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!