T-17 Days

Need I say More?

Be Ye Transformed!

If you've done any traveling abroad, you'll have noticed that things are different "over there."  Take language, for instance.  It's like the French have a different word for everything!  And what's with the Japanese and all of those crazy pictures?  And don't even get me started on the Russians, who use letters that look normal, but aren't and then confuse things further by throwing in random characters!  And then there's...but I digress.

One thing that's different is the electric grid.  Different countries developed different standards for their basic power needs.  The world is split up as follows:

You should notice two things immediately by looking at the above map.  The first is that the US and Europe are different colors.  That's your first clue that things aren't going to be good.  The second is that you don't want to be from Tasmania.  They're an island unto themselves.

So what do the different colors mean?  Different voltage and different frequencies of electricities.  North America is 120 volts at 60 Hertz (Hz).  Europe is generally 240 volts and 50 Hz.  Now I know what you're thinking:  "Hey Mr. Cheese Wiz, that's really interesting, but why do I care?"  Good question.

It's because many things that plug in in the US won't work in Europe.  Period.  It will fry.

And have you noticed lately how much stuff around your house plugs in?  That's right--just about all of it.  Which means?  Getting the picture??  You need different stuff!  Stuff like:  toasters, blenders, griddles, curling irons, coffee makers, rechargeable screwdrivers, tvs, cd players, the Wii, dvd players, fans, etc., etc. etc.  Can you see the $$ (or francs) starting to add up?


Or, and here's the exciting part, you can buy a plethora of transformers.  What does a transformer do?  It converts the voltage from 120-->240 and vice versa and also changes the frequency of the electricity.  And once the electrical signal is converted, your US-made appliances should work just fine.

     So on Saturday, we drove down to a store that specializes in non-US appliances and transformers and loaded up.  A 2000 watt (blender and waffle maker), a 1000 watt and a 500 watt (misc. stuff), and two 300 watts (tv, wii, dvd player).  So all of these things should now theoretically work.  Until the transformer blows.  And then, again in theory, the transformer should blow and protect your equipment.  In real life, I expect to be writing again in 6 months ranting about how the cheap transformer ruined the expensive whatever.

     There's some good news, though not without its own complications.  Many things we buy today actually come equipped to run both in Europe and the US.  They're dual voltage.  Things like computers, printers, your phone charger, handheld games like the DS, your iPhone/iPad all come with the ability to run on any system.  Except maybe Tasmania.  But there's a catch.  The plugs don't fit.  As you know, we have slim vertical plugs.  In Switzerland, they use two cylindrical posts.  (Plugs are completely non standard from country to country).  However,  there are such things as plug adaptors.  So all you have to do is pop one on the end of your standard US plug and voila, you're good to go.  We bought 23.  Why that many?  Because your lamps will generally plug and work fine, but you have to buy lightbulbs locally.

So I think we're all set.  Except for all of the things we have to buy when we get there.  Like a new tv, blow dryer, curling iron, dvd player, coffee maker, etc.  You get the picture.

It's truly shocking how crazy this is!

By the way, in case you missed the reference, Romans 12:2 "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

Ice, Ice, Baby!

Did you know that Swiss refrigerators are small?  Very small.  About the size of half of a side by side fridge in the US.  The freezer is thus commensurately small as well.  In the picture, Soul Swisster is opening the freezer on our kitchen fridge.

Add to this, the Swiss don't really use ice in their drinks.  If you go to a restaurant and ask for water or a coke, you specifically have to ask for ice.  And iced tea?  No way!

So you can imagine that a Swiss fridge will not have an icemaker.  If you want ice, you have to go back to using trays.  And those take up valuable space.  I mean, we've got to have room for ice cream, don't we?

The solution?  The Ice Bull!  A standalone ice maker that is available at some of the electronic stores. You pour water into it and it will happily go about making ice cubes for you.  It makes three sizes--small, medium, and large.  The picture shows the medium size ice cubes.  We're actually hoping the small size is a bit like Sonic ice!





