Swiss Life Blog

2007-07-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

This is most likely my last post on Blogger before leaving Switzerland. For all of you who are wondering, I'll be in America on Wednesday around noon. I think I am going to steal Christine P.'s idea, and post bits of my year.

Our Geology excursion was actually amazingly cool. We got to see the devil's bridge, a part of Switzerland that belongs in name at least to the Russians, Vierwaldstättersee, and the Gotthard (which is high, and filled with beautiful little ponds that are worse than freezing), oh, and we also had to search for 3 different kinds of rocks in a freezing river. I forget which one. In our bus, there were 3 exchange students, Irène from the Welschschweiz (aka almost part of France, but not quite), Sicong from Beijing, and myself. I was the only one to really say "woohoo!" when my country was mentioned. Just so you know, I never touch up my photos; it does actually look like this here.

Yesterday evening was my goodbye party, a lot of my friends couldn't come, but it was really awesome anyway. I walked my friends to the bus and we said goodbye and hugged and such. Fabia reminded me of my first day in school, how our Geography teacher's first question to me was "Do you support Bush?" The last thing he said to me, for the record is "I wish you every sucess, don't forget you swiss german, and soon Bush will be gone and everything will be alright again." Hilarious guy.

I've spent the whole day today packing and sleeping. Tomorrow I think I will be going to SihlCity, which is the new shopiing center in Zürich that I have yet to visit. I have 140 CHF left, which won't do me much good in America. Tuesday will be spent with Zoe perhaps, finishing cleaning, and Paula's homecomming. Then I will leave, at 4 am for Zurich Airport, and the whole thing is over.

August-

September-

Oktober-

November-

Dezember-

Januar-

Februar-

März-

April-

Mai-

Juni-

Juli-

End.

Well hello

2007-06-14T07:45:00.001-07:00

I know, I don't write, it's evil.

I currently have 26 days until my homecomming, which I am quite looking forward to. There comes a certain point where I realise that my future doesn't lie in switzerland: I haven't got a Matura, I can't study here, plans are being made for Sonafe, Praktikum, and class sleepovers without me in them because I won't be here. My host family is looking forward to having their daughter back at home (never mind that it isn't the same daughter they sent away, but try explaining that to them, Rotary in America really really prepared us well, and keeps doing so, whereas here...)

Theater week at the Schiffbauhaus from Schauspielhaus Zürich was amazing. I got to see 7 plays from different schools, some better, some worse. Worst of all being the Orestee, a greek saga that the group decided to put on in the style of ancient greek theater, which entails a lot of standing still and talking. The best being (besides ours, ;) ) Die Kannibalen, which is about a group in a concentration camp that has to decide whether or not to eat one of its fallen members. A hilarious piece. So funny right up until the tiny nazi comes at the end and they all decide to die rather than eat the most disgusting human soup I have ever seen. Then there were the workshops. I was in Basics of Acting, which lead to a lot of being silly, improvisation, and funny walks. Our teacher was really amazing too. She's a director and theater teacher at the ETH in Zurich. The jury also gave away an oscar to Orestee unfortunately, which is a rip if you ask anyone else, mostly because we couldn't even hear the dialogue. The Oscar we all got to vote for went to Comedy Life, a piece about two comedians and exfriends, one of whom decides to help the other commit insurance fraud, only to be turned in by his ex-exfriend and find out that is life is in ruins. It was fantastic.

Then there was the Rowing Championships, where we came in last because during the final sprint, one of my teammate's seat fell out of its track and she couldn't keep rowing. Ah well. It rained, so the whole day was spent slopping around a muddy field. Our Steering Man was hilarious though, and Tabea brought a cake from the bakery where she works, so all was well.

Last Wednesday, my class to a trip to Bern in order to sit in the Congress, which was fairly cool. One of my classmates was even quoted in a newspaper article. Some journalists were there to follow our tour leader when Beat (pronounced Bay-aht) asked about corruption in Switzerland (to which the only answer he got was "It isn't as bad as Italy!" which is only oh so true...) Other than that, I played chess on one of those HUGE ourdoor chess sets they have in cities with Corrine, but I lost famously.

