Dear family and friends,
Well, we made it! We arrived on the morning of Jan. 12 with four huge suitcases and our ski equipment. We were worried that our stuff was not going to make it, or we would get stopped at customs, but everything went very smoothly. Our flight arrived at 7:30 AM, half an hour early. All our bags were waiting for us at the baggage claim and there was no wait at the customs line. Even the carts you have to pay for in the US were available to use for free. We looked at each other, thinking how things were never this easy at Newark, where both of us had flown into only one week before – where our flight was delayed by two hours due to "Air Traffic Control" delay and where we had to wait an hour and a half at the baggage claim, as it was "temporary malfunctioning". After walking thru customs, we spotted the realtor E&Y provided to take us to look at apartments, register with the Swiss authorities, and open a Swiss bank account. We were to our corporate apartment a little after 8 AM. Amazing.
We were both very tired from the overnight flight and 6 hour time change, but the realtor had four apartments or flats, as they are called here, for us to see. We were not sure what to expect or really near where we were looking. They all were similar to a New York City apartment, in terms of size, but had some differences – no apartments here come with light fixtures (there are only wires hanging from the ceiling), few apartments have closets, and all the apartments have terraces. We ended up choosing the first one we looked at, as it had the best location, even though it was smaller than the others we looked at. It is located on the corner of two busy streets, with 4 or 5 tram lines running by, and adjacent to the Kunsthaus (Museum of Art). The Kunsthaus is a fantastic art museum that displays Western works since the 1600s and has an especially impressive selection of modern art. Across the street from our apartment is the Schauspielhaus (Theator House). This is a very famous theater that has hosted performances directed by numerous great playwrights and continues to serve as Zürich's most popular dramatic venue. It is only about a five minute walk to the north lake of Zürichsee, the site of our engagement and very close to the city. Also, it is a two bedroom place, so any visitors will be very comfortable!
The next morning, we woke up fully rested ready to experience Switzerland fully alert. Chris took a shower and plugged in her hairdryer, but forgot to turn the switch to 240 Volts! After the smoke cleared, Steve decided to try to find another one and pick up something to eat from the grocery store down the street. The grocery store was quite an experience. He was told everyone spoke English – this is not true. He walked around the store in shock, partially from how expensive everything is and partially from how small quantities everything is. He managed to buy the necessities, as well as a new hair dryer. However, he encountered some major problems at the checkout line. First, groceries stores, as well as lots of other stores, do not take credit cards. Luckily, we had converted enough cash to Francs. Second, you must weigh your own produce when you pick it out and print out a label for it. He did not know this and the cashier figured out really quickly I didn't speak German, so she ran over to the produce section to weigh my bananas for me. This is still a problem, as we do not know the German words (to obtain the code to input into the scale) for many of the fruits and vegetables we buy. However, Steve has found a fix of this problem – they don't check the label at the checkout, so we weigh and price everything as the cheapest thing ( i.e., carrots or onions), even though we buy a lot of high end produce. We figure we can always act like we don't understand (which we don't) if they catch us. Third, the cashier kept pointing to the hairdryer I just purchased and motioning me to go to the customer service desk. I thought this was odd, as she already rang up the hairdryer and I had paid, but I took the hair dryer and walked to the customer service desk. She didn't speak English either and had a piece of paper with a "2" on it. Steve thought he had to pay a 2 franc tax or registration fee. So, he tried giving her money, and she kept shaking her head. In the end, she wanted the receipt and gave us a two year warranty. Finally, just when Steve thought he was home free, he had to bag his groceries. He looked for bags at the end of the checkout line, and noticed only very small white bags that could hold about 2 oranges. He looked at what everyone else was doing and they had these paper huge bags with the stores logo on it. Well, given none of the checkouts had these, Steve started to put the groceries into these small bags. After about 15 of them, he headed home. We realized after the third trip to the grocery store, you have to buy these bags before you check out and many people reuse them over and over.
That afternoon, we were invited for a weekend of skiing in St. Moritz, as E&Y has a risk management partners meeting/ski weekend every year. St. Moritz is located in the Swiss Alps, about 2.5 hours from Zürich, and very close to the Italian and Austrian borders. It was the site of two winter Olympic Games and some great shopping stores (some of the stores only had two locations – St. Moritz and New York City!). The second night was our favorite. After a full day of skiing over 3,300 meters above sea level, we showered and a bus took us a few kilometers out of the village. After we got out of the bus, they wrapped us in blankets and gave us a glass of warm Italian wine and sent us up the mountain on a chair lift. There was a full moon, which lit up the side of the mountain and all the villages down below. At the top of the mountain, it was about a 400 meter walk to an amazing restaurant with equally impressive views.