Buying the Ice Bull was no small feat and it made The Cheese Whiz feel very Swiss. One morning after going to the bank, CW was going to catch the bus back to the office.  As luck would have it, there was a Fust (Foost) right next to what he thought was the bus stop.  A Fust is an electronics store where you can buy everything from TVs to computers to small home electronics like irons, mixers, and blow driers.  So rather than try to borrow a car or go to a Fust and try to carry it back to the office where he wanted to keep until we move, he thought he'd grab one and take the bus.

The buying was easy--a mere 499 CHF (Swiss Francs)--a bargain at $659 USD.  Yes, you read that right.  We haven't talked about how expensive Switzerland is, have we?  We will.  Oh yes, we will!  Probably in multiple posts!

Anyway, CW took the Bull by the horns and carried it out of the store in its bulky 45 pound box.  Right across the street to the bus stop.  Or so he thought. As it turned out, that was the stop for busses going in the direction opposite to his destination.  His bus stop was about 3 blocks away.  In traffic.  In 80 degree weather.  I know--it doesn't sound too bad.  But three blocks in the heat trying to carry a heavy, bulky box wasn't a ton of fun.  But he made it to his stop and hopped onto the bus (dripping).  10 minutes later, he was outside his office.

He'd completed his first shopping trip and used public transport to get to his destination.  Did I mention CW felt very Swiss?

But he's going to miss the Suburban.  And Best Buy.

A Trip to the Bank

Did you see the remake of The Bourne Identity with Matt Damon from a few years ago?  Great movie!  At the beginning of the movie, he discovers the number of a Swiss bank account and proceeds to Zurich to search for clues to find out who he is.  (You should know the scenes aren't really filmed in Zurich, they're filmed in Prague, in the Czech Republic, but no matter). He's subjected to all sorts of security, including a hand scanner, before he can access his safety deposit box.

Well, we, too, needed to open up a bank account.  So the company arranged for us to go see an account manager at Credit Suisse.  Yes, we were going to get our own Swiss account.  Not numbered, to be sure, but an account nevertheless.

And the security wasn't quite as extreme as in the movie, but the experience was interesting.  You check in at the front desk downstairs with the name of the person you're there to see.  They check their list and if you're on it, they direct you to an elevator.  Elevators, by the way, about a fifth of the size they are in the US.  They're narrow and quite cramped!  And so we were directed into the elevator and told it would take us up to the sixth floor and that we needn't (should'n't) touch anything.  In fact, I'm not sure we could have changed the floor destination if we'd wanted to.

On the sixth floor, we were met as soon as the door opened and whisked to a private conference room where we were served tea and coffee.  The meeting was actually quite short.  Banking is a bit of Catch 22 in Switzerland.  You need to have a bank account to pay for a residence, but need a residence to get a bank account.  So we essentially just signed papers that said we could open an account via email once we had a confirmed residence.  (This was before we had the Duillier house).

After the meeting, we were shown to a separate elevator, different than the first, which led us back to the ground floor and to a rear exit that was different from the entrance.  And with that, we were back outside.

All very cloak and dagger.  Not quite to the Bourne level, but exciting, nevertheless.  The Swiss take their privacy seriously!

Sour chocolate

See these frogs?  They're adorable, right?  And completely made from chocolate.  Look closely and you'll see they even have chocolate in their mouths.  The Swiss LOVE their chocolate.  We're told that around Easter and Swiss national holidays, the Swiss like to give each other gifts of chocolate and that it's best to order early rather than hope to be able to buy some in a shop in the "spot market."

But speaking of shops, that's what this post is really about.  These pictures were taken at a little chocolate shop in the Rive (reeve) area next to the old town.  It's the main shopping drag downtown and has many exclusive shops.  Apparently, this chocolate shop is one of them.

