Sunday, July 12, 2009

Shhhh!

This is what I wanted to say to the two, twenty-something year old girls talking loudly on the train this morning. I was looking forward to my usual quiet ride, and I didn’t get it.

This was odd for two reasons. First, someone was talking loudly. This doesn’t happen very often on Swiss public transportation. A typical ride on the train or bus usually consists of murmurs of French and German in the background. You can just barely make out the words that are being said. The other thing that made this odd was that I found myself irritated by the conversation. Aside from the obvious reason that they were talking loudly, I was also able to understand what they were saying. No, my French hasn’t improved that much. Their conversation was in English. And the girls were clearly American by the accent.

It wasn’t just me who noticed the loud talkers. Other passengers on the train had also taken notice of them. I wanted to shush them. I thought about moving to a different seat. I came close to giving them the evil eye. That’s how much this bothered me! I guess the Swiss way of life is rubbing off on me.
My train ride back home was better. No loud talkers on that ride.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Something in Common

Now that the weather has turned warm here –it’s been in the mid to high 80's all week – I’ve discovered that the Swiss and I have something in common – our love of ice cream! They are as passionate about ice cream as I am! As soon as the nice weather came around, several ice cream stands popped up along the lake path in our town. They’ve got all kinds of yummy treats and no shortage of customers. With an ice cream cone in my hand, I think I blend in and look a bit Swiss for once.