Tuesday, June 20, 2006

20 June 2006

Speaking of the World Cup (because isn't everyone talking about it?) Switzerland beat Togo yesterday (truly a battle of the titans), much to the delight of everyone within earshot of my office. The game started at 3 p.m., and based on the amount of noise that came in through our office windows every time something happened in the game (we knew before checking online when a goal had been scored, because the cheering and honking were so loud), I can only conclude that one of the following is true: (1) everyone was skipping work to watch the game, (2) Switzerland has a much higher unemployment rate than advertised, so no one had to skip work to watch the game, or (3) contrary to popular belief, the game was played in Zurich, outside my office window, and not in Germany.

For the rest of the evening, crazed fans in red shirts were running around banging on drums, driving around honking their horns, sitting in bars leading team chants, meeting perfect strangers and screaming with delight, and generally acting very un-Swiss. Despite being uninterested in soccer and the World Cup, I like what it does to the Swiss. Unfortunately, Switzerland doesn't seem destined to last much longer, so life (and people) here will soon return to normal, whatever "normal" might be.

One thing I have been wondering about team sports here is what language they speak. People who are born and raised in Switzerland don't necessarily share a mother tongue, as there are four national languages here (three of which account for over 90% of the population), and Swiss fans cheer for their teams in different languages, so I can only assume that the team is also comprised of people who favor different languages. Although most Swiss people speak two or three (or four or five) languages, it must be more difficult to muster the right words in your second or third language when screaming in the heat of the moment on the playing field than when giving someone walking directions to the bank. Add to that the fact that the players on the national team usually play on different club teams around Europe, so they aren't fully familiar with each other on the field, and it must make for some interesting communication problems.

The past couple of weeks have been spent in preparation for my upcoming trip back to the States for my grandfather's 100th birthday party. As usual, I've engaged in a frenzy of placing online orders, making calls to customer service, scheduling appointments, getting in touch with friends, and generally trying to ensure that I get the most out of my trip, in terms of my favorite people, administrative stuff, non-Swiss food, cool electronics, and good shopping.

I'll see friends and family who live much too far away these days. I'll go to the dentist, get a haircut, rearrange my accounts, and get random crap at the drugstore. I'll get my fix of Ethiopian food, lobster, burgers, Korean BBQ, and dim sum. I'll finally get a TiVo hooked up to my Slingbox, so that I can watch TV on my computer. I'll buy clothes that aren't from H&M. I'll pick up things that I had always assumed were available everywhere till I moved here: pudding mix, Jell-O, vanilla extract, microwave kettle corn, Tang, chocolate syrup, instant oatmeal. And I'll grit my teeth in frustration at the things that I won't be able to bring back with me: frozen dumplings, good beef, obscene quantities of breakfast cereal and bagels, cases of American-bottled Diet Coke (it tastes different here!), my friends and family, and the entire city of New York.

I'm flying to San Francisco on Thursday and stopping in New York on the way back, so the next update will be in two weeks, probably on July 5th. Till then, enjoy the longest days of the year, and Happy Fourth of July!!

No comments: