Vor einigen Jahren ging ich in ein Einkaufszentrum und wollte ein Produkt umtauschen. Die Frau beim Kundendienst verlangte von mir die Quittung, welche ich ihr zeigte. Jedoch genügte ihr das nicht. Sie stellte mir so viele Fragen über die Quittung und befragte mich so lange, dass ich verzweifelt aufgab. Sie hatte kein Interesse an meiner Erklärung. Ich habe gespürt, dass sie null Vertrauen in mich hatte. Ich sagte Martin, meinem Schweizer Mann, dass er unbedingt dort hin gehen müsse. Er erzählte der Frau dasselbe, das ich bereits erzählt hatte: Er bat sie um den Umtausch des Produktes und zeigte ihr die Quittung. Die Frau fragte ihn nichts weiteres. Plötzlich hatte sie volles Vertrauen. Der Umtausch verlief ohne weitere Probleme. Ich war erstaunt und fragte mich: Ist das jetzt ernst gemeint? Und dann kam die Frage, die ich mir früher oft gestellt habe: Ist es, weil ich Ausländerin bin?

Katia, Brasilien, 12 September 2019

Foto: Leta Motta

I would like to share a funny experience that happened to me just shortly after I moved to Switzerland. To understand why this is so funny to me, you need to know my origins are Croatian. My ex-boyfriend and I were invited to the birthday grill party of a friend, and we were each supposed to bring something along. Everyone brought chicken, some sausages, some steaks and so on. And as my chicken needed more time to be grilled than the steak, I took the steak, which was the first thing to be ready. 

Immediately, someone came up to me and said, “That’s what I brought.” 

I unknowingly replied, “Oh yes, it’s very tasty, thanks.” 

And once again, he said, “It's mine.”

And then he just stood there while I kept eating, becoming unhappier with each minute. Only later did my ex tell me the unwritten rule: in Switzerland, what you take to a barbecue is what you eat.

Lany, Croatia, 1 August 2019

Moving to Switzerland with the German vocabulary of a six year old was tiring and frustrating for sure. But amidst the hair tearing and nail biting, there were also some hidden gems.

Like when we went to the Thermalbad and I wanted to go to the pool with all the Drüse (glands) instead of Düse (jets). “D’Sirene lüchtet, mir münd zur nöchste Drüse” (“The warning light is blinking, we need to go to the next gland”).

Or that I continued to use the phrase “Vernseh gaffe” (to gawp at the TV), an expression which probably became obsolete in the late 90s. 

Or like when I accidentally used the word verstäche (stab) instead of bestäche (bribe). “De Andreas hät mich miteme Schöggeli verstoche” (“Andreas stabbed me with a chocolate”). 

I used to be appalled whenever I made a mistake like that. And though I still make them, my perspective has changed. I’ve realised that my mistakes don’t mark me as someone stupid or incapable. The opposite is true. They highlight that I have had an interesting life that’s not always taken me down the same path as everyone else. 

Tammy, Maldives/Sri Lanka, 1 August 2019

Snippets is a blog on which you can read about simple, day-to-day experiences of multiculturalism in Switzerland. It's inspired by Humans of New York. If you don't feel like writing a whole article, you can send us a short snippet instead.