Discovering Switzerland in America

Time (a Swiss preoccupation, how appropriate) has taught the The Frau that small slices of Switzerland are readily available for her consumption not far from her American home. 

Take this refrigerator at Esther's European Imports in New Glarus, Wisconsin. It's not often a selection of drinks in an American store excites The Frau, but that is because most American shelves are not stocked with Rivella, Elmer Citro, Pepita, and Sinalco. Merci vielmal for this cornucopia of Swissness, Esther from Thun. She has run this shop for many years.


Next, take this shelf. It looks like something found in Switzerland, but nope, this is a shelf at Alp and Dell in Monroe, Wisconsin. It's the largest Emmi cheese dairy outside of Switzerland (they even have a supply of Swiss brown cows and proper Emmi equipment here). Esther's husband, Tony, runs this place and will take your order in Swiss German if you prefer. And guess what, American friends, his shop delivers. So forget that pizza delivery, it's time for a little Raclette this winter.





Then...The Frau was recently wandering the streets of San Francisco, when she found Switzerland at Pier 17. It's an expanding hub of Swiss diplomatic presence in America and it comes with a proper Swiss clock so you're not late to discover it. Expect nothing less.













Finally, The Frau can't help it–she always gets a little nostalgic when she sees this plane, whatever American airport it happens to be waiting in. But she feels very lucky to have gotten to spend almost a month in Switzerland this year and even more time experiencing the American side of Switzerland. And there's a lot of Switzerland still waiting to be discovered in the United States. 

Goods and Bads of Life in Switzerland, 2.5 Years Later

There were times during The Frau’s visit to Switzerland last month (mostly when she was in the city relishing that EVERY car actually stopped for EVERY pedestrian) when she really wanted to move back. Like really, really wanted to move back. Especially when she saw Swiss children as young as her daughter confidently walking alone to school. Or when she sat on a bus seat without any disgust at its level of cleanliness.

And then there were moments, mainly when The Frau was sweating in small shared spaces or listening to her friends’ neighbor’s televisions through shared walls, where The Frau just sighed and said to Mr. Frau: ”Wow. I really, really do not miss this.”

The take away? There are goods and bads in every country. It’s up to you to decide what goods and bads are best for you.

Back in Switzerland, 2.5 years after leaving.

But The Frau admits: she couldn’t help but feel envious of her American friends who moved to Switzerland when she did who are now in the process of applying for their Swiss passports. This is mainly because another passport represents a level of freedom to move between countries that would be wonderful. Relying on varying whims of employers and governments is not so wonderful. In any case, The Frau would love to have more options in her life rather than fewer. But her nationality options are what they are right now.

In any case, her trip proved she wants to be living abroad again, or at the very least, spending her summers in Europe. After all, what’s the point of working remotely like The Frau does now if you don’t take advantage of a little country hopping—even if it has to be limited by tourist visas?

In any case, here is an Unscientific Summary of Swiss Life, 2.5 years after living there:

GOODS

Cities built for pedestrians instead of cars (pedestrian bridges, pedestrian tunnels, and crosswalks that cars actually respect). All seem so amazing now.

Swimming in Lake Zurich

Transport that works (except when the power goes out during a storm!)

Cleanliness, both on the ground and in the air

Nature integrated in cities

The coffee

The bread

The cheese

The chocolate

Produce that’s just produce and not a sci-fi experiment (i.e. not on steroids)

The pure beauty of the landscapes

SlowUp bike rides that close roads to cars almost every Sunday from April through September for pure (and free) biking pleasure (In Chicago, they do this once a year on Lake Shore Drive, but they make bikers PAY for the priviledge of riding on roads normally reserved for cars. Sad.)

BADS

Small apartments

Hot apartments

Hot public transport

Crowded public transport

Pushy, rude people who aren’t at all “sorry” for crashing into you

People cutting in line

Living with neighbors/Shared walls

Shared laundry/Laundry days/Small washers

Swiss German

That foreign feeling

Here’s the big thing: after being back in the U.S. for 2.5 years now, The Frau knows that you cannot truly be integrated into a culture and society unless you’re born into it. She admits—she feels very alive in the U.S. right now. When you understand the culture and the language because, well, it’s yours, the way you live and experience things is on a much different level.

Also: While The Frau sees the goods and bads of Switzerland and the U.S. at heightened levels—as horrible as it is sometimes when looking at the bads of a place with a 360 view—she will always be grateful for such a wide lens of the world. (Every American leader should be required to have lived the real deal abroad—but that’s another topic.)

In any case, The Frau had to unexpectedly digest a tear when taking off from Zurich a few days ago. But Chicago greeted her 12 hours later with a rainbow as if to say, “Welcome home—remember—there are beautiful things here too.”

Missing the pristine

One of the things The Frau loves most about Switzerland is hiking. The paths are plentiful (60,000 km +) and pristine, and The Frau’s most recent experience last month demonstrates just how pristine.

path at 10:30 a.m.

To the right is a picture of the path to the Majingsee (near Leukerbad) around 10:30 a.m.

path at 3 p.m.

And to the left is a picture of that same path around 3 p.m. Yes. Heaven forbid a few fall leaves cover the path, but the leaf blower was doing his job in the middle of the Alps on a Monday. It seems excessive, this Swiss version of care, and yet when you get used to it and then don’t have it anymore, you miss it intensely.