We got back to Zürich Sunday night and the next morning Steve went to his first day of work. Everyone was very nice and understanding when he asks them to translate an e-mail or letter for him. So far, he has noticed some remarkable differences compared to New York. The work/life balance is much more tilted toward "life" – as the office is pretty quiet by 18:00 (6 PM). Most of the stores close early, and even earlier on Saturday, while being completely closed on Sundays, so most people do their personal errands during lunch or right after work. There are many coffee breaks during the day (10AM, after lunch, and again at 3PM). And then there is lunch. No one eats at their desk or grabs a quick bite or sandwich. Lunch means going to a sit-down restaurant and taking an hour to an hour and a half. We are really going to like it here!
The second week here was the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, probably a two hour train ride from Zürich. E&Y's global CEO, as well as Switzerland CEO, were speakers at the global event, which includes most CEO from the world's largest companies. However, Steve found out not everyone is a fan of globalization in Switzerland. On the first day of the event, Steve arrived at the E&Y office, only to find it taped off with police tape. There were a bunch of people standing around talking to each other, but not knowing the language and living the last five years in NYC, Steve thought someone was murdered. Fortunately, it turned out to be some protesters who had covered the E&Y building with paint bombs. See attached picture.
The following weekend, we decided to go skiing with some other ex-pats. While skiing in St. Moritz, we realized everyone here is an expert skier and the runs are much more difficult than what we were used to growing up in Minnesota. However, the chair lift proved to be a bigger challenge than the ski hill. With about one more hour of daylight, we were trying to get in a few more runs. While getting off the chairlift, Steve's snow pants got caught on a screw. Only after trying to get off the chair lift at the top of the mountain, did he realized he was caught. He turned to try to pull his snow pants off, but by this time the chair lift was going back up to turn around. His pocket ripped off, spilling everything in it, this put him in quite a tangle and caused him to hit his head on the chair lift. Finally, the woman operating the lift looked up from the book she was reading and stopped the lift. We managed to collect Steve's things and get him up, after shutting down the lift for about 5 minutes. Luckily, the nearest gondola was only about 50 meters away. Steve had quite a bump on his head, but quickly recovered with the help of a beer while we waited for the others to finish skiing for the day.
On Friday, February 3, our furniture arrived and we were able to move into our permanent place. We had been looking forward to this, since we had learned everything is smaller in Switzerland, except the mountains. We were told to ship everything we wanted to, so that included the 2 queen mattresses with box springs and the leather, double reclining sofa and oversized leather reclining chair. No one sleeps on a box spring over here and most of the furniture is just a few inches off of the ground. Let's just say, the movers had never seen furniture that heavy or big. And given all the elevators here only fit about two people comfortably, they had to bring it up the 3 flights of stairs. Chris tipped them well and we spent the rest of the weekend unpacking all the boxes.
Sunday was the Superbowl and Steve's birthday. It was a nice, low-key birthday during the day, but given the partner Steve works for here is from Pittsburgh originally, we met him and another ex-pat partner at Nelson's Pub (no joke) at midnight to watch the game (the 6 hour time difference from NYC really hurt us here). We missed watching the American commercials; however, since the game was played on a European channel. It was a good time, but Monday morning came awfully early, as we didn't get home until 5 AM.
We had quite an experience this last weekend when we rented a car for the first time to go to IKEA. Given most of the cars here have a manual transmission, Chris had to drive. She hadn't driven a stick shift since she was 16. It was quite a challenge, first figuring out how to drive in Zürich when we didn't know where we were going, with Trams on the streets, one-ways with odd turns here and there, as well as roundabouts. Second, we didn't know what the signs meant on the highways or that the slow-lane is on the right side. Adding to everything that Chris was driving the manual, it made for an interesting Saturday. We learned that cars here do have horns in them (up until this point it has been very peaceful). We've never been so happy just to make it home safely!
Otherwise, getting settled, exploring Z ürich, and taking German lessons have been occupying our free time. We truly enjoyed seeing everyone over the holidays and at our wedding, if you are interested you can view our wedding photos at http://www.frozenintime.biz/ Click on Galleries, and Nelson/Devereaux Wedding & Reception.
Love, Steve and Chris
P.S. Our new address is Hottingerstrasse 5, 8032 Zurich. Letters, but no packages, can be sent to us at: P.O. 895, Rutherford, NJ 07070 and will be bundled by E & Y each Sunday and sent to us by the following Wednesday. We also have a U.S. phone number (917) 673-2151, just keep in mind the 6 or 7 hour time difference. Keep in touch!
You received this monthly newsletter because you either subscribed to it or we value your friendship (or you are related to one of us). If you would no longer like to receive this newsletter, please send an e-mail to mailto:nelsonsinzurich@gmail.comwith "Remove" in the subject line. Remember, we will never sell your personal information to anyone, ever.
