Fit für Basel

It may be that for every family project there is one person who champions the effort while the others sort of go along for the ride.  For example, a few years ago we got a new bed and while my input was sought, I was clearly not the driving force.  In the case of our citizenship project, however, it’s clear that I am the driver.  You might think it would be Paige, as she has the most at stake, but it’s not, probably because she doesn’t know any better.  Lisa sees the value and while she’s not reluctant, she’s not chomping at the bit either.  It’s my deal.  In any event, while we wait for our birth and marriage certificates to arrive from the US, I looked into what is coming up and saw that at some point we will be invited to an interview with the Naturalization Committee (Gespräch mit der Einbürgerungskommission).  Have you noticed how the German terms for most things are generally scarier and more intimidating than the English versions?  I wonder why that is.  Anyway, after seeing this I thought no time better than the present to begin preparing and it turns out that Basel offers a class to help you prepare.  It’s called Fit for Basel and it covers everything you will be expected to know about Switzerland with an emphasis on Basel.  Topics include history, culture, economy, geography and government, all addressed in five one and three-quarter hour sessions.  There is even a tour at the end.  Wow, I thought.  What fun!  Everybody should do this, even if you’re not applying for citizenship.  So I texted Lisa, proposing that we sign up.  I noted that the course was almost booked out for the Spring but there was still an opening for the late May option.  Perhaps not enthusiastically but at least not reluctantly she told me to go ahead so I did.  The next day, however, I received a call from a lady at the Bürgergemeinde who mentioned that she looked us up in their system and saw that we were quite early in the process and that the interview for which this was preparation would likely not take place for six or eight months at the soonest.  Wouldn’t we prefer to wait?  No, I thought to myself.  I wanted to do it next week and was disappointed that we’d have to wait until May.  It appeared that I’d actually exceeded their enthusiasm threshold.  Maybe this was a sign.  Feeling a bit like the dog that thought it was going for a walk but learned that the move towards the front door was only to retrieve the mail, I allowed that, sure, we could wait.  I would register again in the Fall when we were further along. 

But I made a note in my calendar.