El Andalous - Back to Imperfection

The Path from the Beach to El Andalous

Maybe it was just that I didn’t have time to think about it, but I think this is the first time I’ve come back to Egypt without any apprehensions.

I’d upgraded again to a business flight since it wasn’t so much extra, only this time the plane was leaving 20 minutes earlier than previously so the business lounge wasn’t open even by the time I boarded. No wonder the upgrade didn’t cost much! And then, horror of horrors, instead of champagne as my welcoming drink, I was offered WATER. Maybe they could tell that I was a little hungover (thanks to celebrating Teresa’s new qualification as a professional cocktail mixer the night before)?

I sulked for a while about being given water but perked up when I got my food and forced down a glass of champagne just out of principle, despite the queasy stomach.

Finally back at my flat, only my balcony had been repaired; all the work I wanted done in the bathroom and bedroom was still waiting to be started. This time, it was my dishwasher that refused to work, so it was a traditional homecoming. Still, things could be worse.

Again, it felt like I arrived and had to hit the ground running. Various work was supposed to have been completed in the complex while I was away (eg, signs should have been put up about the beach and pool rules), people were complaining about rat infestations, children were running riot and throwing mattresses over the roof and down to the garden area. Or so people said. As a committee member, I got drawn in to helping to sort all this out with the management.

The reports of rat infestations were worrying since I’d lived through that once before and didn’t really want to go through it again. I’m still a bit jumpy even now if I hear an unidentified noise. Moreover, in my absence, one of my cupboards had suddenly collected hundreds of rodent droppings. I spent ages trying to clean it out and the smell wasn’t exactly conducive to getting down and scrubbing. I comforted myself that they were old droppings and no rodents were left in my flat, but I immediately turned on my sonar rat repellent just to make sure.

I’m still plagued by ants. I really don’t know where they come from. I had a sealed bag of rice, newly bought. I put it in my cupboard. When I took it out, there were a few ants on it, which I brushed off (metaphor for “heartlessly killed”). I cut open the bag of rice, went to pour the rice into an airtight container and as I poured, ants just appeared in the rice. It was like a magic trick where you can’t fathom out how what you’re seeing can happen. I can only think that I had some ants in my cupboard and there was a tiny hole in the new bag of rice that they squeezed through and then they hid themselves in the rice.

So, that was another afternoon spent scrubbing and dousing with crawling insect killer and then a dousing of vinegar for good measure. I have yet to see if this has worked in getting rid of them. They only seem to be in that one cupboard, my kitchen top, and my bin. They haven’t been round my bin since I finally resorted to the chemical killer, so I’m pinning my hopes on that. I feel cruel, but it’s horrifying seeing them crawling all over your food!

Then I had a leak from my air conditioning. Fortunately, we have a 24-hour plumber living on the premises, so he came straight away at 9pm and three others came to watch him (typical Egyptian way!). They removed the grid which is where the rats used to come into my flat, so I told them not to damage the netting in any way or the rats would come in afterwards. They seemed to find this amusing until they slid the grid off and tons of rat droppings spilled onto my kitchen floor. That was another afternoon of tidying up. They went everywhere.

And, of course, I still get the occasional cockroach.

So, if you think I lead the perfect life – well, my view is that the perfect life is not possible. Life is interesting because it throws up these challenges at all times. I still enjoy it, though, and my next blog will deal with cheerier things!

Zurich - Finishing Touches

A Busy Zurich Sky

At least part of the reason for forgetting my blog last week was because I was busy having to tie up lots of loose ends.

I did finally sign (and hopefully seal) the contract on my flat. What a relief! It felt like a close-run thing, though. The letting company phoned me when I was in the middle of a meeting at work, so I ignored the call and phoned them back when I was free. To my horror, the woman on the other end told me that the flat had already gone to someone else!

She then changed her mind and said that they would phone me back later. After half an hour of not being able to concentrate very well at work (I’d cancelled all my other flat applications! What was I going to do!), they called and explained that they just wanted the additional statement that I wasn’t being prosecuted for debt ; the previous call had been an automatic response because they’d been inundated with people calling about the flat. They said they’d take the advertisement off the website as from the next day. Phew.

