Публикувано в Швейцария форум
Is it just me or is it really hard to find some people in Switzerland who are willing to make good friends with you (especially to foreigners)??
I've been there for only 6 months and I heard you need at least 3 months to completely settle down there so maybe I've been there just too short...what do you think?
Изтрити потребител
Y ppl not serious in friendhsip from switzerland
публикувано от M Naeem Bajwa в Швейцария форум
I think Swiss people are not cooperative.
Not totally hard to find a friends...
публикувано от Mara Gonzales в Швейцария форум
You know what just be yourself, be friendly, be kind to other so that people will not ignore you. They will be happy if your willing to be a good friend with them. its not hard just do your obligation as a good person. I am pinay, im living here in the philippine, pilipino people are having fun to have a lots of friends. :)
I am Spanish
публикувано от Raf Raf в Швейцария форум
Hello,
I am Spanish and I live in Basel. I want to find friends to go hiking, drink coffee, listen to music, talking.
you can send me an email to
[...]a greeting
Seldom had such a good laugh...
публикувано от Roger B в Швейцария форум
Hi Daniel,
Well, I almost got to tears from laughing when I read your post. Apart from where you say I was ranting against the Germans (ok, this ain't so wrong either), you're spot on - from the inferiority complex to the fact that our "destiny" is in our own hands.
I'm not sure whether my English was well enough to transmit the message I wanted to, because my aim was not to blame anything on a particular group of foreigners (for instance the Germans, they just come to mind first). See, I know that our companies profit handsomly, that our health-care system would be on the verge of collapse without them and that it is our companies hiring them in numbers (I think I never said anything different). While certain German attitudes certainly are obstacles to a friction free get along, a certain sense of inferiority certainly is in play (language & behaviour wise) too.
You're spot on by saying that it is our government and companies we should blame. That is what I was saying all along, that we needed a system akin to Canada's or Australia's, where we are flexible, open but still have control over who's comming and who isn't. That's the sad part about the discussions going on in Switzerland. If I say we need a reform because I can sense unease amongst my fellow countrymen, I'm being labeled a red-meat conservative who happens to dislike foreigners. If I say that as a society, we will only secure our standard of living if we don't forget that we must strive to increase the wealth of our residents per capita, I'm being a stubborn nationalist. If I say that the people's wariness is the result of a remarkable rise in immigration over the last couple of years, I'm a fear-monger. So for being concerned about our own failures (with regard to the system), I'm being lumped together with people that hate the players instead of blaming the game.
I can understand anyone who wants to work or even settle down here, for it is a place offering great opportunities. Heck, I even acknowledge that in some areas, we've been so lazy that we couldn't do without foreigners (health care being a prime example with the numerus clausus still in place). Neither am I blaming anyone who does so, nor do I despise foreigners. I am neither a xenophobe nor a rascist. What I am concerned about is the fate of my country and its population (be they native or foreign born) for I fear that what has made us successfull and wealthy in the past is overhastedly thrown over board for the sake of extensive growth and access to a common European market. Switzerland has always been battling with labour scarcity, it is what forced us to be innovative, what led to higher wages and productivity. We have always been dependent on foreign labor too, yet the labor market was by and large restricted to the couple of million inhabitants. Now, with the free movement of people, this labor market has increased to a couple of hundred millions. Simply speaking, what was once scarce is now abundant and, following the logic of supply and demand, what is abundant, gets cheaper. Now this might be simplicistic, but the fact remains that 2009 for the first time saw an increase in GDP overall but a decline of GDP per capita. Instead of intensively, we grew extensively, the pie has gotten bigger but the individual slice smaller. For companies a large pool of workers is formidable for it pushes the margin in your favor, whether this is good for the population, for society overall is another question. Companies are quick to claim that they "don't find able Swiss to do certain jobs", while this might be true in health care, engineering and pharma, I kind of suspect this argument to be incomplete otherwise. The inconvenient truth maybe that they "don't find able Swiss to do a certain job, for the price offered". While we might lack doctors, nurses and engineers, I'm not willing to buy that we lack accountants (and I mean A/P, A/R accountant types), waiters and bus drivers as well. True, we can't and shouldn't shut the world out, but heck, do we have to throw the doors completely open then? Instead of just importing people, we should senserily looking for ways to meet demands with our own ressources (i.e. try to do as much intensively) and people. We should reform our educational sector in order to have more doctors, engineers and nurses, because in the end, only this will bring about a sustainable solution.
