Another Switzerland
December 28th 2007 00:15
If we are always arriving and departing it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things
- Henry Miller
We often call the landing place after our forays as our attempt at 'settling down.' We look for a city, an apartment, a place we once knew or lived in that feels comfortable and we 'settle' for a while, trying to get our breath back from the wild ride that saw us throw our money and sometimes our common sense out the window in our hunger to live life to the fullest. And as such, there's nothing wrong with that but with such a distinction at play, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to see life after travel as anything but an anti-climax. Real life catching up on us. The loss of freedom. Horrible.
So we 'settle' and as we succumb to a new reality that tells us that the life we had was 'the real us' and the life we now inhabit is somehow not, we secretly hunger for that other us. The crazy one, the creative one, the one that danced until the sun came up and dreamed of buying a farm and housing endangered Costa Rican caterpillars. We want that person back adn the more we step into this other reality, the more we crave for a hit. Any hit. A jump across the ditch to New Zealand. A short trip to South America. A little jaunt to the US. Anything to make us feel that other person again.
One of the first things that visitors to Switzerland might encounter is the severe Swiss mentality. And not in any one sphere but a way of looking at life that pertains to every facet of their lifestyle. The Swiss live in a regulated environment where everything from washing days to automotive ownership to children's future careers are carefully regulated and controlled. Punctuality and being polite at all times is seen as standard social skills for anyone who plans on making any friends in Switzerland and it's a given that if you were to attend a job interview and you were late, you would not be deemed suitable.
The difficulty in discussing Switzerland is that this small country, of around 7 million native Swiss is divided into four different languages and therefore four different cultures. The German speakers make up most of the numbers, at nearly 75%, the French are at 20% and the Italians at 4% and lastly, there is a small sector of Romansh speakers at 1%. These four areas of Switzlerand all operate according to the greater laws of the country but at grass roots level, they work quite differently.
- Henry Miller
We often call the landing place after our forays as our attempt at 'settling down.' We look for a city, an apartment, a place we once knew or lived in that feels comfortable and we 'settle' for a while, trying to get our breath back from the wild ride that saw us throw our money and sometimes our common sense out the window in our hunger to live life to the fullest. And as such, there's nothing wrong with that but with such a distinction at play, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to see life after travel as anything but an anti-climax. Real life catching up on us. The loss of freedom. Horrible.
So we 'settle' and as we succumb to a new reality that tells us that the life we had was 'the real us' and the life we now inhabit is somehow not, we secretly hunger for that other us. The crazy one, the creative one, the one that danced until the sun came up and dreamed of buying a farm and housing endangered Costa Rican caterpillars. We want that person back adn the more we step into this other reality, the more we crave for a hit. Any hit. A jump across the ditch to New Zealand. A short trip to South America. A little jaunt to the US. Anything to make us feel that other person again.
One of the first things that visitors to Switzerland might encounter is the severe Swiss mentality. And not in any one sphere but a way of looking at life that pertains to every facet of their lifestyle. The Swiss live in a regulated environment where everything from washing days to automotive ownership to children's future careers are carefully regulated and controlled. Punctuality and being polite at all times is seen as standard social skills for anyone who plans on making any friends in Switzerland and it's a given that if you were to attend a job interview and you were late, you would not be deemed suitable.
The difficulty in discussing Switzerland is that this small country, of around 7 million native Swiss is divided into four different languages and therefore four different cultures. The German speakers make up most of the numbers, at nearly 75%, the French are at 20% and the Italians at 4% and lastly, there is a small sector of Romansh speakers at 1%. These four areas of Switzlerand all operate according to the greater laws of the country but at grass roots level, they work quite differently.
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