World Cup Blogs 30: Switzerland

When I was growing up I had a shortlist of countries I'd like to visit someday.  In a non-internet world and from a family that could never go overseas for a holiday it was more dream than aspiration.  In order of preference counting upwards the list was probably as follows;

5 Iceland - wild, cold and an island
4 Norway - snow, mountains, boats and fjords
3 Malta - the only hot one but somewhere we watched a film about in Junior School
2 Switzerland - snow, mountains, little trains going up mountains
1 Canada - huge, snow, mountains, big trains going past mountains

Of these five, I have (with no great sense of intention) visited four. Perhaps it is because my dreams were so sky-high that I have found each of them a little disappointing.  Canada was a lot more boring than I expected, Malta a lot more crowded (buildings as well as tourists), Norway, like Canada, quite sleepy and rather unfriendly though with wonderful scenery.  Iceland fared better though Reykjavik felt too much like a misplaced Reading with its modern malls and office buildings.

I liked each place but they were not the heaven on earth my imagination had built them up to be.  That's very similar to the way football fans look toward competitions like the World Cup - high expectation that is therefore doomed to somewhat disappoint.

Switzerland is the auspicious missing visit from my list - though I have visited other parts of the Alps in Bavaria and Austria.

Maybe one day I'll go there.   But . . .

I have only met - in close proximity - three Swiss people.  One, in one of my pastorates, was very nice but loved England and hardly ever went back to Switzerland even with family there.  Another was a Swiss girl I met when she was working at a Conference Centre I was connected to as a teenager.  She loved England too, and wanted to stay here instead of Switzerland.  The third was someone who lived with us for a year.  She hit new depths of off-puttingness by insisting that she hated (her word) snow and mountains . . .

In other words, my fandom toward Switzerland as a country has been gradually eroded by the people who belonged to it and who have themselves not appeared to be fans.

Hopefully the Swiss fans at the World Cup were more commending of their homeland. And hopefully anyone who meets me - even if they dislike the thought of being a Christian - will at least notice that I'm an enthusiast for Jesus.