The big move starts in about 48 hours. My other (better) half makes the move to Zurich this Friday. In the 35 years we have been together, we have been away from each other, but I think the longest was a four week stretch back when I was still in the Army Reserves. The next couple of months will be hard on both of us for so many different reasons. The bed is going to be lonely…….
My family has two pets. We have a goldendoodle named Sherlock. This is my wife’s dog, and she will miss him greatly. We learned that boarding animals is incredibly expensive in Switzerland and since we want to travel a dog will be problematic. My wife’s Aunt has graciously agreed to take the dog for us. I wanted to bring Sherlock to my parent’s farm, but my wife reminded me that dog’s don’t last long on the farm. Growing up I never had one dog that died from old age. Farm life can be perilous. My daughter adopted a cat on one of her visits to my parent’s farm. Eowyn is a good cat, and since my daughter didn’t get an apartment that allows animals, we will be bringing the cat over with us. In our struggles to get the people visas figured out and applied for, I had forgotten the cat. I now have a lot of work to do.
The cat needs to be microchipped, and have a complete physical before I can bring her on the plane. I have learned I also have to really look into what airline to fly over. Apparantly, on some airlines, I can bring her in the cabin with me, vs putting her in the hold of the plane. I’ve always kind of laughed at people that travel with animals, now I guess I get to laugh at myself.
My wife and I did get a bit of a scare this week. Her companies representative sent us an email, that they are in the final workings for the visas for us, but in the email he said the final approval could still be 4 – 6 months away. This was really troubling. As it stands my wife already has to go by herself for at least two months, but when she was told I might not be able to join her until Christmas….. Needless to say we were both a little upset. Thank goodness about 24 hours later we got a correction, and he meant to say 4 – 6 weeks not 4 – 6 months. Now I understand why I have to take language lessons.
Which brings me to my final thoughts for the day. For some reason, my wife’s visa is able to be approved without her knowing german, but me…. That is a different story. I actually think it is a good idea that the Swiss Government requires a minimum understanding of the languages before allowing someone to relocate. Apparently the law was originally passed that I would have to prove this knowledge before the visa could be granted, but they quickly realized that wouldn’t work so instead I just have to show proof that I have registered for a language course. I have always felt a little bad that like most Americans I only speak english (poorly at that). So I am kind of excited to get the chance to learn another language. I am sure I will never get to a true bilingual status, but I do hope to be able to carry on a conversation in german before our three year adventure is complete.