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Schnell! Schnell!

As far as I can tell, Swiss children are taught public manners from a very young age. It's not uncommon to pass elementary school students walking to school alone or in small groups (wearing their reflective vests, of course) and be greeted with a polite "Grüezi!" ("Hello!") as they pass.

A few days ago, I was riding the train when another train pulled alongside. This is uncommon. Trains are normally staggered by a few minutes, but the other train was running late. These were electric trains in the city, so speed was tightly regulated, but as we'd go around corners, the inside train would pull ahead. The children on the train were very excited by the "race", and all ran to the windows on that side of the train.

We pulled into one station at the same time. When it was time to leave, the other train's doors closed a few seconds earlier, and it started to pull away. The children on my train became absolutely frantic. They started stomping their feet and pounding their mittened hands on the windows, shouting "Schnell! Schnell!" ("Faster! Faster!") until our train started moving again.

Manners may be important, but children are children, and sometimes, train races are even more important.

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