editorial1 2012.indd,editorial1 2012 - revue · 2020. 3. 5. · mention offer code ch05 when...
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EditorialDear Readers in the United States
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No matter where you live in the U.S.A. Now, theenergizing Swiss Sleep System is here to bring you thecomfortable, healthy sleep you had back home.Get to know the Swiss Sleep System and its line ofproducts at www.SwissSleepSystem.com or call
Sleep the Swiss Way. Again.Return to the quality sleep you used to know.
We’ll make you feel right at home.
Für ä tüüfä gsundä Schlaaf. Pour un sommeil sain et profond.
1866 SWISS99
ColoradoSwiss, not SwedishAs part of coming up with ideas for fundraising for our Swiss Club, wecame up with this t-shirt. Well, it's turned out to be a great one andpeople love it, so I thought that other Swiss might be interested.Since there is no Colorado Springs specific notation, it would workanywhere.The pictures attached are of myself, and I'm wearing a small, and Iusually wear a size 6. Price $ 20.00. For more info contact:
CRISTINA BASSETT
VP SWISS CLUB COLORADO SPRINGS
Like everywhere in the United States,
the first Christmas decorations on
the houses go up during Thanksgiv-
ing weekend. And then every day
there are a few more. It’s the first
sign that Christmastime is arriving.
But for many of us, the real Christ-
mas season starts at Swiss Park when
the Matterhorn Young Swiss Society
has their Samichlaus party with
lunch, followed in the afternoon by the Christmas Concert from the Swiss
Singing Society Harmonie. For once, we would like to tell you more about
it on pages 6-7.
More than 20 years ago I saw Goldi’s model train masterwork for the first
time. For several years now I had been telling him that I would like to
write an article and take some pictures for Swiss Review. Last week I
called because I had realized that I was going to have enough space. Un-
fortunately, Goldi said that a large part of the set was being dismantled,
that I was too late. I was so sorry that I had procrastinated and went on
and on lamenting, until Goldi said he did have a lot of pictures, so here
goes. Read it all on page 8.
And last but not least I want to make you aware that Swiss Review has
modernized its layout. I hope you like it as much as I do.
Wishing all of you a very Happy and Healthy New Year!
WAL BAUR
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Washington, DC5th Annual Manufac-turing Summit 2011 onHigh Tech Skilled Jobsand Apprenticeship
Jobs Summit on Attracting andMaintaining a Highly SkilledWorkforce and the Swiss Mo-del for Competing on a GlobalLevel in the ManufacturingIndustry, joined by the WhiteHouse & U.S. Army Reserves
Concerned for the future of ma-nufacturing jobs, Swiss and USindustry leaders of small andmedium sized enterprises joined
together with the White House,U.S. Army Reserves and the Billand Melinda Gates Foundationat the 5th Annual ManufacturingSummit in Washington DC, orga-nized by Switzerland Trade & In-vestment Promotion.More than 150 business, com-munity college, and workforcedevelopment leaders attended.Speakers addressed standards toease transitions within and bet-ween industries; opportunitiesto foster excellence throughapprenticeship; and how to de-velop effective partnerships tomitigate the skills gap and im-prove the public perception ofmanufacturing.It’s all about creating jobs, a hottopic now when so many are
unemployed but skilled jobs stillremain unfilled. This conferenceshowcases the Swiss system ofapprenticeship as a model forcreating and developing theworkforce skills needed in theU.S., with more than 200 jobcategories and most Swiss busi-nesses participating. Speakersand attendees at The Manufac-turing Summit agreed that in-creasing and investing in stan-dardized certification programsfor apprenticeship in the U.S. –like those created by The Natio-nal Institute for MetalworkingSkills and endorsed by The Nati-onal Association of Manufactur-ers – will help alleviate the skills
shortage here and shore up thejobs pipeline within the manu-facturing sector.An example of the Swiss appren-ticeship model being used in theU.S. is the N.G. Hayek Watchma-king School in Miami, Florida. Itsubscribes to a new program forreturning veterans called “TheVeteran Watchmaker Initiative:Educating Soldiers, Securing Fu-tures.” At no cost, accepted stu-dents undertake a two-yearWOSTEP certified program thatprovides all of the required ele-ments to obtain a watchmakercertificate and potentially awell-paying job for life.One strong advocate for appren-ticeship is Jane Oates, the U.S.Assistant Secretary of Labor. At