The Salt Creek Trail, a trail in the Chicago suburbs where The Frau likes to inline skate, has been covered in leaves for the last few weeks, meaning she can no longer skate on the trail. And last year, the La Grange Park District just couldn't seem to put in the effort to make their outdoor ice rink useable even one time during the winter. It’s times like these when she really misses Switzerland. 

In fact, it doesn’t take much to feel like you’re living in a third world country after Switzerland. The Frau swims at the local high school pool in her American suburb and they’ve cleaned it once in the last year. Once. Someone in The Frau’s swim group told her  that sometimes the Department of Health shows up and closes the pool down. Even the air vents in the room are so filthy that one of the swimmers with asthma can no longer swim because of the room’s air quality.

This makes The Frau wonder—why? Why can’t a school pool that’s in a wealthy suburb, for which she pays the equivalent Swiss price to use (and for worse hours and service) not be regularly cleaned? It’s in a school! Is care and cleanliness in America too much to ask anymore?

Some might say the problem is money, but The Frau pays more in American taxes than she ever did in Swiss taxes. As she reads more and more books on political issues (Elizabeth's Warren's A Fighting Chance is a great one), it’s clear that while the average American taxpayer pays more and more, they get less and less for that honor. In the meantime, the billionaires are building their own pools in their backyards while the rest of us have access to a dirty pool twice a week for 1.5 hours beginning at 5:30 a.m. If that’s not inequality in America, The Frau doesn’t know what is.

Happy Swiss National Day

Grüezi Yodelers,

Black sheep like The Frau celebrate
Swiss National Day too.

Happy Swiss National Day. Are you in Switzerland on August 1? Then you should have brunch on a Swiss farm. It's the thing to do if you want to live the Swiss life, so naturally The Frau will be eating her share of Zopf, cheese, and dried Fleisch tomorrow. You can find a brunch near you at http://www.brunch.ch Just make sure your farm of choice is not already ausgebucht (sold out).

Also, in honor of Swiss National Day, The Frau is having a sale. Her book, Swiss Life: 30 Things I Wish I’d Known, is available for CHF 16 for a limited time. This price includes shipping within Switzerland and a free bookmark with a cloud or sun, depending on how you feel about Switzerland at the moment. The Frau will sign the book too if you want. The offer is available until August 10 and payment is via bank transfer. Please mention the super secret code Chuchichäschtli in your book order e-mail. If you can also say what Chuchichäschtli means, your total price drops to CHF 15.

All the best for an ausgezeichnet holiday.

Liebe Grüsse

The Frau

Eight Things to Love about Switzerland, Part II

The Frau celebrated eight years in Switzerland two weeks ago. In honor of that milestone, she’s put together a list of eight things she loves about Switzerland. Today she’ll conclude with the last four. To read the first four, click here.

Baden, Switzerland
Photo by Brian Opyd

Five: Health insurance is not tied to employment. And it’s mandatory.

What happens when health insurance is tied to employment? Well, apparently if you’re in the US and work for a company like Hobby Lobby, they can deny you your legal right to contraception in their health policy because of their personal religious beliefs. Would this ever happen in Switzerland? No way. Health insurance is private; it has nothing to do with your employer, and everyone is required to have it whether they like it or not. This does a lot for costs savings and equality, since unlike in America, the people who pay for health insurance aren’t also paying for those who forgo it even though everyone has health issues. And it also means you don’t have job stress. Swiss people often quit their jobs to travel or reevaluate their lives or start a business. All while keeping their health insurance. Which brings The Frau back to point one: Freedom.

Six: Punctuality is valued.

You never have to wonder whether someone will come on time or not in Switzerland. Ten seconds late is late. Why is this great? When time is valued, you don’t tend to waste it. The Swiss are a productive country for a reason.

Seven: It’s clean. No really, it’s clean.

Switzerland is the only country The Frau knows of where she’d actually take a shower in a parking garage. Or let Toddler M continue to eat the apple she dropped on the floor of a bus. Or find a sparkling clean bathroom in the middle of nowhere. Clean is nice. And also too easy to take for granted sometimes, especially after you’ve been living here awhile.

Eight: Towns and cities are built for walkers.

Cars are required by law to stop for pedestrians at zebra crossings. Lights are timed to make driving suck as much as possible in Swiss cities. And parking costs are high. Why? Switzerland isn’t a driving country; it’s a walking one. If the laws and hiking signs aren’t proof, then the example set by The Frau is. 

The Frau walks to buy groceries. The Frau walks to buy clothes. The Frau walks to buy electronics. The Frau walks to the train. To the bus. To the library. To the post office. To the pool. There’s almost nothing she needs that is not within walking distance. Not only are all of these walkable Swiss cities and towns pleasant to live in, but when a city is walkable, it cuts down on car pollution, congestion, and noise too.

What else do you love about Switzerland?

Oh, by the way, if you love reading about Switzerland you might also like The Frau’s book, Swiss Life: 30 Things I Wish I’d Known. Just a totally unsubtle hint.

Zurich Book Reading at Orell Füssli The Bookshop

What should you know about Swiss life?
Oh, how about that sometimes something in Switzerland is actually free!
Shocking, yes, but come to the free reading event and you'll be able to sit back, relax, and enjoy some cheese and chocolate (or more likely some pretzels and wine) for less than you'd spend for a packet of ketchup at the Swiss McDonald's.

The Frau will read from her new book, Swiss Life: 30 Things I Wish I'd Known
May 23, 2014 at 7 p.m.
Orell Füssli The Bookshop
Bahnhofstrasse 70
8001 Zurich
Hope to see you yodelers there!