Читать книгу Westward. Encounters with Swiss American Women онлайн

51 страница из 82

“London was my dream.” (around 1950)

This marriage had dire consequences for Rosa. “From one day to the next I had to relinquish my Swiss citizenship. Suddenly I was a foreigner in my own country and experienced discrimination. The Swiss Bank Corporation forced me to quit and to work as a temp. For them I had become a risk, an element of uncertainty. I might have gotten pregnant!” The marriage lasted only three years. “He wanted to return to Iran; for me that was out of the question. I sensed that he was not reliable. Still, I do not regret having experienced this love.” In a matter-of-fact tone she says, “the divorce did cost 250 Swiss francs, a third of my monthly paycheck. I have never heard from him again.” In the same year Rosa’s father died. “I missed him very much, and realized that like a rock, he had always been in my life.” She moved back to her mother and took stock of her life. “With regard to love I had not been very successful, but I had a loving mother with whom I got along well and I had a job. Was this sufficient for the rest of my life? Actually, I had had enough of Switzerland. My negative experiences as a foreigner in my own country left a deep impression on me. I was naturalized again when the law changed, but my disappointment remained – until today.”