Zurich - Finding Accommodation

Bellevue - Always on the Tram to the Next Place!

I’ve got quite attached to my studio flat in this short time and it’s made me realize that I would be happier if I could always be coming back to the same place each time in Zurich. It would also be easier as I could leave clothes here, I wouldn’t have to buy the same things each time (washing powder, salt, herbs), and I wouldn’t have the hassle of learning my way around. In addition, I am supposed to be resident here and I don’t want to be registered at my friends’ house for more than necessary.

Consequently, I decided to start looking for a small, cheap flat to rent in Zurich.

It’s amazing how straightforward this sounds and how difficult it is in reality!

In the UK, finding a flat is pretty easy – you set your criteria and you can generally find what you want. I remember when I was looking for a flat to rent in Horsham and I turned it down saying it didn’t have a shower and they immediately offered to put in a shower for me if I would take it.

It’s nothing like that in Switzerland. There are literally hundreds of people looking at the same flat and competing for it. Some flats have viewing days, and you have to queue to get in to see it. Often, they’ve run out of application forms (at one place 120 application forms had gone in 10 minutes of the flat viewing starting). I keep on going to viewings and feeling exhausted before I’ve even seen it. It’s just the sheer number of people that are there. At one place I mentioned I couldn’t take it without a shower but this time my criticism was met with total indifference.

On top of this, I’d totally forgotten that the application process is quite convoluted. It’s harder to get a flat than it is to get a job in Switzerland, so your application for a flat has to be seen as a sales document that will get you chosen for the flat over the hundred other people who are also applying.

Each application has to contain an official statement that you are not being prosecuted for debts (you have to pay for this certification, of course). The application form asks you how much you earn, how many savings you have, and sometimes you have to provide your last tax bill. On top of this, you have to write an application letter, you are advised to attach your photograph, stating why you want the flat. Some people advise you also to attach your CV.

Then they will have criteria that they don’t tell you about. So, many landlords want you to be applying for a flat that will be a quarter to a third of your income. This means someone like me is unlikely to get a cheap flat because of the amount I’m earning. Sometimes, they don’t want a single person having a two-bedroom flat as this is deemed too many bedrooms for one person. Some landlords won’t like foreigners, whereas others will encourage them for diversity.

It’s thought to be a good idea to talk to the decision maker so that they will be more likely to give you the flat. Often it’s a matter of who is the first to get their application in, but I’m sure they must get piles of applications all at the same time, so heaven knows how they choose.

I’ve now signed up with an agency in the hope that I might get to view some unadvertised properties and thus have a chance of getting in first. It’s gutting though when you see a flat that would be perfect for you but you just know you don’t have a chance of getting it.

Zurich - A City of Events

Sihlwald Buffet Area and Hut for Cinema

I’d forgotten that quite a few events are usually still on in September in Zurich. The first weekend I was back, there was the Theaterspektakel (I’ve blogged about this before) and the Long Night of the Museums (I’ve also blogged about this before). There were lots of adverts around for the Zurich Food Festival and this year everyone seems to be posting about it on facebook. Here, I feel I was ahead of the crowd, because I blogged on that already last year.

However, there was one thing on that I hadn’t done before and that was the open-air cinema at Sihlwald. Most of the open-air cinema has ended for the season (and I’ve blogged about my favorite two before), but I just squeezed in the last weekend at Sihlwald. The film was Eddie the Eagle, so a very good film for Brits to watch and I went along with Lena.

It wasn’t really quite what I was expecting. I imagined that we’d be sitting in the middle of a wood, with a makeshift screen hanging across the trees; we’d be huddled on rickety seats wrapped in blankets and shivering as we watched.

However, it actually took place in a large wooden hut. There wasn’t any heating, and we had plastic chairs in rows. So we weren’t outside at all. I guess this makes it more functional as you aren’t hindered by rain, but on the evening we went, it was clear and not too cold.

The website talked excitedly about their bistro, but again, it wasn’t really very extensive. One dish was cheesy (maybe raclette, I can’t remember), so for me that was out. The other was a dish of polenta with a mushroom sauce, so rather stodgy but at least it didn’t have cheese; truth be told, I’m not so fond of polenta either.

We’d forgotten to check whether the film was in English; as the adverts all came up in Swiss German and a guy came in to introduce the film in Swiss German, our fears were confirmed. The film had been dubbed. It was OK – I was a bit shell-shocked for the first ten minutes, but then got my ear back in to German and then actually it wasn’t too much of a big deal.

