Wow I've been here for almost a week already, it's flown by. Aunty Ros and Uncle Jim have gone back now so I'm left to fend for myself!! I think I should survive...

Thursday night we went for dinner at another teacher's house which was a very nice evening indeed. We sat out in the garden, had a lovely meal and generally laughed a lot. It was very Swiss, there was the sound of cow bells jangling in the background and we ate roschti (potato-type dish they eat lots of here).

On Friday we went to Basel which is the nearest big city. It's a lot bigger than I thought actually, and only 30 minutes away on the train so definitely going to be going there lots I feel. We had a little wander around, saw the cathedral, had some lunch by the river etc. Oh and we went on a tram which was very exciting! They certainly like their museums in Basel, they have pretty much every museum you could ever want to go to, and plenty that you'd never want to go to... There are things like the Basel Natural History Museum that you would expect, but then also things like the Swiss Fire Brigade Museum and the Pharmaceutical Museum. Bizarre.

Yesterday we just stayed around Delemont, had a litle walk around, went to the supermarket, went out for pizza etc. I discovered that they do have weetabix, yay!! And they sell Tetley tea bags, amazing. So I got some earl grey :) Uncle Jim also put my wardrobe together for me yesterday so I no longer have to live out of a case, hooray! I also have a desk now too so my room finally looks like a proper room :)

Settling in

I finally got round to taking a few pictures! The top one is the view from my bedroom window and the second one is the view from the kitchen.

Yesterday was the welcome day in Zurich. It was a good day overall but some of the seminars weren't the most interest thing I'd ever heard! We did get some useful hints and tips for teaching though and it was cool to meet all the other assistants. The best bit of the day was when we went for a drink afterwards! We sat in the sun by the lake and it was really lovely :) Zurich is a beautiful place and I'm definitely going to go back there to explore further sometime.

Today I've been doing admin stuff, went to register so I can legally be here for the year and also opened a bank account. Just need to go back tomorrow to sign for it so I very nearly have a Swiss bank account! Oh and I also bought a mobile so if anyone wants my new number just ask. I went to see two of the schools I'll be working in (they're different schools but in the same building) and met some of the teachers there. They all seem very friendly and seem to think I speak good French so that was reassuring!

It's been so hot today! I'm currently sheltering indoors cos I couldn't stand the heat anymore! I shouldn't complain though, it is nice to see the sun.

The adventure begins!

So here I am in Switzerland!! :) and with internet in my flat :) Arrived yesterday after a mammoth almost 22 hour drive...which I managed to sleep through most of. It was so so hot, I think after living in Manchester I'd given up on the summer and forgotten that in other places this season still exists, so I didn't really have the right attire for boiling heat!

Delemont is a lovely place, a decent sized town surrounded by mountains :) My flat is very nice, needs a little more furniture yet but that'll all come together soon. It's in the old part of the town, very picturesque. It overlooks the market place and apparently there is a little market on Wednesday and Saturday mornings so that'll be handy. I've unpacked as much stuff as I can so far but need to wait 'til I get a wardrobe for the rest! I'm sharing with a German girl called Christina who seems very nice.

Today we wandered around the town a bit and caught in a torrential downpour!! We sheltered in the post office for a bit but then braved it and got absolutely soaked! It made Manchester rain look like something not even worthy of being called rain in comparison. So that was fun. We also went to the supermarket which I did enjoy, I like foreign supermarkets. Although I was slightly disappointed to discover that they don't appear to have Weetabix in Switzerland!! That's the only cereal I sort of like, oh well, pain au chocolat for breakfast it is then.

This evening Christina and I went round to one of the teachers' flat for dinner. It was a very nice evening and I was happy to find that I can still converse adequately in French :) I learnt that they say 'Natel' for mobile phone so that's now three different words for mobile I have in my French vocabulary, it's getting harder to keep track of which one to use in which country!