I'm sure everyone has seen this but...you never know!

"Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can say 'Ni!' at will to old ladies.  There is a pestilence upon this land.  Nothing is sacred.  Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history."

"...Did you say 'shrubberies'?"

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

As you know there's a big UN delegation in Geneva, as well as many international institutions. I suppose it's a bit like Brussels, but the city itself is smaller. You can live in the expat community, but it'll be like living in a (very international) village. That's my half-educated guess.

I loved Geneva when I was there. Very nice town. Neat, quiet, posh, überschaubar, kind people. A nice place to rest.

I used to do a bit of business around Switzerland, and I found the German (Zurich) Swiss more orderly and less agréable than the French, who in turn were less fun than the Italian (Lugano) Swiss.

But I wouldn't trade any of those places for Linlithgow...

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson

I have a friend who went there to work in Financial IT. Halas, she is in an isolated recent couple, speaks French, and both work in Finance ; not sure it's very relevant to your questionings... If you are interested I could ask her to contact you.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

Funny, I was just checking out the area this summer as my wife would like that I find a good job in the area, we've many very good friends in Annecy which is just to the south.

That would be my recommendation, Annecy, it's a bit touristy cute but still a great place to live and raise children; you can commute to Geneva from there, a lot of people do, I would actually probably do so by bike, but people do it by auto as well (a new thouroughfare is going in which will make it an even shorter commute).

Mig, get a job there and then tell 'em to hire me!!!!

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill

My hubby used to live and work in Geneva. His work environment (CERN) was multilingual, so I don't know about managing in English in other kinds of jobs. But he says it was quite easy to get along in English at first, but learning French pretty soon became a priority.  

He really enjoyed the proximity to the mountains: great bicycling, trekking, and climbing just 'round the corner. What he did not like that much: the prices. It's an expensive city. Don't know how expensive in comparison to London, though.

You have a normal feeling for a moment, then it passes. --More--

I think Geneva would be a great place to live. I haven't been there in awhile, but I used to visit often and mostly with people who spoke English and were connected to the UN. There is a big international community, so my guess is teaching Yoga in English should be no problem. I used to teach a few seminars in Geneva, also in English. Besides, it could be fun learning French - keeps the grey brain cells happy.

Besides you have the lake, not far from the mountains, its within a stones throw of France an in approx. 2 hours you are in Italy.

Maybe you should organize for a few days in Geneva, and get a feeling for it. And a good person to ask is someone who lives currently in Geneva, she might to be able to give you more up-to-date information.

US buddy of mine used to work in Genf/Geneva/Geneve for a couple of years.  He is half African-American and looks kind of vaguely Third World, also a big imposing guy physically.  He said the Swiss seemed to assume he was Turkish and were -- not overtly rude, exactly, no one was ever openly rude -- but definitely he felt the prejudice esp when seeking housing.  He would have a very chummy phone chat with a prospective landlord or -lady and then as soon as they saw him in person (a great big 'Turk') -- there would be polite excuses and mysterious problems and misunderstandings.

After two years of this, despite the scenery and the food and the cleanliness and the musical Swiss chitchat and the Kulcha (all of which he loved), he transferred back to the US.  Said it was just too lonely being big and dark in der Schweiss.

Might be better now, might be worse, who kmows, but when he told me the story I remember thinking it sounded a bit like some towns in Texas, real nice, lovely people, so long as you ain't too Mexican...

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...

I don't know if this applies anymore, or even applies to Geneva, but the Swiss correspondent of the BBC once moaned at me that if, as a foreigner (not EU remember) you have a job in a town, you have to reside within the town. Which means for places like geneva that everything is expensive cos all the many foreigners have to live in the restricted zone. You're NOT allowed to live outside.

Now that could have changed, but it's worth checking cos that will make a huge difference to what you can afford. I suspect that studenty places like CERN etc get dispensations, but financial may be different.

However, good luck

keep to the Fen Causeway

I've had a few friends live in Geneva at various points and the basic summation is:

Nice place, especially with children, so long as you can afford the cost of living. (Whether that's purely by salary or commuting arrangement or whatever, that was always the number one quality of life issue cited.)

I worked in Geneva and in other Swiss cities for short periods over the years.  I would just echo what Fran and others wrote and say that I found Geneva to be a very nice city and wouldn't mind living there.  I kind of preferred the German speaking cities, particularly Bern and Zurich, if I had a choice; however, that's just my personality coming through. I've heard many Americans say Switzerland is overly ordered/regulated, but I don't agree.

I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell. _ Blood Sweat & Tears

I live in Geneva! It's, um, nice?? I don't leave my apartment much, other than to go snowboarding, so don't really know all that much about the city. People here do speak French, so occasionally I have to pretend to do so as well, but the amount of French required to get around is not much.

People are generally friendly, though on occasion I've had my hair pulled to see if it attached to my head. Will probably not be a problem unless yours is pink too, however. (And this happened in Paris as well, so it is not a unique Geneva phenomena.)

