Officially Swiss

I received my Swiss naturalisation papers a couple months ago but the fact that I was now a naturalised Swiss had not sunk in until today when I got a surprise in the mail.

I received my first ever forms de votation. I wanted to share this new milestone with Shrek as it is a definite sign that I am indeed Swiss. I have not decided whether I will exercise my citizenship right to vote on the referendum yet. The Swiss vote on anything and everything and yet somehow nothing changes and status quo always reigns supreme so the pointlessness of voting has not sunk in but I bet that the Swiss feel that they have the power to change laws and such via referendums and that in itself is the triumph !

Celebration

I am no longer an alien on Swiss territory as I have acquired my long awaited Swiss citizenship. I now am the 7.5 million and one habitant. I could be described as a reluctant Swiss but Swiss citizenship has to be merited and I have earned my right to be one.

Vive la Suisse !!!

Hard sell

Shrek has to be praised for having courageously fought off the insistent door to door salesman trying to weasel his way into selling us a security system we do not need thus helping a damsel (Princess Fi aka moi) in distress from committing a fatal, fatal mistake.

I was silly beyond belief and fell into the trap of leaving my contact details on a 'supposed competition' and led the security system salesman to my house. Luckily Shrek was there to save the day!!!

Nein zager aka nay sayer + hard sell = NO DEAL

Amen to that...

Sometime it does pay to be cautious and to be 'Sviss', after all it might save one from falling into the trappings of 'empty or misleading' promises and signing a dead end contract.

Pros and cons of living in Geneva Switzerland

I cannot begin to think of any advantages in being a Geneva resident. There must be some...

Maybe Shrek can fill in the blank for me.

On the contrary I can think of many cons in living here.

Let me count the ways

Ads:
The plethora of dairy products available such as myriad cheeses, yoghurts and other dairy-based products and since I am a die-hard dairy consumer it is one consolation to compensate for all the food I miss out on.

The availability of good quality chocolate. It is a chocoholic's haven.
The number of parks and playgrounds is elevated compared to some other parts of the world-Asia for instance.

The miniscule size of this small city/big village means that all the amenities are within close proximity. I am only 7 minute walk from the Shopping centre, library (I love libraries and would never tire of perousing books and to me it would be a shame if the art of reading was lost), cultural centre-with the Town Hall, theatre. Most importantly I am a mere 2 minute walk from the primary school which all my children will attend at some stage. Convenient indeed.
The alps and skiing is just a few hundred kilometres away from our doorsteps and we can easily take advantage of this by going on skiing holidays. One setback the cost of chalets,skipasses etc... is an expensive deterrent.

Being just 10 minutes from the French/Swiss border I can access foie gras (which I love) and some delicacies not as readily available in Oz.

The discovery of auctions that presents opportunities to buy magnificent adornments or watches or even furniture at an affordable/reasonable price.

The opportunity to travel and discover different parts of Europe flying low-cost airlines or to go on cheap all-inclusive holidays around Europe: Turkey, Greece etc..


Disads:
The fruit that I dislike most is the only fruit that is available all year round without exception, the dreaded apple, it's not even the type that I tolerate : Pink Lady or Gala. It is of inferior quality than what I have grown accustomed to when I lived in Sydney.

The library and most public services have opening hours that are incomprehensible to me. They open for 3 hours in the afternoon on weekdays. I like taking refuge in the library and its world of boundless imagination conjured up by books...but cannot go anytime due to the limitations.

The lack of variety and range of fruits and veggies in general. I tire of carrots and broccolis, apples and bananas when that is all that is on offer.

The inexorbitant cost of healthcare. I am paying large sums just to be adhered to a basic and obligatory health insurance company for my whole family. I do not use the health system much except during my multiple pregnancies and deliveries. I feel that I am paying for a service I hardly if ever use.

Whenever I have a craving for Asian greens or essential ingredients I generally have to substitute with what I have on hand or do without. It does impede some of my culinary attempts.

The once again inexorbitant cost of dining out. Restaurant dining is delibitatingly expensive therefore we do not eat out too often. There are no cheap fast food joints either, even Maccas and Domino's Pizza are comparatively costly and I do not want to gorge myself with greasy burgers,fries...and pay dear.

The improbability of owning real estate and moreover the high cost and low availability of housing in Geneva is atrocious and debilitating. One can be paying up to 2500 Swiss Francs for a four-bedroom housing commission (government owned) appartment. Most Swiss never dream of owning their own home since the property market is overpriced and riddled with red tape and finally overtaxed with an imaginary/hypothetical 'income arising from rent' tax.

The lack of childcare facilities and family/kid friendly establishments. Geneva in particular and Switzerland in general are not known for being supportive or encouraging of reproduction as they afford very little assistance to families.

The general diffidence and narrow-mindedness of people.
The deplorable customer service in all manners of speaking, worst being telecommunications companies of which the worst perpetrator is none other than CABLECOM--cacacom

The more heightened sense of solitude felt here.

The grey sky, lack of sunshine and general crappy weather always dampens my mood.

The price of meat, enough said. Moreover the associated luxury of taking for granted all the wonderful fresh produce: fruits and veg included when I lived in Sydney is amiss in Geneva as it is an extravagance to be able to freely access/eat invigorating agricultural crop.

The lack of leisure activities and variety of entertainment. The scene here is totally not happening and the vibe is disinterested to say the least.

The pace is just too slow, too quiet and calm for my liking. I need some bustle and energy to flow/emanate from the place I am at.

Being forced under house-arrest during the long winter months is no fun at all.

The endless episode of cold, flu and other contagious winter-related diseases gives me cause for concern.

My grievance against the local library

I frankly think that the opening hours at my local library can be extended and many improvements can be made to their overall service. It is a public library and they are supposedly there to serve the public: they are public servants and after all their salaries are paid for by the council.

Alas they seem to have limited working hours.

I will post a link to their opening hours and let you judge for yourself if that is not pathetic.

http://www.meyrin.ch/jahia/Jahia/site/meyrin/lang/fr/emprunt_de_documents

I want to emphasise the fact that they are closed for loans on Mondays. They are open more or less in the afternoon Tuesday to Friday for about 3 hours at best. This makes it extremely inconvenient for frequent library users like myself. They do not have a 'return box' so that I can simply drop off items borrowed on their off days and hours which I might add largely outnumbers the hours they are open during the week. Hélas they open on a Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm during the school year and 10am to 12 noon during off season. I really do wonder about what the staff supposedly do the rest of the time

They do not answer their phone because apparently they are understaffed. I tried ringing 5 times different numbers: adult loans, children loans and the main line before somebody finally answered.

In short the library is only the tip of the iceberg in what I refer to as the lack of customer service in Switzerland.
..

Minuses

One of the many reasons why I dread living in Geneva in winter is its grey sky, absence of sunshine and lack of fruits save the nightmarish apples which are either sour or mushy/powdery. I as well as my offsprings all love fruits, exotic fruits in particular.

My mum who lives in Sydney has not missed any opportunites to rub salt into my wound of missing out on FRUITS glorious FRUITS by nonchalantly dropping hints that she is able to enjoy boundless bounty of cherries, luscious mangoes, sweet apricots, grapes, plums which renders me green with envy. She has not even started on all the exotic loot such as durian, mangosteen, jackfruit, rhambutan and so on and so forth.

If I see another apple, orange or banana I will literally go ape or bananas !