Never Say Never?

We are the proud owners of brand spankin'-new C-permits. These are the permits that allow "us" to continue working and living in Switzerland. I went to our town hall right after coming back from Chicago a couple of weeks ago to apply for them, so the fact that we got them isn't really that much of a surprise.

There was a moment of concern, however, when I noticed as I was waking in to renew them that Mrs. TBF's previous C-permit had actually EXPIRED A COUPLE OF WEEKS EARLIER!!! The expiration on my permit was August 16th, but Mrs. TBF's was actually in July.

Oops!

However, after I brought it up (aren't I honest?) with the town official, he told me there was absolutely no problem at all. You see, MEN RULE IN SWITZERLAND. The fact that my permit had not yet expired - even though Mrs. TBF is the one who works - meant that we weren't violating any laws. However, I'm kind of enjoying the thought that, technically speaking, Mrs. TBF was a schwarz Arbeiter for a couple of weeks.

Upon receiving the new permits in the mail a couple of days ago (with a rather arbitrary bill for CHF 66), I noticed that the new ones are good for five years; the last ones were only good for three.

Wow! Five years!

Now, I generally try to never say never, BUT...

The chance of us still living here in Switzerland when the new C-permits expire, five years from now, are extremely small. I'm not going to say it would never happen, but...

I'm definitely thinking it!