So I am currently in Sunderland England right now and have already started school, but since I’m a little behind on my blog I’m going to say some more about things I learned in Switzerland and then I’ll update later about my first few days in England later. FYI, the following information isn’t organized very well, just random information.
As I said many times, Switzerland is really expensive. Let me emphasize that one more time to make sure you understood me: Switzerland is really expensive.
Okay, now that you know that Switzerland is really expensive, I may continue. One thing I found really different was how the trash service worked. Now, we pay the trash service once a month and they usually come by once a week to take out all of our trash. In Switzerland, you pay PER bag. You fill a standard sized trash bag, put a label on it, and are charged per bag. Obviously, that will add up to a lot of money if you are not wary of the amount of waste you go through. They also stress recycling, which will also help save you in taking out the trash (aka spend more money). When wanting to get rid of big things, someone comes by two times a year to retrieve such trash….or maybe it was metal? Anyways, my point is that you have to be extremely careful with the amount of trash you go through and you can’t just get rid of things. So, being a country girl, I had asked my Swiss mom “Well, why can’t you just have a community trash burning tin if it costs so much?” Well, apparently Switzerland is also regulating the amounts of carbon dioxide that is released into the air. Burning your trash is against the law because Switzerland is so environmentally friendly. Interesting huh? Now, I’m so aware of how easily I fill up my trash can and I feel so terrible about it. I waste so easily and do not think anything of it. I know Americans are pushing for recycling and that is something we do at my parent’s house, but still. We fill up the trashcan pretty fast regardless. Another thing to mention, they do not have garbage disposals in their sinks, so they cannot cheat the system that way either.
There’s also regular (annually, biannually, etc.) checkups on cars and chimneys so make sure they are also not excess emissions of carbon dioxide in those. None of those big pickup gas eaters will be found in Switzerland. All cars are as small and compact as possible, depending on the need per family. Even if the family does have a car, it probably is not used daily. Bikes, walking, or public transportation (tram, bus, train or even taxi) is the most efficient way to travel.
Bathrooms. If you are ever in Switzerland and are in the search for one, it can be found by looking for the two letters WC. And from there, they are of course labeled by the usual gender separation by the male and female pictures.
Back home in the states, we call it “military time.” But in Europe, time is usually always listed on the 24 hour scale. There is no PM, it is 13:00. You will notice this most especially on public transportation time listings. Sadly, I have to admit that even being a military brat, I still have to subtract any time existing in the PM by 12 so I know what time it is.
A few times I would wake up early in the morning or had time to myself while Isa was in a sport practice, so I would take a walk around the neighborhood. Usually only walks that involved as few turns as possible, because we all know how directionally challenged I am. My favorite part was going to this forest hill next to the flower field and listen to the clanking sounds of the bells tied up around the necks of goats. I couldn’t ever see them, just hear. But I loved it! It always made me think of Heidi! Anyhow, back to my point, on my walks I would be by myself and often see other individual walkers on my path. As part of the culture I was brought up in, usually such circumstances would incline me to say hello or smile and nod at such said stranger. I would do so and they would simply: 1)ignore me and continue to stare straight ahead and continue on their way 2)give an awkward hello that came out like pulling teeth 3)the stranger would give me a puzzled look followed by an expression that screamed, “who the hell is this person?!” I learned fast it was not part of the culture to do such things. It’s hard to fight the natural impulse, but I really didn’t want something ELSE to label me as an obvious foreigner.
Fast food, if you think about it, can easily be a symbol of the US whether Americans like it or not. It represents how we are always on the go and are always in need of shortcuts. Also, we eat it a lot. In other words though, we enjoy our conveniences and anything that makes life easier. This is also represented on items such as….well let’s say the bagel cutters contraptions. Instead of simple taking a knife doing it by our own hands, we made up an invention where you place a bagel in a box thing and push down the handle to cut the bagel in two perfect halves. OR the bagel already came precut! We simply never do things ourselves from scratch; we have all these ways to make processes faster and easier on us. But back to fast food, Swiss people do not normally go out for meals. It costs too much! Not only that, if you forgot an ingredient for your casserole you were making at 9 at night, too bad so sad! The stores will already be closed! They are no Wal Mart stores conveniently open 24/7 for such needs.
Now, Switzerland is absolutely gorgeous! It really, really is. But, in my opinion, if you ever want to go with the whole family (spouse and kids), I recommend not. Well, unless you have a ton of money to waste, then go ahead. Switzerland is notorious for their very good public transportation system. You go anywhere quite easily, which is very appealing for tourists. What’s the catch? It also cost a lot. We were in Basel which is at the very top north of Switzerland where France and Germany meet and traveling down to Zermatt along the south boarder near Italy. For one person, a round trip was 218 CHF (Swiss francs). Well, I don’t remember the price, but I just looked it up online and that was what it was listed at. Thanks goodness Switzerland is small otherwise a tourist would be broke after trying to see all of this beautiful country! If you DO ever visit the lovely Swiss land, I encourage you get a foreigner’s flexi pass. There are many options but I choose the 3 day one. This allows me to pick any 3 days in a month’s period to travel anywhere on public transportation without paying extra. All the other days, I would only pay ½ fares. Downside was I always had to carry the pass and my passport around in order to get these deals, otherwise I would get a hefty fee from the controller. The pass cost me about 250 CHF if I remember correctly, and saved me a lot in the long running!
Europeans are also much more open about changing in public. I remember when my family visited Europe in 2001, we went to a public pool in Germany. The changing room was not separated by genders. Despite being only 11 at the time, I still insisted on privacy and my sister hold up a towel while I changed to block me from others’ view while I changed. This, more then anything, drew everyone’s attention at my odd behavior. Isa’s softball team would also just change from their day clothing to practice outfit right there on the field. The men’s baseball team too. Cups and all Isa told me. It’s just part of the European culture to be more open about such things.
On that note, I would like to add that the one thing I really WILL NOT miss from being in that part of Europe is greeting/saying farewell to people by the kisses on the cheeks. Depending on where you’re from, its either 2 or 3 kisses. In Switzerland, it was 3. It was so unnatural for me and felt weird to be kissing people I just met on the cheeks not once, but THREE times!
No comments:
Post a Comment