...next in a long list of things which are making the move more and more of a reality (I'd've thought Number Guy and I resigning might have been a major clue, but strangely not...).
It was a bit 'scary' signing the lease - the fact that it was in German didn't help. Fortunately one of Number Guy's colleagues was able to translate.
As someone who has very noisy neighbours in the past I like the way the Swiss don't beat around the bush - there are very strict rules about noise curfews, including 'no extensive use of water between 10.00pm and 6.00am.' Translated as - we can flush the toilet but not have bath/shower between those times. The hours for housework are also strictly regulated, with no noisy work during the noise curfew which includes lunchtime (12.00 - 1.30pm) and all day Sunday. Some people might find this too restrictive but we are quite happy about it - our only concern is that we accidentally do something which annoys our neighbours.
More official 'stuff' is looming, including registering with the police/local authorities when we finally move. So now we have to double check that we really do still have copies of birth/marriage certificates etc. Don't want to find that we need to get a copy a week before we leave.
:)
ReplyDeleteI didn't quite believe it when I read on a random website that lists all "strange laws" of Switzerland.
No housework during lunchtime, and on Sundays. Wow, I wonder if that has made any housewife happy :) Heh.
Be sure to have color and black/white photocopies of things - we've found, coming here, that people will fuss if you have one but not the other, because the b/w is more difficult to read, yet their regulations specify b/w. So, if you have both, they can politely decline the color one as "not according to regulation" but they still want to look at the color one.
ReplyDeleteAnd copies of everything - multiples - don't hurt anything. Driving licenses, passports (with visa), marriage license, birth certificates, social insurance cards, bank records, travel itineraries, title deed, lease, work contract, credit history, medical prescriptions, medical records, optical prescriptions, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. I scanned them all - in color - and made multiple copies, in color as well as b/w. I also burned the scans to CD, to flash-disk, and uploaded them (as private files) to two web servers.
Yes - I'm paranoid. However, I can't tell you how nice it's been to simply carry my little plastic folder around (with originals & copies in it) when I go someplace. Somebody asks for something inane - and the will ask for something inane - and I've got it. They're surprised, and don't ask any more stupid questions.