The (Green) Culture Shock.

The back of our garden in May 2014

We have a young visitor staying with us at the moment. She is from Singapore and she is full of curiousities about the life here. It is her very first time in Europe :-)

Where she comes from, her home is in the middle of the city, surrounded by tall buildings and big streets.

Here in Switzerland, where we live is in middle of a farm, surrounded by green fields.

I asked her about the journey and her first impression of Switzerland. She said, the train journey was straight forward, everyone on the train minded their own business, it was a nice and quiet ride. She enjoyed the calm atmostphier. People seemed friendly and extremely polite. She told me a lady actually asked if the seat next to her was free before taking the seat, and asked if this was normal here. I smiled and welcome her to Switzerland. 

As we were leaving the train station behind us, it didn’t take long before the view of the buildings were replaced by farms and wood hills. She asked me if we live is in a remote area and how far does it take from town to my house. I laughed and said, “actually it’s only about 15 minutes drive away”.  Soon we approach the village where I live with my family. Immediately she asked, “Where’s all the people gone?”…"Well, at work or at schools I supposed" was my answer. 

I said to my young visitor, considering the fact that she's from a very modern city like Singapore, this trip is either going to bore you or enlighten you and I hope she will experience the latter.

Our strawberry fields in June 2014

Now that we got home, she noticed during cooking that I separate the green waste from the regular ones. She asked me why so I explained to her about the compost. She doesn't know what a compost is so I took her to the garden and showed her our “green waste container”. More questions were then answered regarding the whole green container and composting and more surprises came after seeing boxes of glass bottles, coffee capsules, paper, cartons and various stuff being collected for the recycling in my cellars. She asked if this is compulsory in all Swiss home.

Hippo by Leila

Before I could answer, I asked her if the people in her country are not encouraged to do this and her answer was “actually yes, but most people just don’t do it, or maybe just not as much." I said, recycling isn’t compulsory but it is more of a habit here. In fact, I would even call it a “culture.” I personally don’t know anyone here who doesn’t recycle. My little girls also love collecting some of these stuff to make themselves toys and other creative things. They even argue over who got to keep the next plastic bottles or toilet paper rolls. Not only recycling is good for the environment, it saves us money when we produce less rubbish! We both laughed about this and I later explained to her about the cost of each bin bags regarding their sizes. 

Nespresso capsules bracelet by Natalie

She later asked if it’s to do with the fact that we live in the middle of the farm so we’re more aware of these things and for those who live around the city are less aware and therefore less concern. I said, “I don’t see why where you live should matter. Environment is all around us and not just what we see in the country side. It’s part of where we live, the air we breath in and in the food that we consume. I believe we are all aware of it but the question maybe how many of us are actually bothered to do something about it. Here I also see that it is very easy and convenience to recycling stuff. Perhaps, if conveniency is the key word to get people to do more recycling then maybe that is exactly what each community should be focusing on. She then jokingly said, “You mean, like, replacing all regular bins with recycling sorting bins?” I said, “That would be a good start”. She looked at me, amused and disbelief.  

Sorting bins in Geneva airport.

Well, it didn’t take long to change her mind about this conversation after I took her down town in Aarau. Also during her visits to Basel and Zurich, the so-called “sorting bins” seemed to be a common sight in various public places.

Sorting bins in Zurich HB

There were also countless of new things my little visitors get to discover later on like having to bring your own reusable shopping bags to the supermarket, being asked if she needs a bag for the items bought at department stores, that the (Post)bus in our area runs on schedules, (so please plan your trip and your traveling time accordingly), children actually come home at noon for lunch before returning to their afternoon classes. Also what she considered shocking is the fact that kindergarten and school kids are encouraged to be walking unaccompanied by adults on their ways to schools and back again, even on the rainy days. 

Toggenburg

After about four weeks of stay, I asked her again how she feels and if it’s all too boring for her here. She said; “Not at all! I love it! It’s really pretty here. Also even here in the country side, somehow everything is so well connected and that’s really nice. I like the dish washing machines, they’re cool. Do all rented apartments also have such machine fitted in the kitchens too? I really like the way of life here, people seemed happy with simple things and they value what they have. They also really mind their own business.” I laughed and said, “I remember you already said that when you just got here, so there’s nothing you would complain then?

“Umm…Yes..It’s very expensive here and I wished there were more food stalls… also I have the impression that although the people here seemed very polite, they don’t know how to queue...” 

We both just laugh and I actually agreed :-)

Happy Easter Monday!

- Daow

Easter 2015