The battle I'm constantly in, is to avert that the discussion above, about reforming our system to something more suitable, is drifting into a rant about the quality & character of our foreigners. That is the problem, that some right wingers are lumping together the different topics, creating a smoke screen and offering a "one size fits all" solution. This ain't the way to go. The discussion about Free movement of people needs to be utterly separated from the discussion about refugees. And last but not least, our neutral and political correct way of speaking inhibts us to say certain things the way they are. That needs to stop for otherwise I fear that nativist, xenophobic and outright racist tendencies will take a marked turn for the worse.
Yeah, right.
публикувано от Daniel L в Швейцария форум
Dear Sonia,
yes, it is tough to learn that the Swiss are no better than any other european country when it comes to discriminating against foreigners and esp. people with a different skin colour. My problem with this is that the Swiss have a totally different image outside of Switzerland. Undeservedly so!! You would expect racism from a German and definitely from a French but the Swiss do not come to mind immediately. They really do need to stop making excuses and get a grip of themselves. This is 2012! Get with the times! Stop being so damn racist, especially when there is absolutely no need for it. You have enough wealth to go around.
So Sonia, I can totally relate. It is not going to get better anytime soon. Flee this country if you can.,,,seeing that you actually married one of them, I guess you cant. At least then, you have to lower your expectations!!! Think the worst of the Swiss and you wont be disappointed! Works for us.About the Swiss comments reg. the amount of foreigners coming into their country. First of all: The Germans. Ulrich went on quite a rant towards the end of his last comment and Roger, you are no better! Anyone stopped to think WHY there are so many Germans here…? I know a lot of Germans that have moved here and actually almost all of them were called by a Swiss company to come and work here. Why are there so many doctors and nurses from Germany? Angebot > Nachfrage…? Ever heard of that….? Seems like you do not train enough medical personnel otherwise there wouldn’t be so many jobs on offer for the Germans.
Blame the Swiss companies for headhunting the Germans NOT the Germans themselves!! Blame your government for making it so “easy” to come and live here…..get it into perspective people!! AND do something about your HUGE inferiority complexes!! There are very good psychiatrists in Switzerland! :D THAT is the main reason why you hate the Germans: your massive complexes. NOT the “rudeness” or the directness. I think the Swiss secretly admire the Germans for being able to speak their minds….LOL.About the “other” foreigners / asylum seekers, etc.: YOUR SWISS government ALLOWS for so many immigrants. You Swiss have a voting system that is unparalleled in the world. You actually can change laws and set things in motion, through collecting signatures and all that shit. So, if your government lets in all these people that the citizens do not want then why don’t YOU do something about it instead of bitching about it??? Kick all the foreigners out, if you are so unhappy about them - Get some balls!! But you can’t, can you? Cause as a rule, the Swiss mindset is “neutral”…..neutral my arse!! Someone once mentioned “personality bypass” – I think that says it for most Swiss.
End rant.
(I just re-read what I wrote above and maybe I am being a tad emotional…..?? Oh, whatever. :D)@sonia
публикувано от Roger B в Швейцария форум
Well, what can I say other than I'm deeply sorry for your experience. Yes, there is racism and bigotry in Switzerland. There are people who judge others by the colour of their skin rather than the content of their character. Just keep on trying, don't be put off. I am convinced that there are fellow Swiss who are as open minded as possible and not at all as block headed as it might sometimes appear.
However, even if I understand your frustration, I think one has to consider the anxiety many Swiss feel about immigration topics. I've shared my point of view regarding this topic several times here with an aim to bring in the perspective of the "other side". To be blunt, I'd consider myself to be an outright sceptic when it comes to immigration.
