Well that went fast!

As of next wednesday, my year here in switzerland is officially a third over. This however does not mean that I have switched host families, quite the opposite in fact, my host family is trying to keep me. My counsellor asked me what in the world I did, and I shrugged. I suppose it is just because I am far too sweet and wellbehaved.

I am currently in the process of picking return dates. There are really only 3 in question. The third and fourth of August. or the 23rd of July. The 23rd of July is the last date that the travel agency advises that I come back. The 3rd or 4th are of my own invention. August 1st is the National Holiday in Switzerland, when Kanton Schwyz, Uri, and uh, another that I haven't visited (I just checked on wikipedia, the third is Unterwalden) , joined together, followed in the years after by the other Kantons in order to rebell against the Hapsburgs Dynasty in 1291. Apparently this is call for a big party, and seeing the pictures in the newspaper when I first came, I think I will be going. If I leave on the 4th, that would mean that I spent 363 days in Switzerland, a nice round number I find.


Actually I found out yesterday with the help of a map in the telephone book that I have seen most of Switzerland. It is, afterall, about half the size of Pennsylvania. I only really need to go to Graubunden, Ticino, and Genf (Geneva to the rest of the world, but in german, it is Genf). I need to beg nicely to visit Germany sometime during a vacation. I am not allowed to stay in hotels or youth hostels, which makes travelling slightly harder, because I have to find someone to stay with.


Christmas shopping started here in the end of October. Imagine that. I was christmased out before Thanksgiving, a new world record. Though I did cook on Thanksgiving. chicken, which was terrible, and filling, that wasn't exactly like my grammy's. I realized that nothing sets off all the bells and whistles for my christmas spirit quite like Black Friday. Lacking a proper mall, Best Buy, and fellow rabid shoppers, I am currently devoid of any idea that Christmas is in fact approaching.


Onto other news from Switzerland. There's been a big Hubbub in the last week or two over a
story from Zurich. Apparently a 13 year old was raped by 15 boys from her school, in different locations and times. This initially caused a huge thing about media and the decline of society usw. As well as distrust in foreigners (9 of the boys were from former Ostblok countries... The rest were swiss) The newspaper articles seemed to speculate that swiss kids wouldn't do such a thing without the influence of these bad foreign kids. Then it was found out that this girl had willingly had sex with a few of them, altough no one seems to know now what really happened. It sparked a really intresting article in the magazine FACTS where they talked with 6 teenagers about violence, media, sex, etc. The general consensus seemed to be that the violence isn't a problem caused by foreigners, but instead boredom, but from all the foreigners, Albanians are the worst when it comes to violence.

That being said, despite Switzerland having the lowest opinion of American politics in the whole of Europe, I have never been treated poorly. The most direct question I have been asked is "What do you think of Bush?" and been told that we were stupid to elect him twice. I do get wide eyed looks when I claim to be a Republican. It is weird to live in a country that is more or less socialist. Or well, hanging around in the fog between socialism and capitalism.

But onto the intresting bits, the pictures.
Me, obvoiusly, in Widen Dorf (pop, 3000), taking a picture with all the pretty trees.


This is a picture of the most beautiful sunset I have seen in a while, taken from a bus. What causes beautiful sunsets? That's right! Pollution, more specifically soot, ash, and dust, most likely all in France, because I have yet to see more than a cigarette on the ground.



This is what is called a Nebelsee here. The valley below is filled with fog, but Widen is just above the fog boundry. Then you get this lovely twotierd effect. As a side note, every morning in fall is foggy. Like soup. Until about 10 am when it starts to lift on most days, then it gets foggy again as soon as it gets dark.

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Zurich Adventure on Saturday

This Saturday I unfortunately had to show up to school to go to an English class and play a concent on the parent's visiting day. Afterwards, I decided to hop on the next train that came into Wettingen SBB, which wound up at Zurich.

Here is the vending machiene on Gleis 3 at Wettingen trainstation. I took the picture because I realized for the first time that the cans are a different shape here, they are fatter. There is also some sort of Cannabis energy drink, that I have yet to see any one with (the orange one, second from the right). Also notice Rivella, a swiss soda. It is not good, I personally cannot drink it. It is like ginger ale, but not at all sweet, and flatter.

