We are in between visits. Frank’s brother and his family were here last week from Germany, and this morning my mom arrives from the Good Old US of A. The flight between Hamburg, Germany, and Zurich is about an hour and we can drive there from here in 8-10 hours, so that means we tend to see Frank’s family more often than we see my family in America. We get to America about once a year if we are lucky. This is probably the worst part about living abroad–how far away my family is and how difficult visiting can be. It’s expensive to fly our whole family there (more expensive than an all-inclusive vacation!), and it’s expensive for my family to come here. Not to mention the fact that Americans just don’t have enough vacation days to spend much more than a week over here, making it not worth the expense.
So anyway, it is all very exciting to see family we don’t see often. My daughter is thrilled, as is, I think, her American Grandma.
But the second most exciting this about these visits is the things these Auslanders can bring to us in our little economic island of Switzerland. I’ve mentioned before how expensive things are here. Switzerland has a fairly protected economy, meaning that cheaper, non-Swiss products are not widely imported. This means not only is the price of things high (so that Swiss wages can support the cost of living here), but the range of products is more limited than in, for instance, Germany and the rest of Europe, and much, much more limited than in America. Switzerland is not a part of the European Union, and is generally much more conservative than the rest of Europe. What this means for us is that when we have visitors from Germany or the US, we do a lot if research online comparing prices of things, taking into account current exchange rates between the US dollar, the Euro and the Swiss Franc, and making lists of things we can’t get here or things that are insanely cheaper (like clothes in America).
After living abroad for six years, I’ve learned how to substitute most American products with things available here. (This is a big issue with cooking, although it also means I luckily also have ready access to some great quality ingredients like mascarpone and vanilla beans–and Swiss dairy products really are unparallelled.) So I’ve made my orders from Old Navy and will have some new clothes soon :). And a supply of the one ingredient it still makes some sense to bring from America:
Baking soda. I’ve found it here at Christmas-time when all the baking products are out, but it comes in expensive little packets that can’t beat a $1 box of Arm and Hammer, especially if I want to use it for non-baking applications like cleaning (being the good Hausfrau that I am). And since the Christmas baking season has ended, I haven’t seen it at all.
So, yes, it is very exciting to have visitors!
myowngeography 