Glattbrugg - A Swiss Welcome

The Newcomers Invade Opfikon

One really good thing they do in Switzerland – I have no idea if other countries do this (or even other Kantons other than Zurich, actually) – is that they organize an introductory day for people who have newly moved in to the area. You might think that this would be just an hour’s lecture and that would be it, but actually it is a fairly full-on itinerary, or at least it was in my case.

My one started off, I think at 9am in the fire station. This is just five minutes away from where I live, so it was very convenient. I walked up the road and could hear a brass band playing; there were balloons outside and people were wandering in. This was all to welcome us newcomers! You checked in and then there was tea, coffee and croissants available. At this point, I should probably say that, unusually for Switzerland, the whole event was free, including any drinks or food laid on at various junctures.

We were given a short talk by the fire station chief, and by various important people on the council, who explained their roles and responsibilities and what sections of the council do what. They played a short video – beset with technical difficulties (the band struck up again while we waited)  – and I was interested to see that they didn’t ignore the fact that this area is burdened with a lot of noise from the planes, but they did explain how much money the airport brought in (fair enough).

We had two huge buses and we must have been about 100 people. In Glattbrugg I think they run it just once a year; I got talking to one man who said he missed it last year and they let him attend this year’s one instead, which I thought was very good of them.

The buses took us round various points of interest. The first stop was the local library, which was actually my favorite stop, although we couldn’t stay there that long (I guess so that we didn’t disturb the users too much). The librarian explained what facilities they had and we were all presented with a year’s free pass. I even managed to find a book with dual text in German and Arabic!

We also went up the hill and into the centre of Opfikon, where I’d never been before and it’s actually a very pretty area, if rather small and not so easily accessible by public transport as where I am now. One of the farms had its entire roof covered with solar panels. From the top we could look over the whole area and our guide pointed out various landmarks.

We also visited the local football fields where a new bridge had been built across the river and they told us about little huts that you can rent out for events in the middle of the woods that were just across the road. We were given a while to wander, and I went to try to find these places, but I was too scared of losing the group to go too far, so I never did see them.

After that it was off to a children’s play area (not so interesting for me) and then, very weirdly, the bus took us to see the area where I work. I work in a fairly new area of Zurich (I think they said it’s been there 9 years) and it’s really not much to look at. However, it does have a canal just behind it and they’d set up a stall with free prosecco for us to have (I had at least two, maybe three). Soft drinks were also available, of course. It was a hot and sunny day, so perfect for sipping bubbles mid-morning!

We finished up at the local swimming pool, which of course I already know very well. The man I got talking to said it was going to be closed and refurbished soon since it was quite dated, which I didn’t know, but they didn’t tell us about that. We were treated to lunch there; a proper lunch where we were seated at tables and could go up to a buffet with various pasta dishes, I think we had a salad as starter, and fruit for dessert. There was a festival on in Glattbrugg that day so there was also a band playing in the background, too.

All in all, it was a very nice introduction to the area and it also gave you the chance to meet some of your other fellow new residents. It would be a good idea for this to be standard everywhere!