They’re teaching the kids about recycling in Mia’s class, which means that she now understands what things around the house can be – and ought to be – recycled. We’ve spent the week holding up packages from the market, with Mia searching for the arrows-in-a-circle recycle symbol and jumping up and down when she finds it.
The whole thing is really neat, though it should be noted that her concept of “recycled” is decidedly that of a four-year-old, which is to say that she doesn’t really understand the concept of turning a cardboard box into a ream of paper, or a beer bottle into a sofa. (They can do that, can’t they?) Basically, to Mia, if an object has the spinning arrows, it’s something you can turn into something else – specifically, something you can use in an art project. And usually, that art project is something meant to hold Mia’s princess accessories.
For example, here’s Mia assessing an empty egg carton: “You could paint that, and then you could put all your Princess necklaces and jewelry in there.”
And here she is looking at the Styrofoam packaging from Saturday’s burrito: “You could tape treasures onto it, and then you could paint it, and then you could put all your Princess necklaces and jewelry in there.”
Finally, here she is regarding a milk carton: “You could draw on it with markers, and maybe tape some string to it, so that you can hang it up on a hook. But first you have to drink all the milk, because otherwise that would get all your Princess necklaces and jewelry all messy. Right?”
Right. Needless to say, Mia’s spent a fair amount of time doing art projects over the last few days, which is fine, because it happens to still be cold as the other side of the sled, despite an ongoing shortage of snow. (Good thing we made the snowman when we had the chance!)
As an aside, careful readers will have noticed that I’ve returned to Buenos Burrito Take-Away, despite last week’s disappointing Pineapple Incident. I’m happy to report that the frijoles burrito contains only savory items, and is reasonably good – good enough, anyway, to justify the 30-kilometer drive. In other words, Burritos in Switzerland! Woo-hoo!
Woo-hoo for me, anyway. Perhaps not woo-hoo for Switzerland, which appears to be fighting off a fatness epidemic, and if they ever figure out burritos – really figure them out – well, that’s not going to help things one bit. Not that I’ve seen a single fat Swiss since we moved here – and I mean that, not one fat local of any age, period. But if the board of Gesundheidt’s newest ad campaign is any indication, oversized office chairs are a worry, and not for the office furniture industry. Says the ad copy, “Switzerland’s getting ever thicker.” (“And Leon’s getting laaaaarger!”)
Now, obviously this is a matter of great concern to the Swiss, who are reportedly considering a new law that would require kids to walk to school, rather than getting a ride. I don’t know how that law would work, but if it’s like all the other Swiss laws, it’ll work well, and it’ll probably involve concealed cameras. Still, I can’t help but privately root for Switzerland’s little problem to get even bigger, just as I cheered when I read that Australia is, statistically, the fattest nation on the planet, even fatter than the United States. (Don’t ask where I read that – it’s entirely possible that I just wrote it down, and then I read it. Still – statistics don’t lie!)
Anyway, my main reason for wanting to see the Swiss get bigger is pretty simple: I’m tired of America’s fat rap. It’s not that there’s no truth to it – we’re no Australia, but let’s face it, America could stand to lose a few. But America’s reputation is just too big for comfort.
Here’s a really good example. There’s a line of food in the supermarkets here that I like to call Brand America. It’s not a real brand – it’s just sort of a marketing tack used by the makers of microwave popcorn, peanut butter, sliced bread, muffins, brownies, ketchup, and hamburger buns – in other words, all those foods that are indelibly “American.” Basically, they just dip the packaging in red, white, and blue dye, and stick it on the shelf. That’s it. And apparently it works. Here, look.
First of all, don’t ask when sliced bread became such an American thing, or what historical analogy the Swiss use for really, really great things. I really don’t know the answer to that. (“Best thing since electric raclette grills”?) But if you look at this picture, you’ll notice that all the stuff the Swiss consider typically “American” is highly processed, high in fat, and high in carbs. You know, the kind of stuff that makes you need really wide office chairs.
But back to the issue at hand, which is recycling. (I know, I’ve gone off the trail a bit. Go back and re-read, I’ll wait.) Mia’s got one more week in the recycling module before they move on to something else, and we’re hoping that this is the week they teach the kids how to sort our trash. Basically, there are 26 different kinds of rubbish and recycling here, and so far we’ve only managed to identify two: the stuff we throw away, and the stuff we shove into the laundry room for the cleaning ladies to take away. Perhaps Mia can ferret out a few more.
If only to help her keep track of her Princess jewelry.
