English Chitchat, let's go!!

[kara71]

Hello Laudine, nice to read someone new.

We had a good time in England, but it was freezing cold, wet and very windy, maybe not the ideal time to visit England. On the way back last night, we got caught in heavy snowshowers in Germany with almost zero visibility, which slowed us down a great deal. Baby girl did very well, she slept most of the time in the car.

Family holidays: we decided a couple of years ago, that nice as it is to visit relatives, we want to spend some of our holidays as a family in a place we choose.

[Mrs. Bee]

We're visiting my Father in Law this weekend (he's got a broken leg - fell over shoveling snow...) and hope we're not getting horse for dinner Silly joke, I know.

I've about had it with the snow, though went sledging on Wednesday and it was great fun. My bum still hurts and I got bruises the size of dinner plates on my legs but little man and I had a jolly good time.

Hope you ladies are all well. Keep your ears stiff

[laudine]

I really can't stand the sight of snow now. I would really like spring to come. I told my hubby to go and get the Easter decoration from the basement and I started to make new pillow cases in "springy green" just to have some colour somewhere.

Yes, Wankdorf is a constant joke. My father-in-law can laugh about almost any German word as well. It sometimes annoys me, to be honest.

We'll go on a family holiday next February, this summer we'll visit my parents in Spain. But we do think that it's important just to have a holiday alone. I'm sure it won't go down well with the English relatives ... oh well.

Have a nice evening!

[Dusi]

Hi all!

Sorry to barge in like this... I've participated in this thread a loooooong time ago... and had to stop due to time constraints.

Anyway, did anyone of you (or do you know anyone) move to Switzerland from a non-EU country and would offer some advice? I'm Swiss, my husband is American and we have a 21 month old son and a second child on the way. We currently live in the USA. We're hoping to to move to Switzerland some time in the spring of 2014, but I thought it better to start the planning process early. I would appreciate any input regarding logistics (moving furniture, car etc.), the legal issues (Aufenthaltsbewilligung), etc. Or do you know a good place to start my research?

Thanks everyone!

[katreseke]

@ Dusi: I am not 100% sure, but I believe that, due to the Schengen agreements, any American visitor can stay up to 3 months in Switzerland without a Visa or special permit (basically a 3-month stay as a tourist so to speak). However, since you are talking about coming back to live in CH, your husband would need a visum/staying permit for Switzerland. Best thing to do is contact the Swiss Embassy in the States.
Since you are a Swiss national, you will have no problems coming back to CH I assume. And I guess that your son also has the Swiss nationality?
This might also be usefull:
http://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home/rep ... isusa.html
In Switzerland it's the Bundesamt für Migration who deals with the staying permits.

@ Mrs Bee: Friedegg and Furzton!!! Never heard of them, but they're funny!

[Dusi]

Thanks, katreseke. Sorry for the late answer - we were out of town for a couple of days. So much needs to be planned... it's hard to wrap my head around it. I guess I'll get on the visa issue first and maybe start some preliminary investigations to see what kind of job opportunities exist for us. It will probably be harder for me to find a job than my husband...

For those of you with english-speaking SO - do they speak any German/Swiss German? My husband understands a lot and we're currently working on his ability to speak (high German, that is). How hard was it for your SOs to integrate into Swiss society? I always find Swiss society relatively "narrow" and closed to outsiders. I'm hoping he will make his own friends...

[katreseke]

Hi Dusi
In our household, I am the foreign national and my husband is 100% Swiss. I barely spoke German when I came here and started following intensive German courses once I arrived. Hubby thought it would be best to learn high German because it's easier to learn than Swiss-German, there are lots of courses you can follow, nearly everybody will understand you, high German is a written language with grammatics, etc .... As a result, I now still speak high German and have not made the switch to Swiss-German (although I understand it very well and my kids speak it all day).
As for making friends/integration: I found it very hard to get to know people. Of course everybody is friendly and polite, but really getting to know people and making friends is still very difficult in my experience. I used to go to different Muki-Treffs, always went along everywhere with hubby (hobby's, friends ...), always made an effort to talk to people, ... I got to know a lot of people, but made no real friends. In my experience, fact of the matter is that if you didn't grow up here (= in the village we live in), you will never 100% belong. It got better since the children go to Kindergarten and since I met other mothers there wo only recently moved to our village and have children the same age.

