Do you live in Switzerland? I have questions…

[Fallulah]

Came back recently from a holiday to the chocolate box/tourist/hiking parts of Switzerland. We were wondering about a few things as you do when you go to a different place. None of these questions are intended to offend!

The big wooden houses - are they more or less expensive to build than a ‘normal’ house? Does the wood have to be renewed after a certain amount of time, like thatch does?

The same wooden houses just sometimes seem to be in the middle of grassy landscapes - how do you know which land is yours as there don’t seem to be any boundaries? What if you have a dog? There are no fences?

Did Switzerland not have covid particularly badly? They pack people on to the cable cars and trains like sardines and there is nothing suggesting people might want to wear a mask even if it’s not mandatory - we were frequently the only people in them on the transport, which was packed with people from all over the world.

When you live in Switzerland, do you realise how expensive it is or are wages a lot higher to compensate for the fact, e.g. a small bottle of coke is 6CHF?

Are languages pushed a lot more in school than they are in the UK? Pretty much everyone in the tourist areas seems to speak Swiss, German, French and English!

Do you just feel really smug all the time that you live in such a beautiful, clean, well organised country?!

I'm at your HOSTS reporting you for drunk driving to be pulled over by the police when you didn't drink anything

That is INSANE and the most different from British culture I could imagine

When we've had threads like that here only a small percentage would even report someone who they actually know to have been drinking !

My sister lives in Switzerland. I have never visited but they've been unemployed for +1 years (coming to two) and their welfare system (or insurance as my sister hasn't been able to explain it) pays enough that their lifestyle hasn't suffered.

I live in CH and have never experienced anyone calling the police on me! There are rules to make sure that everyone in the community is comfortable though, and we are happy to follow them. Recycling is part of our weekly routine and not an issue at all.

Languages are important.

6CHFS for coke is a tourist trap price. We plan ahead (2chfs in a petrol station for example, or carry a water bottle. Most fountains have drinkable water.) But salaries are higher.

We don't have Amazon.ch BUT we do have Amazon.de which 90% of the time is fine. Amazon.fr or .it also deliver here. There is always a solution (if you really can't live without amazon. It's not something I use that much).

Do we feel smug about living in the land of water and honey? Hell yeah. (See attached photo of walk not far from our home this weekend)

The 'dole' (in French we call it Chomage) system is based on your contributions. I only used it once, 11 years ago, so forgive me if some details are incorrect, but you receive 70% of your salary (80% if you have a family) for around two years. I believe it is capped at around 10,000 CHFS a month.

During this time you have to actively look for work, the Chomage can also send you on courses (for example, I went on language courses and interview techniques). They will also cover your travel costs.

You have to request holidays, which are unpaid.

The system works nicely so that peoples lifestyle doesn't suffer and you are expected to be active in your job hunting. There are penalties if you do not meet your targets, which are agreed on, individually, with your advisor. These individual targets are related to your field of expertise, you are not just expected to find any job.

To qualify, you have to have contributed to the system for 18-24 months, I can't remember exactly.

It's very reassuring to know that it is there, as a safety net.

Thanks boop that sounds spot on! (From what I've been able to understand!)

And with regards to covid, it was pretty bad here. At one point, our little town was Europes hotspot.

Decisions were made and people followed them. The vaccines weren't hugely popular, a lot of people had reservations, but the majority of people I know had them.

Now, it's all about being pragmatic. Wear a mask if you want to. Don't, if you don't. Most people opt not too. (I don't). You still have to in hospitals though.

But as a PP said, industries suffered and the government said that they will not put restrictions in place again, without a very good reason. It's a small country and needs to protect itself.

I am not Swiss but I am Swedish and we all live in wooden houses too, at least the majority of us do. You don't typically have to replace the wood, the wood is treated when you build the house and it should withstand any weather etc. We usually paint our wooden houses in Sweden, so you would then have to replaint when it starts to look bad, but that is usually every 10 years or so. We have a wooden building on our family farm that have been there since the 1400's, and there is not a bit of wood replaced on it yet.

I am not sure if wooden houses are cheaper in Switzerland or not, they are in Sweden because we have so much woodland (69% compared to 30% in Switzerland and the UK only has 13%).

My friend lives in Switzerland.
The children are expected to walk to school alone from the age of 5. They wear a special bib and it's the local community's responsibility to get them there. Cars are expected to stop etc. People are expected to help.
Would not go down well with the MN brigade!

They are not 'expected' but things are put in place for the children to be autonomous. The police hand out these little vests to the very small children and visit schools regularly to discuss safety. Cars do have to automatically give way to any pedestrian in a 30 zone. There are 'pedibus' stops, where an organised adult volunteer (usually on a rota) leads the walk. The children are prepared for this approach in crèches, where they go out every day walking, holding onto a rope.
But many parents still opt to collect the children themselves, if they wish. There are no social bias, and it actually works very well.

The sense of community is very strong.

Many state schools have a long break at lunchtime and pupils return home for lunch or to a childminder. Timetables vary each week, staggering start and finish times for different age groups, and they have Wednesday afternoons off to join sports clubs or activities. You do get children as young as 4 walking to and fro but traffic is lighter and crossings well respected. They also tend to go to the nearest kindergarten/school.

All the buildings have atomic bomb shelters - even the wooden ones and there is military service!

Is the crime rate very low?

