Author: yoongz

A Singaporean family living in Switzerland; sometimes loving, sometimes hating, always living the differences we see each day.
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Step 5 – FINISHED!…

Photo from zurichexpats.com

On Tuesday, 6th November 2012, at 9.15am (roughly), i shouted all over my Facebook page that i PASSED! That’s right Step 5 of getting my Swiss Driver’s License, the final step – DONE! i was so happy – still am!

i have not blogged about it till now because… well, life got in the way (so to speak) and i wanted to do an accurate total tally of the amount of time and money spent to be able to legally drive in Switzerland. (Read here for how all this started.)

So first let’s go back to Tuesday – Practical Test Day:

My test was 8am in the morning, which was good because then i would not have to spend the whole morning pacing and worrying. The day before i had my last driving lesson and on the morning of the test, we did a short review about half an hour before the test.

My tester (is that what you them?), Herr (Mr) Niederberger was friendly and greeted us (me and my driving instructor) with a nice warm handshake. i had a good feeling. ( i also had lots of people praying for me – thank you guys – you know who you are 😉 )

So we drove out of the parking lot, down some familiar roads, then into a 30km zone (Switzerland has lots of these, especially in residential areas) where i did parallel parking, which i did well due to good training with my instructor. (i was never so confident about parallel parking before.) Then we drove a little further and he asked me to stop and then reverse along the road (in German: fahren rückwärts entlang der Strasse). i wasn’t sure what he talking about, so i assume it was a 3-point turn (in German: wenden). He stopped the car and i gave him a confused look. He asked what i was doing wrong. More blank looks from me. He asked if i learnt this at my lessons. i said no. Then he heaved a great sigh and proceeded to teach me how to do it there and then. At this point, i thought i had failed the test.

It turned out that in Switzerland, if you have to reverse more than 10km on a stretch of road, you have to switch to the opposite side, so you are going in the right direction of the traffic, then reverse slowly. Now i know.

Anyhow, since i thought i failed, i said to myself, “Might as well enjoy the ride.” So i drove in a quite carefree manner but still keeping to all the rules though.

We got back to the test centre and my driving instructor was waiting for us in the carpark. i parked the car and then we sat in the car and talked. He asked my driving instructor about the reversing part. She said we did do that but only once and near the beginning of my lessons with her. Then he said that besides that incident, everything else was good and congratulated me! i could not believe my ears and you can imagine how my heart leapt.

Sigh! A huge relief!

My instructor was so happy too. And right here, i would like to publicly thank Ms Fiona Croci for being such a wonderful and patient teacher. If anyone living in my area needs a driving instructor, i highly recommend her. (Visit her website here – she has really helpful links and explains clearly all the steps needed to get your license, in German though. Plus she speaks English, High German and Swiss German.)

Now how long did it take me from beginning to end? (Read about the 5 steps here.)

It took me almost 11 months from the start of my first aid course to the day i passed the practical. But it can be done in a shorter time. My problem was that i had to wait till husband was around to look after the boy before i could go attend all the classes. And sometimes the class times just didn’t work out for me.

i’m actually still not quite done yet – i still have to do what they call, “Zweiphrasenausbildung”, second phrase training. You have to do 2 sessions within 3 years of passing the practical test (my current license is provisional and i only get the permanent one upon attending these sessions and of course not committing major offences in those 3 years.) My friend said it is basically like a practice session and they also teach you to be environmentally friendly and a few other emergency techniques. Sounds interesting but it is going to cost more money – sigh!

So how much did it costs in total?

  • First Aid Course = CHF 140
  • Eye Test = CHF 20
  • Theory Self-learning CD = CHF 59
  • Theory Test = CHF 30
  • Learner’s Permit = CHF 60
  • Verkehrskundenskur (Additional Theory Classes) = CHF 200
  • Materials Costs at VKK = CHF 30
  • Train Costs to get to class = CHF 80.80
  • Insurance to take practical lessons = CHF 80
  • Practical Lessons (13x lessons @ CHF90) = CHF 1170
  • Practical Test (paid to Traffic Department) = CHF 120
  • Practical Test Day (paid to instructor for her time waiting & car usage) = CHF180
  • Provisional Driver’s Permit (valid for 3 years) = CHF 50
  • TOTAL COSTS to date = CHF 2219.80

This is not including the 2 sessions of the Zweiphrasenausbildung which can costs up to CHF 700.

So to get a final, permanent Swiss Driver’s License (after the 3 years provisional period) would cost me CHF 2919.80 (almost CHF 3000). And this is taking into account i already knew how to drive so did not have to start from scratch when taking practical lessons. If you are starting at the very beginning, i would most definitely add a few more practical lessons to that equation.

i hope this detailed account and costs breakdown helps someone.

syc

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Wesley Wednesday #02…

So this is my second post for Wesley Wednesdays…

Wesley has such a gentle spirit, even in his difficult situation. He needs a family who will help nurture that wonderful kind spirit within him.

In case, you are new to this blog or haven’t read about Wesley. Wesley is an orphan who lives in Asia. My son and i pray for him everyday; we pray for his daily needs and most importantly, we pray for a family for him. Wesley‘s family had to leave him – we don’t know why but it likely had something to do with his medical condition; Wesley has albinism and related vision problems.

