Zürich - an interesting view of integration

I had been to Switzerland a few times before the summer of 2014, but never for long enough to take in culture, and I hadn't been to Zürich before then.

My sister chose Zürich for her full Ironman, so of course I went along to cheer her on.  The first few days of our trip were about the race courses and seeking out race traditions.  Most importantly, I guess, was Mexican food.  Across the street from the hotel was a Tex-Mex place, but while my sister was riding part of it with the group, I found a real Mexican restaurant in the center of the city, run by a Mexican man.  Quite good, actually.

I was quite impressed with the Multikulti feeling, and the language abilities of the foreigners.  I have met many foreigners in Germany - many of them struggle with German, struggle getting away from their communities within towns.  My sister and I were taking the tram back to the hotel from the city center when we ended up conversing with an "older" couple. I can't remember where they were from, but somewhere in the Middle East.  They both spoke pretty decent English (she spoke better than he did, even though he was more of an America-fan than she was), and they spoke German (and understanding Swiss German is still not something I write on my list of skills...).  They'd been in Switzerland for quite some time.  26 years?


We also saw an African family who switched languages more than once.  We didn't get a chance to talk with them though.

We could have eaten at so many different restaurants - we did make it to a Spanish place, and a Bosnian place, there was lots of Italian options, Brazilian, Vietnamese, Latvian...











Today, German 2 read about minorities in German speaking countries (at the time the book was written, 9% in Germany and Austria, 20% in Switzerland) and how that is reflected in the restaurant options in big cities.  I found it an interesting connection.  But what really got to me was the timing of this lesson, as is this morning's news was the news that the anti-immigration party is succeeding in Switzerland with the current vote.  It seemed so opposite of what I had experienced.  Then again, who is voting?  Nearly everyone I met while there was a foreigner...