I have been here for 2,5 years. And still, Sundays seem to be as difficult as in the beginning. I am used to much more energetic lifestyle. Same thing with many other small lifestyle changes that I have never really adopted. My question is to those, who have been here longer than me. Do you ever really start enjoying Sundays and overlook all the things that the lifestyle here lacks? Do I like Sundays? I can deal with them when it is June and the weather is great, but today with 3 kids indoors was pretty much a torture.Yes, there is a nice thing to relax on Sunday, but for me it is only nice if it is voluntary, not forced to stay in because it is dead everywhere. I find myself daydreaming about the other life I had in USA, in London, in other European cities that were very vibrant and energetic. I am just curious whether there is hope that I will eventually adopt the swiss lifestyle more or less ( I would like that) , or should I start considering relocation at some point in the future? I really would like your honest input.

i've only been here about a year and got used to it pretty quickly. sundays during the winter is no problem: just go skiing. summer, you can go out and enjoy the sun.

otherwise, i just go out on saturday night - i woke up today at midday and spent the rest of the day cooking, cleaning, chatting to friends and napping.

About the same time as the OP 2.5 years, got used to CH / Sundays etc. within 2 years, probably longer had it not been for EF and network connections with locals.

My Sundays are busy - with work and part of the day involves going around CH in a PostAuto - letting the bus and train take the strain.

They have a life not so sure about style.

Depends on what you want from life really, my wife is not a keen Sunday fan as she misses shopping on a Sunday in the UK. Having said that she has admitted that she only bought stuff as she was bored on Sundays and since being in Switzerland spends half as much.....not a bad thing in my opinion

But everything costs twice as much -- so it evens out in the end!

At the risk of sounding like an a-hole why don't you get some rain jackets and umbrellas and go outside? Sure it was wet today but not that cold. For the record, I also have 3 kids and I spent 5 hours outside at my son's football tournament today in the rain. His two younger sister's were also out there for a couple of hours. There are also plenty of kid-friendly museums that are open on Sundays. The zoo. I guess the shopping malls are closed but I can't really think what else you are limited by. Deal with it as there are plenty of options.

I am not so concerned about shopping as you can do that online if you really want. I think it is just when shops/restaurants/bars/various businesses are open, it creates a vibe, a city vibe that makes want to grab a lunch with your friends or hubby in the city/ enjoy coffee/ maybe get a new book/ maybe just people watch in a cafe . But when everything is shut off, it seems to create this postwar atmosphere where you do end up staying in ( unless it is warm and you can enjoy park, ect). I can't stand the fact that some of few decent restaurants are also closed on Sundays. In short, if you lived a vibrant city, you will know the big difference I refer to. I try to tell myself it is better this way but is it???

Well, that is great that you did all that! I ,on the other hand ,didn't think that my 1 year old and a 2 year old would enjoy that as they have been fighting colds.
I do have options. That is why I am just trying to collect insights from the older expats of their way of making this home. It may be not for me at the end. And I am ok with that. Different people enjoy different things. Luckily in position, I am able to change my situation. I like people, people out and about. I feel kind of sad when everything seems to be shut off. But hey, that is just my view.

If you get out and about you might find that there's more open than you imagined...

In Adliswil there is a restaurant as well as a cafe that are open on Sundays. Plenty to do outdoors. If you go to the 'tourist' areas in the mountains you will find places open as well...

There are usually plenty of people in the city on good weather days...but you'll find them at the art gallery (and the cafe across the road is open Sundays as well as the one actually in the gallery) and of course someone already mentioned the zoo. And the Palaentology museum which has enough room to run around and is warm and dry...and has a little auto coffee machine and snack tables so you can eat your lunch there with minimal cost...

A boat ride is also a good thing on a wet day - warm and cosy inside, and you can take your own lunch or buy it onboard...

If by energetic you mean physical activity then you are in one of the best places in the world for hiking, running, cycling in the summer and skiing, snow boarding, snow shoeing in the winter plus all the other sports I can't be bothered to list.

Granted the weather was pretty crap today so not much chance to get out

OK I will give you this, yes the shops are shut on sundays as are most restaurants but would you be dragging your kids around these places for the purpose of entertainment....

Zurich is a small city population wise so you can't really compare here to vibrant London lifestyle... if you include the suburbs more people live in London than in the whole of Switzerland However the museums are open on sundays (don't know how old your kids are) as are the cinemas, there are often local festivals going on yes they may be outside but thats what waterproofs, wellies and umbrellas are for isn't it

Also it didn't rain all day today, you could have taken the opportunity to take the kids out for a couple of hours even if it was just a walk around the neighbourhood for a change of scenery..

I honestly don't believe that wherever it is you've moved from you never had bad weather or rainy days where you had to keep the kids occupied...

Yeah, my 2 and 4 year olds are both in the midst of colds but they insisted on riding there scooters in the rain so we let them. I can understand where you are coming from though if you are expecting to have a city-life feel here in Switzerland. I don't actually consider any of the "cities" in Switzerland to be cities. If I were you, I'd move on. I've got plenty of other reasons for thinking Switzerland is not the perfect place for our family but for the time being, the pluses outweigh the minuses and we can't think of a better place right now.

I've been here almost 3 years, maybe closer to 2.5. THe hardest part of Sunday is remembering that we have to go to the store early on Saturday. Of course, if we screw up, we can always go to the bahnhof Migros in Bern or go out. It's actually rather nice.

