Good morning,

As I just signed on today, I think it's only proper if I introduce myself, though I don't know how much of an introduction is too much, how much too little.

I think, I start with basics as gender, job and what brought me here:

I am a freelance museums educator, though I work in an office to cover the basics. Silkweaver is gender neutral, but it refers to medieval silkwomen, women who organised themselves in their trade of either dealing with silk, spinning silk (though these weren't allowed to trade, only to work the material), or made silkware weaving or embroidering. The trade flourished in many so-called free-cities in the late medieval period (Basel, Cologne, Hamburg etc), but was also known in England. Quite known are the silkwomen of Soper Lane in London, but in other cities there were similar guild-like structures. If I do 14th and 15th century 1st and 3rd person interpretation, it is that of a silkwoman.

So - we've now covered some part of my work, my gender, the username and some history.

What brought me here: Simply the search for more information on a very selfish matter. I am engaged to my wonderful fiancé, but as I am Swiss and he's American, we do face quite some issues, and I am looking for persons who survived the same paperwar with Swiss and/or American administration.

So - I hope I didn't chew your ears off, and with you a good morning :-)

Good morning to you too and welcome to the forum.

Welcome to EF and thank you for such a pleasant introduction, if only all new members can do the same, life would have been just perfect

Hello and welcome to EF, thanks for the great introduction

Really a nice introduction.

Welcome to the forum

Good Morning and welcome to the Party.

Thank you for your warm welcome.

I don't like writing about myself, I am rather used to write or talk about a subject on hand ;-)

Hello.
Have you visited the wonderful silk museum in Lyon?
Also, occasionally, some of the houses of the Huegenots can be visited in the City of London.
I visited several original silk-weavers' houses in London last year.

@ Ceppych: I did - we've had a textile study day in Lyon a few years ago, it was very interesting :-)

Welcome to the Forum, thank you for a super introduction: your English is excellent! Don't forget to always speak German to your fiancé!

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Very interesting intro, many don't put much effort into their names, let alone explain what they mean--very refreshing!

Enjoy.

Hello there and welcome. I loved the story of your name. Hope you find the answers you are looking for and good luck with your paperwork.

@ Ittigen: Why, thank you. I sometimes work as a translator (English-> German); I understand language as a tool to communication. Though better don't catch me on a day when my brain is fixed on French or Italian... ;-)

@ Chemmie: I was rather lazy, to be honest. It's the name I use for my wee museums-education project "Seidenweberin". Sporting a name what might be a bit off the chart makes a short explanation necessary. And again - I admit being lazy: It helped me writing an intro ;-)

@ Nuriamuina: Thank you :-) I am sure we will manage. After all, it can't be more complicated than my annual income taxes (try the mix with self-employment and various contracter sheets and a part time job. I gave in last year, and handed the full bulk over to a professional)

Hi and welcome, my partner is Swiss and I'm Australian and I have just returned to Switzerland with my new visa. I had heard many stories good and bad about visa applications but my visa only took six weeks and the only reason it took that long was that it took 5 1/2 weeks to have a police check issued in Australia. Good luck with it