A Typical Swiss Farm (And Some Economic Chatter)

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One of the most memorable parts of my time in Geneva was venturing to the Gruyeres region. You can read about my visit to the teeny and wonderful town of Gruyeres here, but the first part of this day trip deserved its own post!

Our first stop was at a farm perched on the hills in the Gruyeres countryside, perhaps about 20 minutes away from the town. Total disclaimer: this was a tourist stop, plain and simple. We were there to learn how to make fondue.

HOWEVER – Switzerland has a way of making tourist traps feel much less cheesy (ha.ha..cheesy…fondue…get it?) and I truly believe that this farm was mostly authentic. For one, the woman making the fondue spoke barely any English – not the norm in the more tourist-catering spots in the country. Secondly, our guide pointed out that our hosts lived here year round and only opened to tourists in the summer – pointing out the simple beds that were kept next to the giant cheese points for warmth during the winter.

At this point I had been in Geneva for two months and of course had heard of fondue – but somehow hadn’t gotten to try it yet. This is due to two reasons: fondue (much like everything but kabobs in Switzerland) is expensive. Secondly: fondue is a traditionally winter meal – I mean, it’s a giant vat of hot cheese. Now, I’m down for that year-round, any time of day, but it gets you judgy looks. Oh well.

I also knew nothing about the history of fondue. Apparently it started as a a traditional Saturday or Sunday meal, when the man of the house would pull together the left-over cheese, dregs of wine, and stale bread from the week for an industrious and filling meal. And yes, the bread is specifically meant to be stale – that way it sticks to the fondue spears better and soaks up more cheese.

While waiting for the fondue to boil/stuff our faces, I wandered outside to spend some time with the animals. Obviously they were adorable, that’s universal.

But while I was out there I did have a bit of a culture shock moment. I had started feeling it on the drive over, but hadn’t really been able to put my finger on it. In the United States, the countryside and more rural areas tend to be where lowerclass populations live – houses get smaller, older, in need of more repair. Establishments are spread out and cars are become more rickety. Many rural areas still lack running water, electrical heat, phone or internet access. Obviously I’m not saying that everyone who lives in the country is poor – but in my experience, America’s rural areas tend to be larger and more impoverished than many city-clustered residents think.

However, as we drove further from the city, Switzerland’s countryside did not appear to decline in that familiar patterns. Villages were small, houses were modest – but every structure appeared well-built, stable, and comfortable. Most of the homes had cars in very good shape – some every luxury vehicles.

In this country of considerable wealth, living in a rural area seemed to be more normal, less stigmatized than in the United States. And that was a bit jarring.  Ultimately it seems our wealth is more spread out, and more unequally distributed amongst our populace, making for those pockets and swaths of economically impoverished areas that I rarely saw in Switzerland.

Ok, that’s my limit on economics talk. Here are some cute farm animals!

New best

Chickadee

Moo

Intruder in the chick pen…

 

A Visit to the Red Cross Museum

Yesterday I finally got to visit the Red Cross Museum, which has been on the top of my list since arriving but I haven’t found the time or emotional energy to tackle. After visiting, I can say that I highly recommend it.

“The Petrified Ones,” sculptures outside the entrance of the museum

The museum is modern, stylish, and interactive, and your ticket comes with a free audio guide that speaks automatically as you move through the museum.

The museum is divided into three parts, following three main pillars of the organizations: reuniting families, reducing natural risks, and restoring human dignity. There is also an interactive room near the entrance that lets you follow the details of the past 150 years of the Red Cross’s work around the world.

First I explored the section on defending human dignity. The museum starts with a history of the Red Cross and international humanitarian declarations and conventions, which is pretty darn cool. One thing I always forget is just how old the Red Cross is – for some reason I assume it came out of one of the World Wars, but it was actually conceived by Henri Dunant following his observations at the Battle of Solferino in 1859, part of the Austrian-Sardinian War. The organization has undergone many transformations over the years and now consists of 97 million volunteers and members worldwide. There was the original copy of the Geneva Convention – nerd alert! Next came a room which largely featured artwork and handicrafts created by political prisoners and displaced individuals. There was also a section where you could listen to different witness testaments about a wide range of experiences.

A sculpture of Henri Dunant, showing excerpts in several languages from his memoirs of Solferino

Voodoo dolls representing three major threats to human dignity – poverty, migration, and urban violence.

The giant foot. Under it are images from humanitarian crises, and projected on screens all around it are humanitarian conventions and declarations going back several centuries.

Next I visited the section of reuniting families, which started with an impressive display of about 6 million identification cards for 2 million individuals missing the wake of the first world war. The audioguide walked you through an exercise on searching and cataloguing these old cards before jumping to more modern-day methods of identification, including photo walls and the Red Cross’s current online database. Perhaps most moving was a display of real letters written from displaced individuals and delivered back to their families through the Red Cross – from current day crises all the way back to World War II. Some were written by children, reassuring their parents that they were safe – so strange to see familiar childlike handwriting staring at you as a memory of a horrible conflict. At this point I had to take a moment to stop and collect myself – there was a wall of photographs of children displaced from their families during the Rwandan genocide, and most of those children were my age, as photo identification was a tool primarily used for children too young or too traumatized to provide identifying details about their families or homes. At a time when I was entering preschool, these unknown peers of mine were lining up to be photographed in a desperate search to find their parents or confirmation of their parents’ deaths.

Identification cards for WWI soldiers, declared a monument to human memory by UNESCO

Photo identifications used to help reunite young children with family members following the Rwandan genocide.

The final section on reducing natural risk was pretty funny – I know, unexpected. But it featured a wall of vintage nutrition and sanitation posters, followed by some very strange digital stop-motion displays about alert systems and human sanitation.

This one might be my favorite. How adorable.

 

“Don’t let the fly in” – AKA cover your food!

I believe this was along the lines of, “For pure life, drink milk!”

Angry Polish babies declaring that they want clean air, sunshine, and their mothers’ breasts.

Chinese posters about washing your hands and good table hygiene.

Overall, a worthwhile visit – though be prepared for some reflective, slightly depressed time, especially when you realize how many of these humanitarian crises the US has been involved in or remained silent to.