Besides praying and sharing his story, we are also helping to grow his adoption grant. Wesley‘s best chances for a loving family who have the ability care for him and the heart to love him just as he is likely lies outside his home country. So that means an international adoption, which are known to be very very expensive, anywhere from US$20,000 to US$45,000. It’s crazy, isn’t it? That trying to bring an orphan into a loving family, which every child deserves, can costs so very much.

Many ask why they should contribute to Wesley‘s grant. My answer is borrowed from a couple who is on a journey to bring home a 12-year boy from Eastern Europe. (Wesley is also 12 years-old). So i quote Tania from 1,000 Loving Jack:

The magnitude of his needs are so much greater than ours.

Now some people might think that this is helping orphans business is not for me. It is not my business. But here again i quote Tania:

If we didn’t step forward and make this commitment to save him, then who was?

She and her husband are bravely stepping forward and adopting Jack. Not everyone is called to adopt. But we are all called to help the needy.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

i am asking for your help here; to help Wesley to grow his adoption grant so that a lack of funds would not be the reason that his forever family can not reach him. i have a special giveaway for Wesley, running from now till December 3rd. You get a chance to be entered into a draw for some lovely items while helping a little boy who is unable to do anything to change his situation for himself. Please click here to go to the Precious One Giveaway for Wesley.

You can also click on Wesley‘s name or picture to learn more about his story.

There are other ways you can help Wesley; you can pray for him, for his daily needs, for his forever family to find him. You can also share his story far and wide so that the chances of his forever family finding him would increase. Sharing his story and my giveaway would also give you a free entry into the draw.

Thank you so much.

syc

P.S.: Please go here to follow Tania’s and her husband’s adoption journey: Q & A Session « 1,000 Loving Jack.

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God and Adoption and You…

i read in August a lovely blog post a mother’s reflections a year on after adopting two older kids. My favourite part of her post is:

Is adoption easy? No it is not. Is this simple? Nope. Complicated and long-term. Will bonding be immediate and seamless? Maybe, but probably not. Will you struggle with guilt and fear that first year? Yes, but you shouldn’t. You’ve agreed to partner with God in some difficult, heart-wrenching work, and it’s no kum-by-yah party. Give grace to yourself; God already has.

Anything worth fighting for is worth fighting through, and adoption is one of them. I can hardly think of something closer to God’s character, who is the “Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy.” Certainly, we are his difficult children who spaz out and pull away and manipulate and struggle. We distrust His good love and sabotage our blessings, imagining our shame disqualifies us or that God couldn’t possibly be faithful to such orphans.

But He is. We are loved with an everlasting love, and it is enough to overwhelm our own fear and shame and humanity. In adoption, God is enough for us all. He can overcome our children’s grief. He can overshadow our own inadequacies. He can sweep up our families in a beautiful story of redemption and hope and healing. If you are afraid of adoption, trying to stiff-arm the call, God is the courage you don’t have. If you are waiting, suffering with longing for your child, God is the determination you need. If you are in the early days of chaos, God is the peace you and your child hunger for. If your family feels lost, He is the stability everyone is looking for. If you are working hard on healing, digging deep with your child, God is every ounce of the hope and restoration and safety and grace.

In Him, you can do this.

He is enough for us all.

Yes adoption isn’t an easy path. But if you are called to it by God, then you have more than enough. November is National Adoption Month in the US. And i would like to borrow Jen’s words:

Anything worth fighting for is worth fighting through, and adoption is one of them.

From the 1st November till 31st December, Reece’s Rainbow has it’s annual Angel Tree fundraising period. Previous years, this special time was a special effort to highlight the kids 0-5 years old with Down Syndrome who needed families, it was also a time to do some very special fundraising for these kids so that their forever families would have less to fight through to get to them.

This year, through voting within the Reece’s Rainbow community, 3 children from the other age groups and with other special needs were also picked. Each child is then paired with an Angel Tree Warrior, whose goal is to raise awareness for this specific child as well as to raise US$1000 for the child’s adoption grant.

Teamwork Tuesday will spend the weeks in November and December showing off one of these Angels and their Warrior’s fundraising project each week.

This week meet Abbott.

Abbott has a matching grant, please help him meet it.

He is 5 years old and is reported to be a very kind and cheerful child who is active and likes to run and see new places. He was in a fairly good orphanage but was recently transferred to an institution and we have not been given any updates since. i pray and hope that he is ok, that the institution he is at is a good one with enough staff and facilities to care for him. (Such an institution is rare where he is)

His only special need is Down Syndrome, which in this day and age is very manageable, if he lived in a country with the facilities to provide the support he needs, if he had a family who would go that extra mile for him.

His Angel Tree Warrior has a wonderful matching grant for him; US$200 will be given to his grant once his grant total reads US$2985. Every dollar you donate will be doubled.

She also has a couple of fundraisers going on for him.

  • A Crochet Shop called Hooked on Hope, where 25% of sales goes to Abbott’s grant. Click here.
  • A Walk/Run-a-thon. Click here for details.

Help reduce the obstacles which may stop his forever family reaching him. Buy from the crochet shop listed above or if you are in the area, join the Walk/Run-a-thon. These will all help grow his grant. Please go to his Angel Tree Warrior’s blog for details or click on his name or photo to donate directly.

Thank you very much.

Please follow this link to the full blog post i quoted from at the beginning: Jen Hatmaker – The Truth About Adoption: One Year Later.

syc

Do also remember and take part in my Precious One Fundraiser for Wesley.