Getting an apartment is a bit of a pain! They have this 'nice' system whereby one visit some apartment, then go to the regi and fill out paperwork to apply for it, applications are gathered, and one gets it or not. It can take some time and several applications. There is a clause in the papers one signs to apply that says that if it is offered but declined one must pay CHF200. I did decline a few (got several offers) but did not have to pay, so I don't know under what circumstances this really happens.

I will echo those saying that it should be no problem teaching yoga in English. Many, many foreigners, and most people further have the attitude that language problems can be dealt with, no real need to understand each other, some how it all works out.

I've had a number of meetings over in Geneva (I live 4+ hrs East), and have gotten to know a number of people there. Here's some of  I've heard from them: that about 20% of the population in Geneva speaks English, and with the UN and numerous NGOs, there's a lot of people coming and going...which is good and bad...good for business, maybe not so good in getting to know people (who are expats, anyway, as they leave soon). There are Swiss schools and lots of other private schools to choose from for your son, and the schools are good. Geneva is a pretty town...I particularly like the old town. The main town of Geneva is quite expensive, and can be challenging to find housing in...but if you look in between Geneva & Lausanne, there are lots of towns that have plenty of housing and better prices. And I have been told numerous times that I could have found work much quicker here in Switzerland if I lived in Geneva, because there are so many people who speak English...and I definitely think you can find/create work there. Good luck! I hope this works out for you!

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

It seemed to me I'd seen Geneva high in the most expensive cities ranking, and it is:

1. Moscow
   
2. London
   
3. Seoul
   
4. Tokyo
   
5. Hong Kong
   
6. Copenhagen
   
7. Geneva

But you'd only be moving from N° 2 to N° 7!

A friend moved to Geneva about four or five years ago, and your diary made me realize how little I really know about her, in that I have no idea whether she speaks French or German (she's Swedish) but I have to assume that she does, because I think her job would be impossible to do otherwise.

I do know she had trouble adjusting there, found it rather lonely at first and difficult to make friends.  She seems to have settled in quite comfortably now, but I think she also enjoys the fact that her job requires a fair amount of travel, so she doesn't have to be there all the time.

I've been several times for brief visits to Geneva and Switzerland (visiting CERN, touring the italian lakes, a trade fair ...)

There are two things that rebute me in this country:
1) Cost: when in Geneva 13 years ago, all items in a boulangerie where the same price tag as in Paris, except it was Swiss Franc instead of French Franc (four times increase over Paris).

Also, an ad board in CERN for house rentals-swaps between physicists on distant assignments, listed houses on the french side of the border (Pays de Gex) which where basically the same price/rent as Neuilly (Sarkoland near Paris).

I don't think any of these has changed much since.

2) Ambient Fascism: Switzerland is a teaser show of what is to come in America, and it has been for decades, people just pretend not to pay attention because it is a tax haven. Yet a country of widescale autistic paranoia. Foreigners are traced, littering is punished like murder, denunciation are the expected social norm.

When crossing the border by car going to a trade fair a couple of year ago with a pack of commercial leaflets (wow, subversive materials !), the customs officer wanted to tax us on the leaflets arguing that is was inconceivable that we could hand them out for free at a trade fair ("gracieusement ? ça n'existe pas ça Monsieur").

A colleague with a Swiss girlfriend explained me that he once got in trouble, because he dumped opened mail envelopes in a trash can in the street, that was about to get taken away (but it was from another building as his). Well the concierge had seen him, got his name from the envelopes, and he later had a visit from police and a fine (it turned out this is because the waste truck measure the weight of waste for every building for billing-on-weight scheme, and there are fines for cheating this, but this was 20 grams of paper !).

And of course, you know about all the polls and the mainstream opinion of the Swiss on all major social issues.

Pierre

Many thanks to all of you for your input... you've confirmed some of my fears but it's not all bad. I guess London was not the easiest place to adjust to either, so we'd have a bit of practice. The main question, shall Miguel actually get a job offer there, will be whether I can work there (be employed, not only self-employed) or not.

I am lured by the nature and the cleanliness, and when thinking about how much people mindlessly litter in London, I kind of don't blame the Swiss for being so militant when it comes to punishment for littering (although the envelope story was a bit too much!!!). I do worry about their other attitudes. Fran, yes, learning French would be good for the brain, definitely, it would be nice to get another language under the belt (and actually experience what it's like learning it when one's out of college ;) and not a kid anymore).

I'd like to try those 40 mile bike trips... but as a commute I think it's better suited for Miguel -- he leaves me in a cloud of dust when we bike together.

Again, thanks a bunch, I read all this with great interest and I'm happy to have such a community at my fingertips :).

Wishing all of you a lovely Sunday...

"If you cannot say what you have to say in twenty minutes, you should go away and write a book about it." Lord Brabazon

Well, I, for one, would be happy to see you three escape Leyton, having been harassed by the locals with only the good fortune to be a few feet from the Underground in the area.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.