Hello everyone! Finally our papers are in order and our family of four (me, wife, and 2 daughters, ages 6 and 3) is headed to the "Confoederatio Helvetica" from Chattanooga, Tennessee. I have lived and worked internationally before (last time was 20+ years ago though) but the rest of my family has not -- we are excited and a little nervous. It looks like there are tons of great tips and cool people on EF, and we are looking forward to meeting some of y'all soon!

Welcome, hope the move goes well and look forward to hearing how you settle in.

All the best for the move!! How's your German?

Hi and welcome!

Hope your time here is positive. Well wishes to your wife and children as well...let the adventure begin.

Welcome to the English Forum and Switzerland from
another Southener!

Good luck with the move!

Many thanks to all of you for the warm welcome! We arrived early Sunday morning (yes, 9/11) with no major complications or issues. Our 5 and 3 year olds did surprisingly well on the long flight, although today they are definitely showing us an ornery side which we have never seen to this degree before! Even though we're in company-provided temporary lodging, shouldn't everyone be stable and adjusted to our new life after 36 hours or so??? (kidding!) We are in temporary living at the moment, are supposed to do apartment handover for our place on Wednesday, and all our stuff from home is being delivered on Thursday and Friday... so hopefully everyone will be chillaxed by then.

The fun part is only just beginning. Have you escaped to the office yet?

Temporary housing is not usually very child-friendly and kids are quite bored. Until their toys arrive (you did ship toys, right?) you could visit one of several toy libraries where you can borrow toys. It's been a great solution for my clients with children who were waiting for their childrens' own toys to arrive. They are also second hand childrens' shops selling toys at greatly reduced prices if borrowing isn't your thing.

Hey, welcome to the country!!

Hope the settling-in goes smoothly ... how much time has your company given you to get settled?

Another solution to help the kids settle in is to visit a Brockie (Brockenhaus, Brockenstübli, and so on) - a second-hand shop, where prices are low, so you can quite happily tell the kids to grab anything they like (that's not too smelly!). Can be a fun day out ... so maybe you or your wife can take the kids, while the other parent deals with contracts and receiving deliveries ...
There are actually (don't tell my wife I said this!) some great bargains to be found in Brockies, as long as you have the time to search ...

Welcome! My mommy is from Chattanooga! I hope you love Zurich as much as I do!

We arrived a few months ago from Chicago, and are "almost" settled in. Hope things go smoothly for you!

If you have any questions about the bureaucracy, area, language
or whatever, let me know.

Good Luck!