We passed by it and saw the frogs in the window. In case you don't know, frogs are Soul Swisster's favorite animal.  She collected them when she was younger.  So we went in (the store was very small and did not have any other customers in the store) because she wanted to ask about shipping some back home.  The exchange with the woman went like this:

SS (Soul Swisster):  Good morning.  Do you speak English?  I was wondering if you ship to the United States?

SSW (Snotty Swiss (?) Woman):  (looking over her shoulder) States? (crinkles nose) Pfffttthhh. (sneer & shrug) No English. (looked back to what she was doing and ignored Soul Swisster)

We turned and left.  Quickly.  Because The Cheese Whiz was about to come unglued.  He speaks just enough French to say something nasty and was very close.

So, some observations:
1.  We don't know if she was Swiss.  Hard to tell since we're so close to the French border.  But let's assume she was.  This is a prime tourist area.  People come from all over to go shopping here.  In July and August, for example, the Middle East seems to empty out and anyone who has money comes to Geneva where it's cool.  But one would think that someone working in a chocolate shop in a tourist area might be a little friendlier.  Au contraire, mon frere.

2.  The Swiss are a very polite, but not necessarily warm and cuddly people.  They're very private.     The Cheese Whiz thinks this is the first time a store owner acted like a complete jerk in his presence.  And she didn't need to.  Most Swiss who don't speak English will, at worst ,just shrug and say "No English," but I haven't generally found the Swiss to be sneerers.

3.  Soul Swisster needs to learn French.  Both so she can communicate in her day to day life, especially in our village where most people will probably not be English speaking.  But certainly to be able to toss out a few choice words at the right moment!

4.  We'll be buying our chocolate elsewhere!

Meeting the landlord June 10, 2011

Carola dropped us back at the hotel around lunch time and told us she'd be heading to her office to put in the application.  In the States, you pretty much just say, "I'll take it," and it's a done deal.  Not necessarily so in Switzerland.  For flats, there may be 20 applications within days of it becoming available.  Houses can also be that way as well, so anytime more than one person looks at a house, there's potential competition.  We already knew someone was going back to see House 6 again and seemed to be interested.  We had no idea the interest level on House 1 or if the landlords would wait to make a decision on an application until they had more than one to choose from.  It's a seller's market!

If Carola turned the application in on Friday, we had the weekend to wait.  Then a holiday on Monday, so no action there.  We thought maybe we'd hear something Tuesday, but more likely Wed. or Thursday.  Imagine our surprise then, when Carola called around 4 and said the owners wanted to meet us!  It seems that he managed his properties (more than one) himself instead of using an agency and he had already reviewed the application.  He had offered to pick us up and take us out the house so he could talk to us and if we were going to be acceptable, what furniture we might want him to leave in the house.  Another detail here--you can rent a house furnished or unfurnished.  Most of the time it's unfurnished.  In fact, they even take the light fixtures, leaving bare bulbs hanging in most rooms like the Grinch.

We had been at my office and scrambled back to our hotel so we could get ready for the  interview.  At 5:30, a 6' 3" Dutchman with blond gray hair and blue eyes walked in and introduced himself as Hans.  He was jolly fellow and walked us outside to his car--a Bentley.  A really nice Bentley.  All the way out, he chatted about his business (he's a PC component wholesaler for Europe) who clearly runs an extremely profitable business.

When we arrived at the house, what should be in the driveway but another Bentley driven by Hans’ wife Sophie.  This one was a convertible.  Sophie is French and as it turns out, she has been tutoring a number of the Transocean employees in French, so she knew a little about drilling companies.

They let us know right away that we had the house, which was a huge relief!  And they walked us through the house and asked what we would like to stay and go!  That was an unexpected surprise because we assumed everything would go!  But being able to keep all the light fixtures as well as some of the storage is great!

Well, our house search was over.  We have a great place and we’re looking forward to the move.  But there’s still lots to do.

House hunting--Day 2 June 10, 2011

Day 2 did not start out as auspiciously as Day 1.  We only had 2 new houses to see.

