In Which We Become Better Acquainted with Our Community

For those of us who are not members of the European Union, moving to Switzerland is not simple.  You have first to obtain a work permit, then travel to a Swiss consulate to apply in person for an entry visa that is pasted into your passport, and finally when you are in country you have to apply at the local immigration office for a permanent residence permit.

After that, every day's mail brings new challenges.  That envelope from Swisscom might bring long-awaited code to unlock my internet, or it might be a bill for I haven't a clue what, except that they want 150 CHF (Swiss Francs).  Then there are a series of missives from Baar Einwohnergemeinde (roughly, local government).  Several contained questionnaires that prompted special trips into The Spouse’s office to find translators -- these required proof that we are covered by medical insurance, since this is mandated for all Swiss residents (sound familiar?).  We duly returned forms attesting that we have insurance provided by TS’s company.  In due course we received a letter informing us that we had been "liberated" from the requirement to have Swiss coverage.  Then there was a bill for 20 CHF for providing a certificate of residence necessary to open a bank account.  (Don’t get me started on Swiss bank accounts…)

Baar's Rathaus and Town Government Offices

Eventually another envelope with the distinctive Baar letterhead arrived.  "What next?" I groaned inwardly.  As usual, it wasn't immediately clear what it entailed, because the German was mostly opaque to me.  After a session with the German dictionary, I realized that this letter was a friendly invitation to a Neuzuzügerbegrüssung, or welcome party for newcomers.  (This word is a good example of the exasperating German custom of scrunching a lot of little words into one long one, which isn’t found in the dictionary but must be translated by breaking it down into the little words again.)  It seems that Baar’s town fathers hold a little gathering once a year to assure that we newcomers get a good first impression, or einen guten Eindruck erhalten haben.

To understand my response, you should first know that I have studied and written histories about small towns and that TS and I much enjoyed our experiences in communities ranging from Iowa to Wyoming to Baltimore neighborhoods.  So of course I sat down to respond.  I could have simply filled out the form that came with the invitation, but that would have required paying .85 Franc for local postage, so I resolved to use email.  None of my handy phrase books covered the proper form for RSVPing, however, and after much searching through the dictionary I sensed that it would be easy to say something very wrong.  (The word given for “to attend,” for example, seems to refer to what physicians do.)   I decided to simply write in English “We will be there,” and hope they’d get the message.

So one evening last week TS and I strolled the two blocks to the complex of city buildings at the center of Baar to receive our welcome.  TS confessed to feeling much nervousness at the prospect, which surprised me because his German is much better than mine.  But then I realized that the occasion probably seemed to him a bit too close to a cocktail party for comfort.

Our invitation directed us to the Schulhaus Marktgasse (Market Street Schoolhouse), an older building that did indeed seem to be a school, or at least had a lobby and assembly room that looked much like it might belong to a high school back in America.  Upon our arrival we were greeted cheerily in English and directed to the assembly room.  At the back stood tables laden with colorful booklets in German and English full of information about Baar, its population, industries and city government agencies.  There were also beautifully bound histories of Baar, in three-volume boxed sets.  I eyed these hungrily but we agreed that they must be there for sale.

Rathus-Schüür (community center) and Town Offices

We took our seats as the hall quickly filled up.  Promptly at 8 pm, the program began with a speech by Gemeindepräsidenten (basically, Mayor) Andreas Hotz, trim, gray-haired and efficiently jovial.  Though I could understand only a few words here and there, his theme was clear:  We are happy you are here; we think Baar is a great place and we hope you will be happy.  Then he introduced members of the town council, five men and one woman, and explained, often with a humorous aside, the areas over which has jurisdiction.  The glossy brochure gave the political party affiliation of each; I noted that they represented the spectrum from the Sozialdemokratische Partei on the left to the arch-nationalist Schweizerische Volkspartei on the right. and wondered how that carried over into local government.  Mayor Hotz then introduced heads of various local agencies, who rose and waved from their seats in the audience.  Despite the language difference, it all felt amazingly familiar.

The sense of familiarity only increased when he introduced our entertainment for the evening, a local band called “Friends up anchor” – that’s the name, not a translation.  With various brass instruments, a mini-skirted young woman playing sax and a drummer, the group launched into a big-band jazz repertoire made familiar to us through our son’s participation in a similar group in middle school.  I suppose that either the traditional oompha band was unavailable or Baar wanted to stress its modernity.

Afterward, the crowd moved back into the lobby for the promised Apéro und kleiner Imbiss (drinks and little bites).  We passed the information tables and noticed that many guests were taking away the boxed set histories.  I hastily grabbed one before they were all gone, and happily sipped my wine with its substantial weight resting on one hip.  I am sure that future Observations will benefit from these beautifully designed and illustrated volumes, tracing Baar’s history from the Celts to the present day.

After a suitable period of sipping and munching and watching local dignitaries mingle energetically, we decided we had done our civic duty and could slip away.  We agreed that it had been a worthwhile step toward moving beyond our expat bubble into the wider world of Swiss life.