I do some cleaning, organizing, and since everyone in my building has their own laundry room, Sunday is a big wash day here. Sometimes, though, we just go out and enjoy the day.

It's really quite ok. I also don't mind stores closing for lunch.

It might also be a good idea not to always look for things "outside of ourselves" for fulfillment. We can't always look for something else to stimulate us. Keep a positive attitude and you will find something to do....Take Care

For keeping active outdoors when it is wet:
http://www.muddypuddles.com/Waterproofs

If you've got sick tykes or the weather really is too bad to go outside, there are plenty of indoor things to do...
Keep an activity box filled with simple craft items.
Some yarn in funky colors, some tube socks, some child-safe glue, some paint or markers and some old buttons... make puppets then have a puppet show.
Some card-weight paper / construction paper, pasta, dried beans, peas, rice, dried leaves and flowers, glue... make pasta pictures.

Keep a box of pieces that you can use to make costumes. Some stick-on velcro, fabric scraps, old shoes (from broki or whatever), old clothes. This is a great use for old Halloween costumes, maybe some other ex-pats have ones that won't be used again which you can pick up inexpensively. Once you've got some variety and / or creative impulses, have fashion shows or put on plays for each other.

Edit (cuz I forgot :blush

So far as getting used to Swiss Sundays...
I worked in a retail environment from my late teens to my mid-30s and then did some hospitality a bit part time. I am so happy to NOT have to work Sundays it is indescribable.

Meanwhile though, Basel is probably not so much less active on a Sunday than the "sleepy" seaside town I lived in for a long time before moving here. There is such a plethora of retired folks in Florida who observe "traditional" Sunday activities - church followed by lunch followed by TV or naps followed by a big dinner... things were relatively quiet compared to the rest of the week.

If your kids are pretty active (as opposed to the video / computer game crew) and you don't have to worry about too much sugar + idle bodies... keep some colored marzipan (I've seen some at Coop) to use instead of playdoh to make figurines out of. If you have a digital camera, maybe you can experiment with trying to make a movie and the kids can eat their creations after it's over.

It makes me a little sad, too, that things are empty and people zip out of their appartments..I completely hear you, mazule. It is not really about busy Sundays for me, since I never really had Sundays before, so that does not matter. The shopping and restos don't matter too much, either, since it is expensive, anyways.

It is more about the hustle and bustle I am used to, people socializing together, just hanging out, friendly and warm, interested in eachother, welcoming newcomers and different views, not being afraid of unfamiliar ways to live. Interesting low budget movies, art scene that is a mix of locals and newcomers, interesting odd personalities..And that, apart from a few of my friends, I don't see here. I think it is just a different culture, people stick to their families, leave cities for the weekend to see their parents, have lunches that mama made, traditional life, supporting eachother and a tight circle of old friends. Uniformity that is comforting, trying not to stick out since privacy is valued. Nothing wrong with that.

But I really miss diversity, guts to be individual and independent, without having others to approve, different clubs open during the day and weekends, gigs, projects for the community, not over scheduled, stiff, forced and dated things that I have encountered here. Where I am from, a lot more communal living is organized, also for the families and gangs with little kids. It is encouraged to be open and warm. Here, I feel, that aside of skiing, hiking or other intense sports, ocassional yodle and fondue train, there is not much done outside of the traditional family structure. Which is hard to replace, for us, immigrants.

Mazule, I got used to it after a while, but I never really enjoyed the quiet Sundays. Now that I'm living in the UK (I'm originally from the US), I've found how much I enjoy having activity around me. Today I went out with a friend to a cafe and sat outside talking and watching the world go by over some coffees. This wasn't in the center of a large city, but a suburb of Manchester. Most of the small shops nearby were closed, but the area had a vibe about of people out and about that I really missed when I lived in Switzerland.

Saying you will adapt/fit in a lifestyle of another country, especially one that is culturally different form the one/s you were used to is not a piece of cake. I have been here almost 2 years. Can't say I feel I am really used to the lifestyle (yet)... Im used to a life revolving around the sea, and that includes the active social life I was used to. But now we are here...out of choice! So one can't be happy unless he/she adapts at least to an acceptable level.

What I found is that once you leave your home country, a chain reaction occurs. You will probably never fit 100% into a new culture and lifestyle cos only a native can do that. And yet, going back home might (probably) mean that you won't be happy there as much as you were before. An experience abroad changes you in many ways...the good things and the bad things. You become a global citizen!

I am still trying hard.

You have to take a country on your own terms - take the bits you like, ignore the bits you don't, and for the things (or people) who won't leave you alone, there's always "Complaints Corner"...

For me, some things in Switzerland are much better than they were in the country I left behind: Working public transport, less vomit on the streets, a decent metropolitan social life with people who use words of more than one syllable.

Other things, alas, are worse: I find Swiss "work" culture tiresome, the casual bigotry and luddism of my colleagues exasperating, the lack of good manners in shops and on trains irritating. I doubt I will ever adapt to these, no matter how long I live here.

All we can do is keep our heads down, plough on regardless, enjoy cold drinks by the lake, walks in the hills and the company of our friends, and hope that we can get through it all without going insane, getting (too) depressed or giving up.

Good luck!