House 6.   In Founex (Foo-nay).  On a very quiet street near the lake and behind a hedge about 20 feet high, the house was painted more like a Houston house with neutral walls and white trim.  A lovely pool and deck area with a nice bit of yard.  Even an area where the owners had taken part of the yard and used soft sports tiling where their son had used a portable basketball hoop.  Three bedrooms up--a nice master and two smaller ones.  A wide open living/dining room and smallish kitchen.  In the basement, a large room, a small bedroom, and another bomb shelter.  This house also had a little guest house next to the pool  Just one room with fireplace and a bathroom with shower, but perfect for guests or as a school room.

We'd now found two houses that we decided could work, but had ruled others out:

•   House 2 was a possibility, but the lack of upkeep concerned us.  The garden hadn't been well tended and the landlord wasn't doing much because he wasn't getting any rent.  This bothered us and gave us the impression he might be that way about future problems.   
• House 3 was just too big.  The upkeep on the yard as well as having two separate laundries, heating systems, electric meters, etc. (two houses combined into one, remember) combined with the odd layout and being at the top of our price range just made it impractical.  
• House 4 was a perfect location for commuting, but no view and the layout just wouldn't have worked for us.  
• House 5 was just so-so.  Nothing really special to recommend it.

House 1--Duillier

House 6-Founex

Thus it was that we found ouselves going back to the House 1 in Duillier to compare it to House 6.  We walked around for another hour and it was really no comparison.  The build quality, the view, the yard, the extra space in the finished attic, the pool--House 1 (hopefully) was going to be the house for us!  Time to put in an application!

House hunting: Day 1 Thursday June 9

Welcome to House Hunters International--The Cheese Whiz and Soul Swisster Edition! 

We learned yesterday from our relocation agent, Carola that we would have 5 properties to see in Nyon.  The Cheeze Whis thought that based on our minimum criteria--4+ bedrooms, a yard, cats ok--five was a pretty good number.  Remember that only .2% (yes, that is 'point two percent') of the houses are unoccupied!

Nyon (Pronounced "Ne-on") is a town about 25 minutes drive (12 minutes by train) outside of Geneva.  It's not in the canton (Switzerland is divided into cantons--think states) of Geneve, it's in the canton of Vaud (pronounced "Vo") on the "Right Bank".   [For more, see the Geneva geography lesson.]  We chose Vaud and the Nyon region for a few reasons.  First and foremost, the canton of Vaud is more homeschool-friendly that Geneve.  In Geneve, you're able to homeschool, but the curriculum must be approved by the canton and generally must be their curriculum.  In Vaud, you can use your own material.  We'll still have a visit once a year from some authority making sure the kids are getting a well-rounded education that includes music, the arts, and sports, but that's not a concern at all.  Note that in the German portion of Switzerland, homeschooling is illegal!  ALL children must attend a public or private school or the parents can be put in jail!  Not a happy thought for The Cheeze Whiz and Soul Swisster.

Another reason to choose Vaud is that there are already a number of expats living in and around the region.  These include Noble and Transocean folks, but others as well.  Thirdly, it's a reasonable commute.  Probably a short ride to the train station, then a train to downtown Geneva and a bus or maybe a 20 minute walk to the office.  My guess is probably 40 minutes depending on how you time it, but an easy 40 minutes.  Lastly, the views--wait until you see them!

So Carola and her colleague Sandrine picked us up at the hotel and off we went.  Traffic is probably not as bad as Houston, except for the motorbikes and scooters which weave in and out and give you heart attacks.  But I guess we'll get used to that.

