There is a certain type of snobbery attached to being an Expat, particularly in a country like Switzerland, and especially when the summer tourist season starts.
In the winter skiers come to this country from all over the
world to sample the pistes and all the
off piste activities available in this country and no one seems to mind. However
in summer the nature of the beast changes. Instead of going to specific places
for a limited purpose, one many of us share, it changes into a sprawling monster
that engulfs most of the beautiful places, and best facilities. It can take
many forms. In Gruyere recently it took the form of a group of Japanese tourist
(claimed by many to be the worst of this subspecies of humanity). These tourists
having done the same tour at the same time as ourselves then charged the sales
counter in such a fashion that we were physically pushed out of the way. Even
our best "Harrods Sale" elbows were no use, they scrumed (obscure
English Rugby term) better than an Australian front row and worked as a team;
in much the same way ants do.
One of my classmates in German classes lives in Bern (his wife is a Venuzalan diplomat) has complained of similar things there with traffic stopped for photographs, again the Japanese were specifically singled out. We visited Pilatus with a friend recently to find the top coverd in Americans trying to be polite in Europe. They were on their way to Oberamagau (which I hoped they enjoyed) but the press of numbers and the loud discussions did not enhance the day's experience.
Tales like these abound through out the expat community, particularly as we are all absolutely certain we would never behave like that on our holidays (sarcasm).
