I celebrated our Swiss National Anniversary with a more Swiss-feeling than I possibly could have got on the “Rütli” (that’s where Switzerland has been founded in 1291 – now you impressed, dear Canadians, aren’t you?). How come?

Well, after all that hassle with these most stupid robberies I arrived sort of delayed in Edmonton. Edmonton is the capital of Alberta, and Alberta is the province where the big Swiss communities can be found.

One of these communities, the Edmonton Swiss Club, celebrated the First of August Party on the Huwiler’s farm some 20 km South of Edmonton. And I was invited. As a real Swiss I managed to turn up at exactly 5pm, the time the party was supposed to begin. Not too bad, considering the fact that I had the longest journey of all guests to get to the farm. However, at least some of the to Canada emigrated Swiss must have adopted the “laid-back” Canadian life-style and arrived a good bit later. 

Once more I was sure, that my theory “however far you might travel you never will be able to leave your roots behind” was true: While any Canadian will basically hug you after you spoke five words with them, the Swiss stay more reserved and it takes some beers before saying “Du” instead of the more formal “Sie”. It is also interesting to see that Swiss leave an open angle between each other when standing together while Canadians confront one face to face. However, I was warmly welcomed and it felt so funny to be introduced to people with very Swiss names: Erika and Priska, or Fritz and Toni.even invited me to take part in the cross-bow shooting. Which – I have to admit – I never have done before. And somehow I got a bit more nervous when Heidi, a very attractive second generation Swiss Canadian girl shot just before it was my turn and managed to reach 27 out of 30 points. Uhh, that felt tough to compete with.

Remembering what I have been told in the Swiss Army (not that I would have learnt too much there) I breathed quietly, focused and shot without too much thinking. And - I did it. 27 out of 30 points! This did not make me into the day’s champion shot, but it was the 3rd best result of the male shooters during this evening. I felt very Swiss by then.


The men choir’s music was of an amazing quality – much better than many choirs I had heard back in Switzerland (interesting detail: the choir is conducted by an Ukrainian woman). There was even yodelling and an alphorn was played (now, I have no clue what the English word for that is, but it’s a long horn made of wood and it sounds quite nice - check out the corresponding picture above). Later, we listened to Mr. Leuenberger's 1st of August speech (he's the Swiss federal president and primus inter pares with 6 other ministers) and then the huge Swiss 1st of August Fire was lit. When the night slowly turned into a morning, Hans Zürcher invited me to stay over at his house. An offer I gladly accepted - by that time I also would have followed Wilhelm Tell into any battle against the Habsburg folks without asking too many questions.