Relocation

We’re moving to Liechtenstein. On Wednesday.

Yes, like from the movie A Knight’s Tale. It’s a real country.

In a pre-COVID world, we would’ve gotten a house-hunting trip. Instead, we got video walkthroughs from the realtor and hoped for the best.

Here are some things that I have learned while preparing for this move:

• It is very expensive to get a dog overseas. Actually everything dog-related seems to be wildly expensive
• Everyone thinks Liechtenstein is a city in Germany and I’m tired of correcting them
• German has a lot of sounds that English doesn’t have, and I don’t know how to make them with my mouth
• Health insurance is somehow more expensive than it is in the US
• Lots of people speak English, but how much English they speak and how willing they are to speak it to you varies greatly
• Curtains are different. Not sure exactly how, but they’re different
• Nothing electric will work over there, except for all the things that will work just fine
• All churches ring bells at 5:30am and everyone lives next to a church

It’s not all complaints. There is good stuff too!

• We have friends from Texas who moved there two months ago, so we won’t be too lonely
• It is absolutely gorgeous
• Castles!
• You can email your local town hall with literally any question and they will respond to you in English (bless)
• There’s an alpaca farm
• For the rest of my life I will be able to say I lived in the Alps
• Fulfilling a childhood dream of living abroad
• Getting to learn a new language and actually use it
• So much adventure potential
• I do not have to spend another summer in Texas

The day before the movers came, a pipe burst in our apartment.

• 

Not just any pipe. The pipe to the fire sprinkler. So we couldn’t turn it off for 38 minutes.

Now we’ve got an air mattress and two suitcases. I’m being a little dramatic – we are also pet sitting for our wonderful neighbors, who offered us the use of their (fully furnished) apartment while they are gone. So we can cook food and eat off real dishes and sit on the couch and watch TV, which are luxuries I wasn’t aware of until I didn’t have them anymore.

If I had to sum it up right now, I’d say that I am equal parts terrified, excited, and bored. I have no idea what to expect when we get there, but I’m bored of sitting on the floor at home.

The dog movers come Tuesday morning, and then we leave Wednesday morning. We arrive Thursday at 8am and the dog is being delivered to us that afternoon. Our wonderful friends are going to bring us dinner that night and we have rental furniture in the apartment (while we wait 8 weeks for our regular furniture to be delivered).

I’m not sure how I’ll be using this blog in the future – part of me is so overwhelmed with the process of moving that I want to turn this into a “things you need to know before you move to Liechtenstein” blog, but that’s a little too niche. So I’m open to suggestions.

Ask your questions/leave suggestions in the comments!