FREEZE!!! F - B - I

And that is exactly where we are with this registration process…frozen.  We have filled out a ton of paperwork, submitted passport photos (two sets, as the Swiss would have it-one set WITH NO SMILING ALLOWED), provided proof that we have health insurance, are married, were born in the USA, yadda, yadda, yadda.  And now, the Swiss have come back to us with a request for fingerprints and a criminal record report (or rather lack thereof) from the FBI-by next week.  Meanwhile, there  is only one police station in all of Zurich that does fingerprinting, and according the FBI's website, our request for our "permanent record" will take approximately…13 weeks.  So, until we get this whole thing sorted out, and receive our actual registration papers, we can't get a driver's license, and I can't leave the country.  See what I mean about being frozen?  I tell you what, now that I will have a Swiss bank account AND be on file with the FBI, I just might start to feel like someone important.  

PLEASE MAKE A U-TURN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

Where the heck am I going?  And why am I in this handbasket???  Navigating these narrow, windy, mountain roads with names as long as my arm would be impossible without Jane, our lovely navigation system voice with a British accent.  I think her favorite thing to say to us is, "Please make a U-turn as soon as possible".   You cannot believe how much more pleasant it is to hear her tell us these things than it is to hear me tell Chris such a direction when are left with a map and our own devices.  (and I am particularly directionally challenged) Maybe I should try using a British accent? Or, maybe not.  I cannot imagine how expats did this international move thing before the age of the internet and GPS systems.  Wow, now THEY were some brave pioneering spirits!