Swiss Fun Facts

Over the 18 months that I have been in Zurich, I have tried to immerse myself into the culture and city; doing as the locals do, and in some instances, actually dating a few locals. During this time, I have noted a few things, observations if you will, about Switzerland and the Swiss way of life. Individually, they are not worth a blog, but I thought it would be fun to summarize a few here to give you a taste of my current life:

• In the US, the fast cash option at the ATM gives you $40 with the push of one button. In Zurich, the fast cash option gives you CHF400.
• In the US, if I took at $40, it would get me through the week, with money left over for brunch on Sunday. In Zurich, the CHF400 will get me through the week and brunch gets charged to the card.
• While the Swiss are incredibly polite, orderly, law abiding citizens, all civility goes out the window when it comes to waiting in line or grabbing a seat on the tram
• Swiss are so law abiding, they only protest or riot if the proper paper work has been filled out or if it is customary for that specific day (i.e. May 1)
• Swiss German is the language spoken in most of Switzerland (followed by French and Italian). Swiss German is a spoken language only and varies by Canton (or “State”), so people from one Canton won’t always understand someone from another Canton, however both will know exactly where the other is from. In addition, there are people who only speak Swiss German or French or Italian, so for some, you can both be Swiss, and not be able to communicate. For a country smaller than California, it can be quite confusing when traveling
• For most Swiss, traveling 1 hour is a long trip and is typically saved for the weekends. In California, that is the average daily commute to work
• Back to Swiss German, while it mostly resembles the German language, it is different enough, in the use of different words and sentence structure, that native German speakers have a hard time understanding it. To me, Swiss German is like the Ebonics of German. I can’t help but think that, had Oakland been separated from the rest of California, by say a mountain range, 100 years from now Ebonics would be recognized as a language, just as Swiss German is.
• It is this distinction between Swiss German and High German that made me abandon all hopes of learning German while on rotation. After 8 months of High German classes, I gave up, primarily because while I was being taught proper German, I heard nothing but Swiss German on a daily basis and it was impossible to reconcile the two…that and the fact that every time I tried to speak German, I always received a response in English.
• And finally, the Swiss people and overall way of life is one that I find enjoyable and incredibly logical. People work hard at work, but enjoy their time off with friends and family, spending time outdoors hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter. The honor system works in this small country (you weigh your own fruits and vegetables) and no one feels the need to take advantage of it. And once you make friends with a Swiss person, you can count on them for anything, unlike some of the superficial friendships I find myself in in the US. So while I have decided to move home at the end of June, it is not reflective of my experiences here, but rather a need to be closer to my family.

Editors Note: I just recently found out that the CHF400 fast cash option is not a pre-set amount for all customers, but is rather a customized amount equal to the average withdrawl for each customer. Whoops!