This afternoon we had heavy snow!
Everything normal? Ehm… if it were not April 21st!
Here they call it “April Wetter” (April’s weather). In the late afternoon the sun actually came out…
Questo pomeriggio c’è stata una violenta nevicata!
Tutto normale? Ehm… se non fosse il 21 aprile!
Qui lo chiamano “April Wetter” (tempo di aprile). Nel tardo pomeriggio in effetti è uscito il sole…
Picture from: Engage.it
Yesterday, Jannik Sinner, the new Italian tennis champion, won the ATP 500 tournament of Rotterdam. And thanks to the reached final, he succeeded in becoming the No 3 in the ATP ranking!
A couple of weeks ago, the Italian player achieved his biggest success, winning the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the season. After his title in Australia, he raised himself to the 4th position of the world. In addition to his great tennis, Sinner is becoming more and more popular thanks to his politeness, fairness and “normal boy” look, which a lot of tennis fans like. Among the many records he could beat at the young age of 22, there is another one, for sure the funniest. Even a small group of his fans (6) became famous together with Sinner: the so-called “carota” (carrot) boys. Whenever possible, they are following Sinner’s matches dressed like carrots. We will see another time why like this.
This is a blog about Switzerland: so I have to come back to the Alps (the Swiss side, not Sinner’s home side…) and chocolate…
Jannik’ victory in Australia was such a positive surprise for the whole tennis, that even here in Switzerland (old king Federer’s kingdom) was kind of a piece of news. Even in the school. In fact, in the 6th class of my elder daughter, the teacher eventually spoke about Sinner some weeks ago and proudly announced his new 3rd position in the world after winning the Australian Open in front of the whole class. What? How cannot he know? If you are still reading, please go back some lines and you will see (if you don’t know by yourself) that the Italian champion was “only” number 4 after winning the tournament in Melbourne.
As a (Italian… ok, Swiss as well, according to the passport) father who is also a great tennis fan, I often “disturb” my daughters with a lot of talks and praise on the great exploits of Jannik Sinner. And that is why my daughter told me about his teacher’s tennis mistake, which I just described above.
The day after, one of our main dinner ingredient was again the Italian tennis… and my daughter, crystal calm, told me the following exciting occurrence. “Dad, today I went to my teacher and told him that Sinner is actually still [just after the Australian Open] number 4 (and not 3) of the world ranking”. “So he made a mistake”.
My daughter’s “clarification” to the teacher made me really happy!
And it was undoubtedly worthy of a real… “carota” girl!
In Switzerland people were voting this weekend to renew the Ständerat (Council of States) and the Nationalrat (National Council).
One of the candidates from Canton Argovia was Marianne Binder-Keller, member of the political party “Die Mitte” (The middle, the centre).
Here on the picture Ms Binder-Keller is really in the middle… in the middle of a prosperous zucchini field!
In Svizzera la popolazione ha votato questo fine settimana per rinnovare il Consiglio degli Stati e il Consiglio Nazionale.
Una dei candidati del cantone Argovia era Marianne Binder-Keller, membro del partito politico “Il Centro”.
Qui nella foto la signora Binder-Keller è veramente al centro… al centro di un rigoglioso campo di zucchine!
Happy birthday, Switzerland!
Some knowledge from the website of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs:
“On 1 August, Switzerland commemorates the signing of the Letter of Confederation of 1291, in which the localities of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden pledged to help each other if attacked. Legend has it that the representatives of the three founding localities – “the three Confederates” – swore their oath on the Rütli meadow, which overlooks Lake Lucerne. They vowed to free their country from the Habsburgs. The official celebration of the Confederation takes place on 1 August on this mythical meadow, with an address by the President of the Swiss Confederation to the entire nation. In a 1993 referendum, Swiss National Day was declared a public holiday throughout Switzerland.
Bonfires are lit and fireworks are set off all over Switzerland on 1 August. In some places, children parade through the streets with lanterns bearing the Swiss cross and their canton’s flag. There are parades with people in traditional costumes and with yodelling choirs, alphorns and flag-throwers. And throughout the country, politicians, from Federal Councillors to communes’ mayors, deliver speeches celebrating Swiss National Day.
