Should we take the dog? You betchya (not taking Babs would be a deal breaker for the kids).
What about Winter? Found her a great temporary home because she's a bit too old to handle the transit. Special thanks to my colleague and friend from SF State who is fostering her and her sparkling personality for the year.
What about school or the boys? No brainer! Let's go to ISB because we are only there for a short stint and burying them in a Standard German only immersion would be overly challenging, particularly given that we are straddling two academic years.
Sublease the house? Absolutely, and thankfully we are working with our old child care provider turned rental/real estate agent to manage the property. If we could/can trust her with our kids, we can certainly trust her with our home.
Selling the cars? Done.
As we are packing today to head out tomorrow; the big adventure about to begin, it's the small details that weigh heavy. Did we cross all the "t's and dot all the "i"s? We sure think so, but the minutia can keep a person awake in the small hours of the night.
Visas to secure from the Swiss consulate here in SFO, only to have the computer system there choke up needing a return trip to collect them. Rabies shot secured for Babs, but verification paperwork was sent with the movers to Basel, so a return trek to the Vet was required to get the validation to ship with the dog.
Did we ship all the things we needed? Not sure. Are we taking too much on the plane? Probably. Will our new home suit our needs? Most likely, but it will be small & we had zero control over the location. I know the company won't put us in some lousy part of Basel, and frankly, there aren't many lousy parts of Basel. Even so, moving sight unseen into a new apartment is pretty stressful (and may not even remotely qualify as "small stuff").
Having never moved abroad, the details are stunning. There is paperwork for everything. And it will continue once we arrive in country. We will need special processing as we emerge through customs. We will have to register for living in Basel City, including getting our "biometrics" recorded with the proper offices.
And, if you can believe it, we are going to need a Swiss Bank account. Yes, I will finally know some one with a Swiss bank account, and it's us!
All in all, we are more than ready for the move. Darby really has been on top of her game, pruning our home items to get the house ready for our sub-letters. In the midst of this, Uncle Mike and his new Husband Erdi swung on through for their Green Card interview. We have been on, what it seems like, an endless set of good-bye gatherings, not the least of which was a 10+ hour open house that Darby tossed together on the last day of school.
We seriously hope the outpouring of well wishers and friends converts to visitors through out the year. Once we get our feet on the ground and adjusted to the time zone, I predict it won't take long for us to feel like Basel is our home. We are very much looking forward to showing off our adopted Swiss home to friends and family.
I jokingly said to all the good folks at SF State College of Business (and other SF State friends) that I would be highly offended if I found out they were near or in Switzerland and didn't make an attempt to connect. This goes for you too! Please do come.
Did we forget something? Probably. Will we be fine with out it? Definitely. After all, we aren't moving to some war-torn, strife-ridden location. We are moving into, perhaps, what should be considered a first tier country in the first world. Until we meet again; Auf Wiedersehen!
Next post will certainly be written from our new Basel Location.
Signed,
- the trailing spouse
