Westward. Encounters with Swiss American Women
Rosa is a dual citizen, but travels with her American passport. “The last time a customs officer in Zurich asked me, ‘what are you doing in Switzerland?’ – ‘I was born here’ was my quick answer in Swiss German!”
In her heart Rosa is still Swiss. “I love my mother tongue and I am also participating in Swiss elections and referenda. I see myself as a Swiss living abroad and am proud of that.” In the last 40 years she has moved only once, from the 5th to the 16th floor in the same building. She has a two-room apartment with a kitchen, a bathroom and a small balcony from which she can see the trees of Central Park and the high rise office towers of midtown Manhattan twenty blocks farther south. “It is a privilege to be able to live here. It was on the basis of this feeling that years ago I founded the ‘East 74th Street Association’ for our street – which is less than a quarter mile long – and I am still serving as its president. Our 320 households have a clean street thanks to this association. With the dues that I collect we pay a man who sweeps the street and a gardener who takes care of the trees and the ivy beds around them. Private initiative is indispensable in America. Without it things don’t get done!”