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Yay, we arrived alive and have still managed to survive the week without being consumed by culture shock! Yay! Actually it has been quite a pleasant transition from Perth to the other side of the world!
Our stopover in Singapore was so much fun even without buying anything! Thanks to our good friends Glenys and Henry, who were so generous as to put us up in their plush apartment, making the Singapore 'heatwave' bearable! What? Singapore heatwave? Yep…as hot as Singapore is on a good day, for some reason we managed to fly in during a 'hot' week! (so they called it…although I would not have noticed… anything above 28 degrees with a zillion percent humidity is hot to me) haha
So yeah…didn't buy anything in Singapore! The only reason for this, was due to our luggage already exceeding the weight limit for Singapore airlines…but never fear… know that, had we have had the room, we would have gone nuts!!!!! (Ok…so Kai reminds me we did buy something…but I needed it! A mobile phone for me to take to Zurich….but it doesn't count! It's a 'need' purchase, not a 'want' purchase :-P Yeah, believe it baby! Although I must admit…I kinda really love it! It's so cute and fits nicely in my 'girl clothes' sized pockets! Yay!)
Anyway, just to keep it short…much fun was had in Singapore…Glen and Henry wined and dined us and spoilt us rotten….and…oh yeah, Nikki, we managed to find Café Del Mar on Sentosa Island to have lunch….anyone going to Singapore must try it out, it's awesome! A cute med style café on the beach, with a bar in the middle of the pool…great food and great views from the beach over the ocean!
Our flight to Switzerland was a bit rough. Turbulence all the way, so I found myself sleeping with one-eye open, checking every so often that the seatbelt sign was no longer illuminated….to my disappointment, it stayed on the whole time, so it was no comfort to my slight apprehension towards flying. Kai slept most of the way though….I must learn the trick! Meh…no worries…landed safely in Zurich and was greeted by one of Kai's kind work colleagues. He took us to our new abode where we settled in before checking out our new city home….
What we have discovered so far:
The weather is not as cold as we expected for this time of the year. When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised to find the weekly forecast at a comfy 23 degrees. I thought spring would be cooler here, but we left Perth's Autumn at the same temperature! So no need to start preparing for arctic weather yet…phew! Summer to summer…the way I like it :-P
Shopping is not as scary as we predicted either! Thank goodness I read on a previous expats blog that you have to weigh fruit and veg here yourself and put the little price sticker on it before getting to the counter! So at least we didn't have to go through the rigmarole of rocking up to the counter with masses of food and have to turn around and go and weigh it all and hold up the traffic! Also, what I find a little bit fun are the labels on the produce…everything explained in 3 different languages! Yay…sort of…they are in German, Italian and French! Haha…not English! Don't get the Swiss wrong though…they are lovely people and all know English very well (no matter how much they tell you they only know 'a little' English), as it is one of the universal languages of this cosmopolitan city… so it's a little strange that they don't have the translations in English too. Never mind, I love it…it forces us to learn the language. It's so exciting!…. Kai has worked out a little way to cheat though…cheeky b@stard…he knows French, so he just translates with that! But what I totally adore here is that, every time you wander through the city, you hear at least 5 different languages! English, German (and its many variations), French, Italian and Spanish. It's great!
Oh yeah, and we underestimated the size of our first food shop…….being minus a car, we had far too much stuff to carry so had to push the shopping trolley back to our apartment and take it into our room…ha ha…we abducted a shopping trolley! Hee hee
Public transport here is brilliant!! To get anywhere, you just make your way to the closest bus stop or tram stop (of which there are plenty) and wait for 2 mins…it's great! Who needs a car!? Well, posers eat your heart out, but for the rest of us who don't own shiny new Porsches, BMW's and Mercedes, the trams and buses are just great! Also Jules and Gran, you'll be happy to know, dogs are allowed on trams! Yay! Even big ones! I love that they are so good to 'man's best friend' here! Speaking of man's best friend (chevy being my equivalent)...the one thing i found rather pleasant, but strangely missed this arvo, was when i took some chicken out to defrost and came home to discover that the frozen chicken was still in one piece and not consumed by a desparate Chevy cat!
Costs here….same as home would you believe! I thought it would be a bit pricier, but nope….well, beef is more expensive, and take away…and Subway! (which I'm ropable about coz I love the stuff! A foot-long sub back home is cheaper than a 6" sub here!!!!!!), but that's about it…the rest is relatively on par with Perth….that includes food, clothing and transport. I'm yet to check out the price of fuel though….interessant! I wonder…when will fuel reach $2 back home? Not long I'd imagine!
Oh, Kai's just informed me..fuel's about $1.85 here…good thing we don't have a car!
Tulips! I love them. So pretty. You just don't see enough of these bright and beautiful flowers at home! They are everywhere here… in amongst colourful gardens just stand these proud and dazzling tulips. Red, yellow, orange, pink… I want them all!
Hmmm…well, not much else to tell really…the city is gorgeous, and we have just spent the first half of the week acquainting ourselves with the place. Haven't had fondu yet though…am saving that for this weekend when we head to Interlaken to see Nikki and Dean who are honeymooning their way around the world. They are currently in Paris, after some time spent in the US, and so Interlaken is their next stop. I can't wait to see them, and play in the glorious Swiss Alps! Yay!
Well, I better sign this blog entry off…it's getting rather massive.
Take care all! I hope everything is well back at home! Keep the messages coming! Miss you all!
Love Donna and Kai
Xox
P.s…will post pics asap
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