Like perfectly ripened grapes are to fine wine, most good things are worth the wait – including jobs. At least, that’s what we’re telling ourselves, considering our rather tenuous residency situation here in Europe and Trav’s continued search for employment.
He recently received an email from the employer who invited him for the job interview in London. She thanked him for coming but informed him she had chosen another candidate for the post doc. While he had been quite excited about possibly joining her lab and enthusiastic about the direction and scope of the research there, I was excited about my own job prospects (I speak the language!). I was also looking forward to the chance to live in a place with a thriving art community, dance, and endless cultural events. And we were both thrilled at the low-cost frequent flights back to the States for us to visit family. London has a lot to offer.
Taking a few days to let the news sink in, we both agreed we were a bit relieved that we wouldn’t be moving to London and having to adjust to big city life. We certainly could have done it, but I know Travis will find a different job that will make the London job, in hindsight, hopefully pale in comparison.
In the meantime, our Swiss residency permits officially expired at the end of September.
We believe we’re allowed to legally remain in Switzerland for another 90 days as “tourists” without exiting either the country, the EU, or Schengen. One of our tasks this week is to stop by SPoMi, the Immigration Office in Fribourg, to find out how long we’re actually allowed to remain in Switzerland and what we need to do prior to our departure from the country. We know we’re required to officially “deregister” before leaving, but the process for us is complicated by the fact that not only has our residency already expired, but we don’t have a firm “exit date.” Deregistering affects everything from our requirement to maintain medical insurance, whether we can maintain our Swiss auto insurance, and when we’re no longer liable to pay various taxes.
Aware of our situation (and because of her giant heart), our landlord graciously offered to let us remain in our apartment through the end of October. Once again, we’ve dodged homelessness.
Despite our drawn-out departure from Switzerland and the infernal “Countdown to leaving Switzerland” clock on our blog that we’ve repeatedly extended, the end of October is really the absolute latest we expect to be here. If Travis hasn’t finalized a job offer by then, we’ll have no choice but to fish or cut bait, which means returning to the good ol’ U.S. of A. I have to admit that the prospect of just packing up and heading home is looking good right now after our rather abysmal experiences with European employers.