The story you've just shared with us, that a landlord expressed relief that he could rent his flat out to a Swiss is not surprising to me at all. After all, we had a net-immigration of 360'000 people from 2005 - 2009 (official statistics), extending that to the year 2000 would reveal a total net-immigration of 575'000 people from 2000 - 2009. And that has to be put in relation to a population of roughly 5.5 to 6 million Swiss citizens. In other words, from 2005 - 2009 a complete city of St.Gallen has immigrated into Switzerland and that makes one really wonder whether such levels are sane & sustainable. To put the pedal to the metal, consider that most of this immigration did not just neatly spread itself over all of Switzerland. Most of this immigration happened to urban centers like Zurich, Basel & Geneva (understandably so, who wants to live in the remotest possible valley in central Switzerland), further adding pressure on already strained public infrustructure, rental fee levels and naturally heightening tensions between native & foreign born population.
Anectodal evidence to this state of "hyper-tension" is the housing (rental) market. Ever seen what happens when a landlord is making a public exhibition (Wohnungsbesichtigung) for an appartment in the City of Zurich? You can bet on queue's going from your doorstep on the 3rd floor, down the staircase to the appartment builduing's entrance and possibly even beyond (dozens over dozens of applicants). And yes, you can bet on a significantly large proportion of applicants being immigrants from neighbouring countries. Naturally, that is what causes a whole lot of anxiety, second thoughts and feelings that the pace is just not sustainable. To be very frank, in situations like these, I can understand a certain sense of nativism on the landlord's part. For me, it's quite clear that a 300'000+ immigration over 4 years ain't sustainable nor sane.
My personal take on it is the following: This is Switzerland. We should be open to the world, flexible in granting visa's and "green card's" when there's a need for it. We should be tolerant and cherish the liberties a liberal democracy bestows on its people. However, we shouldn't allow "no-strings-attached, no control" immigration to take place (sth we currently have with the EU). Last but not least, we should not forget that we are Swiss, we're not a confederacy of cosmopolitan internationalists. We should not forget that as a society, we should aspire to do things in a sustainable, long term thinking way that will ensure that our children have a better future in front of them.
Swiss people are haters
публикувано от Sonia smith в Швейцария форум
When I first came to this country I was told that once you learn the language it will be easy to make friends and be accepted....But after being here for three years and now know how to speak Swiss German, I can say that's just a pack of rubbish. The color of your skin still play a big part....of coarse I am respected by some who knows that I am a Biologist and work for the top Pharma company in Basel, but outside of this I have experience out right racism. I have so many stories I can tell but the one that have convinced my Swiss husband that there is racism in his righteous country. Was when after one year of trying to get a new apartment and all our applications were turned down.....I told my husband that it was because of me, but he became very upset by my accusation......However after becoming very frustrated and desperate to get a new apartment, he took my advice and applied for one on his own.....He was hoping to prove me wrong, but guess what the first apartment he applied for solo, he got it. To make matters worst the then attendant (swiss) told him when he viewed the apartment that his chances are high to get it since the agent did not want any foreigners in the building and there was so many of them who viewed the apartment.
People need to stop making excuses for what is real....Swiss people love to make excuses. I am married to one.
Tonight ????
публикувано от Изтрити потребител в Швейцария форум
hey Guys
why we talk about the suisse since we are here lets go out togther have fun and i m sure we will make lots of friends around us suisse and more i m up to a happy night tonight or tomorrow night lets meet for a drink and fun
i m waiting your answers
friendly
louis
Reply
публикувано от Изтрити потребител в Швейцария форум
Hi Ulrich,
People probably say they like it because they do not want to offend the host nation. When you are abroad and you have to get along with people you are normally in the absolute minority and then tend more to please the people around as you know beforehand you´d lose the argument. That said (I did it myself) in the long run it is better to be honest about you nor liking the place you´re in. But you can´t always change it short term so you gotta stick it out. Although moving to another country can cause absolute stress in some people and then they do not have enough energy to tell people about their frustration without being looked at as "well if you don´t like it" then go home. That is what I always expected as an answer.
Looking for friends
публикувано от fk Peter в Швейцария форум
ls difficult to find friends here, l am looking for nice friends.