Limbo - Day 19 (Hye-Youn's)

Kuesnacht

Last night I moved out of Markus's flat right in the middle of Zurich where the prostitutes and party goers hang out to Hye-Youn's flat in the prestigious village of Kuesnacht where the rich and famous live. So, it's a transition from having the screaming nightlife of Zurich outside my door to the supreme silence of suburbia. I feel privileged to be able to sample during my limbo period so many different aspects of the Zurich I have come to know and love.

Whereas Markus's flat was characterised by lego (either as models, posters, decoration), LPs (!), and books, including, to my surprise, an Adrian Mole book which I'd featured in my birthday party to represent the 1980s, Hye-Youn's residence is characterised by white furniture (yes, white!), more cosmetic items in the bathroom than I knew even existed, and what I think is probably a Swiss-influenced desire to preserve everything in its original pristine condition (otherwise known as Fear of Losing Deposit [FOLD]).

It's the white furniture that most grabs my attention - it looks awesome, but my radar tells me that this is an invitation for disaster. I will not be drinking any red wine.

I gaze without comprehension at her white chairs round her wooden dining table. I had white chairs once, but mine got stained without me even using them. Hye-Youn has been in her flat for years, and those chairs are still white. I'm perplexed, envious, in awe.

I'm sitting here on a white sofa with my feet on a white rug. It's scary.

And those white chairs around the table - each of those chairs have manually had something stuck to the bottom of the legs to ensure that they don't scratch the wooden floor when moved. Outside the door of the flat, in the hallway, there's a little tray which I think is where you place your shoes after taking them off before you come in. In the UK, it's still not so customary to take your shoes off when you go inside, but it's fairly common in mainland Europe. It is the first time I've seen that little tray though, unless it is actually for something else. I think all the flats in this block have them, so it's not Hye-Youn, it's part of being Swiss.

Looking at all this makes me realise that Hye-Youn will likely get her whole deposit back (and rightly so!) if and when she ever leaves and that my loss of deposit should be seen not as bad luck (although, to be fair to myself, I had not painted this as bad luck) but as me having to pay for my own careless, slapdash habits. Or maybe I am paying for my lack of understanding of what it really is to be Swiss. In this respect, I am confident that Hye-Youn will be awarded Swiss citizenship, as she so much desires. Unlike me, she has proved herself to be a fine, upstanding citizen upholding the Swiss values.