Still, it panicked me into going physically to the authorities in order to get the statement (it turned out that the one I’d ordered online several days before had got delayed because they forgot to add the “care of” part of the address when they mailed it out) and then delivering it in person that afternoon.

I then had to sign my life away. They wouldn’t countersign the rental contract until the deposit had been paid in the bank. Then, and this is very Swiss, I had the additional cost of ordering nameplates for my mailbox, for the outside bell, and for beside my flat door in the building. In most flats in Switzerland, rental agents insist that everyone in the building has the same nameplate design, so everyone has to purchase these items through the same supplier. That was another 50 CHF slipping through my fingers.

Now I’ve got the flat, I’m coming round to the idea that this flat was actually the best option. I took the opportunity to have a quick look at the area. In addition to about 5 Chinese restaurants (?), I was delighted to see that there’s a swimming pool really nearby – it houses both an indoor pool (25m) and an outdoor pool (50m) in the summer. What’s not so good is that I bought myself a year’s swimming pass, but since I’m now living just outside of Zurich city, the pass isn’t valid for this pool. Drat! That’s another Swiss complication.

I also tried to change my postal redirection service now that I had my own address. This was another thing that I thought should be simple (just redirect my mail to my new address instead of the c/o address, please), but it wasn’t. They can’t just change the address. The contract has to be cancelled, which requires special permission. Then I have to pay for a new contract. The woman at the post office was exceptionally pleasant (which made me happy to be moving to the area – since it’s not Zurich city, maybe it’s not so impersonal either) and bent over backwards to help me. She said she’d do it all even if I wasn’t in the country, so I’m just hoping for the best there.

I also had to have a quick visit to the doctor’s as I’d fallen down (one minute I was walking along, the next moment, I was flat on the ground – no idea what happened!) while trying to locate one of the flats I was looking for. I still couldn’t use my thumb a week afterwards, so everyone was advising me to get it seen to. Fortunately, it turned out that I had no broken bones but was told it would take another three weeks for the pain to go. She was speaking in Swiss German, so I didn’t catch everything she was telling me (each time I asked for High German, she’d just say the last word in High German and then revert back to Swiss German).

Anyway, I don’t think I’ll ever fathom the Swiss insurance system. I was a bit nonplussed when the doctor wanted precise details (what day, where exactly, how did you fall, etc) until she explained that we both had to tell the insurer the same thing. I couldn’t remember the day or the name of the street. My doctor seemed to think this would come off my work’s insurance even if my employer was just a contracting company.

I can never quite work this out – in Switzerland your employer is legally obliged to pay for some of your health insurance and then you are obliged to pay for the rest. I’m never sure what is covered by whom. It’s difficult when you go on holiday and you are asked about your insurance, too, as I really don’t know which one to give or which one they should call in which circumstances (I think maybe all accidents are covered by work and illness is covered by you?). You have to have the obligatory personal health insurance since you are required to provide your insurance details to the authorities when you move (or they won’t let you be a resident) and the authorities now automatically inform your insurer of your change of address.

As for moving out this time, fortunately the rental of my studio included cleaning fees, but it still took me longer to move out than I’d calculated. I think it’s because I decided to keep as much as possible in Switzerland, so I was traipsing the long journey from my flat to the office while trying to make it look as if I was taking up as little room as possible in the office. It’s all behind Peter’s chair; I did apologise to him in advance and reassured him it would be gone by the end of November!

The new-found space in my suitcase was then occupied by five boxes of various cereals. It seems that Kellogg’s are no longer exporting to Egypt (possibly due to Egypt’s lack of foreign currency to pay debts) and I really don’t like Temy’s (the Egyptian brand). I had to keep it light because the handle of the wheels on my suitcase had broken en route to Switzerland; it has four wheels, so I can still push it, but currently it has to be with my left hand because of my sore thumb.

My flight back to Egypt was at the ungodly hour of 6.20am for departure, so I searched for a cheap hotel near the airport to help me have a few more hours sleep. I’m not sure it really worked as I was restless most of the night, but at least psychologically I felt I’d done all I could.

And all that, in part, is why I forgot last week’s blog!

