Aww....do you need some odd objects to decorate the wreath with?

This is seasonally appropriate



(god, makes me feel guilty how nice our neighbors are...really, super. If you feel the same way, anybody, time to show them your appreciation, summer raclette festivities are a ok, we are doing ours soon)

Buy an identical wreath to hers. When she changes it, buy another identical one and so on. She'll think you're stalking her in some weird étranger fashion.

If it's any consolation, my Swiss husband who lived in the US for 22yrs,(here 2 yrs) is a bit "perturbed by what's happened to his country". This is due to "all the foreigners" who moved here. Hmm, wonder where that leaves me? He says I don't count, I'm "married to a Swiss". (Sure, tell that to all the Swiss people in Coop, who looks at me in that same tone of voice).

She is clearly making these opere d'arte with her own glue gun. So, I think a trip to Migros Do it+Garden is in order.

I have to confess I think that would have been my reaction too ! But I was trying to think as a Swiss would do, I heard that they hated frontal confrontation... But Carlos R, you are my hero on that one

I think I'm really liking this gal! Welcome to Switzerland!!

Go on, give us a Swiss German translation, could come handy one day

I agree with Nil that it might not be the best way forward. But if you do, use the 'vous' not the 'tu'. Something like 'Vous ètes très gentille, mais désolée, occupez-vous de vos oignons, merci'.

Bonne chance.

I think this is SOP for most EU countries where someone marries a foreigner and takes them back home after a few years of being away. It doesn't matter how many foreigners there are, e.g. I heard the same thing in a country with only 2% foreigners living in it, it's a statement of rapid change that really doesn't have so much to do with foreigners as it does with that things are changing must faster and cultures are losing their once very distinctive features. It's "Wherever you go, there you are." writ large.

Outside of Maine in the US, it would seem absurd to marry someone from Colorado who has lived in DC, marries a Marylander and moves back to Colorado only to note how so few folks living there are from Colorado anymore. Mainers, on the other hand, stick to their own, much like a small European country.

Works better if you are a man

No it doesn't. I've tried.

I grew up in CT (mainly) and VT (summers, though my sister who most hated summers in VT moved there permanently 20 years ago). Learned early on that "City People", aka "New Yorkers", were evil.

That's why I like CH. I don't know my neighbors, and they don't know me, though we might start talking after 10-20 years and they know I'm not just passing through.

Just like New England!

Tom

Yeah, folks up there just don't like outsiders, newcomers or the dreaded city folk invading their space and while they might tolerate you living up there, they make no bones about you never being one of 'them'. I knew a woman who moved up to Maine with her family when she was ~5yo and when she moved to Boston at 35, she was still regarded as an outsider. Just like Europe.

why is the EF recommended course of action whenever these threads pop up to be a self-hating foreigner and bend over backwards to placate the locals no matter how rude and idiotic they are? tell her to f--- off.

when i moved into my apartment i shoved a newspaper under the front door to lodge it open while i was unloading my car parked 2 meters away and some lady in the building started to rudely lecture me about how leaving the door open jeopardizes the safety of the building. as if some ninja burglar would sneak past me while i moved stuff from the car to the lobby. i simply laughed in her face and told her to stop being ridiculous. needless to say we are not friendly but i dont care.

There is only one permanent way to stop this intrusion into your private life, and that is to tell the concierge, in no uncertain terms, in any language of your choice, to get on her bike and start peddling. I speak from experience! When the now ex-concierge of our building sees me coming, she runs back into her appartment! It is also reasonable to assume that one of the reasons the aforesaid being is now the EX-concierge, is due to the fact that not only did I not put up with her nonsense, but would pull her up everytime she did not do what I and others were paying her to do.

Perhaps turn the tables on the concierge. At least 3x a day - let's say 7:05 in the morning, 11:45am and 9:55pm, knock on the concierge's door and ask helpful questions like what is she having for breakfast? Is Denner or Migros better to shop at? Did she remember to wash her hands after going to the toilet? Does she fancy nipping down the pub for a quick pint?

Cheers,
Nick

Nice one: So you'd have an American telling off a concierge (who very probably is Portuguese) in Swiss German, a language they both do not understand. That would be Babel in perfection

I do not have anything against portuguese people! It is just that very often the concierges in Lausanne are Portuguese. Personally, I lived in four different appartments in Lausanne, the concierges were invariably Portuguese. One of them was very nosey. Another one was so so, while the two other ones were exceedingly nice people.

true true. most concierges in lsn are definitely portuguese. loved our last conierge- so nice and really friendly. sounds like this one you have is a problem though. honestly, i would just smile, say- i'm so sorry i have so much to do and screech out of there.

when you see her make sure you are on the phone or scurrying from one place to another and you just don't have time. she'll get the idea and probably feel bad about you being american and having to work so much and never being able to rest as working is what you people do

__________________
'there isn't enough of anything as long as we live.
but at intervals a sweetness appears and, given a chance prevails'

The concierge in question is Swiss. She has lived in this building with her husband and son for 30 years now. She also has a 28 year old son whom she waves away every morning at 9:30 from her balcony as he leaves to go to the university. He goes out with his parents on Friday nights, too. She likes doilies. And decorative wreaths.

*puts on national cape and assumes SuperMan pose*

Though portuguese people might be nosey in the sense of having a long nose, it is not normal to be rudely nosey. Portuguese women are usually quite nice, but those of an advance age tend to pick a conversation with the neighbours for the sake of company ('coz, as my dear German better half says, we talk too much (even for women) ). But plain rudeness was never a cliché associated to us!

OK. Be honest now. No telling porkies, as we'll know... who is watching who here?