1. you complain if your bus/train/tram is more than 5 minutes late. Make that 1 minute
2. you've ever been confused with a Swede
3. you laugh when Americans believe that Swiss Miss is a Swiss product, but then have no clue that Nestlé and Rolex ARE
4. you get frustrated if you go grocery shopping abroad and there aren't at least 10 different kinds of chocolate and 15 kinds of cheese available
5. you have learned three to four languages and think this is completely normal
6. you have ever been asked - upon stating your nationality - whether you live in the mountains and whether you can yodel
7. you can pronounce "Chuchichäschtli" and you know what it means
8. you have ever been asked who the president of Switzerland is and then failed miserably trying to explain why you've lost track
9. you know what "Röschti" are and you have crossed the "Röschtigrabe" at some point
10. you went to a state-funded ski camp every year with your classmates in high school
11. to you, skis are like the extensions of your feet, because you've skied since you could walk
12. you are amused when people ask you what language is spoken in your home country and/or you have to explain that "Swiss" is not a language, that there are four national languages and none of them is called "Swiss"!
13. you owned a Swatch growing up... or still do
14. you've ever seen "Sandmännchen" dubbed into Romansch
15. as a female, you give all your friends three kisses on the cheeks as a greeting
16. you love Migros and you swear that some of their products are better than anything you've ever seen elsewhere
17. you've ever been asked by your non-Swiss friends to intervene in a fight and used "hey, I'm Swiss" as an excuse not to
18. your country has six different public television channels in three different languages - and you don't think this is unusual
19. you get amused when you see Swiss German people being subtitled on German television
20. you firmly believe it is more important to do things accurately than to do them quickly
21. you were legally allowed to drink beer and wine at the age of sixteen
22. you walked to kindergarten without supervision, wearing a large orange triangle around your neck
23. you think it's normal that everyone has a bunker underneath their house, or is registered for one of the public bunkers under the school building, for emergency situations... by the way, here's a fun thing to do: invite over some of your foreign friends (Americans make very good candidates) and take a picture of the look on their face when they SEE the bunker. Priceless!
24. when being asked to explain how certain things work in your country, you have to use the phrase "it differs for each canton, so..."
25. you are asked to vote on a "Referendum" or "Initiative" at least 3 or 4 times a year
26. you are used to drinking from any public fountain in the street unless there is a warning sign that says "no drinking water"
27. you grew up believing all cows must wear bells
28. you think that driving somewhere for four hours is a hell of a long time
29. you get slightly irritated or at least confused if your foreign visitors ask to see a chocolate factory
30. you know what Betty Bossi books and products are and have bought one
31. you know someone that collects the tin foil lids from coffee cream tubs
32. you don't see where the problem is when every male citizen who has been to the army has an assault rifle under his bed
33. you have to pay twice the price for museum entries because you're not a citizen of the EU, although you live in Europe!
34. you are in a non-European country and can hear people talking Swiss German and just go up and strike up a conversation with a complete stranger
35. no matter how much of a "bad-ass" you think you are, you will still pick up your candy wrapper off the floor if an old lady asks you too
36. you think everything is cheap abroad compared to Swiss prices!
I had fun reading this while posting, but it is true. This is to all of my Swiss family and friends. And, for my friends who need to know who the Swiss are. 
Here is my submission for the challenge. This picture was taken in January 20, 2008. I was just goofing around happy to reach the top of this 1 hour walk. My dear husband took the picture and it looks awesome. If you like to participate in this Photo Theme for Thursday, just visit the link. You will have fun with the challenge.
Montreal hosted the 1976 Olympics from July 17 to August 1 of that year.
images: courtesy of DC Hillier
How was your day?
I spent my afternoon with my daughter shopping in Lausanne. I was so happy that at the last minute she decided to come with me. It was our day spending not only "money" but bonding time, the girl way. We took the train and had some drinks at Starbucks before heading to our tour. After almost 3 hours we went back to the train station and met Daddy. We all went home together. Later, i had to dress up and get ready. My dear husband reserved us a romantic Valentine dinner in "Mai Thai". It was a five course meal with accompanying wine (various on each service). Arrived at 7:30 pm, got seated, taken care of and had the rum with fruit cocktail for apperitiff. The St. Valentine menu was superb! (forgot the menu list) It was a fusion of Thai with the French touch. I just adore it. Patrick and I had a superb talk in between the course and what seems like a short time actually ends up by midnight. We went back home after having the tea. We both agreed that the night was a very special one, too bad, we also both knew that we could no longer stay in town to party much longer. (Aging? haha) Until next year.
