Swiss News is reporting that this is the wettest July ever, at least since Switzerland began recording weather data. Interesting to discover that the first published weather reports were published in 1878 only after pressure from the Federal Government. The 88 Swiss weather stations had entered into service in 1863 but the general population had no access to these reports. It was the farmers who asked the Federal Council to make daily weather forecasts available to all. The first published report in June 1878 sounds like today’s forecast: Continuation of the unsettled weather with a tendency to light showers – just change “light” to heavy showers and it’s the same today. Last night we had crashing tides of thunder; this morning, for the entire morning, we had rumbling, grumbling mutterings of thunder. It reminded me of a dog slowly, steadily growling. And rain, rain, rain. Usually the entire month of July registers a rainfall of 150 mm; in the last 24 hours Ticino has gotten 130 mm.

Bad weather rolling in

Window display at Goette Optik on Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich

Screen image of Credit Suisse Bancomat

Window display at Landolt-Arbenz on Bahnhofstrasse

The final game of the World Cup is being played as I write, and it made me think of Switzerland’s participation. I am not a soccer follower at all, but my husband and our two sons certainly are, and so I pay a certain amount of attention. It’s hard not to pay attention to the World Cup, because, as seen in just two of the window displays on Bahnhofstrasse, EVERYONE is following the World Cup. My husband, not a nationalistic type at all, I have never known him to fly the Swiss flag for example, hung this banner from our terrace:
Since we are in Switzerland, the accompanying text is in 3 languages: Wir alle sind das Team; L’equipe, c’est nous tous; La squadra siamo tutti noi — in other words, we are the team. Switzerland made it through to the second game, but lost to Argentina. The country had been so unified in their support of the team, and more remarkably, seemed even more proud and more solid in the support of the team following their defeat. The Achterkette Blog in the Neue Zurcher Zeitung wrote that their super strength wasn’t enough (for a win) but that the team were heroes nonetheless. The national team was praised for their tough defence and strong unity.

Screen message of Credit Suisse Bancomat: Only winning would have been more wonderful. Thank you for giving everything you had.

It could also be seen as a representative of how an immigrant population can be integrated even in a country as tiny as Switzerland. When it is remarked on that there are very few members of the national team who are originally Swiss, the return comment comes back, well, Switzerland has a foreign population of more than 23%. Within Ian Lovett’s report in the New York Times was a posting by Andrew Das who wrote “Something tells me Gelson Fernandes didn’t grow up in lederhosen.” In fact, he was born in Cape Verde but arrived in Switzerland when he was 5. More than half of the Swiss team have dual nationalities. At a time when the SVP (Swiss Peoples Party) anti-immigration policies seem to gain more and more momentum, as with the success of their referendum extending immigration quotas (my posting from February 13), it is heartening to see the whole-hearted, whole nation support of our very international Swiss National Team.

           Home Again, Home Again

Goodness, I have been away for most of the last two months; now that I am back home in Switzerland, my summer resolution is to post things more regularly.

Each time that I go back to America, ideas seem to percolate. I am going to start grouping little moments that have caught my eye under ‘Pause to Wonder’, which comes from something Albert Einstein had written regarding “the mysterious”. He wrote that “He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead – his eyes are closed.” Well my eyes are open always to the wonders around me, be they as small as the charming coffee served to me in the Beyer watch store on Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich or as large as the majestic mountains which surround the Swiss landscape. Albert Einstein became a Swiss citizen when he was 22; I became a Swiss citizen upon my marriage to a Swiss when I was 25. It is a country that I love and it is full of wonders.