the campus 5 years ago. It was amazed how familiar the town still felt after returning. It was really a great expereince. I had wondered why alumni would spend all this time and effort to return for weekend football games but after returning to visit I can understand why you would want to go back for a day trip. For a few brief hours I felt like I had returned to that stage in my life where is was completely acceptable to go back to the Quad and take a nap in the grass at 2:00 pm. Not because I was tired, but just because I could.

The Devil is In the Details

I find it quite amusing that I scheduled the movers to come on 6/6/6. I didn't sleep well last night was I was worrying too much. What did I forget, what will I forget, what will I not know that I forgot.

Then there is the huge pile of stuff that we keep insisting we are going to cram into the car and take home with us. This pile consists of photos and wedding gifts like toasters and blenders that just won't do us any good in Switzerland. I have a feeling we'll be spending some time at the post office mailing some of this stuff.

Well its time to turn of the desktop computer and get ready to pack it into the big shipping container for overseas shippment. Wow, this really feels strange but I guess this is what I wanted and this is what I'm going to get.

The Party

Last night our good friends threw us a party at a local bar. About a dozen of our closest friends came and went during the evening to wish us well. I had a really good time.

The beers were flowing as were the memories as we chatted of times gone by. I'm really going to miss Richmond. I have had a chance to make plenty of really good friends here and they will be sorely missed.

Unfortunately I know that once friends move apart relationships aren't the same. Your common circles slowly diverge and it often seems to mean that you lose touch. I'm hoping this won't be the case but I know somehow that I will not keep in touch with everyone. A sad reality of life I guess.

Luckily some of my better friends here in Richmond actually have a family tie to Switzerland. Their relatives actually live in the same area that we will be moving too. In the past they have visited, and since they have a new family member (I believe a nephew) in Switzerland I'm sure they will visit us at least once while we are abroad.

It is really funny how small the world truely is.

The Faithful Taurus

This morning we parted was with our 1996 gold Ford Taurus. She had over 114,000 miles, transmission troubles, and was in bad need of an alignment. I don't think we felt to bad about the departure. We did take a final family photo with the Taurus. My wife stood proudly by the open door of the beaty that got her to her first job at Sound Incorporated, then graduate school, and finally back and forth to the ad agency every day.

It is funny how people become so attached to a car. You know every quirk, every stain, every dent. Most of these oddities bring back memories from previous adventures. I remember a car I had. It was a convertible. At one point there was a big hole in the back plastic window of the soft top. That hole never let me forget how much I loved to play hockey. It also reminded me to never again try to cram a hockey stick in the back seat of a small car.

The Tribunal

We have made a decision. After countless hours of comparisions and analysis we have decided to live in the city center. We think this may be our last chance to live confortably in an urban area since we still don't have children. After much thought we also think that it will be easier to learn the language and also meet new people if we live in the city.

The apartment we have selected is a 2 bedroom apartment on the fourth floor of an office building. This sounds strange but we think it is acutally ideal. There are only two units in the entire building, both are on the top floor. There is also one washer and tumbler (dryer) in the basement to share between the two units so laundry should really not be a problem. Another advatage is that the building is essentially empty after 7:00 pm so it should be realatively quite.....except for the large clock tower accross the street.

The catch is the balcony has a spectacular view on the midevil town center called Altdstat (old town). From the living room you see the clock tower (this picture was taken from the baclony. From the bedroom you look up at the ruins of the castle on the hill.

We are now at the mercy of the 'Tribunal.' Getting an apartment is not like in the U.S. You apply and then you are reviewed. Not only for credit history, but also for character, your musically instruments, size of your dog if you have one, just about everything. Apparently the staff of the leasing company sit around and chit chat about you to make their final decision. This process usually takes one to two weeks. So, we wait.

Sold!

I can't believe it. Our house, which has only been on the market a little over a week has a contract on it. It looks like we have sold it. Thank God we don't have to keep the house unhumanly clean anymore. Luckliy the scheduled inspection is after we move out so I can throw my dirty clothes anywhere I like.

I'm sad on one hand, but pleased that this will be one less thing we have to deal with.

I can't believe the movers will be here in a few days. It all seems sureal. Buying a 'one-way' ticket to switzerland the other day also really hit home. Time to pack my suitcases, here we go!