Buying a New Car - Part II

On Saturday March 6^th, Christelle, Bernard and I headed to Geneva for the car show. Luckily, Bernard had forced us to wake up very early to get to the exhibition before the doors opened, as there were already a large number of people waiting to get in. Once inside, we headed straight for the Ford display (making a point of ignoring the Peugeot stand), and proceeded to look at the Ford Focus.

Unfortunately, they did not have the estate version on display, so we had to content ourselves with the hatchback version. I thought the car was really nice, and was definitely a contender for the job.

From there, we next headed to the Mazda stand, with Chris practically running towards it like an excited child in a toyshop. There, on a spinning display stand, was the Mazda6, the object of Chris’ affections. I have to admit, it was a darn good looking car, with the design of the LED lights at the rear and the Bi-Xenon headlights at the front increasing the car’s appeal.

Buying a New Car - Part I

For most people, the process of buying a new car is a pleasant experience, at least until the bill arrives through the letter box. It is an opportunity to take the time to find cars that suit you, both aesthetically and economically (and ecologically, if being green is your thing), and involves garage visits and test drives before choosing the perfect match. For me, however, it was a bit more complicated than that.

Mothers Day Surprise

Whilst in England for the Christmas holidays, Hayley – my brother Adam’s fiancée – discretely suggested the idea of me popping over to surprise my mum for Mothers’ Day in March. I thought this was a brilliant idea, and would be a great opportunity for me to get some revenge for the surprise leaving party they had organized for me in September last year.

The idea would be for me to get a flight over and make my way to my parents’ house without my mum knowing, and then to nonchalantly walk into the living room as if my being there was a normal, everyday occurrence. I knew this would be a big surprise for my mum, and was very excited at the prospect of making Mothers’ Day something special this year – it would certainly beat the normal gift of flowers or Daim bars.

The Job Search - Part IV

The next day – “decision day” – came and went with no word from the HR guy. Christelle was worried that they had found something in the integrity test that showed me in a bad light, meaning the company did not want to employ me anymore.

I tried to calm her fears (and my own) by saying that the guy is probably just busy, or maybe hasn’t had a chance to review the test results yet. I busied myself with research on the Geneva bank, with whom I had the second interview planned for the Thursday afternoon.

We decided to wait until 11am the next morning before I would then call the Prilly HR guy to ask for an update, and spent the evening trying not to think negative thoughts.

The Job Search - Part III

A tiny speck of light then broke through the darkening clouds of uncertainty – I received another voicemail message from the Prilly guy, who invited me for an interview the next day. I called him back saying I was available, and we set a time.

Gutted about being turned down for one job, I tried to concentrate my thoughts on preparing for my next interview, and spent the rest of the day thoroughly researching everything I could about this company. I wanted to make sure I could calmly and confidently speak about their line of work during the interview, and show real motivation for the job.

Dressed up for my interview

The day of the interview came, and I headed to the company’s office to meet with the HR guy. He was really friendly and we chatted briefly before we went into the meeting, where we were joined by the manager of the team I could be working for. During the interview I spoke about myself and my experiences, listened intently to their descriptions of the role and the company, and then asked them questions that I had prepared prior to the interview.

I had a very good feeling after the interview, as I thought I had presented myself as honestly as possible, making sure to explain why I would be the perfect candidate for the job. Part of the interview was conducted in French, and I did not hesitate to tell them that, while I am by no means fluent in the language, I have a good understanding of it and am improving all the time.

At the end of the interview, the HR guy asked me to email him with my feedback, so they could compare my view of how the interview went with their own thoughts. I left the building in a far more confident mood than I had in Fribourg, and treated myself to a McDonalds. My positive thoughts were doing their best to push the negative ones out of my mind, and the large Big Mac meal gave them a helping hand.

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).

The Job Search - Part I

When I left my previous role as a Project Manager in the UK at the end of September, I felt pretty confident about my chances of finding a job in Switzerland. I was under no elusions about the size of the task ahead of me, being a foreigner seeking employment in a country that speaks a different language to me, but I had found an area of work that I enjoy and that I’m good at (even if I do say so myself), and had built up about 2.5 years of experience in the role, and that would normally be enough for me to land a similar job in England. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out to be quite so simple...

Finding Somewhere to Live - Part III

Early in the next week, the delivery company dropped off the sofa and the flat-packed bed and wardrobe as scheduled, and we asked Bernard and Chris’ cousin Stephane (a professional carpenter) to come over the following weekend and give us a hand building the furniture.

The plan was for us to construct the bed, and wardrobe on the Saturday, so that our first night of sleeping in the apartment would be that night. Chris and I were very excited about the prospect of finally spending a night in our own place, having had the keys since the start of the month.

 

 Above: Photos of our finished living room

Finding Somewhere to Live - Part II

Whilst back in Switzerland after New Year, and still awaiting further news from the estate agent, Nelly informed us that one of her colleagues owned several apartments in Lausanne and the surrounding areas, and that she had mentioned one that had become available in Bussigny, a village to the west of Lausanne. The price fitted into our budget, and it was described as a 3 pièce, so it sounded pretty good.

What sounded good turned out to look great – Bussigny itself is a nice little village, and the apartment was fantastically well positioned being only a 3 minute walk to the train station, plus local shops, bakers, butchers and restaurants only a short stroll from the apartment.

The building consisted of just six apartments, spread over three floors, making a nice chance from some of the more densely populated areas of Lausanne that we had visited previously. Nelly’s colleague, Anita, let us into the apartment and we could immediately see the potential.

Finding Somewhere to Live - Part I

When most couples take their first steps in their new married life, they usually move in together (if they weren’t already living together before) and start dreaming about all the things they can do as husband and wife, such as starting a family or planning holidays or home improvements.

Unfortunately, Christelle and I are not like most couples; our relationship has never been conventional – coming from different countries, meeting on the other side of the world, living in separate countries for two years, etc – and our married life would also start in an unusual way.

Two days after we tied the knot, I flew back to England and left my new wife in Switzerland, 580 miles away. Some couples who have been married a long time might be thankful to put that kind of distance between them and their partner, but for newlyweds it is somewhat more difficult. As September ended, so did my time as a UK resident, as it was now time to drive over to Switzerland to really start our married life, something else that perhaps makes our relationship unique.