Well, we made it! We arrived on the morning of Jan. 12 with four huge suitcases and our ski equipment. We were worried that our stuff was not going to make it, or we would get stopped at customs, but everything went very smoothly. Our flight arrived at 7:30 AM, half an hour early. All our bags were waiting for us at the baggage claim and there was no wait at the customs line. Even the carts you have to pay for in the US were available to use for free. We looked at each other, thinking how things were never this easy at Newark, where both of us had flown into only one week before – where our flight was delayed by two hours due to "Air Traffic Control" delay and where we had to wait an hour and a half at the baggage claim, as it was "temporary malfunctioning". After walking thru customs, we spotted the realtor E&Y provided to take us to look at apartments, register with the Swiss authorities, and open a Swiss bank account. We were to our corporate apartment a little after 8 AM. Amazing.
We were both very tired from the overnight flight and 6 hour time change, but the realtor had four apartments or flats, as they are called here, for us to see. We were not sure what to expect or really near where we were looking. They all were similar to a New York City apartment, in terms of size, but had some differences – no apartments here come with light fixtures (there are only wires hanging from the ceiling), few apartments have closets, and all the apartments have terraces. We ended up choosing the first one we looked at, as it had the best location, even though it was smaller than the others we looked at. It is located on the corner of two busy streets, with 4 or 5 tram lines running by, and adjacent to the Kunsthaus (Museum of Art). The Kunsthaus is a fantastic art museum that displays Western works since the 1600s and has an especially impressive selection of modern art. Across the street from our apartment is the Schauspielhaus (Theator House). This is a very famous theater that has hosted performances directed by numerous great playwrights and continues to serve as Zürich's most popular dramatic venue. It is only about a five minute walk to the north lake of Zürichsee, the site of our engagement and very close to the city. Also, it is a two bedroom place, so any visitors will be very comfortable!
The next morning, we woke up fully rested ready to experience Switzerland fully alert. Chris took a shower and plugged in her hairdryer, but forgot to turn the switch to 240 Volts! After the smoke cleared, Steve decided to try to find another one and pick up something to eat from the grocery store down the street. The grocery store was quite an experience. He was told everyone spoke English – this is not true. He walked around the store in shock, partially from how expensive everything is and partially from how small quantities everything is. He managed to buy the necessities, as well as a new hair dryer. However, he encountered some major problems at the checkout line. First, groceries stores, as well as lots of other stores, do not take credit cards. Luckily, we had converted enough cash to Francs. Second, you must weigh your own produce when you pick it out and print out a label for it. He did not know this and the cashier figured out really quickly I didn't speak German, so she ran over to the produce section to weigh my bananas for me. This is still a problem, as we do not know the German words (to obtain the code to input into the scale) for many of the fruits and vegetables we buy. However, Steve has found a fix of this problem – they don't check the label at the checkout, so we weigh and price everything as the cheapest thing ( i.e., carrots or onions), even though we buy a lot of high end produce. We figure we can always act like we don't understand (which we don't) if they catch us. Third, the cashier kept pointing to the hairdryer I just purchased and motioning me to go to the customer service desk. I thought this was odd, as she already rang up the hairdryer and I had paid, but I took the hair dryer and walked to the customer service desk. She didn't speak English either and had a piece of paper with a "2" on it. Steve thought he had to pay a 2 franc tax or registration fee. So, he tried giving her money, and she kept shaking her head. In the end, she wanted the receipt and gave us a two year warranty. Finally, just when Steve thought he was home free, he had to bag his groceries. He looked for bags at the end of the checkout line, and noticed only very small white bags that could hold about 2 oranges. He looked at what everyone else was doing and they had these paper huge bags with the stores logo on it. Well, given none of the checkouts had these, Steve started to put the groceries into these small bags. After about 15 of them, he headed home. We realized after the third trip to the grocery store, you have to buy these bags before you check out and many people reuse them over and over.
That afternoon, we were invited for a weekend of skiing in St. Moritz, as E&Y has a risk management partners meeting/ski weekend every year. St. Moritz is located in the Swiss Alps, about 2.5 hours from Zürich, and very close to the Italian and Austrian borders. It was the site of two winter Olympic Games and some great shopping stores (some of the stores only had two locations – St. Moritz and New York City!). The second night was our favorite. After a full day of skiing over 3,300 meters above sea level, we showered and a bus took us a few kilometers out of the village. After we got out of the bus, they wrapped us in blankets and gave us a glass of warm Italian wine and sent us up the mountain on a chair lift. There was a full moon, which lit up the side of the mountain and all the villages down below. At the top of the mountain, it was about a 400 meter walk to an amazing restaurant with equally impressive views.