The ManufacturingSummit, she waspleased to reportthat in the pastyear 112 newapprenticeshipprograms were es-tablished acrossthe country, andrenewed her call toaction to promotethe truly sophisti-cated nature ofmanufacturing to-day and its “re-birth in the 21stCentury.”Collectively, conference atten-dees recognized that reachingout to America’s youth and pro-viding training opportunities atan early age are key factors inthe effort to rebuild andmaintain a highly skilled work-force.Martin von Walterskirchen, Di-rector Americas of SwitzerlandTrade & Investment Promotion,said “We must work with thestudent, the company and the
parents to ensure success in trai-ning and skills.”Speaking for the Bill and Me-linda Gates Foundation, Dr.Margot Daniels-Tyler empha-sized, “The talent is here. It is amatter of finding it.” The GatesMillennium Scholars Programprovides scholarships to do justthat, discovering and investingin youth. Dr. Tyler issued a chal-lenge to the audience by asking,“How many of you are mentoring
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a 7th or 8th grader?”In light of the thousands of re-turning veterans, Major GeneralKeith Thurgood, Deputy Com-manding General, Support of theU.S. Army Reserves, addressedthe growth of public-privatepartnerships to connect busi-nesses with results-orientedskilled veterans from all bran-ches of the military. Major Ge-neral Thurgood urged manufac-turers to join a new initiative to
facilitate theseconnections, TheEmployer Part-nership of theArmed Forces.“Find ways tobuild the fu-ture,” added DonGraves, Execu-tive Director ofthe President’sCouncil on Jobsand Competitive-ness. As he offe-red a report fromthe White House,Graves said “The
issues, the ideas you are discus-sing, are of the utmost impor-tance. Without growing themanufacturing sector, withoutgrowing jobs, this economy willfail.” Graves further explained17 recent tax cuts for small busi-nesses, where manufacturingcompanies are the target forstate credit initiatives.Given the urgent demand forhigh tech skilled workers andthe potential economic impact,
one industryleader askedMr. Graves ifthe WhiteHouse wouldestablish acabinet-levelSecretary ofManufactu-ring.Why is Switzer-land interestedin the U.S. ma-nufacturingsector? AsDaniel Küng,CEO of OSECBusiness Network Switzerlandexplained, “As the second lar-gest foreign investor in the U.S.manufacturing sector, Switzer-land is firmly committed to sup-porting American manufactu-ring. We believe our expertise increating apprenticeship can be asuccessful model for generatingthe skills needed to fill manufac-turing jobs in the U.S.”Apprenticeship supports ahealthy manufacturing sector,
which in turn supports a healthyeconomy and creates jobs.
DANIEL BANGSER
Trade Commissioner andDirector North America -
Investment, Switzerland Trade &Investment Promotion,
Consulate General of Switzerlandin New York.
For more information, go to:www.TheManufacturingSummit.com
All pictures by Keri Douglas
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Major General Thurgood urged manufacturers to join a newinitiative to facilitate connections with the employer part-nership of the Armed Forces.
Don Graves, Executive Director of the President’s Council onJobs and Competitiveness, The White House
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On a sunny Sunday, December4th was our family afternoonwith Santa Claus at the JettonPark in Cornelius. Santa wasbusy giving encouragements orreproaches to the children but atthe end, Schmutzli and he were
North CarolinaNews from the SwissSociety of Charlotte
The Annual Meeting and 25th
Anniversary Celebration of ourclub on Novem-ber 5th 2011, wasa hit with over 60people atten-ding. The HiltonHotel executiveSwiss Chef,Mario Thom, hadprepared anoutstandingmenu from“BündnerGerstensuppe”, “ZüriGschnätzlet’s” with “Spätzli” to“Fleischvögel” and“Polenta”, desserts and more.Our Consul General of Switzer-
land from Atlanta, Mr. ClaudioLeoncavallo and his wifeMonique joined us for thisspecial event. They had broughtsome Swiss Fendant and PinotNoir, which were greatly appre-
ciated (andconsumed ofcourse) withthe appetizersconsisting of“Bündner-fleisch”,“Prociutto”,“Landjäger”,various Swisscheeses andgreen salads;
thank you again Claudio for thewonderful wines!All in all, a great evening thatended with a super raffle andprizes to close out the night.
