Penguins!

Here Pingu, have a fish

For my birthday last year my parents-in-law gave me a unique opportunity - to feed the penguins at the Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne, England. Those of you who don't know me might not know that penguins are my absolute favourite animal in the whole world, so this experience was something I was truly looking forward to.

I was made to wait for it though. I had booked the experience for last summer, but unfortunately we were informed by the people at Paradise Wildlife Park that they had to close the penguin enclosure for maintenance, so my experience would have to be re-scheduled at a later date. So, I rebooked it for this summer, after the wedding of my brother James and his new wife Kelly (see my last blog, "Congratulations James & Kelly").

The Job Search - Part II

At the start of January I waited for a call from the Fribourg HR lady to arrange a date for my interview. A couple of working days had passed, and I had heard nothing back. Once again anxious, I told myself that maybe they were still struggling to arrange the date with the directors, especially coming so close after the holiday period.

A couple more days passed with no news, and the anxiety level began to grow (the old adage, “no news is good news”, does not apply to job hunting). I made another call to the company and found out that the HR lady was not due to return from holiday for another couple of days – this helped me to relax a bit, and calmed our fears that the company had decided to reject me over Christmas (images of a director shouting “no” into his mobile phone whilst skiing down a Swiss mountainside flash through the mind).

Sixty Days in Suisse - Part VII

Fun, Family and Feasts

The beginning of my seventh week here was a happy one for me as I was looking forward to the following weekend when my parents, Sandy and Bob, were popping over to visit me (and Chris).

I was also still on a high from my exam success the previous week, and from winning at the lotto, and had decided that I would take a break from studying this week (delaying the start of my MCITP or OCA studies) and have a look at what jobs were out there for a talented, hard-working guy like me.

...and some trainers in an old tree

I had already updated my CV with details of my new qualification, so proceeded to apply for several jobs posted on Swiss employment websites, and see what kind of responses I get.

Aside from that, not much else happened during the week, although I did see a pair of trainers in a tree – I guess Swiss Christmas decorations are a bit different to the ones we have in England... maybe the British Christmas from Globus really is different from Christmas here?

Sixty Days in Suisse - Part II

Courses, Chills and Chestnuts

At the start of my second week here I began my course to become a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist - and spent a couple of days learning about the wonders of SQL Server 2005 and what the heck it actually is. The course material itself was very good, lots of explanations, demonstrations and interactive scenarios, all helping to explain the subject matter.

That being said, sitting behind a computer screen attempting to learn by yourself for several hours each day is by no means an easy task - so I was thankful when Nelly asked me if I wanted to go to the market in Thonon, another little town on the French side of Lac Leman.

Sixty Days in Suisse - Part I

As the title suggests, I have now been a resident here in the land of cheese, chocolate and mountains for 60 days, although it certainly doesn't feel as long as it sounds. In fact, when I checked my calendar today and realised I had just finished my 8th week here I was somewhat surprised that time had passed so quickly - I left England with a niggling fear in the back of my mind that I would struggle to adapt to life here, with each day passing so slowly that I would actually start to long for life in Stevenage (which, as anyone who has visited Stevenage knows, would be stooping pretty low).

Fortunately, I began to like life in Switzerland almost immediately, aided greatly by the kindness of my wife's family and friends, who have all made me feel very welcome here. Indeed, my first few weeks here were such a blur of activities, outings and meals that I barely had time to miss my life in England (although I obviously still missed my family and friends). I soon found that I had passed the one month mark here, and thought that I really ought to write another blog article to let people know how I'm getting on and what its like to live in Switzerland. Another month later, and I'm actually getting round to it!

It's fair to say a lot has happened in these last few weeks. So much, in fact, that this effort might take some time to read (apologies for those who were expecting a "quickie" update), although I will do my best to keep it as brief as possible. In an attempt to make it succinct yet readable, I have had to split it into different parts (this one being Part I), with different sub-sections for each of the 8 weeks I have lived here - sort of mini-blogs, if you will.