So here is the Christmasmarket in Zurich Hauptbahnhof. The tree is Ginormous and decoratted with real savonsky chrystals. I searched in vain for what I was really looking for, but it was fun.

Also in Zurich HB. The world's first 3D Screen. It's made up of a zillion little ping pong things.

I actually love this picture, a store window on the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich. The dress is made of bubblewrap and the whole display has a color wheel like the aluminium Christmastrees.

Well that is about it until my life turns more intresting. Stay tuned for the "Learning to Ski Adventures" aka "How I learned to stop falling and love the Alps."

Because it exists no where on the internet

I actually planned to have some content today, but that seems to have gone the way of the Dodobird.On Saturday after I went to school (Because 3 classes a week of English isn't enough torture...) I decided to hop on the first train that came into wettingen. Not really a Gamble, they all either go to Baden or Zurich. Or Uetikon, wherever that is. The point is in fact that I wound up in Zurich on a beautiful Saturday. I then went into a store called music hug station and bought the more or less new Beatles Cirque De Soile album. I am now more or less addicted to Octopus's Garden. Today I went to school. There was Physics, with a teacher that explains nothing. Imagine if Lazo had expected us to understand from the beginng how terminal velocity works.

I only learned one thing today-

Terminal Velocity is a really really hard thing to explain in German. Even harder than that is getting someone to understand how terminal velocity works, in any language.

Today I was reading the free newspaper heute, which is not as good as 20 Minuten, but oh well. The number of the day was 75- 75% of the Bible and the Koran is the same. Also intresting is new legislation in 22 Kantons that would outlaw smoking in bars and restaurants. While I find this a good idea actually, they missed a few places, namely in the area around a school and the disko. I have actually yet to go to a disko. It probably wouldn't be all that bad if I could find one that plays good music. Also intresting, a new Tom Waits album called Orphan I believe. Tom waits is for some reason actually someone people have heard of here. I find that unsettling.

My insomnia is back with avengence.

For your viewing pleasure and so that this blog has some value, I present the Epilogue to "Der gute Mensch von Sezuan". I honestly wish I cared enough to translate it, but I don't. It just doesn't sound as good in English.

Verehertes Publikum, jetzt kein Verdruss:
Wir wissen wohl, das is kein rechter Schluss.
Vorschwebte uns: die goldene Legende.
Unter der Hand nahm sie ein bitteres Ende.
Wie stehen selbst enttäuscht and sehn betroffen
Den Vorhang zu und alle Fragen offen.
Dabei sind wir doch auf Sie angewiesen
Dass Sie bei und zu Haus sind und geniessen.
Wir lönnen es uns leider nicht verhehlen:
Wir sind bankrott, wenn Sie uns nicht empfehlen!
Vieleicht fiel uns aus lauter Furcht nichts ein.
Das kam schon vor. Was könnt die Lösung sein?
Wir konnten keine finden, nicht einmal für Geld.
Soll es ein ander Mensch sein? Oder eine andere Welt?
Vielleicht nur andere götter? Oder keine?
Wir sind zerschmettert und nicht nur zum scheine!
Der einzige Ausweg wär aus diesem Ungemach:
Sie selber dächten auf die Stelle nach
Auf welche Weis dem guten Menschen man
Zu einmem guten Ende helfen kann.
Verehrtes Publikum, los, such dir selbst den Schluss!
Es muss ein guter sein, muss, muss, muss!

Der heilige Johanna der Schlächthöfe and me.

I have a shocking announcement.

I do not like Blutwurst.

Nor Leberwurst.

Not particularly shocking actually, but current news. this last week has been insanely crazy. It finally ends tomorrow when I have to go to school on (SHOCK!!!) A saturday.

Saturday I went to Endingen to see Zoe's Turnabend. Apparently it is a really swiss-village pastime. Once a year all the amatuer gymnastics clubs get together on stage and preform little acts to music with some nice banter and jokes in between. I thought it was very cool. Or Mega Geil as I told Zoe.