[Dusi]

Hi Katreseke,

Thank you for your answer and for sharing your experience. Hmmm, that's about what I thought. I think my hubby will enroll in German classes this fall semester (probably focusing on conversation as this is the most important skill to have in the beginning - would you agree?). We are also doing "German Saturdays", which is fun and challenging at the same time. WIth regards to integration, I'm a bit worried because he's not the type to make friends quickly. We've been living in our current city for almost 7 years now and he has yet to make a real guy friend. It usually goes through my connections, which I guess wouldn't be a big change in Switzerland. My hope is that he would find some friends at work. Currently, he works from home 100%, which makes meeting people more difficult. I guess we'll see. Part of me thinks that we will face this problem regardless if we move to Switzerland or not (we will move somewhere else in the U.S. otherwise).

One unrelated issue that my husband has raised is that he is somewhat sad that his boys won't grow up to be Americans (just like I have reservations to see my boys not grow up in Switzerland; I am so excited that they will now likely grow up Swiss). Was this something that bothered you? No need to answer if this is too personal.

May I ask where you are from?

Thanks!

[Dusi]

Just read this, and almost peed my pants...

46 Reasons My Three Year Old Might be Freaking Out

Some of these are total guesses. Educated guesses, but guesses nonetheless. Seems like it’s hard being a kid.

His sock is on wrong.

His lip tastes salty.

His shirt has a tag on it.

The car seat is weird.

He’s hungry, but can’t remember the word “hungry.”

Someone touched his knee.

He’s not allowed in the oven.

I picked out the wrong pants.

His brother looked at him.

His brother didn’t look at him.

His hair is heavy.

We don’t understand what he said.

He doesn’t want to get out of the car.

He wants to get out of the car by himself.

The iPad has a password.

His sleeve is touching his thumb.

He doesn’t understand how popsicles are made.

The inside of his nose stinks.

Chicken is gross.

A - he got six months ago is missing.

A puzzle piece won’t fit in upside down.

I gave him the wrong blue crayon.

The gummi vitamin is too firm.

Netflix is slow.

He jumped off the sofa and we weren’t watching.

He’s not allowed to touch fire.

Everything is wrong with his coat.

There’s a dog within a 70 mile radius.

A shoe should fit either foot.

I asked him a question.

His brother is talking.

He can’t lift a pumpkin.

He can’t have my keys.

The cat is in his way.

The cat won’t let him touch its eyeball.

The inside of his cheek feels rough.

Things take too long to cook.

He has too much food in his mouth.

He sneezed.

He doesn’t know how to type.

The DustBuster is going to eat him.

His mom is taking a shower.

Someone knocked over his tower.

He got powdered sugar on his pants.

The yogurt won’t stay on his spoon.

EVERYTHING IS TOO HOT.

[katreseke]

Hi Dusi
Funny list
To answer your questions: I'm from Belgium and I don't mind that my children grow up swiss. The cultural difference between Belgium and Switzerland is not that huge and I am still the mother, so my kids will still be raised "belgian style ". No idea what that actually would entail, but my children speak my mother tongue, watch more DVD's with Belgian childrens programmes than that they watch Swiss TV, I get certain foodstuffs from Belgium, I let them eat Belgian chocolate , they eat mayonaise with their fries (which the Swiss relatives think is digusting), we visit Belgium several times a year, ... I tell them about things in Belgium, belgian history etc. etc. My children say themselves that they are Swiss and Belgian at the same time.

[Dusi]

Thanks, Katereske. Do you speak Flemish? Or French? The cultural difference between Switzerland and the U.S. are not too big either, but definitely noticeable. I know that my hubby will be sad if our boys won't be into American football and basket ball - both big traditions here. I don't know how often we'd be able to go back. Hmmm.... I'm currently trying to figure out what kind of jobs could be of interest to me. It's tricky...

