On my way to Sweden to celebrate Christmas. Has a flight ever been so slow? Normally I would fall asleep in a second, but for some reason I can't.
I feel like a little kid, waiting for Santa. Looking at the clock once every 30 second to see if I will soon be home.
Thank god that I have my iPhone, and that I got the idea to write a few rows here.
The staff on this plane really use a lot of perfume...
It still feel very good with the new job and my new home country. I am settling in well and the social life that I have here is practically the same that I had in Sweden, just the people that has changed.
In Basel there's an excellent network with trams, busses and trains. They are almost never late. The funny thing though is that the tickets are very seldom checked. People jump on and off where and when they like and the system anyway seem to work. And people do buy there tickets, cause that's what the rules say!
Now 30 minutes until we land in Copenhagen. We're flying towards a bit darker north. I think we have 2 more hours of daylight in Switzerland actually.
Another thing that was a bit surprising and that I didn't think about before I moved is that since there are no coastal areas in Switzerland fish is not so easy to get a hold of. It's such a natural part in Sweden, fish is common! In Switzerland it's not. A chock really. But friends say that you should go to France to buy fish. :) I could do that.
My Christmas shopping has unfortunately not been prioritised in the jungle of things that I have had to learn about my new country, therefore most of the presents needs to be found tomorrow and on Sunday. Puh.., always the last minute.
20 minutes to go. We're closing in. Soon we're even below the clouds!
On the plane I have quite a few of my colleagues, we are a lot of swedes at the office. There's actually very many different nationalities represented. It's only the Swiss people that's not so well represented.
Now we're landing!!!
Friday 21 December 2012
Wednesday 12 December 2012
Late Wednesday evening
I must say that I'm just so happy right now!had a fabulous evening with some new friends of mine!
I was over at the Irish/American couples house tonight. Met them at the English mingling thing from last week.really nice people, they for sure made my day. Adding up to that I got my iPhone 5 yesterday (which ended up to met not being able to go to sleep in proper time!) that allowed me to talk to two close friends of mine back In Sweden, really enjoyed that. Of course miss those people!!
I have also got invitations to two coffee on Sunday! One from a nice lady from the Swedish club and one from a couple that I know since very long time ago that has moved to Basel just a couple of months ago too!
I must say that The Lord works in mysterious ways! At the moment I feel very fortunate and very blessed.
Tomorrow is Lucia! Up early to conduct a proper Swedish Lucia celebration at work!
Hope I get up in time...
I was over at the Irish/American couples house tonight. Met them at the English mingling thing from last week.really nice people, they for sure made my day. Adding up to that I got my iPhone 5 yesterday (which ended up to met not being able to go to sleep in proper time!) that allowed me to talk to two close friends of mine back In Sweden, really enjoyed that. Of course miss those people!!
I have also got invitations to two coffee on Sunday! One from a nice lady from the Swedish club and one from a couple that I know since very long time ago that has moved to Basel just a couple of months ago too!
I must say that The Lord works in mysterious ways! At the moment I feel very fortunate and very blessed.
Tomorrow is Lucia! Up early to conduct a proper Swedish Lucia celebration at work!
Hope I get up in time...
Monday 3 December 2012
Second week in Basel!
Can't believe that I am this busy already. Feels like I struggle with time. Last week was pretty social. Wednesday I attended a Swedish girls mingling and met some nice people, there I got tipped off regarding an English speaking mingling the next day.... So I went of course! There I met this lovely Irish/American couple and now I will see them Wednesday evening for Christmas drinks!
Friday was the Christmas celebration at work, nice dinner with some nice people that ended up in dancing (not so good music though) we had fun! The timing on my start date was brilliant! I have some really nice colleagues, look forward to get to know them a bit better!
The weekend continued with me going to Germany for some shopping. Switzerland is very expensive! Germany is far less expensive! And they even have this lovely set up with Switzerland that if you live here you just go to the boarder and get a stamp on your receipt and the next time you come to the German store you will get 19% of the money you paid back ! So now I know that I can manage :)
This Sunday I was trying on a different church. It was just as nice as the one I visited last Sunday... Think I will alter a bit between the two until I know which one I would like to go to more permanently (or I will just keep altering! )
In the afternoon I went to a Swedish Christmas party... It was mainly for families and children. Nice though. Won some awful things in the lottery. Accident forgot to bring them home.
Now Monday has passed and Tuesday is closing in. My god, time flies!
Friday was the Christmas celebration at work, nice dinner with some nice people that ended up in dancing (not so good music though) we had fun! The timing on my start date was brilliant! I have some really nice colleagues, look forward to get to know them a bit better!
The weekend continued with me going to Germany for some shopping. Switzerland is very expensive! Germany is far less expensive! And they even have this lovely set up with Switzerland that if you live here you just go to the boarder and get a stamp on your receipt and the next time you come to the German store you will get 19% of the money you paid back ! So now I know that I can manage :)
This Sunday I was trying on a different church. It was just as nice as the one I visited last Sunday... Think I will alter a bit between the two until I know which one I would like to go to more permanently (or I will just keep altering! )
In the afternoon I went to a Swedish Christmas party... It was mainly for families and children. Nice though. Won some awful things in the lottery. Accident forgot to bring them home.
Now Monday has passed and Tuesday is closing in. My god, time flies!
First day at work
Now I have officially started! My first day was spent with a lovely team facilitating MBTI. It was great fun! Really nice also to start delivering on something I feel really familiar with. And now I know some people at the office that I can say hi to in the office tomorrow. A day well spent!
It was tricky to find the way to the place though. But I have my city map in my pocket all the time! (Really look like tourist!!!.. But a cute one ;)).
