Collecting Tickets and Breaking Down Routine

We've been in Switzerland for nearly a month now.

Swiss National Day- Food, music, and more

The good news? We finally have a delivery date for all of our furniture. We strategically planned our trip to Italy right in the middle of our furniture-less phase, which, if you're going to avoid sleeping in an echo chamber, isn't a bad alternative.

Soon our house will look less like a successful bachelor landed his first corporate job and more like five actual humans and a dog live here.

As we settle in, we are trying to keep thejok4 perspective that it isn't about figuring everything out at once. It's about figuring out enough.

We know the kids need sleep before school.

We know it's about a ten-minute drive.

We know we'll all need dinner at the end of the day.

Everything else? That's still a work in progress.

How often do we grocery shop? What time will we even eat dinner? Will we ever reliably find panko breadcrumbs? How exhausted will the kids be after school? What activities will they want to join?

We're building routines around the things we know and leaving room for everything we don't. Dr. Becky's persona on ChatGPT we have created has been helpful around bedtime routines that don’t take an hour...once the kids buy in, Lindsey and I might have a hot second to say hi to each other!

I'm confident we'll have 60% of the rest figured out before the kids leave for college.

Speaking of learning...

I made it almost twenty years (generous rounding) driving in the United States without a speeding ticket. France welcomed me with one within my first ten days. The ticket arrived by email after a Costco run.

My crime?

Driving 3 kilometers per hour over the speed limit. For my American friends, that's a blistering 1.86 MPH over.

I was a little discouraged. New country. New rules. Already getting tickets.

Later that day I was back at the neighborhood pool talking with a group of local teachers who gather under the same tree every afternoon. I mentioned my ticket.

They laughed.

Not because I got one.

Because they all get a few every month.

Apparently speed cameras are everywhere, and eventually everyone gets introduced to them. I immediately felt both better...and slightly more concerned.

Then, just to keep the streak alive, I returned from the pool another day to find a parking ticket on my windshield because I entered the wrong license plate number into the parking meter.

The ticket itself was beautiful.

Swiss parking tickets look less like a fine and more like an invitation to a royal gala under my windshield wiper. Thick paper. Color print. Foil on the edge…our wedding invites weren’t this nice.

It somehow manages to make you feel both stupid and special at exactly the same time.

One thing we've heard repeatedly before moving here is that Swiss people can be difficult to get to know, especially if you're someone who has moved here temporarily for work. Whether that's true or not, we've decided to make the first move.Every time we pass someone on our walks—to the tram, the grocery store, or while walking Brooks—we make a point to smile and say, "Grüezi."

It's a simple hello in Swiss German (not just German).

We're trying.

We're learning the language, learning the customs, trying to understand the unwritten rules...and occasionally learning the written ones through speeding tickets.

Then we discovered our family's secret weapon (with zero surprise to almost everyone reading this).

Charlie.

One afternoon he wandered over and struck up a conversation with a man named Paul at the neighborhood park. By the time I arrived, Charlie had apparently given Paul a fairly comprehensive update on our family's life.

Paul walked over to me and said, "Charlie looked like he needed someone to talk to."

He's not wrong.

Paul has lived in Switzerland his entire life. He and his wife built the beautiful home across from the park, surrounded by flowers and gardens that look like something out of a magazine. He's a retired chef who now spends much of his time walking—normally, but not so much right now. After two unsuccessful knee surgeries, he's waiting for a third.

Despite all of that, he still takes time to stop and talk.

I laughed when he told me that “Switzerland gives you nothing to worry about, so people just generally complain because they don’t know what to actually complain about.” "Swiss people aren't outwardly friendly," he said. "But underneath the shell...they just want you to be first." 

That has been our experience so far.

We've been fortunate to meet several people willing to answer our endless questions, teach us a few words of German, explain why something works the way it does, or gently point us in the right direction (like when to weigh groceries and when they are just unit pricing).

And if I'm going to fully embrace Swiss culture, there's one more confession I should make.

Some of you know "Dan Ryan Time." and likely have experienced it. Let's just say punctuality has never been a strength for me.

In Switzerland, however, being on time isn't considered impressive, it’s considered late.Early is considered expected.

2 minutes from our house

I'm happy to report I'm working hard and making progress.

Not early yet...

Let's not get crazy.

Baby steps.