The event was also very typically Swiss in that it was so perfectly organized. They’d laid on an extra train to ensure that you could get back into town afterwards (in the UK, you’d just be left to sort out a taxi or be stranded!). I was surprised to see how busy the city was when I got back, but then I realized it was the long night of the museums and people were still busily dashing off from one museum to the next.

The Zurich Film Festival is on at the end of this month, so I’m looking forward to that. I won’t say much just now in case I decide to blog on it when it happens.

I’ve just made it to Switzerland in time for the last few weeks of the “Badi” season – where you can swim in the lake and the various open air pools in Zurich. And I was lucky enough to arrive during a late heatwave, so the air temperatures have been in the early 30s and the lake water has heated up quite nicely. I’ve blogged on swimming in the lake before, but it’s strange how different things strike you when you return on different occasions.

This time, maybe because I had a cold and wasn’t really fit enough to swim, I was much more aware of how much less buoyant I was in the freshwater lake than in the salty Red Sea. I do prefer going into the lake by the steps / ladder rather than the gradually increasing depth of water that I have when on the beach in Sahl Hasheesh. It’s OK to go in bit by bit in the summer when the water is warm, but in the winter months, having to stride in slowly makes it much more difficult to enter the water!

Although the lake water is really clean (it’s got the quality of drinking water), I was fascinated this time at how green it was and wondering how it gets to look that colour. I stick my hand below me in the water and, true enough, I can see my hand as clear as daylight, but the only other thing I can see is a murky green all around. I thought I would be able to see the lake bottom.

But even Badi Enge had changed. Unless I’m mistaken, it now has a new, additional entrance. I almost missed it with all the bicycles parked alongside it, which makes me wonder if I’d just completely overlooked it before, but I’m pretty sure it’s a new way in. Life just doesn’t stand still!

Zurich - Settling Back In

Manifesta 11 Pavillon de Reflections - New in Zurich!

Returning somewhere is always a bit of a wake-up call. You somehow expect nothing to have changed, but it always has.

It takes me about 45 minutes door-to-door to get to work from my studio apartment. This is the longest commute I’ve ever had. Surprisingly, having to leave earlier isn’t bothering me at the moment – maybe it will be different in the winter months when the sun isn’t streaming through my window already at 6am. However, I will need to start taking a book or having some kind of task to do for the journey, as it’s rather boring, to be honest. On the plus side, I’m on a route that many of my colleagues and former colleagues take to work, so I’ve caught up with a few people by just greeting them on the tram! It’s been great to see them, and all without the effort of organizing mutually-agreeable times, venues, etc.

On arrival at work, I had to renew my entrance badge because it had expired; for a moment I even had to think about which floor I was on. And then, as soon as I entered the office, change was obvious. We’ve got new decorations in the office of cardboard cutouts of trees standing in the middle of where you walk. Two new people were sitting where I used to sit and where Steph used to sit. In fact, many people seemed to have changed location.

I was placed at a different desk and had to register my card before I could book my desk, just as if I were a new person! It was nice, though, to see everyone again, to get all the greetings; even the cleaner welcomed me back, much to my astonishment.

I was reunited with the items I’d left in the office. I’d left a whole rucksack full of shoes in the office (trainers, walking shoes, shoes for snow, work shoes – all items I never wear in Egypt but are costly to buy new), so I was relieved that they’d not been thrown away. However, I’m not sure if I was being shown them as a hint to remove them or just to let me know they were there. It was probably a bit of both. I’d really like to leave them there for now as I don’t have anywhere else to put them. As an employee, I’m entitled to some cupboard space, surely…

Returning also means you have to do all your start-up tasks again. I had to buy a monthly season pass for the public transport. This really went fairly smoothly, only when I paid at the counter, their machine told me I’d got the wrong PIN for my Swiss account and I ended up putting it on my UK credit card (which means I’ll get currency change charges now). I got it wrong a second time when I paid for my year’s subscription to the swimming pool, so that too had to go on my credit card. In the evening, I hastily transferred some money across to make sure I could pay it. 

I avoided using my debit card after that but I knew sooner or later I would have to give it that third and final attempt. My cash ran out and I resorted to the number I first used, and on the third go, it worked. Phew!

I feel a bit panicked at how much money I’m spending. I’d forgotten that about Switzerland. But it’s also a feature of coming back as you have to buy everything all at once – your salt, your spices, your washing powder, your sugar, your shower gel, your soap, your rice… normally these are spread out a bit. This has made me pine for renting somewhere that’s mine. 

