Spreading Swiss Cheer

We had our 75-year-old Swiss neighbor over for fondue last week and before she left she said, "I really hope you stay in Switzerland." 

I practically melted when she said this. As any foreigner knows, most Swiss can't wait to ask you when you're moving back. To have a Swiss person tell me that they hope I stay was the ultimate compliment. I'll never forget it. 

And with that, I'll say Frohe Weihnachten und ein gutes neues Jahr. Thanks for being a member of the One Big Yodel community. I love your comments and hope we can continue our discussion of all things Swiss and expat in the New Year. 

To honor the holidays European style, One Big Yodel will be taking a kleine Pause next week and will resume in the New Year. I hope you can do the same. Enjoy the season.

Hangin' with the Frau

After two years, we are really getting to be good friends with our Swiss neighbor, who we like to call "The Frau". And it is a lot of fun. She’s 43 years older than us, but we have a great time together. First off, she’s one of the only people in Switzerland that doesn’t try to speak to us in English (because she really can’t) and doesn’t make us feel dumb while we try to speak German. Because of this, and the fact that she speaks high German slowly because it’s not her native language either (Swiss German is), she is one of my favorite people to practice German with. Granted, she doesn’t really correct us when we talk, which is helpful for learning, but sometimes in the end, it’s just nice to have the confidence that although all of your grammar is far from perfect, you still can carry on a conversation for a few hours.

Last night she had us over for raclette (and prosecco and wine). Boy can she eat cheese! (and drink alcohol!) She told us she usually eats two pieces of cheese at a time so eats at least eight in one sitting. Wow, I felt stuffed after four, but then again I’m a wimpy American who is not used to processing that much cheese—except maybe on deep dish pizza!

We had so much fun that we are going to go flower picking with her on Saturday. I’ll keep you posted on that adventure.