Sunday I was once again in Baden, as I always seem to be, but this time not waiting on a bus, instead I went to the Theater. In German class we are reading Bertolt Brecht, lots of it. We read Der gute Mensch von Sezuan and I am in the middle of a group project on Herr Puntilla und sein Knecht Matti. We did not see either of these in the theater, but Der heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe was being put on. It is amazing, as are all of Brechts plays, or at least I think so. the funny thing is that for being a communist, it seems to me that he proves in his plays that not only doesn't capitalism work, communism doesn't either (this is especially true of Der gute Mensch von Sezuan). I highly recommend all of his work, really. And I bet Der gute Mensch is easy to find in english. I especially love the epilogue and the separation of the actors from the parts. "gut zu sein und doch zu leben" is impossible in both systems, and i love the video we watched of it.

I have yet to say anything about Der heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe. In short, it is set in Chicago in the 30s or so, and the meat packing plants are closing. Johanna works for the Salvation Army, and winds up getting mixed up in the whole mess while she is trying to help the newly poor caused by the plant closings. She can't really keep her mouth shut, and is thrown out of the salvation army. She then goes to teh plants, to wait out in the cold with the poor. There is an uprising, and she is given a letter to deliver, but she realizes that this letter will only further the violence, and doesn't hand it over becasue she wants to find a peaceful solution. She becomes sick, and before she dies she realizes that this letter was her one chance to change something for the working class. In the end all the characters are together and they randomly burst into a random song ( not in the musical sense, just in the Brecht play sense), and she collapses and dies. The meat industry has turned into a monopoly, and there is no chance for the workers to band together. I personally loved it.

Then on Monday the Rotary had a Metgezte, which is the lovely party that happened in the past when someone killed an animal. They make Bloodsausage and Liverwurst, which need to be eaten right away, otherwise they spoil. Bloodsausage is, i find, inedible. Liverwurst I ate, but did not enjoy. Rather Kalbsbratwurst.

In theater, we are doing Endgame by Beckket. I get to play Hamm 2. We are currently working on a variation where there are 5 Hamms and 5 Clovs and they all are paired up, but it is all mixed (ie Clov 5 answers Hamm 3). It is really cool, and a million times easier to work with than Waiting for Godot- it is just more relatable, especially since the characters are overly concious that they have done the same thing for the nth time, whereas in Waiting for Godot, they are never certain. I relate much better with Hamm than I do with Clov, whom I don't really understand. I do find it is a much better play in german though, I have read both.

I really hope to post some pictures soon, I keep meaning to, but I am lazy. But my only advice is for everyone to go read some serious Bertolt Brecht. My classmates asked if we had ever read German Lit in school, they were surprised when i said no, but then agian, they havn't read any classic american lit either, so I don't know why they should be. But really, Brecht is amazingly cool. I appologize for a very Literatur centric entry.

I am not sure what today is, but I am in full support of it!!

Okay, so this morning, while I was commenting on blogs, I heard some random techno music. I stepped outside and what do you know? There is a float/pickup truck thing blasting techno and filled with screaming men driving through my normally quiet 3000 person town.

It was good techno.

Originally today, I was going to go to zurich and walk around aimlessly for a few hours, but it rained and I decided to check out the shopping center in Spreitenbach. Luckilly I decided to go through Baden instead of Dietikon. In Baden, there were Faschnacht bands. I do not know why they were there, but they were. There is nothing better than hearing a band play video killed the radio star while dressed up as gnomes.

I did get to Spreitenbach eventually. I went into claire's boutique and the good news is that i finally have a watch. I have been living 3 months in a country where everything is precisely on time or 3 minutes early without a watch. Think about that. Swatches here cost 60 francs. I bought a watch from an american mall store, at half price, for 3.75. And earings with some skulls.

I love shopping in Switzerland, it takes so much work to find a bargain.

WOOHOO VICTORY!!!

Well I explained America in english class today. One of the questions was what do you think about bush, the rest were about school and sports and things of that nature.

But onto the two victories!

NEW BUSH ADMINISTRATION WITHOUT RUMMSFELD! NOW WITH 50% LESS EVIL!!!!

w00tt.

And secondly, there is a new thing in switzerland where when a soldier wants to bring his weapons home he has to sign a paper that says he won't use it to harm himself or anyone else. Weak, but a start to less crazy weapon policies. (See picture from bus about 3 entries back...)

