Banished 17 January 2011
Because many People are still wondering why I am not living in Zermatt anymore… this is the story of how I was nearly banished from the neutral Country of Switzerland.
Once Upon a Time…
While I was in Zermatt this summer as an Au Pair for the Manfredi family, I had free time at nights to go out on my own. One night I found myself wandering into the Pollux T-Bar. There I quickly became friends with Michi, the bartender/manager. We got to talking about how I work as a bartender in Chicago & California, which made him ask if I would be interested in working for him at T-Bar for the Winter 2010-2011 Season… DUH! The position included: Three Months living in Zermatt, Switzerland, Housing paid, Food, Salary, 5-day schedule + Vacation time. How could I possibly say no?
Got It!
When I arrived back to the States in October, I got to work on the Visa Application process. Well, it is practically impossible for an American to work in Switzerland. The only position the Swiss government will allow a work visa to be permitted in the bar/club/disco industry for an American is as a DJ. Problem… I’m not a DJ. Guess I had to learn quickly! So we applied for my Visa to work as a DJ. The Consulate told me that if I were approved, I would know by the 1st of November. The 1st came and went, no word from the consulate, I thought that meant I wasn’t going… sad day. But then on the 15th I received word that I was approved! So I booked my flight and on the 25th of December I was off to Zermatt! Best of all, my Mother got the chance (thank you G) to come along with me! We haven’t had the opportunity to really TRAVEL together since the MOTL trip to London circa 2001. How cool it was, to get to share a part of my next adventure with my Mom. <3
Flight Swiss Air December 25, 2010
My mom and I flew out of Chicago O’Hare airport after spending the day with Family and friends. Christmas Day was a bit different this year to say the least. I always thought Christmas day was one of the busiest times to travel, Christmas and Thanksgiving right?
Mommy
Apparently not international, the airport was practically empty. It took us; I swear record time to get through security. The flight was only around 8 hours direct to Zurich international Airport. 
I got my #6 stamp in my passport! Then we had to make our way to the train that would take us up the mountain to Zermatt, two trains in total with a transfer. Conveniently the train is inside the airport. Although convenient I was a little bummed we didn’t have a chance to explore Zurich at all. So it went like this, Zurich > Bern, Bern > Visp, Visp > Zermatt. For a one-way ticket to Zermatt it cost 119 CHF! WHAT?!? Talk about Über expensive! Expensive but Beautiful. The Swiss trains are CLEAN and have amazing large windows to some spectacular views. It was almost like taking a site seeing tour, which made the cost a little more bearable. The train takes you into the heart of Zermatt where there electric taxis available to help you with luggage to your hotel. I would suggest arranging with your hotel in advance as most of them have a private taxi service available.
* A note about Taxis: anywhere a taxi takes you in Zermatt should be no more than 10 CHF make sure the driver knows you know this before you enter, otherwise he will try to charge you differently. It helps to speak a little German or Italian.
Banished
I really love Zermatt; it is the picturesque description of a Winter Wonderland. I made wonderful friends and loved my job. Life was AWESOME!
we eventually made it
On Wednesday, 12 January 2011, the bizarre happened. What began as one of the best days quickly made an abrupt turn for the worse.
Nikka, Ivetta, and I took the Gornengrat express up to the top of the mountain. We wanted to take some nice pictures of the greatest mountain in the world the Matterhorn. But of course by the time we made it up there, it was pretty much cloudy. But. We knew that our friend Alan, who is also a DJ at T-Bar, would be up on the mountain taking photos with the Saint Bernard puppies, so we went to visit them. To get to where he and the dogs were we had to walk up the open ski trail. NOT EASY. While dodging ski and snowboarders, who are yelling to get out of the way, the snow made it very difficult to walk quickly, plus climbing uphill is a battle with how thin the air is at 2,800 meters. Finally we made it and took some of the best photos ever!
Nanna
Drunk...
Nana, who I took photos with over the summer, was the puppy who was there that day as well. Nana is SOOO sweet, she is still a puppy, but she is not little by any means. Alan was telling us stories about all the dogs in the kennel that work for the photo company.
