Theoretically, before going anywhere as an expatriate U. sends you an expert in the field for a small preview of what you'll encounter and how to cope with it.
For various reasons we did this session a couple of weeks.
The theory: a whole day including lunch with an expert who knows everything you need to know about the mysterious of Swiss culture.
The expert: a man with a name that doesn’t sound Swiss at all.
The truth
The sun was shinning so Placid asked for a “short version” of the cultural training session.
So we arrived Saturday at 9 am and we met a smiling man shorter than me, bald and wearing bow tie.
His name didn’t sound Swiss because our expert was from Morocco!
Despite my initial reluctance to go I have to admit that some things were useful (although when I took a look at the whole agenda I was happy we asked for a short version of it, that man was willing to tell us even how to pack our suitcase!).
Now I know when you can be on familiar terms with a 100% real Swiss person (never!), at what time should I arrive for dinner when they invite me and at what time should I leave (hint, a Swiss dinner is 100% complete before the Spanish ones start to set the table for their own) and I have a small chop on common words in Swiss German.
That and a box full of chocolates and an invitation to the Cous-Cous party in November that Mr B (the expert, very nice guy) organizes every year, yum yum!
For various reasons we did this session a couple of weeks.
The theory: a whole day including lunch with an expert who knows everything you need to know about the mysterious of Swiss culture.
The expert: a man with a name that doesn’t sound Swiss at all.
The truth
The sun was shinning so Placid asked for a “short version” of the cultural training session.
So we arrived Saturday at 9 am and we met a smiling man shorter than me, bald and wearing bow tie.
His name didn’t sound Swiss because our expert was from Morocco!
Despite my initial reluctance to go I have to admit that some things were useful (although when I took a look at the whole agenda I was happy we asked for a short version of it, that man was willing to tell us even how to pack our suitcase!).
Now I know when you can be on familiar terms with a 100% real Swiss person (never!), at what time should I arrive for dinner when they invite me and at what time should I leave (hint, a Swiss dinner is 100% complete before the Spanish ones start to set the table for their own) and I have a small chop on common words in Swiss German.
That and a box full of chocolates and an invitation to the Cous-Cous party in November that Mr B (the expert, very nice guy) organizes every year, yum yum!
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