On Saturday we invited the neighours in our block for an "apéro" (drink) - we just provided some simple snacks and a few tipples.

Now we are on first name / "per du" terms with all of them - even the woman from downstairs who came to complain about our 3 year old bouncing a ball a couple of times on our first day here (the floors in Basel were a bit thicker - and he doesn't do it now).

The other nice part is the neighbours actually got to meet each other for the first time too.

A tip for anyone moving in to a new place.

Cheers,
Nick

I've been meaning to do this in my place, but as I don't speak any German I felt they'd all just chat with each other and ignore me Luckily, there's another dirty foreigner in this block who speaks no German, so as long as she comes I'll be fine.

thanks for the tip

Good for you Nick.

For thems that don't know, the protocol (protokol ) here is for whoever moves in to invite everyone round.

Basically it works on the premise that if you keep (Swiss) neighbours at a distance by not having an apero or similar, they'll (generally) keep their distance.

Whoops! We didn't do this

Is 8 months after you move in too late?

Ha well we invited our neighbours but none of the Swiss who have moved in since have done it, so I don't know how common it actually is...

Not at all. In fact some of the older generation will not feel happy to use the informal greetings until they have known you for some time even if you do have an apero.

We didnt' do this. But we've got Italian neighbours - and get on great with them!

We only have one neighbour and it's an engineering company Just how I like my neighbours: absent.

ditto. i've seen my below neighbour only 4 times over the last year. it was only last week that i figured it was the girl who lived there and it was the bf who visited!

8 months isn't too long, i'm sure they'll appreciate it even still. we were a bit late in doing it as well and now every party we have, we end up with a few neighbors there!

Something I've always wondered...

I didn't have an apero when we moved in, as I cannot have strangers in my home (because of the mutts).

Would it be acceptable to hold a 'getting to know you' apero at a local restaurant? Or would that be considered odd, or in some way offensive?

Too late now, but I'd like to do it right the next time around.

One neighbour told us she used to hold a regular neighbours apero in the laundry room - as this was the place most people seemed to meet.

Cheers,
Nick

Crafty. Just an excuse to do some washing when it's not your turn.

erm...ask you that the other way around...your neighbours invite you for a get together and a kind of "housewarming" and invite to an restaurant where you sit at the table, cant mingle and talk with everybody....how stiff is this going to be? and that with the swiss? mutts you mean dogs? why dont you keep them in one room and open the kitchen and living room for a 2-3h apero buffet? they dont stay for too long anyhow. so if you set it up at 6pm theyre gone by 9 at least 10pm...

I also thought it a bit strange that you cannot just put the dogs in one room for a couple of hours.

My dogs are not normal.

Seriously, because I take on dogs who were victims of abuse, I have certain safety measures in place at all times. A crowd of strangers in our home would be a Very Bad Idea.

So... sounds like a restaurant is also not such a good idea.

Maybe I'll just do what I did last time - send a card introducing ourselves along with a plate of home made Tollhouse cookies.

We have never done it when we moved - we usually had other things on our minds. In this place with several blocks of flats, someone from one of the buildings occasionally does a grill in the communal 'garden' and folk from the other houses may go down too. Other than that, several folk have celebrated a 'round birthday' with a sort of 'open afternoon/early evening' snack when the neighbours are invited. The staggered arrival gives you a chance to get to know the folk better and it smooths the way to better neighbour communication. (Besides, when the other folk have a similar event, it gives you a look into their flats and if the folk have renovated their bathroom or kitchen (and you had to put up with the noise and the dirt on the stairs while it was being done) you then have great ideas for your own renovations - when you can get your own back! )