Zurich - Still Learning

Christmas in Zurich - Only Swarowski Decorations Will Do!

I had 16 days in Zurich. As usual, I expected to have quite a bit of free time now that I’m working only 60%, but the reality was that my life seemed to fast-forward with no time to pause!

This is the first time I’ve had my own lights installed in a flat. Before, I’ve always used standard lamps, but there are relatively few sockets in my new flat and it seemed easier just to install some lights straight away. It was also an opportunity to find out how this all worked. It turned out to be a bit of an eye-opener for me as this is one thing that is very different in Switzerland than in the UK.

As in last week’s blog, when you move into a flat in Switzerland, you just have wires sticking out of the ceiling, so you have to get an electrician in. What I hadn’t realized is that the Swiss pretty much only buy complete hanging lamps for their homes. In the UK, when you move into a new flat, you usually have a cable coming down with a socket attached into which the new tenant will insert a bulb and add their own lampshade. No electrician required.

Consequently, as a Brit, I just thought I had to get the electrician to put in the cable and the socket for the bulb and then I could choose my lampshades at my leisure. When the electrician came and I asked him to do this, he looked at me as if I was completely nuts!

He looked at the lampshade that I had, laughed, and told me that I’d forgotten to take the cable and the socket with me. I explained that for a Brit, bringing just a lampshade was normal. He shook his head and said he didn’t carry cable with him and I’d have to order it and he’d have to treat it like a repair job. It was bizarre, although he no doubt thought that it was me who was being strange. There was a little friction at first, in part because I couldn’t really believe what I was hearing (“huh, you don’t carry any cable with you or any sockets?”), but once he realized I wasn’t going to go into a strop, he lightened up and ended up being very pleasant.

Anyway, although I had two strip lights and one other light that he could hang, I had to postpone doing the rest of the lights until I’d bought some more lights. This meant I had the trauma of having to use my phone and speak in German again to make another appointment, but once I’d got round to it, it was fine, actually.

Steph had bought a light from Ikea for me that I had chosen, but I hadn’t realized that my ceilings were so low. I had to move my furniture around so that the light would hang somewhere where no-one would walk, otherwise it would just be in the way. I’d also forgotten that, with it being Ikea, some construction would be required. I spent about four hours fixing 84 snowflake shapes to the shade!

You’d think that with an entire nation needing to buy hanging lights, shops would be full of them. However, I found it surprisingly hard to find anywhere with a large selection – particularly since I failed to get to Ikea myself. Migros had only one left of the one I wanted – they had a few beautiful, more expensive lights, but I’m not willing to spend that much when I’m on only a temporary contract. I had no idea that this fixing lights malarkey would be so time-consuming!

I learned another lesson about Swiss life when I asked the letting agent to get a plumber to sort out my shower for me. I actually needed the plumber to sort out my shower, a dripping tap, a blocked basin, and a radiator that wouldn’t turn off. I just mentioned the shower because that was the most important thing and it was otherwise rather a lot to explain in German. I thought it would be easier just to show the plumber when he or she came round.

The plumber eventually came round and sorted out my shower, reluctantly agreed to unblock my basin but, to my surprise, he refused to do anything else. He said he couldn’t do it, because he needed the agreement first from the letting agency. It was so frustrating as it will be another call-out charge. I got the impression that he was in a bit of a rush, so I’m not sure if I was also a bit unlucky, but it had never occurred to me that there had to be some kind of formal agreement with the letting agent before he could do it. That’s what I get for being too lazy to explain things properly, but it’s also a good example of how much the Swiss like to live by rules and to abide by timekeeping.

I also find it quite astonishing that after having been in Switzerland for about 9 years (including my years away in Egypt), I’m still learning new things about the culture!