A Humorous Guide to Switzerland

Swiss German is a funny language. Not only are there certain sounds that seem strange to the foreign ear, e.g. the famous "ch" in Chuchichäschtli  or these Swiss German tongue twisters , but there are also quite a few interesting phrases , especially in Swiss German slang. With "interesting" I mean that they seem funny or humorous when considering the literal meaning . A good example of this in English would be "to chicken out" which at first seems funny to non-native speakers. When You Shouldn't Take the Swiss by Their Literal Word I collected a few examples of such funny literal meanings of Swiss German phrases. de Baum azünde (lit. to set fire to the tree, to light the Christmas tree) aschiisse (lit. to shit at, to be mad or annoyed) zämeschiisse (lit. to shit together, to scold someone) umefurze (lit. to fart around, to dawdle or dally) verarsche (lit. to ass (someone), to fool someone) es chüblet (lit. it buckets, it rains heavily) es...

Christmas Cookies - gänseblümchen / pixelio.de  Christmas season is just around the corner and all over Switzerland the streets are full of Christmas lights and decorations. There are certain aspects of Christmas that are pretty universal, e.g. the gifts, the tree and the lights. Yet, every country and region developed it's own style of celebrating this holiday and Switzerland is no exception. However, customs and traditions don't stop at official borders so it is very likely that our nearest neighbors in Austria and Germany have very similar Christmas traditions! 5 Swiss Christmas Traditions If you happen to be in Switzerland during the Christmas season or if you live here, you should take advantage of it and delve into some fun Swiss Christmas activities . If you don't know where to start, here is my list of not-to-miss Swiss Christmas Traditions . Cookie Baking : Yes, almost every Swiss family will bake several batches of Christmas Cookies. There are so many ...

Analytics Overview from the last 5 years I've been blogging over five years now. There have been ups and downs along the way but overall I've managed to maintain and even grow an audience for my blog " A Humorous Guide to Switzerland ". Of course, there are things I now think I should have done differently or better not at all but hindsight is always 10/10 and there's nothing better to do with mistakes than learn from them! Now, my blog is by no means famous or extremely well visited. From my Google Analytics statistics I gather that about 2500-3000 people have a look at one of my posts every month. For me, that's quite an accomplishment, especially since this is a personal undertaking and not a commercial business. However, the success of a blog is a relative thing, depending very much on the time you're investing and the goals you're setting. I also learned that blogging is not an exact science. What works for one blogger might be totally us...

Rainy Day - birgitH  / pixelio.de There is no rain-free season in Switzerland. Some months bring less and some months bring more rain but generally, there are very few weeks a year without any rain at all . Spring and fall are especially known for wet and rainy days. Many people prefer to stay indoors and dry on those days and that's why I put together this list of 10 Fun Things to do on a Rainy Day in Switzerland  (and later on  Another 10 Fun Things to do on a Rainy Day in Switzerland ) a while ago. However, someone pointed out to me that there are plenty of fun outdoor activities for rainy days as well. Many times, rainy days are actually when nature is at its best! Therefore, I decided to put together this list of 10 Fun Things to do Outdoors on a Rainy Day in Switzerland. Many of these are perfectly fine for other places around the world as well! 10 Fun Things to do Outdoors on a Rainy Day in Switzerland Put on rain boots and jump into every puddle yo...