Breaking through the rules….

One of my favorite lessons for my Russian students was on rules and customs from around the world. There was this great exercise where students look at a list of strange rules from around the world, and try to guess which 3 were incorrect. No one ever guessed correctly, except for perhaps “One should never tip a taxi driver in New York.” Obviously that’s false, even for a Russian to see.

But a funny little custom that I never quite believed was one about Switzerland: “In Switzerland, you should not mow your lawn on Sundays, it’s against the law.” I knew the book said it was true, but I never really believed it. Come on, I thought, everyone has to mow their lawns sometime, and the weekend is the best time to do yardwork. How could that be? Then one evening my boyfriend got up from his computer in a shock, as if he had forgotten something. He insisted he had to cut the wood for his architecture project, right then, before it got too late. “I can’t do it tomorrow,” he explained, “because it’s Sunday.” As if he had been a recording from the textbook. I shook my head in disbelief.

This incident, however, made me reflect on previous experiences. For example, one day the puppies at the house where I work encountered someone else’s dog, and started barking furiously. Although it only lasted for a few minutes, it was a few minutes too many for the neighbor who came over and insisted that the noise must stop. Although I apologized, he explained “We all want peace and quiet, madame, (much to my dismay I was not considered a “mademoiselle”), and we all should have it.”

I suppose this somehow reflects on Swiss people and how they have a reputation for being rather….inflexible. But on the other hand, it does make logical sense to have laws like that, since everyone lives rather close together in this tiny country, with the only breathing room out on the mountains, far from anyone’s house. And it is nice to know that if someone is having a loud, noisy, party, you don’t have to feel guilty knocking on their door and demanding them to stop, because you probably won’t even be the first neighbor to do so. All of this is logical, and reasonable…..maybe too much so for my comfort, but then again I think about all of my crazy Swiss friends, who despite all the rules and customs are quite illogical at times. I guess it’s ok to break the rules…I turned to my boyfriend and asked if Sunday was the only time you should be quiet. “Well, no noise past 10 o’ clock, and usually not around noon on all days.” Noon??? “Well, you shouldn’t,” he hedged.