To my surprise the dogs LOVE the job. So much so that they cry when they are not chosen to go to “work.” One of the older dogs, Minnie, loves work so much that on numerous occasions, Alan has received phone calls from the ski patrol, on days when they were not working, informing him that one of his dogs was sitting on the snow mound up on the mountain. To clarify, for one of the dogs to get up to where the photos are taken is not exactly easy. First Minnie had to sneak out of the kennel,
Ready to work!
walk to the train, get on the train and take it up the mountain three stops, then walk up the mountain some more. When Alan went to get her, she was just sitting nicely, posing. Ha-ha.
So after we were done with our photo shoot we had fun sliding down the mountain on our bootys J hey it was a lot easier than walking down all that way. Butt sliding is a hoot- who needs a sled? It was definitely a day full of fun and laughter. Nikka and I both had work that evening at T-Bar do we went home to get ready.
When I got to work it was like any other Wednesday, but it wasn’t. The night was steady but slow enough that I could talk with each of my customers. Around 23:00 (11pm), a man in all black came into the bar and sat down. I walked over introduced myself and asked what I could get for him, like I would any other customer. He hesitated for a minute and said no thank you. 
So I said okay, and asked his name. Which was when he pulled out his Kontrol badge and asked why I was behind the bar and not working as a DJ. To which I responded, “oh- one of the barmaids was I’ll and it was easier for me to step in as a bartender and have Nikka DJ tonight.” He said “okay,” and then left to speak with Miche. 
I don’t know what exactly what was said between the two of them but I suppose the outcome was not good. I continued to work for the rest of the night and thought I was in the clear. The next day my boss got a phone call from the Kontrol and this is the gist of what they told him.
They had received an anonymous phone call saying that the American girl was working as a barmaid at the T-bar and not as a DJ. So they had to come in and investigate. (My boss told me that in his 20 something years of owning the Pollux, the Kontrol had never before come in unannounced to check the Visas of the employees). 
Because they found me behind the bar that night, they would have to come back and investigate again, if at that point they caught me behind the bar, I would be given a fine, as well as the T-Bar and the Pollux Hotel, It is possible that I would be taken into custody for violating my visa terms and ultimately be deported from the country.
Obviously I could not risk being officially deported, or be given the fine of thousands of CHF. We had no choice really but to terminate my contract with the T-bar. But this is when I really started to freak out. No more than a few days prior, Tom and I had made plans for him to fly out and visit me! Not only did we make the plans, but also booked non-refundable tickets! He was to fly in on the 8th of February, we would stay in Zermatt until the 14th and then fly to Athens, Greece for a week, and then he would fly home on Feb 20th. So how could I be getting kicked out of the country?!? 
Not after we made these non-refundable plans. I needed to come up with a plan and quick! To make matters 
more complicated, I found out that after my contract was officially terminated, I had 4 days to leave the country and I was not to return for at least a month (banished from Switzerland!). 4 days!?!? That is a very short time to pack up an apartment and get all affairs in order to leave a country you had planned to stay in for a while longer. Not only that but where was I going to go? I couldn’t go back to the states because then there was no way I could afford another plane ticket to come back in February. I called the Manfredi’s, the family I was an au pair for. Rosaria told me she would ask her friend Titi if I could stay with their family for 2 weeks until Tom arrived, but I wouldn’t be able to come to Milan for another week. Which was great news, however that left a week of nowhere to go. Alan had invited me to go SCUBA diving with him in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt awhile back. And it just so happens he was leaving the day I was getting kicked out of the country. So I took him up on his offer and left for EGYPT!
Thank You
It is so funny to me how over a 2-day period I went from Happily living in Zermatt, to booking, planes, trains, and automobiles to visit 3 different countries. So to whoever made the anonymous phone call, thank you? Although I was so sad to leave my Zermatt family, I have had some of my greatest adventures these past few weeks and could not be happier! Everything really does happen for a reason and I am so glad that it does!
I Love Zermatt
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at the Temple of The Gods. Athens, Greece.
