Spot the Frustrated Expat

Living in Switzerland obviously has its perks. In fact, I can say without a doubt that I absolutely love it here. If I haven't raved enough about the state of my life at the moment (and for the past year), then trust me when I say that I am living a dream. Living both among the mountains and on the shores of a lake, spending my time writing my novel and learning a new language, having a wonderfully loving and supportive husband, and now adding a teeny weeny baby to the mix... well, like I said, life is pretty darned good.

But.

MAN some things are annoying! A lot of them, not surprisingly, revolve around issues with the language barrier. Yes, I am learning German, and yes, I think I'm actually doing pretty well, considering the fact that very little of the German I hear in my day-to-day life is the German that I am learning. Ah, yes, the age-old issue of learning high-German while living in a place that speaks only Swiss-German. I am now able to (awkwardly, and with a ridiculous amount of mistakes) hold a reasonably meaningful conversation, but I'm definitely not anywhere near the level to be able to comprehend the ins and outs of a variety of important documents... and this is annoying!

TELL ME, JOHANNA, WHAT IS ANNOYING?

- I received a package in the mail today from the hospital that we are planning on using in order to bring Beanie into this world. I was so excited - I have been keeping an eye out for this little package of goodies! And so (you know what's coming) I open it, and out pours a bunch of gorgeous glossy booklets about pregnancy, birth, alternative options, midwives, the hospital itself, as well as all the forms and such that we need to check and fill out. And I can't understand any of it. So annoying! I am so excited about this, and it frustrates the hell out of me to not be able to just sit down with a big grin on my face and absorb all this new and exciting information!

- Bin collection! Instead of paying for this service in our taxes, we pay for it when we buy the bin bags (hence bin bags are stupidly expensive). After spending nine months figuring out the recycling system in the centre of town (and only the one time managing to actually get our stack of papers -- tied up with specific recycling string, not exceeding X cm in height -- collected and recycled!), we are now in a new place with a new system, a new timetable, and more secret, unspoken-about places where we need to take our cans, glass, plastic, cartons, cardboard, paper. I'm still yet to really figure out where everything goes, and when it should go there.

- Knowing where to buy things. For example: I need a new pillow! Where on earth does someone go to get this? Or a toilet brush? Or some wood-glue? Or some egg beaters? or Blu-tac? Or to get photos printed? Or a key cut? Or to find some salted butter? Or some moisturiser for stretch marks? Where is the Target equivalent where pretty much everything is there, and it's cheap-ish? Answer? There is none. Everything has a specialty store. Or else you have to go to Ikea. And we've gone this long without going (something I'm stupidly proud of), so I'm holding out as long as I can.

- The health insurance issue is, quite simply, the biggest pain in the butt. Ever. I could easily write a 5000 word rant on this issue, but let me just provide one small example: We paid for private health insurance and have waited the necessary length of time for it to kick in, and then we discover that there is actually a *secret list* of private hospitals and clinics that our health insurance company accepts. And none of them exist in our canton (state). Seriously? So public hospital it is (though the publics here are still absolutely top-notch)... but what exactly is included, what is upgraded for free, and what is not covered at all, remains entirely unclear, no matter how many times we ask. So it would not surprise me in the least if, as a little 'congratulations' present from our insurance company, we get a whopping great bill at the end of this, when we've been careful to ensure everything is covered.

- Not being able to talk to old people. This has really become apparent to me lately, what with my newly rotund belly. Elderly people are always smiling at me and starting up conversations on the train or the bus, or in the waiting room... but the Swiss German they speak is so completely foreign to me. I have tried, a number of times, to continue the conversation in high German (the language I'm learning) but it becomes stilted and the smiles soon fade. *sigh*

... etc. etc

So it would seen that there are a bunch of things that are annoying. I'm certain that all of these are things that anyone would have to deal with when moving somewhere so different, particularly to a place where they do not speak the language. I can only be thankful that so many people speak my language, and I can often (though definitely not always) turn to this to help me out. Occasionally I find myself thinking about what it would be like to be a Vietnamese immigrant in Australia, for example, where you look different, your alphabet is different, your qualifications are perhaps not accepted, and no one speaks your language.

And now we're back to me feeling lucky again. :)