“Say You, Say Me”

Overall, the adjustment to living in a new country has been minimal. Switzerland is beautiful beyond words, and the people have been amicable. However, the everyday activities caused the most anxiety during the first week or so.

For example, going to the grocery store.

I would like to start by telling you a little about our village. We live in Worb, Switzerland. (In American terms, it is a suburb of Bern, the capital of Switzerland.) While most stores in the city can accommodate English-speaking patrons, shopping in the village of Worb is a different story. From parking to paying at the cash register, shopping for groceries has been one of the most intense experiences of my life.

Parking in Switzerland for most stores can be found in the parking garages underneath the stores. You must get a ticket while driving in and then pay for the ticket before leaving the store at a kiosk. Of course, we had to stare and spy on the villagers to understand what they were doing because we had no idea what the signs were trying to tell us. (That being said, Google Translate is fantastic with its camera component. You can find my wife and me at most stores franticly steadying our phones up to packages so that we understand what we are buying.)

Speaking of parking, the spaces seem to be the size of a twin bed. It usually takes me at least a 4-point turn to get in and a 3-point turn to get out. And there always seem to be cars coming in behind me when I try to get in!

Once inside the store, we buy what we find through trial and error. We are just now getting into a routine for what foods to buy from which stores. Some stores have what we are looking for, while others don’t.

Then there is the checkout line. I am still breaking out in cold sweats, thinking about the first time going through. Putting the food on the conveyor belt is similar to what we use at home. Also, separating the food from those in front and behind you with the metal divider gave me no problem. The 20 questions from the very friendly AND PATIENT cashier made me sweat profusely. To this day, I am not sure what she was asking, and I am not sure what I agreed to.

Also, to add to the anxiety, while the questions in Swiss German are being asked, the food quickly goes down the other side of the conveyor belt, divided into two. The person in front of me was still on the left side, bagging their groceries while my groceries were piled up on the right side. (You bag your groceries with the bags you bring.) I was so confused and red-faced over the questions that I was not preparing my bags, which were all nicely folded and snapped together. I was now the “American Guy,” holding up the line and growing by the minute.

So what gave me comfort in this moment and all of the other moments like this since? Whitney Houston, Bryan Adams, Billy Joel, Lionel Richie, etc.…

No matter what stores we go to, we can hear the familiar sounds and lyrics of home and our childhood. (By the way, I love my 80s music.) There is something about being connected to the familiar sounds of our youth—sounds that bring us back to a time when we felt safe and comfortable. In a way, listening to Lionel Richie’s “Say You, Say Me” during social anxiety is a form of prayer. It is an openness to a place that brings me peace and comfort, which reminds me of home.

And it is within this desire for a connection to home, no matter where we live, that we might discover a desire for a home much more significant than a country on this earth.