This week, Basel’s „Unicorn Expat“ brings company …
On Rosina
I was raised in an OK-to-well-to-do family in Mexico. I worked as a librarian in an English library, when I met my Basler-born husband. We knew each other three years in Mexico before we married. I had visited his family in Basel, but never thought we’d live in Switzerland until he lost his job in Mexico & found work here.
My mom had lived in Europe. She has German & Swedish roots. When I visited Basel, to get a feel for winters here, she borrowed from her friend a very thick down jacket. My husband’s friends called me the “Michelin Man”, but I didn’t care; I was warm & very thankful for that jacket.
My first impression of Basel was, “Wow” because Baslers leave such beautiful things on the sidewalk for free. Antiques. Furniture. So many things people in Mexico would love to have. I thought, “this certainly is the land of plenty”.
When we moved here, we were welcomed back into the fold. It was no problem. Yet, still, I have also always gotten the impression that people think I married for that red passport. I didn’t. I married because I wanted a life partner; not a passport.
So many Swiss & expats in Basel live a life of luxury. So many people I know – my friends – do not know that my first job here was at a factory. My boss was Italian. Many of the workers were also Italian. He thought, as a Spanish speaker, I could communicate … & mostly, I could.
I had such Romantic ideas. A blue collar job was not something I, or anyone in my family, had ever had. I had studied sociology at university. I saw this as an opportunity to be around a segment of society that was new to me. But, as it turned out, everyone there was just like me: a middle-class housewife.
It was a very humbling job.
In Switzerland, it is possible to work at a factory & still be middle-class. There are still “working poor”, but there is a level of comfort many do not fall below. Even if you do not know the language.
I’ve been living in Basel now for 11 years. Just this year, I enrolled in what I would call my first “completely intellectual” activity in German: a series of talks. Some of the participants, even, only speak dialect. And I can keep up with them.
My husband & son speak dialect. But I refuse to learn it. I see no point. It’s a secret language that should stay secret. Let them have it. That’s how they define “Us” & “the Other”.
When I first moved here, I thought – I felt – I should conform. I should try to be as invisible as possible.
But now I embrace being “the Other’. Yes, I’m different. And I’ll always be different. And that’s the whole point.
Rosina’s recommendations:
I started this podcast to push myself to relate to my speech in a different way and as a way to connect to Basel & the people doing things I like here: www.whatilikeaboutbasel.ch
“Deutsch für Frauen” was a course I took that I highly recommend. It is a German language course, but it also teaches you how to live in Basel. We took tours around town &, because of this course, I know things about why we do things that even some of my Basel friends don’t know. When I took it, it was 4 days each week, 3-4 hours each day, there was a day care, & you paid by income — which was really helpful back then when we were rebuilding: www.k5kurszentrum.ch
XO
AS