Amusement here in zurich can be very expensive, thats one of the reasons i stay
Away from bars and visit concerts (when you don't buy alcohol it's not that expensive).
When you plan well ahead travelling is not expensive(by rail or air), shopping in Konstanz can save a lot of money(esp in this this where the euro is so low against the chf).The money you saved on food and cheap travelling can be used for another hobby like cycling.....or new hardware.
Eating out is another thing you have to avoid here in zurich, this can be very
expensive.
With the new offer from cablecom (99sfr/month) you can make unlimited calls
in 34 countries, so can can stay in touch with your friend overseas.
Though in a bizarre twist of things on the integration thing is that I do actually enjoy going out......ie. given how "difficult" (or impossible to crack as I have been told...) Swiss women are, its actually quite an acheivement when one actually wants to chat...even if nothing else...
I think that's the key point to all this. I mean, if you are here with a family then you don't need to worry about going out etc etc. ie same as in Uk really.. but I have just come out of a 7 year marriage to an evil ex wife, who I went thru a bitter twisted 2 year divorce... and in fact, I actually went to Cyprus for 6 months DURING this two year divorce to get away from her.... and then had to get rid of the mad ex g/f housemate of 18 months so this trip to der Schweiz was supposed to be something as a recovery from all that....... which it has in a way, as had some wicked nights out........
so, I won't knock the nightlife.... even if the Swiss women are impossible, and its expensive... just I can't afford to keep going like that......... and I am not prepared to sit in the flat over the weekends reading a book and twiddling my thumbs.....
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Well, Switzerland isn't for everyone, I lived there for 4.5 years and to be honest, I was glad to leave (I suspect the Swiss weren't terribly disappointed either, it probably saved them from having to build another nuclear power plant and the crime rate might have fallen off a bit).
I'm originally from Norfolk too (Old Costessey, just outside Nowrich) but I didn't head back there rather carried on further Eastwards to Budapest. Then again I left the UK in 1993 and haven't been back other than for short family visits since and I doubt I could hack living there now. The culture shock of moving to a new country is one thing but the shock when moving back to what was once your homeland is apparently far worse - the problem being that your homeland hasn't stood still whilst you were away and when you go back you find the past is indeed now a different country.
Anyway, enough digression, good luck to you wherever you go and as they say in some parts of Norfolk, "Mind 'ow ye go"
Every place is different - its yin and yang, good and bad. The excitement is in engaging with a new culture, getting a different point of view and realizing that you can take nothing for granted - even a potato. That is why I love moving around. Normal is a state of mind and I look forward to finding out what makes a country special to me. An pan in Japan, coconut sambal in Sri Lanka, Popiah in Singapore etc. and I agree curry when I visit the UK. But there is always a pain barrier of at least 6 months to get used to the differences but if its not working for you best to move. Enjoy Norfolk.
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Yes, the Norfolk / Cambs border.... the flat bit as described...and yes, lots of pubs close by....
Horsed for courses, I know. As much as I love the North Norfolk coast, especially around Holkham- I find it hard to believe you want to go back to those endless and dull agricultural flatlands, good pubs or no - and Norfolk is sure not the best place for a really good curry, is it? But ... wish you the very best all the same.
Your first wife was a nightmare you say - but was she SWISS? My OH has a Swiss wife (had her for 40+ years) and says she is OK - so perhaps not all Swiss )or UK) women are nightmares?
Swiss women are a different story , but do you think you can make impression to
pay the drinks of the bar-flys ?
A relationsship these days needs more then a few nights out......
Some women want you to have:
huge flat, a big car(like a bmw or higher), you have to
have a decent job(management), enough time for her, enough money to
travel around with her........
Life is a bitch, when you don't fit in these picture , you been called a freak.......
Swiss women are a different story , but do you think you can make impression to
pay the drinks of the bar-flys ?
A relationsship these days needs more then a few nights out......
Some women want you to have:
huge flat, a big car(like a bmw or higher), you have to
have a decent job(management), enough time for her, enough money to
travel around with her........
Life is a bitch, when you don't fit in these picture , you been called a freak.......
I totally agree with that comment... I have actually been told nearly exactely the same thing by someone else.....especially driven home to me at a recent house party... (yes a SWISS house party... but they all left before midnight..) where a very fit tall blonde I was sat next to... was wearing a watch (surrounded in diamonds...) worth more than my Landrover (with oil leaks) and Jaguar (yes, that leaks oil as well..) put together......
I happened to be wearing a $40 Casio I had bought in 2006 when in the Middle East....(it's the best watch I have ever owned... so why change it???)
Better a freak and free then a slave earning money that will not remain in your pocket(because she needs it for her plan of decent life).
For relationship it needs two who are working as a team with the same interests.
Only when you find the " right one" , it is time to give up freedom because
then you have to cut back your spending for yourself, invest more in building something that brings you closer to your partner.
And when difficulties appear , you have to go through , it is not easy these days, but i think it is worth it , someday.
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Some women want you to have:
huge flat, a big car(like a bmw or higher), you have to
have a decent job(management), enough time for her, enough money to
travel around with her........
what? that's positively low maintenance. take a look at this checklist:
Better a freak and free then a slave earning money that will not remain in your pocket(because she needs it for her plan of decent life).
For relationship it needs two who are working as a team with the same interests.
Only when you find the " right one" , it is time to give up freedom because
then you have to cut back your spending for yourself, invest more in building something that brings you closer to your partner.
And when difficulties appear , you have to go through , it is not easy these days, but i think it is worth it , someday.
totally agree with this. sadly, it seems that as people get older, they are less willing to compromise, even if it is ultimately for their own benefit...
Last edited by Phil_MCR; 15.05.2011 at 19:00.
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I did not mentioned the personal criterions, because for the most (tall, skin,
eyes )you can blame only your DNA, but that doesn't help to being attractive
to somebody (you want to impress).
These days you have to be a head taller then then woman etc......
When you don't make the first point of the list, biology has nothing for you to offer......
Best of luck with your move back to Norfolk wdf. You know that you are doing the right thing, and breathtakingly beautiful scenery and relative personal safety can only go so far to recompense the less than finer points of the country, not least the high cost of living and the petty-mindedness that you have been subjected to.
Oh I can understand you - but beware... nothing's perfect anywhere (I just came back from London thinking 'why did I ever leave? and was real happy to come back to Switzerland after only one week....)
FEXY
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Oh I can understand you - but beware... nothing's perfect anywhere (I just came back from London thinking 'why did I ever leave? and was real happy to come back to Switzerland after only one week....)
FEXY
yes, I agree. Nothing is ever exactely right... but it's the level of what makes things moderately happy... ie. its like the saying, "You are always in the $#it it is just the depth that varies"
I think if I had managed to pull some mega tall blonde Swiss girl who was overly obsessed with my "Irish" accent.... and liked old Landrovers...then I would just about cope with everything else......(okay, this is another weirdness... I actually am from Norfolk, and speak like someone from London (I don't have a West Norfolk accent, even in the UK people think I am from London..), but the Swiss seem to think I am Irish???) work that one out!!
I think I can understand, sounds like one too many big life changes at once - it'll take a while to get over the divorce, even you're glad to get out. But even without that, I also believe it's a very different experience moving here with a family as opposed to coming alone. A few nights out don't necessarily fix the culture shock. Maybe a case of wrong time, not-necessarily-wrong-country, or just not the right country for you, which is fair enough. Whatever, sometimes it's good to stick things out and give them a chance, but equally sometimes it's better to recognise when something's really not working for you and cut your losses. Safe oily drive home and good luck.
Surprised you didn't love it here!
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