Although I’m starting to settle into the studio flat now, I keep on having to remind myself it’s only for five weeks and then I’m out. It’s not really “mine”. If I get any kind of contract extension longer than 3 months, I may try to see if I can rent a flat by offering to pay the year’s rent up-front, just so that I can settle myself a bit better (and also no longer burden my friends who I am registered with). It seems a bit of a waste of money, or a lot to pay for storage, basically, but I think maybe it’s psychologically worth it.

Zurich - A Six Week Stay

Home for the Next 5-6 Weeks

I’d had a bit of a trauma with organizing my recent trip to the UK due to the visa situation in Egypt. 

It used to be that UK citizens could get a year's visa in Egypt and multiple re-entry visas (meaning you can exit the country without having to reapply for a visa when you get back), plus you could renew the visa annually.  This is now seldom possible and there appear to be no rules for visas in Egypt, so getting a visa is now a bit down to luck. 

The only thing that seems to be relatively certain is that if you enter the country and get a one-month tourist visa at the airport, you can extend it for up to six months without much problem. Anything more than that, and it’s in the lap of the gods. There’s a facebook page set up for people to report back on their visa experiences in case we can work out what rules are being applied at any one time (the answer is that we can’t, apart from the above – although most people with cars seem to be able to get a year’s visa, but after that it’s a lottery). 

When I originally got my 6-month visa on my return to Egypt in mid-April, they wouldn’t let me have a re-entry visa.Anyway, I’d read on this facebook page that some people originally refused a re-entry visa had been given one once they took along their flight ticket to the passport office.

I duly did this before my recent UK trip and, yes, you guessed correctly, I was told that re-entry visas no longer exist. This meant that when I exited Egypt, my current visa was invalidated and I would have to go through the visa application process all over again . I wrote this on the facebook page and there seemed to be varying opinions on whether re-entry visas really had been stopped altogether. Such is Egypt.

As a result, I had to get a tourist, one-month visa from the airport when I recently returned from the UK. Because of this, I’ve decided to spend September and some of October back in Zurich rather than try to get a visa extension; Zurich is still my official place of residence and I need to spend some time there anyway to keep it as my main home (I always was going to go back at the end of September). I’m also hoping to retain a 60% work contract. Let’s see!

I’m officially living with some friends in Zurich, since with a work contract of less than a year, it’s hard to get accommodation. For this stay I decided to rent a small studio flat in Zurich via airbnb rather than stay at my official residence. This way, I could see whether I could cope with going back to living in a smaller space, and it would also let me see what it’s like to commute to work rather than to live within 10-15 minutes walking distance. The studio flat is also very central, so it’s a chance for me to see how I like staying right in the city centre.

As usual, I really didn't want to leave Egypt; each time I change country, I sulk about having to leave. When I left Zurich, I couldn't think why I wanted to go to Egypt. But once I arrive, I think it’s great to be in the new place. Although it’s an emotional upheaval,  I do like leading two completely different lives, and it's a good sign that I'm attached to both places.

I haven’t moved back and forth enough yet not to have any surprises on my return. So, this time, what I’d forgotten was how creamy the milk is in Switzerland – probably because I have skimmed UHT milk in Egypt and fresh semi-skimmed milk in Zurich. Having said that, the milk in Switzerland is noticeably creamier than in the UK. I’d also forgotten that I buy fresh milk in Switzerland, so on my first supermarket trip I was looking out for the shelves of UHT and then realized that wasn’t even what I wanted!

This time, for some reason, I was really taken by the architecture in Zurich. I love the old buildings. It’s really hot for September and it seems that the Swiss summer was postponed until now (so I’ve been lucky again). Consequently, I'm not missing the Egyptian sun, but I am missing my air conditioning. I find it quite hot at night and feel a bit frustrated that I can’t just turn on my air conditioning when I’m feeling too hot like I do in Egypt. Maybe I just haven’t adapted to being back to Switzerland yet and am actually still in a bit of a sulk!

Another thing that struck me this time was that because I’m living in a different area, I don’t actually know where to buy things. Each time I wanted to buy something slightly out of the ordinary, I could only think where to buy it where I used to live previously. But that’s quite a distance from where I am now, and I know there must be other places in the district where I'm living now. It’s almost like living in a different city. 

With all my moving about within Zurich, I’m starting to feel that I’ve experienced what it’s like to live in quite a lot of areas in the city (and there’s not been anywhere yet that I haven’t liked), although each move to a new district is its own learning experience.