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Interview with Geri Spang - Part 1
Americans in Switzerland
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Geri Spang and her husband. Photo courtesy Geri Spang. |
Interview
GW&M: How did it happen that you and your husband went to Switzerland to live?
Geri Spang: My husband is an engineer and after our first trip to Europe in 1979 we discovered that we shared a common fascination with everything about the European continent including people and lifestyles.
Determined to try to find employment there, I began sending copies of my husband's CV to various engineering firms that advertised in the Frankfurt newspapers, with a cover letter offering to come for a personal interview during our next European visit. This method led to several interested replies, including one from the only Swiss firm that we contacted.
In May 1989, my husband interviewed at the Swiss headquarters in a small village in Canton Aargau and returned to the car—where I was waiting—with a job offer. We had no idea that things would progress so rapidly, but by the end of December 1989. We were on our way overseas.
GW&M: What is the most vivid memory you have from your time in Switzerland?
Geri: Although we returned to the US in late December 1992, life there is still as real in our memories as though it was last year. Most vividly, I think that I remember and I miss the sense that the past and the present coexist so smoothly. Small things come to mind, like watching road workers sweep a gleaming, tile tunnel with brooms made from twigs.
GW&M: You were very successful in getting your husband a job. Did you work yourself while you were in Switzerland?
Geri: Since I had a good income in California, I wasn't prepared to give up the comforts and privileges that extra paycheck offered. Despite warnings meant to prepare me for unsuccessful job hunts, I pursued employment for myself after we were in Switzerland as vigorously as I had for my husband before we were moved. Within six months I was employed by a Swiss firm owned by a Swiss-American father and son.
GW&M: What was it like working there?
Geri: Although I was the only US citizen who worked there, English was their lingua franca and I was placed in their jet aviation spare parts purchasing section as a buyer. My enlightened German boss was confident that I'd quickly settle into the duties of the job but he also warned me that I might not appreciate Swiss corporate working standards. He was right on both scores.
GW&M: What was it about “Swiss corporate working standards” that you didn’t like?
Geri: There seemed to be a great emphasis on form over substance, i.e., folders that MUST be in specific colors, papers inserted in specific format. Once I worked for a man who received a large quantity of e-mail every day. Instead of printing out his messages, they were given to me to cut out and hand paste on sheets of paper that had to be the “right” color and in the sequence received. The private secretary of the company president in this same office had an elaborate ritual she followed daily, where after he returned from lunch, she served him a pitcher of water on a tray with his favorite mug. The placement of the pitcher, mug, and tray location on the desk had to be exactly the same way every day. Also, the rigid formality of personal address, i.e., the Chef [boss] could call a woman by her first name but he must always be addressed as either Herr or “Mister.” It seemed to me that the objectives were getting lost in the procedures necessary to reach the final goal.
GW&M: How about outside of work? What was it like making friends?
Geri: I developed an extremely close friendship with a divorced Swiss woman I met at work, and our Swiss neighbors were warm and welcoming. Our first Christmas, neighbors we'd never met dropped off a plate of holiday cookies with a little handmade American flag standing in the center of the dish. Other neighbors brought us wine from the holidays in France and not only visited us in our home, but invited us into their homes, both casually and formally.
GW&M: Were there some Swiss foods that you particularly enjoyed?
Geri: If I miss anything about Swiss food, it's the wonderful bread. Not, however, all of the bread. The majority was much too dry for my tastes. But we would drive for miles to a favorite bakery to buy the bread and Brötchen [rolls] that were our favorites. I also fell in love with a form of Tomatensuppe that seemed to be a specialty of our region. Usually this homemade soup would be topped with a liberal dousing of gin or vodka, a sprinkling of Basilikum and a dollup of heavy whipped cream. Generally, all restaurant foods were good and if I’d learned how to properly navigate the supermarkets, I'm sure that I would have been able to better appreciate the local groceries.
GW&M: Which American foods did you miss in Switzerland?
Geri: I missed MANY American food items and became skilled at getting them mailed to me or locating them otherwise. I especially missed Mexican foods and pork ribs for BBQ. Also, little things like plain soda crackers and See's peanut brittle. Above all, I missed food with intense, spicy flavors but discovered that most of the East Indian restaurants could satisfy that craving.
GW&M: What was your biggest cultural surprise after you were in Switzerland?
Geri: The cost of living. If anything would have better prepared us for our stay in Switzerland, it would have been comprehensive knowledge of the true cost of living. We were painted a rosy and inaccurate picture in that regard. Financially, despite our good incomes, it was always a struggle to maintain even nearly the standards we'd taken for granted in California. Also, moving as we did with no corporate support or even advice, it would have been wonderful to have been warned about things like how Swiss apartment leases are handled and what the pitfalls can be. Also, we would have done things differently if we'd known we wouldn't have overhead lighting and closets already built into the apartment.
GW&M: What were your language experiences in Switzerland? Were your German skills a factor in how you interacted with the Swiss?
Geri: When we first arrived in Switzerland we had virtually no German language skills at all. Though my husband took classes at Migros Klubschule, they were ineffective. Since I worked for a firm where everyone spoke English, I was able to develop my own language skills only on the most minimum levels. I discovered that I was incapable of thinking in German, so that if I might understand what someone said to me, only English language replies came to mind. We naturally gravitated towards others who shared a common language (English) with us, though few of them were Americans. Getting by on a day-to-day basis with the German language was often a comedy of errors, but I tried, and everyone seemed to want to accommodate me. It never was what I’d consider a problem. Sometimes it simply took a little longer to get things done. And, I feel as though I missed out on some friendships I'd have enjoyed.
More in the next installment of this interview…
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