Zurich - My New Flat

Living in Zurich Again!

I’m really enjoying my new flat and, even though it’s not really mine, it feels like home.

I think moving into a furnished flat is different from moving into an empty flat. You’re not faced with seeing the failings of your own furniture, you’re not looking at an empty space that looks so bleak, there’s not so much unpacking and work to do before you are settled.

The woman I’m renting from (Denise) left her plants and her pictures (with my agreement) in the flat, so it really is complete. I’d have thought this might make it all feel a bit as if I was invading someone else’s space, but actually it just seems homely. I think her taste and my taste aren’t so different from each other, even though I would never have chosen what she has, so maybe that helps. In a way, the flat feels like “me”.

On the other hand, it comes with a great responsibility. I’m pretty petrified of scratching the floors, ruining her pots and pans, not managing to keep the oven and hob to the exacting standards in which they were left. I’m worried that all her plants will die.

Part of my worry, or maybe even most of my worry, about keeping the flat in pristine condition stems from the fact that I understand that I am in Switzerland. I’ve been through the official handover procedure of a flat and I know how the tiniest flaw can result in a fine. I don’t expect it to be so bad now that I’m dealing with an individual person rather than a faceless company, but I fully appreciate that she won’t want to pay fines later for any carelessness on my part.

Also, the Swiss, at least compared to the British, are very particular. I got caught out in my last flat because I hadn’t read the small print in my rental contract that I had to have my washing machine and dishwasher serviced once a year or face a fine (I got the fine). Here, Denise explained to me how to use the salt in the dishwasher, how to decalcify it, how to put in special stuff to make the glasses shine, how to clean the filter, etc. Wow. I used to just put in the powder and that was it.

Since the flat comes with a dishwasher, she apparently has no need for a drying rack for dishes. Having got used to washing up each evening in Egypt, I found it hard to adapt back to a dishwasher and it felt like trying to fit things into the dishwasher took up as much time as washing them in the first place. Also, due to the lack of microwave, I used the pots up too quickly to be able to get a full load of cups and plates. As a result, I’d find myself washing my pots up in the interim and then wondering where to leave them to dry. Maybe it’ll be better now that I have a microwave.

I’d forgotten that Swiss flats have regulated heating – that is, your heating is included in your rent, but it gets turned on and off centrally, so you don’t have much choice as to when your flat has heat and when it doesn’t. Most of the time, it’s fine, but on the occasional early cold snap or in an unexpected hot period in early spring, it can be frustrating as you either freeze or swelter. It also means that if you get a particularly cold day, you can’t turn the heating up; you just need to have some electric heaters to see you through. It’s a bit weird, but generally it works.

There are always some peculiarities in every flat and to be honest this one doesn’t have so many. I now know why Denise was so keen to tell me about the small little light in the lounge – the largest one buzzes if it’s on for too long and you can’t really use it.

It took me a while to work out how to open and shut the blinds. In Switzerland, it’s not uncommon to have those heavy-duty, wooden shutters that close over the outside of your windows. The flat was handed over to me with the bedroom shutters already closed for the night. On the first morning, I jumped up and down outside like a child trying to get to something that’s just too high up as I attempted to open them. Then, my neighbour stuck her head out of the window and started to watch. I was too embarrassed to ask how to do it, so I dashed quickly back in. Eventually, I worked out that I could open the window in my bedroom (doh!) and close the blinds from there.

When I tell people that the flat has absolutely everything, I often get the joke of “so, has she left her husband and the cat as well!”. Well, the husband (partner) hasn’t popped round yet, but actually most days the cat is sitting outside and looking at me through the French windows from the garden. Obviously, it hasn’t fully understood that it needs to live with the neighbour for now. It keeps on trying to sneak in when it thinks I’m not looking. So far, it’s managed it only once and it’s a bit of a scaredy-cat and runs if I make even the slightest of movements.

The most exciting thing was having a television with UK TV channels and being able to watch it without the reception disappearing every five minutes. I looked for some Arabic channels, but there didn’t appear to be any. I will miss the UK TV access when I leave!

Zurich - Re-Adapting

Zurich - Back to City Life

Although there were many things to delight me on my return to Switzerland, I sometimes pined for Egypt.

The weather was good for the first two weeks of my arrival, which is something close to a miracle. Although I was lucky in this respect, and you might think the warm temperature would have made my introduction back to Switzerland easier, it actually made me miss Egypt more. In Egypt I could have gone swimming, but in Zurich the lake still wasn’t warm enough, and swimming outside wasn’t an option. It felt quite disgruntled and homesick.

