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!