Zurich - The Lost Blog

Museum Rietberg - Gardens of the World

Whoops, what with signing a contract on a new flat, moving out of the studio, returning to Egypt... I forgot to do my weekly blog. Thanks to Gerard for caring and for asking me what had happened; thanks to Willem for his continued interest, too. I'm fine, just forgetful, which really isn't anything new...

The photograph is from the Gardens of the World exhibition that I managed to see just before I left (at the Rietberg Museum). I have cacti growing outside my flat in Egypt!

Hopefully, business will be restored to usual next Monday!

Zurich - A Wedding and A Flat

Dining Area of (Maybe?) My New Flat - Current Tenant's Furnishings!

Generally, you are advised to keep to one topic per entry in a blog or it fails to have a sense of structure. I’m going to break this rule, although maybe I should have entitled this entry something like “General Weirdness in Switzerland” as that’s really the theme I want to tackle. Actually, the blog is really to record various differences in culture from a Brit’s perspective, so this is in keeping (that’s my excuse).

I don’t usually write about other people’s lives in my blog either as I think it is unethical. However, as a blog entry that breaks the rules, I’m going to break this rule too a little bit here on the principle that the majority of people are happy for weddings to be public knowledge (and it’s in the public register!).

Anyway, my friends Stephanie and Nicolas got married this week (congratulations!!) in Basel. I might have even ventured a photograph on this blog, but frustratingly I can't get my memory card out of my camera just now (the door sometimes jams and I just have to wait until it fixes itself).

This whole getting married thing is quite different over here in Switzerland. In the UK, you can choose when to get married and nowadays I think you can even choose your venue with virtually no restriction. If you want a popular date, say February 14th, you might need to book at least a year in advance, but subject to availability, you can do that.

In Switzerland, if my understanding is correct, you can only get married officially in a registrar’s office (any religious ceremony happens afterwards and is not legally binding) and you can’t choose the date. You apply to get married and then, if they accept your application, they give you three date options for your wedding and you choose which one of those suits you best. See what I mean – weird, huh? If you need to organize a wedding with people coming from far-flung places, it’s not the most convenient system, but I guess the flip side is that it’s all very organized.

The ceremony itself all sounded very Swiss (despite being held in English), particularly at the beginning, where the registrar stated to those attending that this was the only place where one could get legally married. She also advised the audience that the records of the applicants had been examined and it appeared that all the documentation was in order; therefore, the marriage was now permitted to take place. I can’t imagine something so official being said as part of a wedding ceremony in the UK! I don’t remember that from my friend Lena’s wedding in Switzerland, but maybe it passed me by at the time if it was in Swiss German (I can’t quite recall now).

I won’t say too much more for the reasons given at the top of this blog entry, but would just like to add that it was a fabulous day – I met new people, spoke to some I hadn’t seen for ages, drank a bit too much for midday… The weather was perfect and the old town of Basel is stunning in the sunshine, as were the bride and groom. There was also a lovely reading at the service about love and friendship.

The day was made even better for me in that I received a phone call while I was on the train getting there to inform me that I was being offered a flat in Zurich (just outside the city centre). Actually, thinking about it, it was a bit like the wedding ceremony, as they started off telling me that they’d checked with my employer and my last landlady and my references were both OK, so having passed examination, they would now like to offer me the flat.

Of course, things over here are never quite that simple. They now wanted an additional official statement that I wasn’t being prosecuted for debt pertaining to my previous Swiss address and not just my current one. They also said they needed the original documents and not just a photocopy (I don’t really understand the need for this, but hey ho, that’s how it is). I explained that this could take a few days to get, but they seemed happy enough with that.

I said I was going to be away until mid-November, so couldn’t enter the flat on 1st November, but that I’d pay the rent from then and it wasn’t a problem. Maybe it’s just me, but I sensed a bit of displeasure when I said this (I hope it wasn’t regret on their part as I don’t have the contract yet!). I didn’t think it would be an issue. In the UK, the agent has the keys and they just let you have the flat when you want it. Here, though, they said I had to move in on 1st November and I’d need to get a power of attorney for someone else to be there for the handover. I said I could do this easily, but actually, I’m a little bit worried!