I also found it a bit irritating having to wear so many clothes – putting on shoes (rather than flip flops) is tedious, so is carrying a rain jacket just in case, pulling on socks, wearing something other than just a light dress, all of this struck me as a bit of a palaver. Actually having shoes on felt strange, as well; my feet hurt when I walked, although I wasn’t sure whether it was because I wasn’t used to wearing heels or because there’s something wrong with one particular pair of shoes. I really don’t know what having shoes on your feet is supposed to feel like any more.

Although I’m pro being environmentally friendly, I am finding it difficult to organise my rubbish without making my kitchen look like it’s got too may piles of trash. I’ve selected a plastic container for my food rubbish, a cardboard box for my cardboard, a plastic bag for my plastic (PET) bottles, a paper bag for my paper, my glass bottles are lined up by my sink, and then I use my massively expensive Zueri-bag (it’s expensive because the bag includes your contribution to tax for rubbish disposal) for all other refuse. How are you supposed to sort all this stuff into piles and keep your kitchen looking tidy? It’s an art I never mastered.

On top of that, you have to keep an eye on what day of the week it is so that you can put your, for example, cardboard, rubbish out on the correct day of the correct week. Cardboard is on a different day from paper, which is on a different day from ordinary rubbish disposal. In Egypt, it’s easy. Put everything into any old bag, put it outside your flat (I did write that correctly, inside the corridor, by your flat door; you don't even have to exit your home!), and there’s a rubbish collection three times a day (yes, that's right, three times a DAY!).

I have two supermarkets close to me, and a brilliant one by my gym, and sometimes I go into town to do my food shopping. I’m not yet at the stage where I have a proper routine, especially since the two supermarkets near me mean that I can just buy a few things on the way home. However, it seems outrageous to me now that I have to carry my own shopping. Do I really have to spend my life heaving heavy bags around? What is the world coming to!

In Egypt, I wheel my week’s shopping in the trolley to the bus or the taxi (the taxi driver puts it into the car); at the other end, I take it out of the bus or taxi (or the taxi driver unloads it) and the staff at El Andalous carry it to my door for me. I’d really started to take this for granted. Now, I have to carry my heavy bags all the way home, fiddle about while I find my key, pick my bags up again and heave them up the stairs. This isn’t what life is supposed to be about!

I wanted to buy a microwave, but I couldn’t get it delivered. When I was last in Zurich, I would have made the effort and carried it, somehow, back home. Now, I just look at it and feel offended that anyone should think that it’s reasonable for me to cart it back myself. I ended up ordering one online, just so that I wouldn’t have the effort of getting it to its destination.

I also miss being outside all of the time. I feel a bit claustrophobic or trapped by sitting inside all day. When the weather was nice for those first two weeks, I sat outside every morning to have breakfast in the garden, even though in the early morning the temperature was probably not even ten degrees. It was a little uncomfortable, but I relished a moment to sit outside even if only for a short while. 

This is not something I would have done before living in Egypt – I would have regarded it as too much trouble to carry everything outside and too cold anyway. Now, however, I felt I needed it. There’s a little part of me that quite likes the nip of cold, but only for a short period, of course. Any longer than that, and it’s tiresome. Every time I get to breathe fresh air, I get this huge sense of relief and I find myself wishing that I was still living my outdoor lifestyle.

I’d got used to buying skimmed UHT milk in Egypt, so it felt strange to be back onto semi-skimmed fresh milk and I’d forgotten how creamy even the semi-skimmed milk is in Switzerland. When I worked in Switzerland before, I used to dilute the milk with half water when making my cafe latte at work, but the machine in my current work place doesn’t seem to give you that option, so I’m drinking my latte macchiato with full (semi-skimmed) milk. I’m getting used to it, but at first it felt very heavy. I will need to watch my weight!

So, it’s a mixed joy to be back in Switzerland and it’s a different experience moving to Switzerland from Egypt than it was to move to Switzerland from the UK. Everything is relative!

Zurich - The Good Life

Bauschaenzli Opens for Summer 2015!

The first few days back, although filled with some admin, were nevertheless like a holiday. My good luck continued and the weather remained warm and sunny. Even the Bauschaenzli , a seasonal open-air casual restaurant, which occasionally has a band playing traditional oom-pah-pah type German music, opened the day I arrived. I like it for its chicken and chips and the wonderful view, so I sat and had my meal while watching with some fascination at a pair of swans mating (I’ve seen it before, the male holds the female’s head underwater while it’s all happening, Maybe that’s too much information).

