Sometimes it all of a sudden occurs to me, “Whoa, I’m in Switzerland.” I had one of those moments when I left work on Friday and ended up in Rome a few hours later. Pretty cool, considering that if I had taken the same length flight from New York, I would only have been able to go to D.C. or Boston. Rome was Rome. Big place. Photogenic architecture. Delicious, cheap food. More art from all of your old textbooks than should be in one place. Good cappuccino. Lots of old buildings that are falling apart. I found myself wondering, if Rome had been in Switzerland, would there still be ruins, or would the Colosseum and the Forum still be intact and in use? It’s hard to say, given the Swiss obsession with keeping things new and whole.
Some odd things about Rome. Despite the fact that it is winter, and it is cold enough outside to warrant a coat, hat, gloves, and a scarf, shops keep their doors open to the outside, and hotels and restaurants think it is appropriate to turn the heat off. I don’t think I have ever slept anywhere so cold that didn’t involve pitching a tent and eating Gorp. And no matter how good the sales, I refuse to try on clothes if I can see my breath in the dressing room. Also, is it a European customer service thing, to not want to answer questions, take food orders, give directions, or sell merchandise?
Disturbing eye contact was a big thing there. After living in Zurich, where everyone is politely treated as a stranger, and New York and Boston, where strangers and serial killers are lumped into the same category of people you can trust, it was quite a shock to go to Rome. On the subway, instead of feigning deep interest in the ceiling, or shoelaces, or the inside of their eyelids, passengers would stare at each other without embarrassment or fear. I had to overcome my initial thoughts of “Is that a psychopath staring at me?” and “Do I have pizza on my face?” and then feign deep interest in the ceiling, my shoelaces, or the inside of my eyelids.
Back to Switzerland. I have been puzzling over this episode since it happened on Sunday night in the Zurich airport, as we made our way towards customs. My friend and I were amused by the fact that the escalators here have motion sensors, so that they only turn on when you trip the sensor. Spotting an idle escalator, we started running to be the first to trip the sensor; as I reached the escalator, I turned to laugh at my friend, who was (I thought) right behind me (I thought this because I had heard someone running). As I turned, it was some random Swiss guy, who had also been running for the escalator, and he laughed strangely as he got on behind me. My friend was a little behind Swiss Guy, and said that when we started running, he did, as well. Now here is the puzzle: was he running because he also wanted to be the first, or was he running because he saw other people running, and, being Swiss, figured that he should follow the herd? No, he was not in a rush; we were coming from the gates, not going towards them, and he stopped running once he reached the escalator. I’m putting my money on the herd mentality, because I don’t think he would have been all that excited about the escalator. And he’s Swiss. They like herds here.
American television culture has made it all the way to Switzerland, with such pervasive influences as the Simpsons, the O.C., Nip/Tuck, and MTV. One amusing pastime is to listen to the voice dubs or to read the subtitles on American shows. On Die Simpsons, Homer Simpson expresses his frustration by saying, “Nein!” instead of “D’Oh!” The Simpsons has just recently started airing with the option of listening to the original voices, and a Swiss person told me that the American voices were all wrong, and that the Simpsons don’t sound like that. Uh… yes they do, they were made like that, and only acquired German voices in later re-dubs. Even stranger, though, is the fact that loads of hip-hop and rap-influenced shows on MTV have made it here with subtitles. I have been asked some confused questions about Pimp My Ride and Doggy Fizzle Televizzle, and I can assure you that if you were to watch those shows with German or French subtitles, you would have plenty of questions, as well. Does that stuff even translate??
American English has infiltrated Switzerland to varying degrees. People here often have a surprising command of English grammar and vocabulary, but even when they have good grammar and vocabulary, you can still get them on slang, heh heh… One Swiss German asked me what I meant when I said, “What’s up?” I explained that it was a casual greeting that you might say in place of “How are you?” After that, whenever I said “What’s up?” he would reply, “Good” (imagine Arnold saying it, more like “Goot”), no matter how many times I then tried to explain that you would probably say something like “Not much” or even just “What’s up?” I want that one to catch on. “What’s up?” “Goot.”
Some odd things about Rome. Despite the fact that it is winter, and it is cold enough outside to warrant a coat, hat, gloves, and a scarf, shops keep their doors open to the outside, and hotels and restaurants think it is appropriate to turn the heat off. I don’t think I have ever slept anywhere so cold that didn’t involve pitching a tent and eating Gorp. And no matter how good the sales, I refuse to try on clothes if I can see my breath in the dressing room. Also, is it a European customer service thing, to not want to answer questions, take food orders, give directions, or sell merchandise?
Disturbing eye contact was a big thing there. After living in Zurich, where everyone is politely treated as a stranger, and New York and Boston, where strangers and serial killers are lumped into the same category of people you can trust, it was quite a shock to go to Rome. On the subway, instead of feigning deep interest in the ceiling, or shoelaces, or the inside of their eyelids, passengers would stare at each other without embarrassment or fear. I had to overcome my initial thoughts of “Is that a psychopath staring at me?” and “Do I have pizza on my face?” and then feign deep interest in the ceiling, my shoelaces, or the inside of my eyelids.
Back to Switzerland. I have been puzzling over this episode since it happened on Sunday night in the Zurich airport, as we made our way towards customs. My friend and I were amused by the fact that the escalators here have motion sensors, so that they only turn on when you trip the sensor. Spotting an idle escalator, we started running to be the first to trip the sensor; as I reached the escalator, I turned to laugh at my friend, who was (I thought) right behind me (I thought this because I had heard someone running). As I turned, it was some random Swiss guy, who had also been running for the escalator, and he laughed strangely as he got on behind me. My friend was a little behind Swiss Guy, and said that when we started running, he did, as well. Now here is the puzzle: was he running because he also wanted to be the first, or was he running because he saw other people running, and, being Swiss, figured that he should follow the herd? No, he was not in a rush; we were coming from the gates, not going towards them, and he stopped running once he reached the escalator. I’m putting my money on the herd mentality, because I don’t think he would have been all that excited about the escalator. And he’s Swiss. They like herds here.
American television culture has made it all the way to Switzerland, with such pervasive influences as the Simpsons, the O.C., Nip/Tuck, and MTV. One amusing pastime is to listen to the voice dubs or to read the subtitles on American shows. On Die Simpsons, Homer Simpson expresses his frustration by saying, “Nein!” instead of “D’Oh!” The Simpsons has just recently started airing with the option of listening to the original voices, and a Swiss person told me that the American voices were all wrong, and that the Simpsons don’t sound like that. Uh… yes they do, they were made like that, and only acquired German voices in later re-dubs. Even stranger, though, is the fact that loads of hip-hop and rap-influenced shows on MTV have made it here with subtitles. I have been asked some confused questions about Pimp My Ride and Doggy Fizzle Televizzle, and I can assure you that if you were to watch those shows with German or French subtitles, you would have plenty of questions, as well. Does that stuff even translate??
American English has infiltrated Switzerland to varying degrees. People here often have a surprising command of English grammar and vocabulary, but even when they have good grammar and vocabulary, you can still get them on slang, heh heh… One Swiss German asked me what I meant when I said, “What’s up?” I explained that it was a casual greeting that you might say in place of “How are you?” After that, whenever I said “What’s up?” he would reply, “Good” (imagine Arnold saying it, more like “Goot”), no matter how many times I then tried to explain that you would probably say something like “Not much” or even just “What’s up?” I want that one to catch on. “What’s up?” “Goot.”
No comments:
Post a Comment