Mr. Claudio Leoncavallo, Consul Generalof Switzerland from Atlanta, and hiswife Monique (left) joined Walter Hess,Swiss Society President, and his wifeMadeleine for this special event.
handing out the long anticipa-ted “Gritibänze” together withclementines, candy and nuts.Everyone enjoyed the traditio-nal barley soup and hot choco-late. A big thank you goes to theboard and volunteers for doingan excellent job.For further information on up-coming events and so see morepictures, visit us on our Website:www.swisscharlotte.com.We are all looking forward toseeing you at one of our activi-ties and would like to hear fromyou.
SWISS SOCIETY OF CHARLOTTE
WALTER HESS
PRESIDENT
[email protected] Society of Charlotte
P.O. Box 5152Mooresville, NC 28117
Santa was busy giving encou-ragements or reproaches tothe children but at the end,Schmutzli and he were givingout the long anticipated “Gri-tibänze”, clementines, can-dies and nuts.
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New YorkSustainableHospitality: GreenInnovation in PracticeSustainability and green soluti-ons are topics of high interest tomany businesses in the 21stcentury. The same applies to thehospitality industry. On both si-des of the Atlantic, many ex-perts in this field are working oninnovations which can reducethe carbon footprint of this in-dustry. This is why on November11, the Ecole Hôtelière de
Lausanne (EHL) together withthe Tisch Center for Hospitality,Tourism, and Sports Manage-ment of the New York Universityand the Swiss Consulate Generalin New York organized a paneldiscussion with the title “Sustai-nable Hospitality: Green Innova-tion in Practice” in New York.The aim of the event was tobring together experts from theUS and Switzerland and to dis-cuss the important challengesthat the hospitality industryfaces today.Approximately 150 professors,
students and entrepreneurs at-tended the event. Speakers onthe panel were representativesof universities, professors andstudents of EHL and NYU. Nextto discussing different ideas andapproaches to sustainable hotelbusiness, the panelists and theaudience agreed that makingthe industry more green andsustainable was the right andnecessary path. Not only be-cause of social responsibility,but guests also increasingly careabout an ecological way of tra-veling.
This event followed the recentcreation of EHL’s New York-Lau-sanne Society. The aim of thisassociation is to promote acade-mic and economic collaborationand exchange in the fields of in-novation and entrepreneurshipin the hospitality industry bet-ween Switzerland and the US.
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Photo: NYU-SCPS Tisch Center
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Southern California Christmas in Los Angeles
Matterhorn Young Swiss ClubSamichlaus PartyThe Santa Party has been a long standing event for the MatterhornYoung Swiss Club, trying to keep a Swiss tradition of Samichlaus whoarrives on December 6th, sometimes with a donkey and in some partsof Switzerland with Schmutzli, reminding the children that Christmasis coming. He also knows a lot about each child, good and not so goodhabits and Schmutzli (the enforcer) will threaten the really unrulyboys with a trip deep into the forest, or he may leave a switch instead
of treats. Gifts on that day are not part of Santa’s job, only a bag withpeanuts, walnuts, "Manderinli," some chocolate candy, a "Gritti-bänz" and maybe a small toy are given to good children.For many years we were lucky to have the perfect Samichlaus, FreddyBurri, who is well known for having been the Disneyland MatterhornYodeler when it opened. The children adored him as he had just theright touch of sternness and kindness. When he was unavailable dueto family reunions in Switzerland, we had to look for substitutes. Mostwere o.k. One was a big disappointment, especially when he paid noattention to the notes that the parents had submitted and kept asking
the children what they wanted for Christmas, just like the mallSantas.Well, luck was on our side when one of our Matterhorn members offe-red to be Santa and with Urs Pesko we hit the jackpot. He too has justthe right touch, talking to the children about their shortcomings,praising their accomplishments and never embarrassing them. He canspeak to the children in English or Swiss German and several of themwill have a song or a poem to recite for him.I dare say that many of our members and friends look forward to thisevent as it really puts you in the Christmas spirit. Of course the beau-tiful homemade cookies baked by the ladies add the festive touch and
the Christmas carols, in Germanand English make everybody feel a little nostalgic. Most of the child-ren are grandchildren of our members and we have had as many asfour generations enjoying the great buffet lunch and a visit from Sa-michlaus at Swiss Park.