The river boats were now operating again – summer must be approaching! – so I had a ride on one of them. Again, I was lucky, as I got the last seat. Zurich moves on even when I’m not there, so there were a lot of works and a temporary bridge over the road by Buerkliplatz – some major works on the tram lines, I read.

I registered with the gym near my home and my workplace. What can I say? It was amazing. Plenty of space, sparkling clean, loads of equipment. It has a large spa pool at 32 degrees with little massage jets (so I’ve been told, I haven’t actually managed to fathom out how they work), and bubbly resting places for you just to lie in the water.

The women’s spa zone is beautifully designed; the sauna has a hint of forest in it with three fake tree trunks rising up (maybe covering pipes?). There are two huge areas with hammocks and beds for relaxing, and a samovar for tea.

What most impressed me was the way it was so well designed. There’s a little lobby before you go into the spa, so there’s no chance of anyone unintentionally seeing you naked while you are in the spa area. The steam room has little mats sitting in detergent for you to take (there’s a hose for you to wash away the soap), so you don’t have to sit where someone else has just had their sweaty bum. Staff walk round the gym at regular intervals to monitor which pieces of equipment are used, presumably so that they can change the proportions if some machines are used more than others. Everything was spotless and cleaned regularly. Sterile wipes were there for everyone to clean their machine afterwards. There’s a water fountain for you to refill your bottle.

After Egypt, where things aren’t always quite thought through, and where sometimes cleanliness is not fully understood, the gym was like a new world to me.

The supermarket below was also remarkably spacious. I was somehow impressed and fascinated by the clean glass doors, floor to ceiling, for the cooling cabinets. The fruit and vegetables all looked perfect. Meat was packaged in various cuts and laid out nicely. And there were loads of discounted Swiss chocolate Easter bunnies absolutely everywhere. Heaven.

I’m not really sure why I’m quite so intrigued by the supermarkets on my return to Switzerland. Spinneys is brilliant, it has a good choice, I have no complaints about the meats or the variety (given that there is no pork, of course). Of course, there’s no alcohol in Egyptian supermarkets, so I admit that part of my fascination was with the alcohol sections at Denner and Coop – I couldn’t resist buying a 37.5 cl bottle of Gewuerztraminer and a 0.5 l bottle of Fendant.

I’ve never ever noticed Spinney’s being dirty despite the birds flying about in the shop, but maybe it made an impact subconsciously.

I keep on thinking prices are cheap because the denominations in Swiss francs are small compared to the Egyptian pound (where 11 EGP equals 1 GBP), so I need to get my head round that. I’m constantly surprised at how much money I’m spending when I feel the prices are low. Big mistake!

Having said that, a 2.29 GBP packet of Shreddies costs 55 EGP in Spinneys, so imported items in Egypt are expensive. Perhaps my fascination is with the fact that I can now buy branded items at a relatively fair price for a change.

Now I’ve been in Egypt for quite some time, I find myself stopping to stare whenever I see a particularly posh car or a car that I don’t think I’ve seen before. The number of expensive cars wasn’t something I’d noticed particularly when I moved to Switzerland before, although several people told me it was something that struck them when they first arrived in Zurich.

I’ve also been surprised at how many cars now have their lights on during the day; given that it can still be hard in Egypt to get drivers to use their lights even at night. Also, this time round, I’m much more conscious of the wealth that’s on display, whether it’s the cars, people’s clothes, the shops, the transport system, the general cleanliness, or even the prevalent sense of well-being.

Last time, when I moved from the UK, I was struck by how thin the Swiss were (or maybe I should say by Switzerland’s lack of an obvious obesity problem). This didn’t hit me so much this time, because the Egyptians are a thin race as well, although I did bring it up at our Friday cakes session at work, when we discussed diet and the gym.

Although I’m not so much of a big shopper, I’m hopelessly fascinated by all the stores. I wander in and out of them, looking at all their wares, and I feel completely absorbed. I tried to work out why this was, and I think it’s because it’s all so easy. You just walk down the road and there is nice shop after nice shop, all with beautifully-presented windows.

In Egypt, the good shops are miles apart, so you have to walk for ages along a road of sand under the heat of the sun to get from one to the other. For the most part, shops have their items stacked any old how, you can’t really browse in a shop for fear of getting the shopkeeper’s hopes up, the roads are dirty and the pavements steep, and you take your life in your hands if you want to cross the road in Hurghada. I always think twice about whether I really need to go across to the other side. I’m sure all this has an effect on my shopping habits.