On reflection, I think it’s to ensure that you don’t have any complaints about the flat that they would need to deduct from the previous tenant’s deposit. Just as when you move out of a flat, they detail every single flaw and make you pay for the slightest mark on any surface, when you move in, you have to be just as thorough so that you don’t pay for the previous tenant's “damage”. Anyway, it’s a totally different ball game from in the UK.

I cancelled the four viewings I had lined up, so I hope nothing happens now to stop me from getting this flat. I was convinced it would go to a family, so am really pleased to have got it. Finally, I’ve got some leisure time back!

Zurich - International Film Festival

People Watching a Film at Pavillion of Reflections

The Zurich International Film Festival has just come to an end and I tried to maximize my time as much as possible (despite the flat hunt!).

Switzerland actually has quite a few film festivals – the most famous one is probably the one in Locarno; there’s also an animation film festival and other such events around Switzerland. This was the 12th Zurich International Film Festival, so it’s a relatively young event, but gets bigger each year. On this occasion, we had Hugh Grant, Ewan McGregor, and the guy who plays Harry Potter (among others) coming along and giving talks / receiving prizes.

A bit like getting accommodation in Switzerland, I tried to get tickets to see Hugh Grant receive his award, but tickets were sold out within 10 minutes of sales opening. This seems to be a bit of a theme in my life just now.

Nevertheless, I bought myself an afternoon pass, which cost 59 CHF and let me go into all performances for free that started before 6pm. Since one film costs 22 CHF, it doesn’t take much to get your money back (so to speak). I don’t work most afternoons, so this suited me just fine.

I must have seen about seven films in total. On some occasions, the director or producer is there to talk a bit about the film and to take questions afterwards. It’s very interesting, but can also be a bit stressful if there aren’t many people in the audience and everyone is waiting for someone else to ask a question. The moderator, of course, always has questions to fill in, but that tension is still there (at least in my head it is, even if it isn’t in anyone else’s head!). Each film has a speaker welcoming you to the Film Festival and introducing the film before it starts, so it is different from just a normal cinema viewing.

Annoyingly, they really want you to get your tickets at the Festival Centre and not at the cinema (or at least, this is the case for Corso, where virtually all my films have been). It’s annoying, because it’s easier just to get the ticket from where you need to be rather than making an extra detour, even if it’s only just across the road. Moreover, the Corso, which usually has up to four desks open for giving out tickets, had only one desk open for the Festival. Madness! It’s not what I expect from Switzerland.

The film blurbs generally tell you what language the film is in and what language(s) the subtitles are in. However, sometimes, this really isn’t that clear. For instance, I saw Vollmond which said it was in Swiss German, French, and Italian and had German subtitles. I thought this meant that the Swiss German would also have subtitles, but it didn’t. The subtitles were only for the French and Italian, so most of the film was in a language that I struggled to understand (I maybe caught about 40% - enough to get the gist, but I also felt I missed a fair amount).

This also happened with a Tim Roth film where it was supposed to be in English and Spanish with German subtitles, but it was actually pretty much all in Spanish. I was OK with the subtitles, but Caterina, who came with me, was totally lost.

I am probably sounding a bit grumpy, but that’s not really the case. I’d deliberately timed my stay in Switzerland to coincide with the Film Festival, so that’s how enthusiastic about it I really am! Moreover, the afternoon film pass is great value and since I never go to the cinema in Egypt, it was nice for me to have a chance to overdose (although I don’t feel like I’ve overdosed!).

Another fantastic feature of the festival was the free showing of films in the Pavillion of Reflections (pictured in an earlier blog). This is a temporary wooden structure going out into the lake. You cross over to it via a wooden bridge that wobbles a bit as the water pushes against it. It has a screen area in the middle of the water with seating around a boxed-in portion of the lake. Bar seating is around the edges.

I wandered down spontaneously on Friday, and got a bit sidetracked by seeing someone who was obviously famous (only I had no idea who he was!) surrounded by people wanting their photos taken with him. It really added to the atmosphere. I then ambled over to the Pavillion of Reflections, bought myself a prosecco, and watched two very interesting shorts with the water occasionally lapping up to my shoes. Again, the weather was exceptionally mild, so it was a great experience.

I hope I am able to go again next year.