A really nice colleague that has grown up in Basel gave me some tips and another one showed me around a bit. I even had two conversations in German!! One when handing in my shoes for repair and one when talking to a chiropractor's assistant. Didn't know that I could actually manage this language (even if I probably sound like a troubled child when shaping sentences)
Yesterday was also a good day! Went to church for the first of advent service. Found an English speaking church with some nice members :) the children was performing a Christmas play. First the youngest kids sang some songs, they were amazingly cute! Didn't sing much though, but they were dressed out as sheep :) aaaawh. Then the older kids sang and performed. I liked the people and was well taken care of. I will probably go back!
Well after church I went back to the apartment and slept for a while and then met up with two colleagues for weihnachtsmarkt and cheese fondue. Then tea at my place! Now I've had my first visitor :) also found out that we have a Christmas party at work Friday! That will be fun! Already look forward to it.
It was tricky to find the way to the place though. But I have my city map in my pocket all the time! (Really look like tourist!!!.. But a cute one ;)).
A really nice colleague that has grown up in Basel gave me some tips and another one showed me around a bit. I even had two conversations in German!! One when handing in my shoes for repair and one when talking to a chiropractor's assistant. Didn't know that I could actually manage this language (even if I probably sound like a troubled child when shaping sentences)
Yesterday was also a good day! Went to church for the first of advent service. Found an English speaking church with some nice members :) the children was performing a Christmas play. First the youngest kids sang some songs, they were amazingly cute! Didn't sing much though, but they were dressed out as sheep :) aaaawh. Then the older kids sang and performed. I liked the people and was well taken care of. I will probably go back!
Well after church I went back to the apartment and slept for a while and then met up with two colleagues for weihnachtsmarkt and cheese fondue. Then tea at my place! Now I've had my first visitor :) also found out that we have a Christmas party at work Friday! That will be fun! Already look forward to it.
Sunday 2 December 2012
My new home is almost ready
I have worked in two days to get my apartment into shape. I have to say that I feel efficient and I'm actually a bit surprised that it all went so fast!
Friday:
I was ready and at my apartment with bags and all at 8am. The guys from the moving company were already there waiting for me. I only had to give directions and then they fixed it all. Assembly was easy for them it seemed, they didn't even needed the instructions!
While they were carrying stuff up I started to unpack the boxes. Three hours later everything was in my apartment! The guys asked me if I required any more help or if they should leave. When starting a new life like this I chose to do my own unpacking. When they had left everything got quiet and I just stood there looking at the mess... It became a bit too much. I was standing there with no one to help me, the sofas where just placed by the wall and all boxes where full... I felt so alone and small so I started to cry. What have I done? Ally friends and family are in Sweden, I know practically no one here..
Well, after a while I pulled myself together and went to buy some lunch. I also systematically unpack and get some order around me and I felt much better. When the clock turned 5pm I started the great adventure of going to IKEA. I needed some screws to put a table together. When coming to IKEA I paused for dinner, meatballs :) and bought some other necessary stuff. We actually found the right screws and I could put the table together when I came home!
Saturday:
The first night spent in my new apartment I slept well. The day went on pretty much the same as Friday. Unpacking, unpacking and unpacking. But hey! I have even managed to put up most of the paintings!!! Another adventure to IKEA and to a shopping mall and a visit to the Weihnachtsmarkt to get out of the apartment and then an evening well spent with a movie and now I will go to bed again.
Tomorrow I will visit a church that I hope is a nice one. Found two in Basel with international standard (service in English) just hope I will find my way and not be late ;) (it's very rude to be late in Switzerland... How will I manage?!) in the evening I will meet up with friends for dinner.
By the way, the guy from the phone company called and said that I can't get Internet, tv or my iPhone until I get my work permit, which will be ready in TWO weeks?! It sucks! I'm addicted to social media and to Internet in such... Now I only have my Swedish phone.. This will be expensive...
Friday:
I was ready and at my apartment with bags and all at 8am. The guys from the moving company were already there waiting for me. I only had to give directions and then they fixed it all. Assembly was easy for them it seemed, they didn't even needed the instructions!
While they were carrying stuff up I started to unpack the boxes. Three hours later everything was in my apartment! The guys asked me if I required any more help or if they should leave. When starting a new life like this I chose to do my own unpacking. When they had left everything got quiet and I just stood there looking at the mess... It became a bit too much. I was standing there with no one to help me, the sofas where just placed by the wall and all boxes where full... I felt so alone and small so I started to cry. What have I done? Ally friends and family are in Sweden, I know practically no one here..
Well, after a while I pulled myself together and went to buy some lunch. I also systematically unpack and get some order around me and I felt much better. When the clock turned 5pm I started the great adventure of going to IKEA. I needed some screws to put a table together. When coming to IKEA I paused for dinner, meatballs :) and bought some other necessary stuff. We actually found the right screws and I could put the table together when I came home!
Saturday:
The first night spent in my new apartment I slept well. The day went on pretty much the same as Friday. Unpacking, unpacking and unpacking. But hey! I have even managed to put up most of the paintings!!! Another adventure to IKEA and to a shopping mall and a visit to the Weihnachtsmarkt to get out of the apartment and then an evening well spent with a movie and now I will go to bed again.
Tomorrow I will visit a church that I hope is a nice one. Found two in Basel with international standard (service in English) just hope I will find my way and not be late ;) (it's very rude to be late in Switzerland... How will I manage?!) in the evening I will meet up with friends for dinner.
By the way, the guy from the phone company called and said that I can't get Internet, tv or my iPhone until I get my work permit, which will be ready in TWO weeks?! It sucks! I'm addicted to social media and to Internet in such... Now I only have my Swedish phone.. This will be expensive...
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