Living in Switzerland

I thought I'd give you some interesting facts on living in Switzerland that I didn't know prior to moving here.

The only two official square flags are of Switzerland and the Vatican.

Traffic lights, right before they turn green, the red and yellow simultaneously turn on for 1-2 seconds, and then it turns green. It was strange at first, but I really like it now since our diesel VW car turns off the engine when your foot is fully on the brake.  It gives me a chance to get the engine going again before it turns green.

Windows do not have screens (or at least not that I've seen).  Oh, and no one has air conditioning (or it is extremely uncommon).

Trash--you pay your trash bill or tax through the bags you buy.  You have to buy the official trash bags according to the area you live in, which for us, ends up being about the same that we paid for our trash bill back in the States.  But trash is very different here.

Everyone says we are from "America" which is odd since no one says that in the States because "America" encompasses a huge area and it's not politically correct.

UPS trucks are made by Mercedes.

Floor heating is common.

Most showers have one of those handle shower heads.

Toilets usually have 2 flushes.

Instead of saying "peek a boo" with babies, you say "cuckoo".

It's very common to see small and large farms with little stands that have produce/eggs/honey for you to buy and leave your money in a lockbox all on the honor system.  I've even been to one that was an entire room of produce, juice, eggs, like a mini store, with a scale, money box, and a big board with I-owe-yous and notes whether you left extra money that you'll spend later or whether you owe money.

I pass this one every Thursday when I take Maddie to Waldspielgruppe.

No one has ice machine, usually not even restaurants.  I actually like drinking room temperature water more than ice water.  But on the rare occasion that I drink a soda, I love having a couple ice cubes.  We just have a teeny ice tray so as not to take up too much of our teeny freezer.

Speaking of water, they always ask, "with or without gas?"

Restaurants are completely different as far as service goes.  We went into a restaurant this past weekend and it was almost hilarious.   Tt was a tiny family owned restaurant in a small mountain town.  When we walked in, there was only one other couple there, and the guy seriously acted like we were doing him a disservice or really annoying him.  However, since we ended up being the only customers, he was pretty attentive to us.  Normally, once they bring the food, they forget about you and you have to go searching for them to get anything else-a refill (never free), dessert, or the check.  The thing is, the waiters don't depend on tips at all, so it's not a huge deal for them, and generally, it's just how it is here.  The customer rules in the USA.  I remember working at Lone Star way back and we were taught to be at the table within 30 seconds of when the customers sit down, never let a glass go empty, and return to the table at certain points within the visit (i.e. definitely shortly after they start their food to make sure it's fine, see if they want dessert, etc. etc.).

There are 26 cantons (like states) in the Swiss confederation.

School is very different here, not just simple things like the schedule, but even the entire school system leading up to university.  Some basic differences are below.

Kids walk to school starting at 4 and 5 years old.  The police meet with them throughout the year to train them on safety.  The youngest ones wear reflective things around their necks.  It's forbidden to drive your kids to school.  Also, an interesting article on Swiss kids and another great one about parenting in Switzerland.  It's so crazy and intriguing at the same time for us, who come from such a helicopter parenting and very cautious (for good reason) country like the USA.  In general, children here are taught early how to be socially responsible and independent.

Photo from here along with another interesting article about children walking.

Children also come home for lunch every day (walking to/from) and here in our town, they spend Wednesday afternoons at home, so after lunch, they don't return to school.  The Swiss public schools are more like a year-around school in the USA.  Each town is a little different, but they have the big holidays off like Christmas and Easter, as well as summer holidays (about 5 weeks), Autumn holidays (about 2 weeks), and sport holidays-ski/snowboard holidays- (about 2 weeks).  Kindergarten lasts 2 years, the first is half day every day while the second year is just 2 or 3 full days and the rest half days.

One more fact that you may already know if you've been around here for awhile, nearly everything is closed on Sundays.  Many restaurants are still open as well as gas stations (where people get little groceries if they need it) and the airport which has a huge grocery store and shops.