Him

Image: Shiny Coat Watch by Trojan_Llama in FlickrCC

AKC: Why did you go to the U.S?

TE: Why did I go to the U.S.? I wanted to go to the US since I was a kid. I was about twelve, thirteen, and I was always kind of intrigued. When you heard things, you know, people coming back, staying two, three years and they had a good time or did whatever they wanted to do and then they came back. And then some went back and they were hungry and some, they just stayed. So I had a lot of time to think. It went away and then it came back “Oh yeah, I have to go.” I had absolutely no clue of how it worked, so one day I went to the embassy in Bern. So I went, one day, to the embassy and said “I want to go to America, I want to go to the United States.” “Oh, you have to fill out an application, you have to pass a medical test, we have to check your record.” They don’t say we have to, but you know. And then you have to wait. I have had to wait a week “If you can guarantee that you are not going to be dependent on the state where you are at, then you can get in.” (…) And then I went to Canada.

AKC: Ah, you went to Canada first?

TE: Yeah, because I didn’t have to wait.

AKC: Would you go back?

TE: Canada? If I would go back? I had a good time. It was easy. It was easy to make a living, I mean, not to get rich, but you could find, for one person, to get in there, into Canada, you had to… It was an adventure. You go and then you meet all those people. I came from this town, Thor knows where I come from. There was a cement factory and a carbon copy factory, that’s all we had in that town. Which was 1200 people. Anyways, so in Canada I found a job in one day, I had a job. And then I went to the United States consulate in Montreal and I made my application and I stayed there until I was ready.

GE: So, you were in Montreal the whole time you were in Canada?

TE: Yeah

AKC: Where did you enter the U.S.?

TE: What city? Well, I worked in the Hilton at that time, the best Hotel, they were all over the place and in 1960 they had a world fair in New York in Queens. Hilton was represented there and they had people from their hotels all around the world. They had some from Spain, one from Turkey, two from Germany, one from China, Hong Kong, and we were all there. And the chef was speaking five languages, he was the chef at the Panama Hilton. So we were all there, and the only one who could really communicate was the chef because nobody spoke English. Everybody spoke another language, the one behind me was a German, he spoke only Hochdeutsch, and one came from Puerto Rico, he was speaking a hundred miles a second. But we never had a fight, in all these 6 months and in those places it is usually busy, you know? And from there, they close the fair and they wanted me to go next year. But I still didn’t speak English in 6 months in New York. I didn’t have the time, I was working almost all of the time. Then I said “No, I am going to go California.” They asked me why, and I told them, “This is where the money is.” That is where they paid the most, $20/day, for a guy like me. That was a lot of money at that time, $20. One day.

Anyway, so this is where I went and they asked me “Is there anything you want?” I asked them to write me a letter, and my plan was to get off the bus and look for a job. And here again, the first day I was there, I found a job. Easy, huh? I went with my piece of paper, I arrive on Market street with the bus, found a hotel and started to walk and look for the nice places. I followed the signs to Broadway and they had a bar. Swiss Louie was the name of the bar, I thought it was interesting so I went in at 11:00 in the morning and had a gin & tonic and the bartender asked: “What are you doing?”. The bartender was German, so we could speak a bit. I told him I was looking for job, he asked me what I do for work. “Oh we have a guy who delivers here from Greenwood City. He comes tomorrow, and he is the boss. Come and see him, he is a nice guy.” So I went and I gave him my piece of paper and he told me “Okay, you gotta come with me. You won’t mind helping me a little bit, would you? We are going to go get things ready for tomorrow and then you can have dinner with us.” So I ate dinner with his family and the next day I went to a guy who wanted to hire me in Hillsdale, and there was a German guy there I could speak with. “Do you know how to do this?” he says, “Well any, which way you want me to do it, I will. Just tell me.” And I started like this and I worked for about 2 hours. “When do you wanna start?” the boss asked me and I started two days later. So, that was my California début.

GE: How long did it take you in total to go from Switzerland to San Francisco?

TE: What? From Switzerland to San Francisco? From New York to San Francisco, it took me 6 days on the greyhound bus. You could not go east, you had to go west. I stopped in Chicago, in St. Louis, in Salt Lake City, they had the worst barbers… And the guy didn’t have a a proper knife, it didn’t cut, it was terrible. I still remember this today, the knife didn’t cut. I wanted to go to Hollywood but I haven’t made it. I haven’t made it yet but I don’t really care. But that was my goal “I’m going to Los Angeles, I’m going to Hollywood” and I stayed in San Francisco.

AKC: Was the US what you expected when you were twelve? Were you disappointed with something or was there something that you liked a lot when you went?

TE: I was not disappointed, it’s just that, you know, I’m the first one that left my house, my family. They always stick together over there, which is OK too. But ah, I don’t know, I had a lot of time to think “What is this, what is that”, there was always something coming up. But I had to think about it and I had a long time to prepare it, you know? But I realize that you cannot, you cannot, how do you say, secure every little move that you make to guarantee them that you are gonna be OK, that you are gonna be successful, that its going to be right, that it is going to be like this. You have to take it as it comes, you know, it comes at you and you have to, if they give you chicken poop, you have to make chicken soup, you know? (AKC, GE and TE laugh) So, this was the debut, yeah.

AKC: And how is it now?

TE: What, my life?

AKC: Yeah.

TE: In Sacramento, you mean? Well, it’s good. I don’t want to go anywhere else. That’s all I can really say. Is it perfect? No. Is it good? Yes. And that’s why I never really wanted to be in Swiss clubs, there are a lot of Swiss guys here, you know? But I didn’t go to those to say “Oh yeah, Switzerland is better than here. I don’t know why they do this or don’t do that here.” I mean, I’m sure for every immigrant its the same thing. People say “Oh yeah, this food is not good blablabla, they don’t do what we do at home,” you know? I mean, you waste your time. There are more interesting things…

But things have changed here too. It’s much more open than it was when I got here. When I got to San Francisco, you know… Now it is more open, there are more people coming in. Now things are all different. Now the door is open here and everybody comes in, even the illegals come in. Before this, everything was tight. “Nobody is going to touch our social security, nobody is going to touch our unemployment, we do our things this way, blablabla.” Now this has all changed too. So, yeah its fun.

AKC: Do you feel more American than Swiss now?

TE: I’m still Swiss. I’m a citizen. I’m not a citizen of the United States. I’m a permanent resident with the green card, which is not green anymore, now it’s like a big credit card with a sticker in the back about a quarter inch wide, so that they can put every little thing they know about you or something, you know?