It had to happen

I had to move to Switzerland in order to see G's to Gents for the first time. Stooopid.

Swiss Banking Rules: Reason #1

Welcome to your new fancy-pants "Swiss Bank Account." Please find enclosed an RSA SecureID thingie to use when accessing your account online ... Can you imagine Wells Fargo rolling this out to all their banking customers?

first day at work

So I had my first day at work. got the laptop, company phone, lots of paperwork, project overview etc etc. so my original understanding of this position was that it was all or mostly in English. turns out, since the full-timers now know I speak German, well, it's all in German. My life definitely just got harder. having learned German before say, the cell phone existed, my ability to express things such as "I followed the instructions but the darn'd thing still tells me the SIM card is invalid. yes, I tried it twice" are lacking. hopefully I'll figure it out. oh, you say I should have received an email with instructions on how to activate the SIM card? Well I need the phone to call the help desk in order to reset my password first. Yes, I must have missed the "IT Support" chapter in Unsere Freunde (a little insider joke for those who learned German in the early 80's). Oh, and the Y and Z are switched on a German keyboard. Just for fun.

And this is the view from the front door to the office building. step outside, cows. Ok, they're horses and you can barely see them. either way, it smells like the country if you know what I mean.


On another note, went out for drinks to wish one of the consultants a fond farewell. Soneone decides to start a debate about "what country gets what." Sort of a party chat game. the goal is to debate which country is known for which edible/drinkable item. Example: what do you think of when you think of wine. Italy? France? Discuss. Don't stop until wine is awarded to either France or Italy. Continue with bread. A French baguette? Dunno, the Germans have bread too. Good bread. And really, India has awesome nahn, which is a bread. But are they known for it? Who gets rice - India or China. Bring in cheese and folks start going ballistic. Add in the fact that you have French, Italians, Germans, Swiss, Egyptians, English, Americans, Indians and Dutch all participating. A rousing good time.


Gratuitous view of Bern from an apartment I looked at today.

A few pictures from walking around Berne yesterday

A view from the Kirchenfeldbrücke

Looking across the Kirchenfeldbrücke

Berne pedestrian zone

Swiss graffiti

Welcome to Berne

Welcome to Berne. Please find enclosed your supply of Potassium iodide which is to be used only in case of nuclear attack.

I think this must happen a lot over here. Being neutral doesn't mean of course that they don't participate in a good deal of nuclear weapons exchange just for fun you know.

First setting foot in Bern ...

The flight from München to Bern was on a twin engine puddle jumper plane. In München you wait at the concourse until they announce the boarding, walk down a few fights of stairs to find out you are NOT getting onto a plane. You are getting on a bus. Then they drive you around for a bit and drop you off at a really small plane. You fly for under an hour atop Bavarian and Swiss rooftops, you see some cows, then you land on a short runway. Get off the plane and see this.

One Husband Shipped

Colin left yesterday to begin the journey. We were both very sad. Noah's been sick, so he's more focused on coughing and sleeping. Of course, on the way to the airport we were thinking we've planned this part all wrong. A month between his departure and ours seems too long now. We shall see what happens. All part of the learning process and our future best-seller helping new expats follow our path. There seems to be a lot of disparate information about moving abroad, but nothing consistent, helpful, or reliable.