Must and Forbidden

Last Tuesday morning, I visited a high German course created and offered by the city of Ittigen. The class was near the end of it's 12 week session, but the teacher asked me to stay to try the course so I'd know if I wanted to join the session starting at the end of April. There were about 12 women in the room - no other citizens of the USA but women from Bosnia, Egypt, Dominican Republic, Thailand, Trinidad and Turkey.

The lesson for the day was about the verbs "must" and "forbid". We read and discussed things that you must do in your daily life and things that are forbidden. A few examples include:
1. You must not bathe after 21:00.
2. Children must be inside and quiet from noon to 3:00.
3. No using the lift after 22:00.
4. It is forbidden to smoke in the home.
5. It is forbidden to do laundy on Sunday.

I asked the teacher if these were true...if they were followed in Switzerland. She said, "Yes! Not in America?". I just laughed and said, "No. In America there is no order."

I have not yet spotted a single family home in Ittigen. There are townhomes, where two families share just the inner wall, but most buildings have at least 4 tenants in them. I'm guessing that the close quarters here have contributed to the regulated society - just my theory.

It's quite easy for us to follow most of the rules of the house, but the quiet from noon to 3 is a bit hard. Yesterday, Isabella and Xavier had lunch and laid low until 2:00. It was sunny and warm so they went out on the swings. Izzi was yelling joyfully about something, and I noticed the woman from the 3rd floor in the building next to us come out on her balcony to eye us down in the play yard. Maybe my imagination, but I think we'll ruffle a few feathers while we are here.