PICTURES: BAUMGARTNER, PESKO AND ZIMMERLI FAMILIES
TEXT: LILO HOLZER
Swiss Singing Society HarmonieChristmas ConcertWith a group of about 80 Senior Citizens bused in by aTour company, the Matterhorn Room at Swiss Park was ne-arly bursting at the seams! 310 persons made their waypast the three raffle tables laden down with prizes andprizes and more prizes! The hall was decked in its Christ-mas finest with Christmas tree, table center pieces, pinetwigs on each table, peanuts and mandarins so the guestswould not starve. The bar was doing a booming businessand there was a real traffic jam by the raffle tables.Punctually at 4 pm the lights were dimmed and with theirAlphorns Nelly Wyss, her son Christoph and Franz Stadel-mann made it known that the concert was to begin. When thecurtains opened, the singers, all in their individual trachts, were
standing on stage and Harmonie President Wal Baur was delighted togreet the large crowd, among them Swiss Consul General Bruno Ryff
Alana with Santa Avery with Santa-Daddy
Kent Luca
Natalia
Singing for Santa: Dylan, Manuel, Luca,Remy, Christoph, Kent, and the girl Vanessa
Veronica on Santa's lapSanta saying good-bye. In the back,with white blouse, Lilo Holzer whoorganizes the event each year.
Franz Stadelmann, Christoph and Nelly Wyss announcing the concert with their Alphorns
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and Tony Hartenstein, the long-time solo yodeler, accordionist andprofessional musician who,beingover 90 years old, was for the firsttime just a spectator. The guestchoir was the Corona del MarChancel Choir – our own directorRodger Whitten’s church choir.For a change, Harmonie did nothave a designated MC. This taskwas given to several of the youngerchoir members who did a splendidjob. In the first part of the concertHarmonie sang Weihnachtsglocken- Daheime – O Holy Night – Wenn ich ein Glöcklein wär (Soloists Heidiand Helen Jakob) and ended with Weihachtsfreude. As he does forevery concert, Siegfried Heger had written a special poem “Children’sEyes” which he read. Then it was the turn of the Coronal del MarChancel Choir to sing Awake! Sing Gloria – The Most Wonderful Timeof the Year – Festival Sanctus and Tiny Little Baby is Born.Intermission was the moment for the singers to mingle with theguests and for everybody to buy some more raffle tickets.Then the concert continued, with, to everybody’s delight and sur-
prise, a children’s choir, directed by Ursula El-Tawansy. While a girlplayed the violin and the children sang several well know songs bothin German and English, Christmas scenes and pictures were projectedabove their heads, thanks to a power point presentation by Max Bach-mann and Alexander Bell. Before the singing continued, there wasanother surprise: Carina Smith, daughter of a Harmonie member, per-formed a tap dance called “It Snowed” – a splendid result after yearsof dancing lessons!Harmonie continued with “Calypso Noel,” soloists Siegfried Heger andSabrina Salata. We were quite proud of our performance of this song;because when we started rehearsing (in August!!!) the unfamiliarJamaican rhythms were hard for us. Next on the program was aFrench song “Le Message des Anges” and the English version “AngelsWe Have Heard on High.” The guests were quite surprised when sud-denly the Chancel Choir joined in, singing from high up on the bal-cony in the back. As one guest remarked: Singing in stereo!! Every-body then sang “Stille Nacht / Silent Night.” But that was not the end
of the Concert. We had saved the best for last: Both choirs, nowsqueezed together on stage, with Rodger Whitten at the piano and atthe same time directing, performed the Hallelujah Chorus from theMessiah by Georg Friedrich Händel. The standing ovation that follo-wed proved that all the rehearsing had paid off!
