Move to Lausanne, Switzerland

We have officially moved to Lausanne, Switzerland and are settling into our apt on Lake Geneva. We are constantly amazed with the postcard perfect views of the Swiss Alps right outside our living room window and are only 45 minutes from some of the best skiing in the world...Verbier, Port du Solei, and Zermatt. It is quite a change from the hustle bustle of Shanghai but we are looking forward to the opportunity to explore and experience Europe. The town of Lausanne is about 30 minutes from Geneva (GVA) airport and 20 minutes from Josh's Honeywell office in Rolle. They speak primarily French here but we have been able to figure our way around for the most part. French lessons start next week so that should help a lot!

From what we've seen so far, the Swiss (in general) are super regimented. They follow the rules to a T with no exceptions as we learned early on when trying to check out at the grocery store with 11 items in a 10 items or less line and when the alarm went off because we walked out from the entrance vs the exit door. Things come in small packages just like we found in China...from miniature furniture to tiny milk cartons & 1/2 US-sized washers and dryers so again we are doing laundry everyday! Also no preservatives used on fruits/vegetables so we pretty much have to go to the grocery store (again - tiny!) everyday. We have to cook a lot more as "take out" is not common here unless you want a $12 Big Mac and dining out is no less than a 3 hour smoky excursion as they have still have not banned smoking in restaurants. We are still adjusting to the astronomic prices of everything and have really come to appreciate the value and convenience of the super-stores that we took for granted in the US (Josh paid $17 for a can of Raid on Saturday). One blatantly opposite practice that we found here versus China is that pedestrians actually have right of way - no matter what....even if they are crossing a busy road with cars or buses going 40mph, all traffic has to stop.

For those of you who haven't heard - we have a baby boy on the way, due mid-June so lots to do before the little guy gets here. We are currently in the process of unpacking our household shipment from Shanghai and making our place feel more like home. We plan on delivering at Clinic Cecil, a hospital 5 minutes from our apt that we have heard great things about. It is Swiss practice to keep moms/babies under watch in their own private room for 5 days after the birth to monitor which puts us at ease, especially given our first go-around. Unfortunately the baby will not have dual citizenship as neither of us are Swiss citizins, another example of how "strict" they are here!

Below outlines our contact information:
Address: Avenue des Figuiers 20 Lausanne, Switzerland 1007
Skype ID: theensigns
ViOP Phone Number: (973) 928-7920 (Yes, it's a US based number)
House Number: +41 21 601 6976
Josh's Cell: +41 78 896 6730
Melody's Cell: +41 79 501 8213

We plan to make a trip back to the States in September to attend a few weddings. In the meantime, our doors are always open. Hope to see you in Switzerland sometime soon!