Such an interesting thread. I’ve never been to Switzerland but when I watch Roger Federer being interviewed, I’m always in awe of his proficiency in languages and try to imagine any British tennis player being able to slip easily and fluently from one to another like he does 😂

One of RF parents is South African so he was brought up multilingual. Also lives on the French border.

Military service is pretty loose, can be pt fire-fighter for example. They get time off work for training each year.

Crime is low and it is also not dramatized in the media, like in the UK. Journalists report events, but keeping people autonomous.

There are lots of honesty boxes for locally produced goods, for example. When things are lost, they tend to be put in the line of sight, so people retracing their steps will find their lost item.

Of course there is crime, and where I live, beggars will come in on buses from France to beg in Switzerland, but it is nothing like we experienced in the UK. There are also refuges in the area for people in need.

Some people who have committed small offenses (such as not paying fines) will serve time, but are allowed out to go to work, then return to jail on a night.

I recently attended court (as a member of the public) and three men were brought in, handcuffed and feet also chained up. This is a very unusual sight, and caused a lot of people to stare.

Pragmatic, democratic and autonomy with personal responsibility probably describe the system here best.

Not all buildings have them, a lot of buildings are quite old. But certainly ones built since the 70's.

As @LIZS says, military service is relaxed. You can also pay a 'tax' if you don't want to do it as well.

regarding wooden houses, where I live in the next country across, they are common. Most old ones the wood was treated, new ones they use concrete foundations, then the pillars are actually metal the first bit on the ground, then wood. So the wood isn’t actually in the soil

You can see in this picture. Our balcony pillars and car port are all like this.

and gardens rarely have boundary’s, if they do it’s just a low wire fence. I have never seen the typical 6ft fences you get in the uk here. We just have low hedge on 2 sides, a bit of fence on 1, and open on the other. Toddler and pets seem to just stop at boundary

I have lived in Switzerland for 16 years and our family has gone through the process of obtaining Swiss citizenship, which was a relatively difficult process and took many years. Our kids attended local school, speak Swiss German, are integrated, attend local clubs and speak French. I am less well-integrated but even Swiss people from other towns 30 km away find it difficult to be accepted into village life.

I love living in such a clean and organised country. Yes, there are lots of rules, but after living here for so long they now seem fair to me and help make Switzerland the special place (clean, orderliness) that it is. I haven't experienced some of the rules that have been reported by PPs, some of which sound extreme. The Swiss are quite particular about certain things and parking is one of them. Sundays are special and you cannot do recycling, cut the grass or do any kind of shopping.

Our teenage son will complete his stint of military service next year. He can't wait to do it. It's a time to learn skills, network, etc. Our daughter doesn't have to do it and she's happy about that.

We have a nuclear bunker in our cellar (for us and our neighbours) and it's inspected by the authorities every 4 years to check that it's functional. Otherwise, we would have to pay more tax to secure our place in the communal village bunker. Some people have converted theirs to cinema rooms.

We ski every weekend in the winter and swim in lakes looking at mountains with snow on them in the summer at lake 'badis'. The health care is phenomenal, public transport is reliable and safe. My kids have enjoyed so much freedom and independence. No helicopter parenting here, quite the opposite.

It's quite an old-fashioned country but truly democratic. It's very forward-thinking on a number of issues and, now we can vote, I am taking more interest in them.

Just hopping back to clarify that I rarely met a Swiss person I didn't like! There were all lovely but it's just ingrained in them what the rules are and they are all happy to follow them as it leads to a cleaner and more community driven society.

Once I got the hang of what I was and wasn't supposed to do, it was fine.

One I didn't add was the Sundays are absolutely not for doing anything! They are rest days and most of the non essential shops are shut

This was about 15 years ago now and I'd happily live there again. Everyone takes their civic duty very seriously and I did find that I was often stopped and asked if I needed help with anything or someone would help me carry my shopping up steps etc. it very much seemed like a 'lets help each other out' way of life

Switzerland sounds amazing!

I live in one of those wooden houses in Switzerland with no fence. When I moved in I was told where my garden extended till. Everyone knows where their land goes till and no one walks into my garden. Not even children.
Yes I feel very smug that I live in such a beautiful country. It is not my home country so I will have to leave some time.

We are about to start the paperwork for citizenship. I am quite nervous and excited at the same time. Would love to hear how it was for you (although I understand it's quite different in the German and French speaking parts).

I do love our host country so much. 🇨🇭

Someone described it as an old fashioned country.... do Men take responsibility for cleaning, caring for their children, looking after ageing parents ?

My husband’s family are Swiss and we all have citizenship, live in the UK but visit regularly. We’re off on our second visit of the year tomorrow. The children (now adults) went to a government organised camp twice a year specifically for Swiss kids that live abroad and learnt about the country, skied, climbed mountains etc. Had a great time and the youngest two are keen to go and live there. The children are much more trusted than here and given freedoms that are unusual in the UK. They had a morning’s instruction in skiing and were then told where they could go and when to meet up again and left to get on with it. They were expected to help with all the chores too. The adults were mostly teachers who did the camps as an alternative to military service. I love it there, things work and transport is reliable as well as being beautiful.

I can only speak to my experience, but yes my husband definitely does. We are pretty equal with all of this in our marriage. I have however also seen some of the older generation though that don't, some things are very much 'women's work'. Quite traditional. It is also expected that someone is at home to make lunch for the kids everyday, because they go home from school to make the lunch break. Usually in my experience it has been the mum.

I loooove quiet Sundays, they are amazing!