[Mrs. Bee]

Hi Dusi

Sorry I only get back to you now... I spoke to my sis who is working on a Gemeindeverwaltung, and she said re the residency permit for your hubby: it depends on the canton (now that's a surprise in Switzerland ). However, she recommends www.ch.ch as a reference site. I guess once you know where you would like to move to you could always contact the Ausländerbehörde of the canton and get the facts and figures directly. I'm assuming your children have double nationality? So you won't have a problem registering them here.
Regarding making friends: my hubby's the same. He knows people from work and he once upon a time did a German class where he met some people, but he hasn't stayed in contact. His German is still pants, but then Switzerland isn't exactly the right place to learn German (also, if people hear that you're English speaking they want to take the oportunity to speak English...)
My boss' wife is American, and they are pretty organised in American women's club etc. Also, the American embassy organises some events and such, there are English Clubs etc. And of course, depending on where you're planning on setteling there are quite some Expats living there (Zurich, Berne, Neuchatel etc.)
If you have an idea as to what you're looking for in jobs, www.alpha.ch might be a starting point, if for nothing else than noting down the agencies that advertise there. Unless you have some old contacts you can refresh? Maybe some of the swissmoms are headhunters or know of agencies that could be useful.
Also www.englishforum.ch might be of any use regarding moving and such.

Good luck anyway!

[Dusi]

Hi Mrs. Bee! Thanks for your answer and all the infos. It's going to be complicated, I'm afraid. But I'm sure it's worth it. How long has your hubby been in Switzerland? He's British, right? We're hoping to move close to Zurich - that's where my family is.

[Varela]

Hi together
Sorry to bother you guys! I saw your thread and the last page.
@Dusi
If you have any questions about Visa, Permits and this stuff, don't hesitate to contact me. I was working for almost 10 years on a migration office and I'm still (in another role) very close to them. And hey, American Football, Baseball and Softball, are also played in Switzerland. We are "little" sports here, but we exist.
Varela

[Dusi]

Hi Varela,

Thanks so much for the offer... and sorry for my late answer... In which canton did you work? We're hoping to move somewhere close to Zurich.

I'll send you a PN (in German... or do you prefer English)?

xo

[Varela]

Hi Dusi
Please in German I worked in the canton Berne but I know a few people in Zurich.
Varela

[Ponzonia]

Hello Ladies, may I join in?
I'll be moving to the Bern area come August. My husband has just accepted a job at IS Bern. He's Amercan, I'm German. We have two daughters and are currently living in Istanbul.
We are so excited about moving to Switzerland. I worked in St.Gallen for a couple of years before I met my husband. And I loved living in Switzerland!
We're still in early days, starting the relocation process, but I thought it'd be good to join this forum and hopefully make some connections before the move!

Where do you guys all live?

[swissalicious]

Hey ladies - long time since I was here last!!

Hope you're all doing well. Just wanted to let you know I am still alive... Prague is so cold at the moment we're hibernating

@newbies
Welcome!

hope I get more time in the future to check the forum and this thread.

That's all I've got time for at the moment.

Take care

[swisscanmom]

Hi Ladies,
Hope I may join you. Have been following the forum for a while, but only just found this English thread.
Our family is moving to Switzerland from Canada this summer. I am Swiss (lived in Canada for 17 years), my hubby is Canadian, and he does not speak German yet (poor guy), but he is willing to learn and generally makes friends easily, so I think he will be fine. We have two kids aged almost 10 and almost 12, who speak fluent English and French, very little German, but they are excited about the move. We will likely be living somewhere in the Oberaargau, as that is where my parents are, unless I find a job before we move (highly unlikely). I am excited and also scared to move back, but looking forward to living close to family again. I will have questions for you all as we go along in our planning, for now I just wanted to say hi.

[swissalicious]

@swisscanmom
Welcome!
Wow, brave move!
I've just moved to Prague, Czech Republic, with my Family last summer.
I am Swiss, hubby's British. our Daughter is 4 and speaks fluent English and Swiss German (well, she understands everything but is I guess too lazy to speak, English is easier )
I wish you all the best for your move back to CH!
17 years, that's quite a bit!
Where about in Canada are you now then?

@all
you may have noticed I changed my user name... but I'm still the same

U got any plans for Easter?
My mum is coming to visit and we've only just gotten over the flu. little one had it really bad, on and off since New Years! then it was me and now hubby. and the weather isn't playing fair either...