House 1:  Located about 10 minutes up the hill from Nyon in a village called Duillier (Dool-ee-ay), the house is less than 5 years old.  It's got a great outdoor area--pool, patio with fireplace (they call it a bar-b-que--they have no idea what they're talking about!) and mud.  Lots of mud.  We found out the mud is actually where they knocked down the house next door and the owners of the Duillier house bought the property and are turning it into a "garden" (yard), so it will have an extensive play area.  Beautiful view as well.  It's on the hill overlooking the lake and the alps.  Inside, a large living room, dining room, office, good sized kitchen (for Europe), and 4 bedrooms.  Plus every home has a finished basement with lots of usable space.  This basement has a laundry room, a full bathroom, a room that could be used as a fifth bedroom, and a huge game room.  It also had a completely finished attic where the last owner had a complete model train diorama.  The trains were gone, but what a great space.  Lots of built-in closets, which is a rarity.  Spent quite a bit of time here asking the agent a bunch of basic questions about houses in Switzerland and he was very helpful.  High quality house, with lots of upgrades/extras.

House 2:  Located in another nearby village, this was a little bit older and frankly not in as good condition.  The design is flipped.  When you enter the house from the driveway, you walk into the floor where the bedrooms are.  A master plus three others.  All decent sized.  Some good built-in closets.  But weird to bring guests in here. Downstairs, there was a big gameroom, a great kitchen, a sun room running the length of the house, a laundry room, and another large room that could be either another bedroom or a school room.  Interesting feature--a dumbwaiter!  We guessed it must be for bringing groceries in from the car level and moving them down to the kitchen level.  I can just see All American Boy and Twister Swisster trying to ride inside!  Outside, the house has been built on a hill with three terraces and a pool on the bottom one.  Each terrace had some beautiful landscaping, but it hasn't been maintained at all, even though there has been a gardener.  Couldn't tell what state the pool was in because it was covered and unfortunately, the landscaping didn't leave much open room for the kids.  But again, the view was great.

House 3.  "The Estate"  We drove up to this house and were met with a remote controlled gate across one of the two driveways.  Actually, this was a house that had originally been separated into two and then reopened into one.  This gave it a bit of an odd flow--two kitchens, two dining rooms, two laundry rooms, etc.  One house had three bedrooms and the other two, but totally separated.  One of the most interesting features was a large, Delft blue tile fireplace.  Reminded me of Scrooge's fireplace in a "A Christmas Carol," where Scrooge sees Marley's face in each individual tile.  But the most unique thing about this was the amount of property it had.  Maybe 5 acres?  Enough room that we could have lost the kids for days.  It also had a swimming pool, but it wasn't working.  Not to worry-only 6,000 francs to fix.  Peanuts!  The owner, who showed us the house (but didn't come right out and tell us he was the owner) was only about 30, and was anxious to rent the house so he could go on a two year world tour.  Must be nice.

House 4.  In Nyon proper, about a 5 minute walk from the train station.  Wonderful modern house with a open downstairs floor plan.  The location would have been great.  This house had sliding doors around the exterior of the first floor that all opened out onto the pool.  This house had a great outdoor fireplace/kitchen, a custom laundry room, and a sauna downstairs as well as an air-conditioned wine room with well over 500 bottles.  This was a bit unusual because the rest of the house wasn't air-conditioned.  (Air conditioning whole houses is illegal in Switzerland.) The master bedroom was right off the family room.  Upstairs were four bedrooms and a bath, each only about 8x10.  No view for this place--it was surrounded by a high hedge and a driveway wall.

House 5.  In the village of Grenolier (Gren-o-lee-ay).  This was probably 20 minutes outside of Nyon, so a bit of a drive, but there was a little train station about a 10 minute walk from the house that you could take into Nyon and catch the main train there.  The house was unremarkable compared to the others.  It also had a pool, but a very small yard.  Since it was up on the hill, another good view.  When we walked downstairs, we were confronted with a large thick door with sealing latches.  It turns out this was a fallout shelter and many Swiss homes apparently have them, though this was the first one we had seen.  In case of nuclear fallout, you'd lock yourself inside.  It had an air circulation system and even an escape hatch to the outside in case the door was blocked by debris.  Everyone uses them for storage now.  In the end, this house was too far away from town.

We finished the day exhausted but had seen at least one or two which could work, so not a bad day.