Every year, Swiss Post’s Christmas special stamps prove highly popular – and, in 2020, they come with an extra special treat. You can add an extra touch of festivity to your Christmas mail this year. Every sheet of stamps comes with numerous stickers that match the stamp and can be affixed to letters or parcels. What could be better than adding some special decorative flair to your mail at Christmas? The special stamps themselves are dedicated to wintry moments. They are the result of a competition that requested charming illustrations full of atmosphere. They depict situations that are familiar to us all during the winter months. With their warm and welcoming designs, you can almost smell the mulled wine and Christmas biscuits and see the flickering lanterns in front of you. But the motifs are broad enough to be used through the whole of winter and not just at Christmas. Link to Christmas stamps
50 years ago, homosexual and transgender people in New York made a stand against the police for the first time, in a series of demonstrations that would become known as the Stonewall riots.
When we found out about how a 7 year-old wrote and published a book, we had to share her story!
Mia was upset by the level of homelessness she saw when her family traveled to Vietnam; the way people wouldn't make eye contact with those on the street. She wanted to write a book to teach others how simple it is to be kind to others; as well as touch on environmental and animal issues. She is raising money through the sales of the book to school young girls in Uganda: Mia is now an Ambassador for Precious Kids Foundation. We asked Mia, now age 10, a few questions to find out how a young girl becomes an inspiration!
Tell us a bit more about yourself
I am now 10 years old and I was born in Geneva. I spent my first years in Verbier, and came back to Geneva 3 years ago. My mother is American and my father is British but I've spent my whole life in Switzerland. I am a student at the International School of Geneva, LGB campus.
What has been the inspiration behind doing this book?
I decided to write my book after I went on a family holiday to Vietnam when I was seven. It is where my grandmother is from and I am a 1/4 Vietnamese so I was excited to see the country. What I saw was a lot of homeless people and a lot of pollution. What upset me most was seeing how other adults treated the homeless. They never looked anyone in the eyes or even said "hello", not to mention trying to help them! I was very angry. They are people too! I decided that adults needed to remember what it means to be kind. I think that when people get older they get focused on their jobs and making money and they forget the small things that matter. I thought if I could write a book that showed people how easy it is to make small acts of kindness even some of the time, if we all did it, it would already have a big effect.
Enter our competition to win a copy of The Expert Guide by Diccon Bewes, published by Bergli Books! If you haven't heard of Diccon Bewes before, then check out the many other books he has authored: Swiss Watching, Slow Train to Switzerland, Around Switzerland in 80 Maps, Le Suissologue, Der Schweizversteher; False Friends and How to be Swiss both published at Bergli Books. We wrote an article about Around Switzerland in 80 Maps in 2015 at this link.
It was time to catch up with Diccon again and ask him about The Expert Guide,"I wanted the book to be fun as much as factual, so every page has a colour photo, information is in manageable chunks, there are lots of ideas for making the most of life here, and every expert has their own voice." Thanks to Bergli Books for offering one lucky knowitall.ch reader to win a copy, see below.
Why did you start? What has been the inspiration?
I know from personal experience that it's hard to live in another country in a different language. There's so much to get your head around, and so little information available in English, that it can feel overwhelming. I was lucky because when I moved here 15 years ago, I could ask my Swiss boyfriend for help. Not everyone has that lifeline. That was my starting point for this book, making it as useful as possible for anyone living here already, just arrived or thinking of moving here. But I also wanted it to show that life here is wonderful so alongside all the practical information, it is packed with inspiration for travelling around Switzerland, enjoying your free time and making friends (which isn't always that easy here). A sort of work-life balance in one book.
Have you been working on this idea forever, or was it something that came to you recently?
It was fairly recent as I've been busy with other projects. About two years ago, Richard Harvell, my editor at Bergli Books, asked me if I'd write a new book to help foreigners living here. I knew one was needed but I was about to go off on a five-month world trip so we put the idea on hold while I was travelling. By the time I came back, I'd realised that although I know Switzerland really well, I wasn't the right person to give in-depth advice on the likes of tax, visas, pensions or schools. My solution was to ask the experts, and suddenly we had a great concept for the book.
By Lisa Cirieco-Ohlman
I'm going to share a horrible experience I had on 10 July this year, in the hopes that it helps any of our readers to avoid this. This is the email I sent to my friends right after it happened:
I had such a trauma this afternoon. I had someone try to scam me. I have something on FB to sell (a closet, see top left in photo) through a FaceBook group I have not used before called Genève Petit Annonces. This person (Stephanie Dumont, see bottom left Messenger insert) contacted me to say they want it. They asked if they could pick up tomorrow so I said yes and gave all my home details and phone number and email.
They were in France and I didn't see all the 'red flags' until after the whole ordeal was over. They said they were using a courier service and that the money would be sent to be via them first and then they would also pick up the article. (I didn't give bank details fortunately.) So I said, "OK you can send me the money first" (right? sounds ok).
So I get 3 suspiciously written emails from servicedpdexpress28 @gmail.com asking me to pay for the insurance (suspicious... why would dpd have a gmail email address?). Stephanie told me that she would reimburse the insurance by adding it to the total so I wouldn't have to pay anything extra. Insurance would have been €100. I said that the emails were suspicious and they didn't look legit and I was calling off the transaction and didn't want to deal with her anymore.
She told me that she had already sent the money through and they wouldn't reimburse her and if I didn't click on the link in the email to pay the money that she would take me to court!
She sent a lot of nasty messages after that and I ignored her except telling her that I had called the real courier company that I found online. They had no record of anything as there was no reference number in the emails; nor address or client service number. There were spelling mistakes and it looked like this email had been forwarded many times (see photo on right).
The new stamps from the Swiss Post Office were released a few weeks ago. It is so exciting to see what they have come up with. My favorite ones this time are the Ceneri 2020: the set of 10 stamps is actually 5 sets. They can be used separately as 10 x Fr. 1.- or used as a row of Fr. 2.- as the image is panoramic and the middle stamp is of no monetary value. They would brighten up an invitation or holiday card envelope.
The other one is oversized and I wasn't expecting that when I ordered! It is celebrating the 900 years of Engelberg Monastery measuring 10.5 x 7cm! You won't be able to use this on a regular envelope as it would cover up the address. Think of this one if you are sending a package or giant birthday card.
As the Geneva Airport is celebrating its 100th anniversay this year, a commemorative stamp was released. It has a vintage vibe that I really like, so this will be my stamp of choice for awhile (and I can't resist a "jet d'eau" illustration either).
We wrote about the beer-themed ones already at this link; great to use for a party invitation! They still have them on order so I got a new sheet as I can’t resist these ones. Unfortunately the fondue one was no longer available... it is always a good idea to get your sheet when you see it as the stamps never get outdated. See the article at this link to see what I'm talking about. I ended up framing the fondue sheet as artwork!