Much love from the land of rocclette and fondue and other cheesy dishes that I don't particularly like! (OMG SUCH STRONG CHEESE :( )

The wonder of your-ope!

I appologize for the song lyric pun. Really I do.

Onto what I actually wanted to say.

On the bus wednesday, I watched a random kid roll a joint. This led me to several conclusions:

1. It is very hard to roll a joint on a bus,
2. especially if you are already high while on the bus rolling your second joint
3. Therefore this kid must have some incredible skill,
4. The drug thing in europe is EXTREMELY lax (which it is, not that I divined that from this incident in particular.)
5. and that I get home far too late.

In the intrest of not being too exagerative (that isn't a word, but it should be), I do not in fact get home all that late, (well I do, but that is just the swiss school system for you) I ride the 5:42 bus most days, which gets me home squarely at 6:30.

I also want to talk about two awesome things this entry, Fleischkäse and Sirup. Let's start with Feischkäse because it is more intresting:

Fleischkäse is... actually I don't know what it is. In a word, Yummy. The picture to the left was dinner about oh, two weeks ago. This picture cannot convey the tender juicy goodness that is Fleischkäse. You can eat it warm or cold (I prefer cold for sandwiches, warm with salads and so...). Children apparently love Fleischkäse. Translated Directly it means "meat cheese" which I can assure you it most definately isn't. An Austraillian exchange student told me she thought it was meatloaf, which it also most definately is not (because I hate meatloaf, really, except the singer, I find him quite awesome...). In short, I have asked everyone I know what Fleischkäse is made of and no one seems to have any idea. Hopefully it is not something that I would find repelling (that would be a whole other Kalbsbratwurst adventure for me***). Hopefully I never run into a Butcher at a dinner where this is being served....

As a nice little sidenote, I love deer, when it is prepared the swiss way (I had it in america and found it absolutely disgusting.) It has some brownish sauce and you eat it with spätzli (those noodles that are cooked in a million pounds of butter) and red cabbage. They served it in the cafeteria last friday and I had it 3 times with my family. It is tender and...wild tasting. I can't describe it any other way.

Onto sirup. If you are an American, you are sure to screw up sirup at least once during your stay in Switzerland. Sirup is, well, syrup. I am in fact drinking some right now. In america, when we want a raspberry Koolaide sort of drink, we make a big jug of it, take our glass, and put the rest in the fridge. That doesn't work in Europe. The fridges are small (my host mom goes shopping evey 2-3 days, as opposed to a week in america....). That is where sirup comes in. It is sort of a koolaide liquid concentrate. You put a little in a glass, add water, and you (or I at this very moment, have) raspberry flavored water juice stuff. The reason you are likely to screw this up as an american is simple, you expect the juice on the dinner table to be finished, when it is half of the time, in fact, only sirup. Normally you would realize this because everyone gives you a really astounded look when you happily fill your glass. It is sort of a Murphy's law of Juice that when you pour yourself a whole glass, it inevitably winds up being sirup, and when you pour jsut a little, it winds up being juice. Then there is the whole sirup to water ratio that you have to get right in order to have juice that is not too sweet or too bland. I have not perfected the technique yet, and I have been doing it for 3 months...

My fellow americans, in the juice wars, we can just not win.

***It just occured to me that I haven't said anything about my Kalbsbratwurst experience. In short, Kalbsbratwurst is delicious, my favorite meal in fact. What I did not think about until recently was what it is made of. To cut this short story even shorter, baby cows (kalb = calf). I probably would not have eaten it if I had known that at the beginning, but now I am addicted and have absolutely no qualms about eating baby animals of any variety. It is so wrong, but tastes so good...

I also miss video games. My family has none. I actually assume this is a normal state of swiss households. I am currently overthemoon that I at least remembered my Nintendo DS, otherwise I would have only a cell phone to game on (NOT GOOD!!!) With the upcomming console war (PS3 on Nov. 17th and Wii on the 19th) I would go insane without something to play, especially for the first time in my life, I won't have a console until months and months after launch. Sigh. I have also yet to find an arcade. Woe is I.