We've been in Switzerland for 7 weeks now, and in our permanent house for two weeks. We love it! We live in a very traditional old Swiss house with a great yard on a small street in a beautiful neighborhood of Zollikerberg (part of Zollikon - the first village outside of Zurich on the east side of Zurichsee). We're 5 minutes away from Elise's international school (English-speaking), and also 5 minutes from Nathan and Will's bilingual preschool. And, the commute into Dave's office in the city isn't too bad either! We're close to the village church, so we hear the bells ring every 15 minutes - it's so funny to have the boys ask "What time is it," every time they hear the bells ring, as if they have somewhere to go.
Switzerland is absolutely beautiful. We live right next to the forest, and people go walking all the time here - in all kinds of weather! Driving around the area is incredible. It's like a postcard everywhere you look! We're very close to Zurich, but in seconds we can be driving in the countryside. It is so green here, and there is so much open space that has been preserved. Even on the short trip over to the schools, we drive by open fields and forests on either side of the road. And we can see the Alps in the distance from just about anywhere we are!
While we have settled into a routine now with school, work, German lessons, and church, we've also been going on excursions nearly every Saturday - we've been to the Rheinfalls near the German border, Luzern, the Zurich Zoo, Appenzell, Stein am Rhein, Jucker Farm, Mount Santis, and probably other places I can't remember! The weather has turned colder here - although it does still warm up and get nice and sunny in the afternoons. But, we've been told that we'll soon be wishing for that sun!
Dave took a two-week intensive German course (a refresher since he lived in Berlin for a year during college), and I have been taking private German lessons 3 times a week. Starting basically from scratch is a challenge, but it's really fun to be learning a new language. And, I can see a major difference between my first interactions with German-speakers here (some of them quite hilarious) and my ability to understand and speak now. But, I still need to progress a lot farther over the next few months. I spent a lot of my time during the first few weeks trying to decipher German websites to get information on classes and activities for the kids and various other services we've needed. I've resisted the urge to volunteer for too many jobs at Elise's school - but I am a room parent with two other mom's.
Church is in German, with headphones for English translation during sacrament meeting and Relief Society. There's an English-speaking Sunday School class. Everything is so organized here - sacrament meeting speakers and topics are planned out 2 months in advance and published in the bi-monthly ward newsletter (we were just asked to speak at the end of November)! There are several other English-speaking families in the ward for varying amounts of time (many of whom served missions in German-speaking countries). Elise's primary class is taught in both German and English (the teacher translates everything)!
While we certainly miss our great friends in Moraga, we have adjusted pretty well so far. The international school is a great resource and parents are incredibly friendly and welcoming! Elise has made some really good friends in her class and is planning a joint birthday party with one of her friends (they have exactly the same birthday). She also has German class 4 days a week at school and her 3rd grade class just went on an overnight trip to a cabin in Mettmanalp where they spoke German the whole time! Nathan and Will had a hard time adjusting for the first few weeks - but I think it is just their age and all of the changes at once (including living in a temporary apartment in the city for 5 weeks which required a 45-60 minute drive to school and preschool every morning). Now that we're in our house, everyone seems much happier.
We're planning a trip to Paris later this month and also a trip to the Black Forest of Germany. We'll be here over the Christmas holidays (since the baby is due in January), so we'll get to experience our first Swiss Christmas. I'm sure we'll go up to the snow for a few days - everything is so close here!
Speaking of the baby, I'm feeling fine and have a doctor and hospital selected. The hospitals here are very nice, and this one is just about 10 minutes from our house and apparently like a hotel! You order your food from the "restaurant", and have views of the Alps and Zurichsee. And, from what others have told me, you stay in the hospital for 5 days or so - and don't want to leave! We'll see...
We miss all of you who are so far away, but you can call us anytime on our new Skype Number (with a San Francisco area code!): 415-578-3331. And, start planning your trip to come visit us!
All the best from the Michels Family in Zurich!
Switzerland is absolutely beautiful. We live right next to the forest, and people go walking all the time here - in all kinds of weather! Driving around the area is incredible. It's like a postcard everywhere you look! We're very close to Zurich, but in seconds we can be driving in the countryside. It is so green here, and there is so much open space that has been preserved. Even on the short trip over to the schools, we drive by open fields and forests on either side of the road. And we can see the Alps in the distance from just about anywhere we are!
While we have settled into a routine now with school, work, German lessons, and church, we've also been going on excursions nearly every Saturday - we've been to the Rheinfalls near the German border, Luzern, the Zurich Zoo, Appenzell, Stein am Rhein, Jucker Farm, Mount Santis, and probably other places I can't remember! The weather has turned colder here - although it does still warm up and get nice and sunny in the afternoons. But, we've been told that we'll soon be wishing for that sun!
Dave took a two-week intensive German course (a refresher since he lived in Berlin for a year during college), and I have been taking private German lessons 3 times a week. Starting basically from scratch is a challenge, but it's really fun to be learning a new language. And, I can see a major difference between my first interactions with German-speakers here (some of them quite hilarious) and my ability to understand and speak now. But, I still need to progress a lot farther over the next few months. I spent a lot of my time during the first few weeks trying to decipher German websites to get information on classes and activities for the kids and various other services we've needed. I've resisted the urge to volunteer for too many jobs at Elise's school - but I am a room parent with two other mom's.
Church is in German, with headphones for English translation during sacrament meeting and Relief Society. There's an English-speaking Sunday School class. Everything is so organized here - sacrament meeting speakers and topics are planned out 2 months in advance and published in the bi-monthly ward newsletter (we were just asked to speak at the end of November)! There are several other English-speaking families in the ward for varying amounts of time (many of whom served missions in German-speaking countries). Elise's primary class is taught in both German and English (the teacher translates everything)!
While we certainly miss our great friends in Moraga, we have adjusted pretty well so far. The international school is a great resource and parents are incredibly friendly and welcoming! Elise has made some really good friends in her class and is planning a joint birthday party with one of her friends (they have exactly the same birthday). She also has German class 4 days a week at school and her 3rd grade class just went on an overnight trip to a cabin in Mettmanalp where they spoke German the whole time! Nathan and Will had a hard time adjusting for the first few weeks - but I think it is just their age and all of the changes at once (including living in a temporary apartment in the city for 5 weeks which required a 45-60 minute drive to school and preschool every morning). Now that we're in our house, everyone seems much happier.
We're planning a trip to Paris later this month and also a trip to the Black Forest of Germany. We'll be here over the Christmas holidays (since the baby is due in January), so we'll get to experience our first Swiss Christmas. I'm sure we'll go up to the snow for a few days - everything is so close here!
Speaking of the baby, I'm feeling fine and have a doctor and hospital selected. The hospitals here are very nice, and this one is just about 10 minutes from our house and apparently like a hotel! You order your food from the "restaurant", and have views of the Alps and Zurichsee. And, from what others have told me, you stay in the hospital for 5 days or so - and don't want to leave! We'll see...
We miss all of you who are so far away, but you can call us anytime on our new Skype Number (with a San Francisco area code!): 415-578-3331. And, start planning your trip to come visit us!
All the best from the Michels Family in Zurich!
3 comments:
Glad team-Michels is off to such a wonderful start. Love the blog, great way to keep us in the loop!
thanks for the update and the pictures. i'm quite envious of the mountain views and green landscape. dude, non refrigerated milk and eggs! gross dude.
dan
Hi Michels! I found your blog from Michelle's and I can't believe you're in Zurich! How exciting for you guys! Congrats on the baby as well. We now have a Nathan too, but we call him Nate. If you want, visit our blog: bardsleyland.blogspot.com
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