Dear S
Thank you for the lovely long email. Was delighted to read it and be updated on all your happenings. Things have been really busy here. The continuation of my part time job in DB via the branch in London did not work out. I went through the screening, got my offer etc, and in the last minute they retracted citing some compliance issue. I was a bit disappointed to be honest, but it was good for me to spend more time at the girls school, volunteering for school trips, meeting the teachers and other parents etc. I’ve now got a temporary 3 month role, again in DB, but in Credit Risk and not in Wealth Management (which I was doing in Zurich). I’m quite happy about this since Credit Risk is what I was doing in Mumbai for many years and is the part of banking I most enjoy. I was hoping that it would turn into a permanent role, but with Brexit happening and also DB committing in its annual plan to reduce costs and cut jobs (doesn’t it all sound very familiar) I don’t think they will be able to justify a permanent increase in the headcount. I started the job just 2 weeks back, and the upshot is that the timing is really bad- it will be throughout the girls summer holidays (starting this Thursday) and when they get back to school, the role gets over. Never mind. I’m glad for the experience. And my parents are coming for one month during the summer holidays so the girls would be well looked after.
Did you already finalise your house- are you looking for something near the school, or do you plan to drive the boys to school? The academic level is pretty high here and the girls have been struggling to cope, to be honest. S had an end of year exam in maths and English and they look at these results on a national level. She’s doing well in English but maths needs some improvement. I think I will try to spend a little time with her over the summer focusing on Maths. It’s the opposite for A, she enjoys Maths and is finding the level ok in class. English reading and writing is going a little above her head and there have been quite a few instances of tears in school when she’s not been able to do stuff. The teacher is very kind and doesn’t put any pressure on A, but she is really very sensitive and when she sees her classmates doing stuff much more easily and she’s struggling with it, I think she feels sad. I’ve told her not to worry, but I thinik this summer I’ll need to concentrate on her English. The thing is A doesn’t really like reading and S doesn’t enjoy maths so there’s always complaints and moaning when I ask them to come and study those subjects with me. Please give me some patience and forbearance!
Thank you for all the photos on snapfish... Its amazing to see the kids grow up from small babies (A, LF and T were so small when we first met) to such independent children and for the older ones to become mini adults (or rather mini teenagers!). I think we won’t be travelling anywhere during the summer break this year. Due to the short term nature of my contract I don’t think I will be able to take more than a couple of days off so no long distance trips. N has taken 2 weeks off in end July, but I think he will either stay in London and do day trips with the girls or just some 2-3 day trips to the country. London has a lot of stuff we haven’t seen yet so maybe N will take the girls to the museums for a couple of days. I’ve booked two shows for the girls in August – Charlie and the Chocolate factory and Gruffalo. We saw a lovely play- Running Wild in the open air theater in Regents Park. I guess I completely misjudged how cold it gets in the evening – other people had come with blankets and caps and scarves and we were all shivering in our spring jackets. But it was lovely, the whole experience. I really miss the beauty and calm and ease of life in Switzerland, I think the only thing to kind of make up for that is the cultural and food scene here! You’re so right about being in Zurich being a first class experience and how we all need to move to economy now. Only positive being I could get used to the economy cost of goods and service here. For eg, I can easily afford to go every week to the hairdresser and have my hair washed and blowdried here at a fraction of the cost in Switzerland ( I won’t of course, but maybe for a very fancy occasion J).
I’m overall finding the experience of moving quite underwhelming. I think with the kids school and house stuff there’s so much to be done when you move that it takes away the excitement of going to a new place. Also it takes time to make new friends and settle down and sometimes (very often) I feel it would have been much simpler if we had just managed to stay back in Switzerland. Am hoping this feeling does not last too long. Does not help that the weather is damn awful here.. some sunshine but mostly cloudy and rainy. But its amazing how people take the rains with a pinch here – it was raining quite heavily on the day of S’ sports day and I expected them to cancel the sports day. But they didn’t. It ended up being sunny later, but I was quite surprised at the school’s decision and how all the parents didn’t seem too worried! Next task is to buy a nice rain jacket for myself! I think the summer dresses and shorts will remain in the cupboard this year!
That’s it for now. Hugs to the boys!
Best
R