In some ways, coming to Switzerland felt like entering an entirely different world. And I suppose, in some ways, it is.

Zurich - Arrival

Moving Home - New Zealand Style

As explained, I arrived back from The Big Holiday two days later than planned due to various flights being delayed. This meant I then had two days fewer in which to say my goodbyes and prepare for my move to Zurich.

Sahl Hasheesh did its best to make me not want to leave. The weather was absolutely perfect; hot by day and warm by night, but not so hot that you can’t sleep. The sea was warm. A new foul and falafel place opened in a pretty courtyard.

Unfortunately, I had a cold and was frustrated at not having the energy to swim until the very last day. I could have wept!

It’s a lovely life; quite a few people were around, so socially I was also busy. I couldn’t have wanted for more, other than additional time.

But I’d signed the contract on the flat, signed the contract for the job; there was no going back.

However, whereas anything to do with Egypt has been associated with throwing up as many difficulties as possible, my move to Zurich has been so spookily smooth that if feels positively unnatural.

Even before I actually moved, it felt as if the gods were smiling on me with this move. It had just been a matter of chance that Willem let me know about the job just when I was feelingt that maybe it would be a good thing to do. Unlike other job applications, it all went quickly and smoothly. I found a flat where the person was looking for someone to take their flat for precisely the same 12 months that I needed it. Moreover, the flat was just 13 minutes’ walk away from my work and close to an outdoor pool. My C work permit for Switzerland was still valid, but only up to the end of December, so I was returning just in time. It even turned out well that I didn’t go to Japan straight away since my late return to Egypt would have made it very difficult for me to start work a week earlier. As I said, it was all spookily smooth.

The same trend continued, I’m a bit scared to report.

I bought a new suitcase in Spinneys, got housekeeping to do my ironing for me, packed my clothes. Nicole gave me a lift to the airport. There was a large queue at check-in, but the guy at Germania airlines (new airline to me) offered to check the Swiss airlines customers in as well. Everyone hesitated, not really believing he could do it, but I went over and skipped the queue.

There was another long queue at passport control (wrongly called “Immigration” at the airport), but an official pointed at me and asked me to come out of the queue and go over to him. I did as I was bidden, he checked my passport and let me go through. I have no idea why, but I didn’t have the long wait as a result.

On getting my third stamp on my two-occasion exit visa, the finality of my decision to move to Zurich was imprinted on me. My year’s visa was now invalidated because I didn’t have the re-entry visa for the third trip (although, another piece of good fortune, my year’s visa was up in May anyway, so all very good timing).

The flight was smooth; when I arrived I dashed to the toilet before collecting my luggage and my new case appeared on the conveyor belt just as I returned. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

The only problem I had was when I tried to buy my yearly train pass on arrival. They wouldn’t accept my Egyptian passport-sized photo as it wasn’t big enough. Typical Egypt! Only then do things go wrong.

The weather was beautiful, which is far from given in Switzerland. It was just as well, since I was wearing only a light jacket as I arrived, but the sun was shining and it wasn’t a problem, but it could easily have been cold and rainy. My luck was in.

I arrived early at my flat, so the woman whose flat it was hadn’t got there yet. I went into the supermarkets nearby to buy cereal and milk for the next morning and couldn’t resist buying a half-price chocolate Easter bunny (I’ve formed an addiction to buying these – I have bought four additional ones in my first week; they only cost 1 CHF now and I can’t resist). As you can imagine, I was pretty happy and it was surprisingly nice to be back in a Swiss supermarket.

The woman handing the flat over to me was exceedingly kind. She’d bought a new mattress, gave me a present of slippers, left me two packets of coffee capsules for the coffee machine so that I could try them out for free before buying my own, she said I could drink all the spirits in her drinks cupboard.

I felt a bit embarrassed when she kept on talking about the KZ (kah zay), which seemed very important to her, so I had to ask what KZ stood for, and it turned out that she was saying “Katze” (cat), but I couldn’t grasp what it was with the Swiss accent.

I felt a little bit cold in the evening and was a bit worried when I looked at the duvet, which seemed quite thin, but actually it was fine and I had one of my best night’s sleep in a long time. I have memories of Switzerland being the only place where I’ve lived (Egypt has now been added) where I’ve had the occasional sleeping difficulty, but that’s not been the case so far. The duvet was warm, the bed was comfortable; I couldn’t want for more. A sense of unreality reigned.