6 Months!

Can you believe we have been here for six months already??

Some things we've learned:

Lesson #1:  No one works the first week of January.  Therefore, it's not the best time to start a new job.

Notausgang = Emergency Exit

Zurich is expensive.  I don't think I ever had a $100 bill in the US.  Here, a $100 bill is chump change.  You want $200 from the ATM?  The ATM gives you 2 $100 bills.  You want to buy a water for 4 francs, go ahead, pay with a $100, kein problem!  Or even better, buy beer or wine with that 4 francs!

When a plumber says he will show up between 7:30am and 8:30am, he will show up at 7:29am.

The reason everyone is so punctual?  They plan months in advance.  The first two months I was here, I kept getting left behind for meetings because the invitations had been sent more than 2 months before.

Work Celebrations are totally backwards:
1.  When someone has a birthday at work, they are responsible for bringing treats for the entire group.
2.  When someone is promoted at work, they are responsible for paying for the group to celebrate.
3.  When someone leaves, they are responsible for coordinating their own going away party.
Totally weird.

Everyone wears suits to work.  All the time.  And it's hot.  Without air conditioning.

Contrary to what everyone told me, not everyone here speaks English.  Yes, you can live here without learning German but you can't read anything and you can't communicate with most people who don't work in a typical business environment.

There's no such thing as a 3-ring binder.  The binders here have 2 rings.

People here have an excellent knowledge of geography.  Of course, that may just me with the lack of geography knowledge....

I would never judge the English language skills of the people here but there are a few words that drive me nuts:
category = ca-tag-o-ree
idea = idear
agenda = a-geh-nda
deferred = dee-ferred
information and children = informations and childrens

Six months down!  18 months to go.  Come visit!!!