Hi everyone,
I am not only new to this foum but also new to using forums/blogs. Haven't done it before and it will probably take me some time to figure out how it works.

Anyway, my name is Annette, I am from Sweden and are soon moving to Switzerland with my husband Jay (USA), daughter Nelly (5), son Luca (3) and a baby girl (name less at this point) due in May 2007.

We currently live in Mallorca since 3,5 years and we have just got back from a minitrip of "research" in Switzerland during the weekend. Looking at houses, driving around to figure out where we would like to settle down, trying out my terrible french...

After running our own business here in Mallorca my husband got a great offer as a private chef for a family located close to Nyon. Tired of grumpy and difficult Mallorquin people, financial struggle (Mallorca is very tough to live in as the balance between earnings and costs are close to impossible to figure out...) and longing for a new challenge we are now preparing for our new adventure in a new country.

At least we have time to prepare ourselves this time. We have moved country 4 times in 6 years (Australia, New Zealand, USA, Mallorca and now Switzerland...) so we feel quite used to the process. But, every place is different from another and full of surprises so we'll see how it goes this time.

We hope to find some type of piece of mind and to be able to settle down for a long period of time as we both are getting tired of moving around the world like single 20+ people. We are getting closer to our 40's and with 3 kids it is time for some "quiet time".

We have fallen for the area around Nyon/Gland/Rolle and are hoping to find a suitable home for us somewhere there. If anyone have any tips about how to settle in quickly in this new foreign country please share your experiences with me, bad and good. Switzerland might be the country of wonderful cheeses and picturesque scenery but reality always looks a little bit different when you start to scrape off the surface... Raclette was nice, but for dinner? Not for me - gives me terrible indigestion all night long...
Looking forward to talk to you all.
Regards
Annette