Welcome to Mom In Zürich! Here’s a bit about our adventure.
I’m Kate, mom of three wonderful kids and wife to one amazing husband. I am from the small farming town of Mount Vernon, Washington in the United States. I have wanted to live in Europe since I was little, and here we are, living the dream.
One of the most amazing things about living in Zürich is the fantastic transportation infrastructure and that you can be in another country in about an hour. My husband and I got married in 2005 in Washington State and in South Africa. We lived in Seattle, San Fransisco, London, and now Zürich.
Our girls were born in Seattle and when they were 1 and 3 years old, we moved to London. And, I stopped working. For now. My husband is from South Africa. We visit our home countries once a year and look forward to that time all year round. We took both girls to South Africa on safari when each of them turned 2 months old. So we try to squeeze a safari into our yearly visits to South Africa. Since then, they have seen a lot of the world, and we hope they see a lot more, eating and loving our way through it.
We had a baby boy in October 2017. His first flight was to Dubai in December 2017. We also took him to Oman on that holiday when we stayed with our friends. He has a lot more of the world to see to catch up to the rest of his family, so we will do our best to get him going.
I’m hoping this blog is a little space that will be helpful for people looking for adventures with their family in Zürich and around the world. Our kids are the loves of our lives and they show us the world with new eyes. I want to see the world through their eyes too. They are amazingly learning their 3rd and 4th languages in Switzerland and they never stop amazing me with their abilities. Their first two languages are English and Afrikaans. Now they are learning Swiss German (the spoken language of Switzerland) and High German (German). We love to travel, eat, and stop for coffee and playgrounds.
Things that I love now that I’m living in Switzerland?
I love sitting down for a cup of coffee (why was I in such a rush before? I’ll have an almond croissant too!), sparkling water, yoga, the fountains, the “badis“, the ease of travel from Zürich, and my girl’s school. When we lived in London my life was 90% fixated on schools. Now that we are in Zurich, I’m loving the Swiss focus on socialization in the early years and letting kids be kids has made me a bit more relaxed about it all. The helicopter mom is not welcome in Switzerland. Rather, the children walk to and from school from 4 years old. We will see how this social experiment works out as the years go by.
Things I Miss?
Things I miss about the US most of all? Family, friends, the non-smoking lifestyle, familiarity, self-serve frozen yogurt shops, salad bars, Whole Foods, and Mexican food.
What I don’t like about Switzerland?
Smoking. Yes, I said it.
Some of our favorite things in Zurich:
Zurich’s Best Brunch
Zurich’s Best Coffee Shops
Activities our kids love
Where else you can find me:
You can find my travel articles for Mothering Matters on Positano, Amsterdam, Learning To Be Happy At Home, Lauterbrunnen, Zermatt, and How Many Children Do I Hope To Have. I also work on their social media platforms (Facebook excursions, Twitter, and Instagram)
I contributed an article for my friend Mary who runs a fabulous Playground Website with the Best Playground’s in Zurich. (I also posted the English version here.) Mary also has a gorgeous Instagram feed.
My friend Lindsey posted an article about my thoughts on the Swiss school system, languages, our reason for moving to Switzerland, and how long we will be staying in Switzerland.
Expat.com did an interview about all aspects of our life in Zurich.
Follow our family adventures on Instagram.
Thanks for stopping by! Please email me at [email protected]. I would love to hear from you.
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