Basel, Switzerland BLOG
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Settling in...
So I had the new job, and now I needed to work out the other logistics, where to live, how to get to work.
I decided to spend the first week in a hotel by the central station, The Schweizerhof, an old hotel with a lot of charm, and very quaint. The only downside was it had been cold the week before, and with old heating systems, it takes a while to turn it off, so my room was a tad hot. Because I was overlooking the platforms of 6 trams, which ran from 0500h to 0100h, I didn't get a lot of sleep that week. :)
I also thought it would be a great idea to take the 0720h flight from London Luton, which meant getting up every Monday at 0400h, and coming home at 2130h Friday again, which meant a 0100h arrival Saturday morning, so not much of a weekend. :(
There was also the matter of where would I live as a hotel was a crazy expensive proposition. So I started to look around for somewhere to live and someone to play hockey with. By a stroke of luck, I found both that first week, in fact I viewed two flats and had agreed to take one by Thursday of my first week.
As for hockey, after the interview I had found some sites for teams in Basel and fired off some emails, and had a reply from a team in Binninegen, with an invitation from the coach to come down and check them out. I think he only read the bits of my email that said 'Canadian' and 'wants to play hockey'... he skimmed over the '36 years old', 'can't play contact' parts, as he looked quite happy to see me when I arrived at the rink and said he would chat to me more in between periods... Well as soon as the players hit the ice I knew this was not the team for me, they were all in their 20's, fast and hitting like mad... so not for an old concussion victim like me.. :) I met the coach in between periods and he said, 'What do you think? Want to come train and join our team?', I had to dissapoint him, but he did mention 2 options at the same rink.. one 'fun' team and one 'senioren' team, the latter being made up of +35s.
I got the contact numbers from him and thanked him a lot... so I was now set.. 2 teams, a flat... now I just had to work out how to get to the rink as public transport is a pain in the ass, and a taxi was stupidly expensive for the 5 km journey...
Once again the internet came to the rescue in the form of Basel Ex-pats.com where I saw an ad from a UK ex-pat offering to help other ex-pats find motorcycles or scooters... Hmmmm, I though, a scooter may just be the answer... toss my bag on my back and scoot over.. plus Scootter on a scooter, how perfect? After a couple of emails and phone calls, he managed to find me an ex-Swiss post moped, or in German Motofahrrader (Mofa). The advantage of a Mofa, is that, because they have pedals no special license is required. Ok, they are not as hip as a scooter, but as long as it got me to hockey and back, who cares?
We agreed on a price and he even agreed to buy it back when I leave, so it all seemed great. We arranged delivery a couple of weeks later, and all that was left to do was license it... simple you say? HA! Read on to page three for the saga of the Mofa.