In addition, in many places, the mythical story of William Tell, the legendary hero of Swiss independence who is said to have resisted an imperial Habsburg overseer, is enacted. The famous drama, in which William Tell had to shoot an apple off his son’s head with his crossbow, was written by Friedrich von Schiller in 1804″.
—————————————————————————-
Buon compleanno, Svizzera!
Alcune nozioni dal sito del dipartimento federale degli affari esteri:
“Il 1° agosto la Svizzera commemora il Patto federale del 1291 in cui i Cantoni di Uri, Svitto e Untervaldo si promisero solennemente reciproca assistenza in caso di minaccia esterna. La leggenda vuole che i rappresentanti dei tre Cantoni fondatori («i Tre Confederati») giurarono sui prati del Rütli, al di sopra del Lago dei Quattro Cantoni, di liberare il Paese dagli Asburgo. La Festa nazionale ufficiale si tiene il 1° agosto in questo luogo mitico con l’allocuzione a tutta la nazione del presidente o della presidente della Confederazione. Con il referendum del 1993, il 1° agosto è diventato ufficialmente un giorno di vacanza in tutta la Svizzera.
Ovunque il 1° agosto si accendono falò e si sparano fuochi d’artificio. In alcuni luoghi i bambini sfilano per le strade con lanterne decorate con la croce svizzera e lo stemma del loro Cantone e si svolgono cortei con costumi tradizionali, cori di jodel, suonatori di corni delle Alpi e sbandieratori. In tutto il Paese i politici, dai consiglieri federali ai sindaci, tengono i loro discorsi per il 1° agosto.
In molti luoghi viene anche inscenata la mitica storia di Guglielmo Tell, il leggendario eroe dell’indipendenza svizzera che, si dice, si sia opposto a un balivo imperiale asburgico. Il famoso dramma in cui Tell deve colpire una mela posata sulla testa di suo figlio con una freccia della sua balestra è opera del poeta tedesco Friedrich von Schiller e data del 1804″.
It’s almost harvest time in Ehrendingen!
—————————————————————-
È quasi il momento della mietitura a Ehrendingen!
Switzerland is famous for its cows with their “famous” (and noisy) bells.
But wandering around in our countryside locations, we can find some other weird forms of life!
Real Swiss – A Foreigner in Switzerland gets upgraded…
Now you can reach this website (of course only for very very few aficionados, to be sure that I cannot become a real influencer!) under a proper internet address which is not just an acronym, but a kind of meaningful text.
That’s it:
real-swiss.com
In addition, another feature which I would like to implement: Real Swiss – A Foreigner in Switzerland goes bilingual. Italian versions will be added next (ok, below) the original English ones.
Thank you very much again to all my (very selected) followers!
—————————————————————————–
Real Swiss – A Foreigner in Switzerland viene aggiornato…
Adesso si può raggiungere questo sito (ovviamente per un numero molto limitato di fedelissimi, per essere certo di non diventare un vero influencer!) tramite un vero indirizzo internet che non sia solo un acronimo, ma una sorta di testo con un senso compiuto.
Eccolo:
real-swiss.com
Inoltre, un’altra caratteristica che vorrei realizzare: Real Swiss – A Foreigner in Switzerland diventa bilingue. Le versioni italiane saranno aggiunte a fianco (ok, sotto) delle originali inglesi.
Ancora mille grazie a tutti i miei (selezionatissimi) followers!
Being Italian living in Switzerland I will watch the Soccer World Cup 2022 with a lot of sadness. I will not be able to see the Azzurri but I will probably have to watch and even support the White Crossed of Switzerland.
The organisation of Qatar has been criticised by a lot of experts: too many occupational fatal accidents during the construction works for the infrastructures in the country and a lot of suspicions and doubts of bribery to get the World Cup.
Therefore the brilliant ads of the Berliner Brewery BrewDog are quite ingenious and, actually, how not to like them?
“BrewDog Lost” will be for sure my preferred World Cup 2022… refreshment!
(Photos by BrewDog found on Yahoo!News)
Switzerland is famous for its cows with the always present bells.
However you might risk to meet also some little stranger… creatures if you are wandering around in the Swiss Cantons!
Real Swiss 