After the concert we raffled off the table decorations – a nice bagfilled with nuts, mandarins and wonderful Christmas cookies, allhomemade by many Harmonie members. Yes, we have multiple talentsin our Choir!Then it was on to a Christmas dinner, served by the Swiss Park Staffwho had their hands full to deliver all the plates to so many tables:Green salad with beets, celery root, carrots, and tomatoes, servedwith herbed vinaigrette dressing, then roasted pork tenderloin withmushroom gravy, "spätzli" and a seasonal vegetable medley. Dessertwas a lemon raspberry tart and of course coffee.The evening ended with the event everybody had been waiting for:The raffle started. After each number called, you could hear a loud ormore discreet cries of joy from the winners. Soon it was time to saygood by - hope seeing you again next year!We recorded this concert. For next Christmas a CD will be available. Ifyou would like to listen to some of the songs, not the professional re-corded version but nevertheless, you can visit the Harmonie web-site
at www.swissharmonie.com andthen click onPERFORMANCES 2011.
TEXT: WAL BAUR
PHOTOS: ALEXANDER BELL
Harmonie singing, everybody in their individual Swiss tracht. Rodger, the director, sitting at the piano.
The childrens choir under the direction of Ursula El-Tawansy was a surprise. The Corona del Mar Chancel Choir, singing from high above.
The Chancel Choir and Harmonie squeezed onto the stage for the final song: Händel's Hallelujah from the Messiah.
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Next Regional NewsSwiss Review 2/2012Deadline USA 02/22/2012On web-site as of 04/04/2012Approx. arrival USA by mail:
Beginning of May 2012Swiss Review 3/12Deadline USA 04/25/2012On web-site as of 06/06/2012www.revue.ch/regio-en-usaApprox. arrival USA by mail:
Beginning of July 2012
Southern CaliforniaGoldi’s trains were al-ways on timeHis real name is Gerold Merker,but to all of us he is simply Goldi,probably because of his alwayssunny disposition.
He grew up in Zurich where hegot his first model train, aMärklin O gauge set at age 4. Heobviously had no idea wherethat would take him. After anapprenticeship, a businessschool diploma and military ser-vice, his family sent him for sixmonths to New York to learnEnglish. He liked it, moved to LA
because his older brother livedthere, married Heidy, settleddown, joined an O Scale club andstarted acquiring Lobaugh andMax Gray locomotives.After several years the Merkersdecided to have their own house
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built. The contractor was a bitastonished that somebody in LosAngeles wished to have a 34 by60 foot “hole in the ground.”Heidy said the neighbors pro-bably thought they were buil-ding an atomic shelter, as this
was in the sixties and the coldwar was very much on peoplesmind. But the basementcouldn’t have had a more peace-ful purpose. Over the years, allthree rooms became a railroadwonderland – a miniature of areal railroad that knowledgeablevisitors could recognize as basedon specific areas in Colorado.
Ray Spencer, anartist working forDisney, paintedmost of the back-drops. Everytrack was laid byhand, every buil-ding lovingly as-sembled, bushesand trees madeby gluing gree-
nery on twigs to look like thereal thing. Sometimes it’s noteasy to see the transition fromthe three-dimensional fore-ground to the painted backdrop.Goldi was really bitten by therailroad bug! He used to get up
Goldi Merker, surrounded by a small part of his miniature train display
at 3 in the morningto start his trainsrunning. There wasalways something toadd, to fix or tochange. He stayed inthe basement untilHeidy called that itwas time for break-fast. A couch with apillow underneath one of thestructures is still witness thatsometimes Goldi even slept inhis kingdom! Unfortunately,Goldi fell off a laddera few years ago andnow his back is gi-ving him trouble. So,with a heavy heart,he started lookingaround for somebodywho would be inte-rested in hisinstallation. And yesindeed, the Sacra-mento RailroadMuseum said they would like tohave it. One last time weclimbed down to the basement.Except for some of his prize lo-comotives, all trains were gone,
the rails lay silent but most ofthe landscape was still there. SoI took some pictures, and weclimbed back up.
It’s good-bye now to trains andinstallation – but what a timeGoldi had!
WAL BAUR
Fotos: Gerold Merker and Wal Baur
Who wouldn't want to spend some time at the Palace Hotel?
Working on the rail tracks in front of various stores
People at the Durango Rail Station