The first time I had ever heard of “Swiss German” was when I was preparing to move from Düsseldorf, Germany to Rapperswil, Switzerland. My German neighbors had me over for a farewell barbecue and they said to me: “Whatever you do, don’t come back and visit us speaking that Swiss German.” I was aware that the Germans had a somewhat love/hate relationship with their southern neighbors, but I had no idea the Swiss spoke some different form of their common language. In fact, I was quite confident with the German that I had picked up over my three years in Düsseldorf, and I figured it would be quite an easy transition from one country to the other. I was wrong.
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You Haven’t Found a Job Yet? You Probably Aren’t Networking Enough
Last time I blogged it was about my job search in Germany. As I mentioned several times, I believe that speaking German is the biggest hurdle that one faces when looking for a job. The second hurdle is being at the right place at the right time. What do I mean by that? That you can’t expect to find a job simply through applying through monster.de or stepstone.de or company websites. By applying online, you are faced with the following problems:
- Your experience does not fit the German Lebenslauf-style
- You never worked in Germany so you do not have any Arbeitszeugnisse (reference letters from previous employers)
- You are going up against hundreds of other candidates
- 90%* of jobs are not posted online
German compartmentalization and closed doors
German compartmentalization comes as a shock to most Americans. This rigid compartmentalization is both physical (floor plans, closed doors) and mental (friends vs acquaintances, business vs pleasure). It is a cultural difference that usually becomes obvious to expats in German-speaking Europe early on. But like many cultural differences, it is one that tends to sink in slowly and involves breaking long-established habits.
I have lived in Germany and visited there often, yet some un-German habits die hard. Like leaving doors open or punching the “1” button for the ground floor. There are many things about daily life in Germany that you can “know” intellectually, yet somehow are slow to be truly absorbed and comprehended.
At various points in an expat’s life there come those certain “aha moments” when you suddenly “get it.” One such aha moment for me came when I was living in Berlin. I was house-sitting for friends who were staying in the US for almost a year. They had a lovely fourth-floor loft apartment with an open, airy, bright floor plan. The only doors are the entrance and two more for the bathroom and a guest toilet/lavatory. The bedroom is set off by a wall without any doors. I loved it. read more…
Swabian Delights
Because most of my experience in Germany has been in the Southern half of the country, I often believe that all German food is as delicious as it is here in the region of Swabia. Occasionally, we venture North on vacation and I realize with disappointment that this isn’t true. Perhaps it’s a general European rule: the farther South you travel, the better the food. One dish that consistently gets the longest lines in every corporate cafeteria is the classic Swabian Linsen mit Spätzle (Lentils with Noodles). I have tried making this at home a number of times in the last ten years, but never with the amount of success I had this week. Here for you to recreate in your own kitchen is an admittedly imprecise recipe for this German favorite. I suspect that imprecision was the trick to perfection. read more…
Made in America
My family and I went through yet another life changing experience four weeks ago with the birth of our third child here in San Diego, CA. Child #1 and Child #2 were born in southern Germany, both positive experiences, so it was with curiosity and trepidation that I embarked on this experience in a different country the third time around. I began chronicling this experience in a previous post. Here is the rest of the story.
The earliest adjustment I had to make was getting used to no ultrasound at each monthly prenatal visit. There simply was no machine in the exam rooms. So no quick peek to say hello or make sure that everything was OK through this method. Instead, the midwife used a fetal doppler to check the baby’s heartbeat along with measuring the size of my bump during the last part of pregnancy. Instead, there is one long ultrasound (approx. 1.5 hours) when every measurement is made and all parts checked around the 20th week. If a woman has a high-risk pregnancy, than she’ll have more ultrasounds and tests. read more…
See you Thursday, in Switzerland.
When I first learned I would be moving to Switzerland, like most of us expats, I quickly went online and began bouncing around German-way.com and its many message boards, trying to find out more about the country and its people. During my years as an expat I have come to realize though that what is said in message boards must be taken with a grain of salt; not every generalization about a culture should be applied to every individual, of course. But after moving to Rapperswil, in the Lake Zurich region, I quickly learned that one particular characteristic I had read about regarding the Swiss people, was in fact very true.
When the Swiss Invite You to a “Panorama”
Having grown up on the flat Canadian prairies, not a clear and sunny day goes by that I don’t step out onto my balcony here in Switzerland, look over the bright blue Zurich Sea, toward the glowing green foothills of the Alps, and say out loud, “Wow!” Brandon, my fiance, often asks, “Will it ever get old?” My answer is always the same: “Not even close”. So when some new Swiss friends asked if they could take us up those hills for lunch at a traditional Swiss panorama restaurant, of course I was very excited.
It was an unseasonably hot Sunday in March. It was so warm I decided to wear my new sleeveless dress and some sparkly ballet flats. Brandon put on his Sunday best, a short sleeve collared shirt and dress shoes. We were picked up at 12:30 and as we departed, one friend, Sara, pointed to a lone tree atop a huge foothill and in her best English effort said, “You see this tree? This is where we are going.” I was bursting! After spending so much time staring up at those hills in awe, wondering what the world would look like from up there, I was finally going to find out. Her boyfriend Patrick, in a less successful attempt at English, mentioned that he had made the reservation for 2 pm. Hmmm, that’s strange, I thought, the drive couldn’t possibly take an hour and a half. Perhaps he just has the English numbers mixed up. We drove for a half hour, up through the forested winding roads, getting higher and higher. We stopped and parked at a restaurant. It was 1 pm, and I didn’t see the tree. We were told we would have to walk a little to get there. read more…
Do You go to Church?
Happy Easter! This blog post is slightly late this week, because I have been busy doing what we all should be doing this holiday: spending time with friends and family. And because I live in the religious South of Germany, it is a nice long four-day weekend, with Good Friday and Easter Monday as public holidays. Given that we also had perfect weather this weekend, I am on a vacation-like high and there may also be a significant amount of Swiss chocolate coursing through my veins.
Back to the topic, and the real reason for the long weekend: Religion. Although the church was full yesterday, in general very few people here attend church on Sunday – most of the churches are empty except for a few retirees dotted here and there amongst the many pews. I have German friends who smile gently and nod politely when I tell them I have been to church, and I have German friends who laugh openly at me for participating in any kind of organized religion. I also have German friends who regularly attend church. I guess this is pretty similar to life in the US, depending on which state you live in.
Compared to the Americans, Germans are incredibly non-religious. And yet, I can’t quite agree that their form of religion is somehow less than the US version. I find, as in so many things, it is just different. read more…
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