35 Years Already

 

Thirty-Five years ago today, I left the U.S. with my two Japanese chins to live in Switzerland/Europe permanently.

I finally had a job after mass mailing more than 800 Curriculm Vitae (Latin/European for resume) to France, Germany, Austria. Most required a handwritten cover letter and unlike American applications they wanted a photo, age and other personal info.

 I only faxed one CV to Switzerland after I read an IHT ad for someone who knew Digital and spoke French and German. My German was rusty, my French almost non existent, but boy, did I know Digital Equipment, having been one of five who started their credit union. It is now over $1 billion.

Within a few minutes, I had a call. Within a week I was in a day-long interview in Neuchâtel and  on 3 September, I was turning over the keys of my loved condo on the Riverway in Boston and on the way to the airport. 

My first stop was London to meet the staff of my new company's British office. I was also supposed to set up a booth for an exhibition in early October.

The manager of the British office was a retired British Air Force Colonel who had polished his misogyny to a blinding level. All women were "dolly birds" in his opinion. American dolly birds were the worse. However, I won him over with my ability to name all English monarchs in order along with the important events of their reigns. I can't do it now.  

Once installed in the Peseux, Switzerland office located in a yellow and green converted house, I remembered that in July a fortune teller had predicted a yellow and green building would mark a change in my life.

Two stories followed my three years with the company. One of my references when asked after giving me a glowing recommendation was there anything negative, said, "She's not very tall," and the fact that during my day-long interview during a slow period, I'd washed up the tea cups and pot.

The staff was far younger than I was. I did not join them for clubbing and bungy jumping, but went along to meals, house get togethers and concerts: Patricia Kass, Johnny Halladay, Chris Rhea, Johnny Clegg, Stephan Eicher, Barcley-James-Harvest and more.

I lived in the company flat in Motiers in the Val-de-Travers, population about 600 people and 6000 cows, a far cry from my native Boston. Voltaire had visited. I would picnic with my two Japanese Chins, Albert and Amadeus next to a stream and waterfall on weekends where the then resident Jean-Jacques Rousseau had lived.

The village also produced a type of champagne in an old monastery. One of my job responsibilities was to make sure that the company always had a stock of their product.

I had been told that it would be impossible to make friends with the Swiss. WRONG!  

My landlord and his girl friend invited me to dinner, often ending with the special spiced flambéd coffee served in a wooden bowl. It was passed from guest to guest, drinking from the spouts, but never putting it on the table until it was gone.

They invited me to all village activities including one where all the fountains were decorated.  

They also introduced me to absinthe, illegal since 1905. The drink had been created in the valley. I loved the ritual of water poured over a sugar cube changing the clear absinthe to murky white. I didn't like the taste but drank it anyway.

I hated the job. Although I dreaded cold calls, once I made them I could work in-depth relationships. My biggest problem was that my main clients HP and Digital wanted contractors from a few days to maybe three months while other staff were signing two, three and sometimes four year contracts.

I was there on a Permis B, which belonged to my boss. When I did find another job, he was kind enough to assign me to the new company in Geneva until they could take over my Permis. After 5 years, I was eligible for a Permis C, which belonged to me and I could work anywhere.

In searching for a job I was often told that despite my excellent qualifications, I was a woman and too old (48). I could only change one of those - and I wasn't willing to.  

For 14 years I dated a Swiss business man introducing me into the more formal Swiss society, formal dinners with obligatory thank you notes for wonderful meals. We only had one impromptu meal and that was when American friends came for Thanksgiving. My daughter was able to get a turkey from the PX in Germany where she was studying, and my gentleman friend decided at the last minute to invite several couples. We told them NOT to dress up.

I learned on arrival I was to greet everyone individually and say good bye the same way. Any toast had to include eye to eye contact. I converted to Swiss table manners. Three cheek kisses were a regular greeting.

One day we went to his shooting club, where his family had been members since the 1600s. I shot my first and only cross bow, missing the target, but not hitting any person.

As for different table manners when I taught a business communication course I had my students who were from several countries show the class what table manners were in their countries. 

I fought with French and still am, although I am more than functional and comfortable in writing, reading, speaking. Depending on the accent, I might ask for repetition and I apologize for my own accent.

My American-born husband, now Swiss, sometimes has trouble with both my English and French. 

 

The day I was eligible to apply for citizenship, I did. That took 12 years. Then there was another three years, eight months and three days of interviews and appeals. I took my oath in November 2006. All the new citizens were offered champagne and a pain supris, plus our first mail-in voting package and forms for IDs and passports.

I feel I'm not truly in Switzerland until I leave Geneva. The canton is 43% foreign and any gathering may find multi languages being spoken with English or French the common two. 

The floor of the apartment building near the UN agencies where I lived for 11 years had a different nationality in each of the seven units. Because of my father's DNA to make friends where ever he was flowed in my veins, I always introduced myself to the new arrivals and soon there would be sharing of meals and cultures. As a result, I spent time in Czech and Syria seeing these countries not from a tourist point of view but a day-to-day living perspective.

One of the greatest gifts was my discovery of the Geneva Writers Group, which helped me develop my craft. I've published 18 books. See https://dlnelsonwriter.com 

Most of what happened wasn't what I had expected. It was far greater, far richer. 

Happy Anniversary to me for my great lifelong adventure.