Are we really living in paradies? No, but it is not a bad place to spend some time of our life... - or, just a normal summer in Berne

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Friends visiting us are always jealous about where we live. "Hey - this is like holiday. And you can enjoy this every single day" - this is, what they normally tell us. Well, we know, it is not the worst place to live and a lot of people spend a lot of money and travel a lot of k's to come here - where we "just" live. We have felt guilty a lot of times, especially when we are complaining about our life and when our only goal is to catch a flight and go..... Well, in general, we know, we are really blessed to live in Switzerland (and especially Berne!), to have our own companies and to be able to travel. But, also in Switzerland, you have to work hard for your money - and the rule is the same as everywhere else in the world "no money, no honey". And when you work hard and struggle, it is sometimes so easy to loose yourself: you do not see the beauty around you any more. So, I think, this blog is an eye-opener more for us than you and we want to share a bit of the ups and downs you have living in Switzerland. Let's start with some downs:


• Switzerland is a very conservative country. It may be open in some parts but in general, people are afraid of changes and are not very welcome to foreigners. Well, to foreigners that live in the country! Tourists who come here are always treated nicely (they bring cash ;-)). But as a german (I, Nina, am German - Markus is Swiss), I am often treated very badly and sometimes I am really sick of being the "bloody, arrogant German". Swiss in general do not like Germans very much. Having my own marketing agency I had to experience that some companies only work together with "local" partners. This was an excuse of a big Swiss company not to work with me. I am always happy to have some swiss friends who think differently.
• There are rules for everything. And especially elderly people are always observing if the neighbours follow the rules. If you miss to follow them you will receive an anonymous written piece of paper that reminds you of your duties. Theses duties are sometimes really ridiculous: i.e. you have to collect your rubbish paper in small packages hold together with a cord and put it in front of your house the day of the collection (this is once a month). And do not even think about putting it there the evening before - you will receive a bloody piece of paper with some very bad words on it....
• A lot of things are so expensive, but this is nothing new in Switzerland. Bad thing about living in Berne - the boarder to Germany, France or Italy is too far away for weekly shopping.
• People are very unhappy here. And we do not know why. With an unemployment rate of 3,6% there isn't nearly any unemployment. People can afford to travel, they can buy everything they want, they have a wonderful nature - but Switzerland has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. In my opinion, it is because materialism and wealth are the most important things in Switzerland. A person is judged by the society for his/her house, his/her car and his/her job. This puts a lot of pressure on the individuum.
• In my opinium, the education system is very bad and by far not competitive in the world. Just few people have a university degree, most younger one finish school at the age of 16 and start working.


But, there are a lot of positive things about living in Switzerland:


• There is a wonderful nature all around us. Within 1 hour we can swim in some beautiful lakes, hike in the mountains, go rock climbing, swim down a river (oh yes, you can swim in the big rivers here) or ski in winter.
• Tap water is better than bottled water.
• 21% of people living in Switzerland are foreigners. That makes it a great mix.
• We can buy everything we need at any time somewhere. We do not need to suffer and we have the privilege to take care of our very personal needs.
• Switzerland is so incredibly safe. Once, I went to a business meeting with my scooter. I was much too late and hurried up. That is why I forgot the key in the starter lock of the scooter. When I came back - of course, the scooter was there, untouched. Unbelievable!
• And last but not least: our friends!!! It is always the people that make you feel like home.


Well, for us, this paradies has its 2 sides. We want to share some impressions what we did here during our summer at home: We did some great hiking in Wilderswil (the highly recommended walk from Schynigge Platte to First), Lenk, Interlaken (we do not like the city at all as it is in the hands of mass tourism - but there are some good hikes around) and Mürren. We celebrated my belated birthday with a big party, spend some time bathing in the river Aaare and had a lot of friends visiting us. And, of course, we have been working a lot to be able to go travelling in winter for a couple of weeks.

Enjoy the pics and if you need some information what to do and where to go in Switzerland you are very welcome to contact us.



Visit our website: http://www.holamundo.ch/
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Photos

with the train up the mountain
amazing views on top of Schynigge Platte

Markus taking in the views
on Schynigge Platte

my friend Claudi visiting us
We are friends since school time and we were so happy to have her with us and catching up the last 15 years.

the river Aare
on a hot summer day it is crowded with rubberboats and people taking a bath

my mum, Markus and me
She was visiting me for my birthday party.

Wilderswil train station
from here you can take the train up to Schynigge Platte

the famous Bachalpsee
few minutes later a heavy thunderstorm started

First in Grindelwald
in summer the gateway to Bachalpsee, in winter a nice ski ressort

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Wow,wow, wow, how beautiful
Our fall visit to Bern and to meet you has been post-poned due to several issues. We'll keep in touch and hopefully we can meet you soon. Your country is beautiful. An interesting blog and a bit surprising. Do many Americans live in Switzerland? I wonder how they are treating. Keep these wonder blogs coming...they are gems.

[holamundo]

We are waiting for you ;-)
Thank you - well, it is hard taking bad pics in our mountains ;-). We were thinking of you while riding the train up the mountain (as this was one of our suggestions for you). We are happy to stay in touch with you - the mountains won't move and will be ready when you come, as we will be. Hope, you are fine and healthy! This is the most important thing. Thanks for your message and greetings from Berne!

[holamundo]

Americans living in Switzerland
There do live some Americans here in Switzerland, most of them in the region of Geneva (which is really international), Zug (there are a lot of foreign companies due to low taxes) and Zurich. I do not know how many, but should be a low percentage.

[taracloud]

Another perfect day in paradise, eh?
This is what we always say to each other in my perfect hometown. I think we should all live in paradise, so don't feel at all guilty--good for you for figuring out how to live in such a beautiful place (great photos!). And from here, those nasty notes from the narrow-minded old people sound pretty funny though I guess I really wouldn't want one myself. Happy hiking!

[holamundo]

Thank you Tara
...also to you "Happy and safe hiking" ;-)! P.S.: I collect the notes - may be one day I will write a "best of". :-)

[aspiringnomad]

Very interesting blog.
This is very informative coming from an outsider who obviously has a very knowledgeable and intimate relationship with this part of the world. I was aware of certain Swiss attitudes to Germans. I just wanted to ask whether you have yet mastered the local lingo?

[holamundo]

the swiss language
Thank you for your message. As I am originally from the southern part of Germany and Markus is Swiss, it was quite easy to understand the swiss language. It took me about 2 month to follow a conversation and to answer if someone asked me something in swiss german. Still there are words that I do not know (the dialect is different in every region) but from the context I normally get it. Speaking swiss german is something different. A lot of swiss told me that it sounds horrible when germans try to speak swiss. And as even little children grow up with "normal" german, I continue to just speak german. On TV the majority of channels is in german, in school swiss kids are supposed to speak german - so most of the germans just speak german. I also think that it would not help to solve the problem if germans start speaking swiss german. The swiss would just laugh about us and our accent (I have heard this before).