My Geography teacher sort of flipped out yesterday when he heard I don't have a 6 in english (a 6 is perfect, 4 is passing). Apparently, no matter what the teacher thinks, I should have a six just by being born in america, regardless of the fact that my teacher speaks british english. He is without a doubt my coolest teacher, and he's taking us on a field trip next week into the Alps to talk about rocks, which is what he is currently teaching us about. If he weren't so cool (by swiss standards, not american. He's sort of a Mr. Brodt type...) I would never forgive him for such boring lessons.

Which reminds me, on Tuesday, my class went to see A Midsummernight's Dream for english, none of which they understood. Poor kids. 2 and a half hours of hell when they could and by allrights should have been studying biology. I found it amusing. I got to have a Spitzbeub (picture of said cookie), and two new Kinder egg things that are more delicious than the normal ones. Anna, Fabia and I spent the entire Pause trying to figure out how to work the magic trick toy I got, but we never figured it out. Then there was the amusment of waiting at the train station in Lenzburg after walking through literally the whole town to get back from the castle where the play was held in hopes of catching the train, which we missed anyway. I love being at trainstations after 10pm, there's always some weird drunks asking for cigarettes. No mom, I wasn't alone, and I was quite safe I assure you, my english teacher was there, for what it's worth, even though her german (and especially her swiss german) is fairly horrendous. Now for pictures.

One pic of the rowing team, one of the tent Platz at OpenAir Hoch Ybrig, one of Alpermaccaroni (which is macaronni with cheese, cream, applesauce, potatoes, and onion bits), and the Yodel group that sang Ewigi Liebi, which is basically THE swiss song of the century.

Time for a post for the month of May, or well at least this half...

2007-05-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

So I have been up to a lot in the last few weeks, and hopefully I can find the pictures to corroberate that story.

well as of today, there's no photos of our Dido and Aeneas concert. It was fantastic. I really almost cried when Dido died. One of our friends told us that she doesn't believe in God, but whenever we sing in the church, it's really something magical. And this time we were all in white (the dentist choir, as our director liked to call it.) One of the soloists is the head of the Swiss Youth Choir, and she invited us all to join after hearing us sing. The second night, I heard there were even two newspaper reporters there. People were apparently expecting a school concert and not whatever it is they saw. Anyway, it was amazing.

I've joined the rowing team. I am apparently something of the captain. I love rowing. Physically, it's not that draining, but it takes a whole lot of concentration. Our Championships (1000 m, women's team) are June 2nd, aparently somewhere very beautiful.

I went to the Kanti-Ball, which is a sort of prom thing. Well, really, it was more of a dance and music exhibition. I met up with another exchange student purely by accident, which was cool, then we lost each other at some point. Anyway, nothing compares to Swiss German Rap. It is hilarious. I have pics and videos.

I've also started crocheting a small kitten, but I cannot for the life of me find Polyfil stuffing in switzerland. It is like it doesn't exist. Like no one has even the slightest hint of a thought about its existance.

Other than that, I've been sick, I am looking forward to this Theater week, which is the week after next, my room is a mess, and I am exhausted.

Pictures!

2007-04-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

A Vacation in pictures. The beautiful city is Dresden, which was basically destroyed in WWII (Where Kurt Vougnet nearly died and was saved only by the meat locker of "slaughterhouse V".) The beautiful chocolate thing you see above is a Schoggigipfelli, which I eat fairly often at the school. The town by the lake is Ligerz, where I spent my time singing Dido and Aeneas or "Di beschte Musig di Wält" and jumping in and out of the freezing lake (which the picture testifies, that day I was in for half an hour with Tanja). A picture of Carla, Uli ( a friend of the host parents, who is completely awesome), and I after doing a weird obstacle course thing that was great fun. there's also a picture of my Chorus book, which is filled with such faciful doodles. Oh, and a picture from a train that goes from biel to Zurich illustrating the correct way to use a telephone, in case you didn't know.

