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Day 11 in Zurich

In Singapore, our dual income as graduates settles us very comfortably in our homeland. In addition, the monthly instalments of our HDB flat (government housing that more than 80% of Singaporeans live in) come directly from our CPF (something like a compulsory retirement savings plan where about 20% of our pay ends up under the government’s lock and key till we hit the retirement age defined by them, or otherwise for repaying our housing loan). So that leaves our cash pretty much free. Supermarkets are affordable, and eating out even more affordable and convenient if it is just the two of us. Then there are the two mummies’ condominium facilities we can run to for a swim or gym workout, or the mother-in-law’s place for dinner twice a week. We were also fortunate to have been spoilt with a car Lionel’s dad got him. While we were not entirely flamboyant with our spending, there has never been a real need for tight budgeting either.

But oh, how different it is here. To begin with, I, being the accompanying keychain spouse, am no longer working and drawing an income, but yet continuing to require food, shelter, clothing, toilet paper and love. Although Lionel gets his full salary and an overseas allowance, that is just enough to feed, shelter and move the two of us about in Zurich – that is if we are extremely cautious about our spending. Furthermore, with our baby girl due in October, it’s 2.5 of us now, and soon to be three mouths to feed, three bodies to clothe, and according to one of the baby books, some 5000 diapers to purchase and pollute the land with.

The 10,000CHF cash that we nervously carried over from Singapore sublimated in less than two weeks. Here is how our five-figure sum, which we thought would have been a comfortable amount, magically disappeared:

• 2x one-year tram/bus passes: 2 x 693 = (1386)
• 2x three-year half-fare passes which allow us to buy other tickets that our current pass doesn’t cover for half the price: 2 x 350 = (700)
• One month’s rent of the 22 square metre serviced apartment that sits five levels above ground, with no lift (2380)
• One month of intensive German class for me. The class runs two hours every weekday for four weeks (650)
• One month’s rent for the more permanent two-bedroom apartment we are very lucky to get selected for (2210)
• And the corresponding deposit for this apartment (3100)

There! These are the big ticket items sans food and daily necessities. These already add up to 10,426 Swiss Francs (CHF). In case you’re wondering, the exchange rate loosely translates to 1CHF to S$1.25. So 10,000CHF here would be worth about S$12,500.

Now that we're 10,000CHF poorer, we still have got to set up our home here all over again – furnishing our rental apartment with the bare and baby necessities. Well, luckily renovations are not the norm here and our status as a poor student’s nuclear family affords us no pressure to prettify our home with expensive aesthetics.