Sunday, January 23, 2011

Life in the Big Smoke

Well, folks, the contracts have been signed – Dunc starts work at Google on Feb 7. In the meantime, we have been offered a ‘relocation package’ which includes:
  • one month in a temporary apartment in Zurich;
  • someone to assist us with finding a more permanent place of residence, to help with bank accounts, to demystify health insurance and generally assist with all those ugly things;
  • free shipping of all our possessions from Australia, if we so choose (but not free shipping of it all BACK... so not sure what possessions we will choose to relocate...);
  • a nice big fat lump sum to ‘assist with the particulars of relocation’, which apparently includes such things as registering with the municipal office, connecting telephones, new seasonal wardrobes, etc. But, no dosh will come our way until March, so until then I’m still following around the lady with the ‘50% Off’ stickers at the supermarket...

Hence, we have now moved (via bicycle, I might add) from our little mountain view studio to a fandangled modern apartment in the very centre of Zurich, temporarily. The little balcony and our view makes me feel a little like we are living in Paris, and I’m loving it.

The view from our dining table out onto the balcony

There are great little cafes everywhere, I’ve signed up for six months of yoga, have an audition for the Female Funk Project Choir on Wednesday and have sent a bunch of emails to other singing groups in the area. Also, shock of all shocks, they have a Zurich Netball Association that I’m hoping to get my teeth into! And an indoor beach volleyball centre! I have a new book to read (Room by Emma Donoghue – it is brilliant so far!), am getting back into the writing groove and have dyed my hair back to ‘dark blonde’. There is the Uetliberg (a mighty mammoth hill) right behind us, but other than that there are no hills whatsoever, so I am riding my bike everywhere, ensuring I wear gloves and tuck my ears into my beanie, as it is freaking freezing! Ah, life in the big smoke.

My little local cafe

Dunc, however, has taken a bit longer to warm up to the move. He was going for 40-50km rides around every second day back in Boll, climbing mountains and adventuring. As soon as we arrived here and realised we could very easily spy on dozens of people across the road in their office blocks and apartments (and we assume vice-versa) he felt a little ‘claustrophobic’. Also, he thought the apartment was trying to kill him – within an hour he had bashed into every possible corner that his shin could reach and had stripped the skin off his toes in some debacle with the wardrobe. Poor chicken!

Meanwhile, it has a bath and an oven and a coffee machine and a dishwasher and two pillows, so it’s quite an upgrade. We keep laughing about how dysfunctional it is, though, with small things like not being able to access the bin while the dishwasher is open, and having the towel rack inside the shower. Also, it actually feels very strange to be sleeping in a big bed after having to be either big or little spoon at all times in order to actually fit. And, true to European sleeping fashion, we each have our own single-sized doona. Many people rave about the brilliance of such a plan, but we are yet to really see the benefits. It makes it feel lonely. I suppose it’s all one step closer to spending the days apart once he starts work.

The kitchen/dining room. We also have a lounge and a separate bedroom and a separate bathroom and a separate toilet! They all have doors!

It is strange how we had become so used to the nuances of a small village. No-one says ‘Good Morning’ or ‘Hello’ when they pass you on the street here. There’s a wide choice of supermarkets – standard, Turkish, Asian, health food stores - all within 300m of our front door. There are groups of friends that all speak English to each other in different accents (Zurich is a bit of an expat hub)which I had never noticed in Bern, let alone boll. One of the television channels even has some shows in English in the evenings!

Today, Dunc has gone snow-boarding with one of our old friends from Perth (who is also here working for google) as well as a couple of other people. Yes, I should have gone too, but I chose instead to spend the day writing. The 5.45am alarm was just a final kicker. And also, to be honest, everyone here knows how to do it already, and if you speak to people about being a beginner, they pummel you with stories of broken bones, torn muscles, dislocations, joint replacements... and if you’re lucky to avoid all that, then just the intense pain you will be in for the first week or so. Sounds inviting. So I figure that until there is a time where we can actually go for a few consecutive days and I may actually get some skerrick of enjoyment out of it, I’ll pass. Bad, huh?

But it's been a day of writing for me, so I've been loving it anyhow :)

Wiedikon - our district - with the snowy Uetliberg in the background