We got back to Zürich Sunday night and the next morning Steve went to his first day of work. Everyone was very nice and understanding when he asks them to translate an e-mail or letter for him. So far, he has noticed some remarkable differences compared to New York. The work/life balance is much more tilted toward "life" – as the office is pretty quiet by 18:00 (6 PM). Most of the stores close early, and even earlier on Saturday, while being completely closed on Sundays, so most people do their personal errands during lunch or right after work. There are many coffee breaks during the day (10AM, after lunch, and again at 3PM). And then there is lunch. No one eats at their desk or grabs a quick bite or sandwich. Lunch means going to a sit-down restaurant and taking an hour to an hour and a half. We are really going to like it here!
The second week here was the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, probably a two hour train ride from Zürich. E&Y's global CEO, as well as Switzerland CEO, were speakers at the global event, which includes most CEO from the world's largest companies. However, Steve found out not everyone is a fan of globalization in Switzerland. On the first day of the event, Steve arrived at the E&Y office, only to find it taped off with police tape. There were a bunch of people standing around talking to each other, but not knowing the language and living the last five years in NYC, Steve thought someone was murdered. Fortunately, it turned out to be some protesters who had covered the E&Y building with paint bombs. See attached picture.
The following weekend, we decided to go skiing with some other ex-pats. While skiing in St. Moritz, we realized everyone here is an expert skier and the runs are much more difficult than what we were used to growing up in Minnesota. However, the chair lift proved to be a bigger challenge than the ski hill. With about one more hour of daylight, we were trying to get in a few more runs. While getting off the chairlift, Steve's snow pants got caught on a screw. Only after trying to get off the chair lift at the top of the mountain, did he realized he was caught. He turned to try to pull his snow pants off, but by this time the chair lift was going back up to turn around. His pocket ripped off, spilling everything in it, this put him in quite a tangle and caused him to hit his head on the chair lift. Finally, the woman operating the lift looked up from the book she was reading and stopped the lift. We managed to collect Steve's things and get him up, after shutting down the lift for about 5 minutes. Luckily, the nearest gondola was only about 50 meters away. Steve had quite a bump on his head, but quickly recovered with the help of a beer while we waited for the others to finish skiing for the day.
On Friday, February 3, our furniture arrived and we were able to move into our permanent place. We had been looking forward to this, since we had learned everything is smaller in Switzerland, except the mountains. We were told to ship everything we wanted to, so that included the 2 queen mattresses with box springs and the leather, double reclining sofa and oversized leather reclining chair. No one sleeps on a box spring over here and most of the furniture is just a few inches off of the ground. Let's just say, the movers had never seen furniture that heavy or big. And given all the elevators here only fit about two people comfortably, they had to bring it up the 3 flights of stairs. Chris tipped them well and we spent the rest of the weekend unpacking all the boxes.
Sunday was the Superbowl and Steve's birthday. It was a nice, low-key birthday during the day, but given the partner Steve works for here is from Pittsburgh originally, we met him and another ex-pat partner at Nelson's Pub (no joke) at midnight to watch the game (the 6 hour time difference from NYC really hurt us here). We missed watching the American commercials; however, since the game was played on a European channel. It was a good time, but Monday morning came awfully early, as we didn't get home until 5 AM.
We had quite an experience this last weekend when we rented a car for the first time to go to IKEA. Given most of the cars here have a manual transmission, Chris had to drive. She hadn't driven a stick shift since she was 16. It was quite a challenge, first figuring out how to drive in Zürich when we didn't know where we were going, with Trams on the streets, one-ways with odd turns here and there, as well as roundabouts. Second, we didn't know what the signs meant on the highways or that the slow-lane is on the right side. Adding to everything that Chris was driving the manual, it made for an interesting Saturday. We learned that cars here do have horns in them (up until this point it has been very peaceful). We've never been so happy just to make it home safely!
Otherwise, getting settled, exploring Z ürich, and taking German lessons have been occupying our free time. We truly enjoyed seeing everyone over the holidays and at our wedding, if you are interested you can view our wedding photos at http://www.frozenintime.biz/ Click on Galleries, and Nelson/Devereaux Wedding & Reception.
Love, Steve and Chris
P.S. Our new address is Hottingerstrasse 5, 8032 Zurich. Letters, but no packages, can be sent to us at: P.O. 895, Rutherford, NJ 07070 and will be bundled by E & Y each Sunday and sent to us by the following Wednesday. We also have a U.S. phone number (917) 673-2151, just keep in mind the 6 or 7 hour time difference. Keep in touch!
You received this monthly newsletter because you either subscribed to it or we value your friendship (or you are related to one of us). If you would no longer like to receive this newsletter, please send an e-mail to mailto:nelsonsinzurich@gmail.comwith "Remove" in the subject line. Remember, we will never sell your personal information to anyone, ever.
