This week, we still have not received our residence permits… My routine is to check the mail everyday at 9AM, look in the box, then return disappointed up the stairs to our apartment.  We are still within the 1 to 2 month window we were told when we emailed the office, so hopefully this next week one of the times when I go down to check the mail I will  come back without disappointment.

No residence permits means no bank account.  The way almost everyone in Switzerland gets paid is by direct deposit, but since Melissa has no bank account, she was given a check instead. Monday we decided to stop waiting and just cashed the check at the post office.  From here on out we’ll be able to spend some cold, hard francs and forego the loses in the currency exchange.

The exchange rate was the big news coming out of Switzerland this week.  The Swiss National Bank decided to stop pegging the franc (CHF) to the Euro, which devalued their currency in the process.  The few articles I read seem to be written by and about people whining about this, but for us it’s fantastic.  We spent our US dollars here all of December, when the USD and the CHF were near 1:1, and now that the exchange rate favors the CHF, we’re spending those!  It won’t affect our day to day prices, but if we want to travel to an EU country, or even take the boat ride to France, our francs will have much more purchasing power.

Also this week, on Thursday I found a new language challenge: trying to speak French over the phone.  In Switzerland everyone is required to buy health insurance, to do this requires setting up an appointment at an insurance company.   I called up the company with the lowest quoted rates from the internet, and asked the receptionist if she spoke English, to which she replied “Pas du tout” (not at all).  I still tried to muddle my way through in French, but after a minute or two of us repeating “What?/Que?” to one another, she told me she would have someone that spoke English call me back.  The experience reminded me just how much communication is non-verbal.

Not to be deterred, on Friday I tried again by calling a person up to set up a time to look at an apartment and had moderately better results communicating in French.  The key this time was preparing a script and anticipating what questions he may ask me, then practicing for 20 minutes.  I was able to say that I was interested in the apartment and wanted to set up a meeting, and I understood when he asked my name.  Then I got a little hung up when he asked me what day and time, but he spoke some broken English and I spoke some broken French and we made it through.

Friday we also went to our first apartment showing.  It is a little different process than in the US.  The apartment was shown by the renter, who I believe is trying to get out of the lease, but for us to get the lease we have to go through the rental company.  At the showing we arrived 5 minutes after the official view time and there were two people in line in front of us (only one person/couple would go through at a time), and after we looked it over there were two more people behind us.  It’s looking like finding an apartment could be a long and challenging adventure.