My foot hurts, I think I killed it in Ligerz, where I got to play Dido, who dies, which was cool. I am apparently good at the death thing.

FANTASTIC NEWS!!! My Theater Group gets to go to Schauspielhaus Zurich for a whole week and do workshops and such because we rock (there was a contest, and 7 of 30 groups get to go). I miss a whole week of school to do theater. The best part is that we get to do the whole play one last time. I am excited to play Hamm. Hopefully this time someone will get the whole thing on a working recording.

Other than that, not much is going on. Birthday party tonight, mountians tomorrow, school monday. My big MP3 players buttons have decided not to work, so I am back to the small MP3 players that I love so much (LeighAnne's to be more specific.) I am once more completely in love with Inspector Lynley, though I must say it is impossible to watch in German; it just doesn't work. I am planning to hop off to Zurich sometime to buy another book (I bought A Suitable Vengence, which is a Lynley Mystery, and the biography of Katharine Hepburn for my trip to Germany).

I don't have much time left. It's basically summer here. Until next time!!

OH YES! MY TIME HAS COME!!!!!

2007-03-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

I just want to report that today, the score in the game of Alyssa vs. the public transportation system of Switzerland is offically 1 to.... 8 (or so) BUT I HAVE SIEGED! I AM ViCTORiOUS!

Yes. I feel I must set the scene. This morning, as I went to school, I forgot basically everything that I needed to remember. Flute. Keys to get back into the house once I realized I had forgotten the flute. Most importantly, I had forgotten my wallet.

Now normally, forgetting my wallet here isn't such a big deal. Have to borrow lunch money from a firend, but it really isn't a problem, except that today it was. My english teacher decided to take us to go see Animal Farm at the theater. Therein lies the problem. I would be going home after 8pm, which means that the driver checks the tickets. My ticket is in my wallet. Ha, the plot thickens.

So school on tuesdays is over at 5pm. I walked to the trainstation as normal, mentally preparing for what I had to do. the 5.19 train to Dietikon, arrival: 5.30, then the S17 from Dietikon to Berikon Widen, then the bus to Widen Dorf, arrival: 5.51....then the fun part starts. I knew that to get to the play on time, I'd have to take the 6.04 bus back to the trainstation. That of course, leaves about a 14 minute window to get home, get my wallet, find my keys, find away out of Juana Lydia talking to me, and get back to the bus stop....had my bus been on time. It was however, due to the normal dinnertime rush, 2 minutes late. The plot thinkens.

So I get on the bus, press the button to stop, adopt a sprinter stance, and despite my schoolbag, manage to make it home at 5.56, just one minute after I planned to. Sweet. I "borrowed" my host sister's keys, raced upstairs, grabbed my wallet, managed to have an unusually short exchange with Juana Lydia, and made it out of the house at 5.58.

I then managed to run all the way back to the bus stop, making it there at 6.02. 2 whole minutes before I needed to be there. The bus was once again 1 minute late. I made it to Baden at 6.42, tried to buy a Shinkengipfeli, but they were out, and got to the theater, dinner in hand, at 5.55, just 10 minutes after I should have been there.

ALYSSA WiNS AT LiFE!!!!...today.

Pictures from Endspiel (scroll down a little, and there is a link with pictures of a girl and boy in pjs and sleeping hats), please ignore the really weird closeups of my head. I think I was in front of the photographer during my "story" bit... ^.^;; ( I like the pic of us with the doggies....)

verdammt geil

2007-02-27T12:16:00.000-08:00

Hallo miteinand.

I no longer have to miss half of music everyweek in order to go to German for the German Impaired aka Exchange Student German. now I just have to go every other week, I don't have to do any more boring grammar exercises (YAY!) and I just have to read a whole lot and write essays about it.

I am back in school, and the scedule is honestly not that bad, except for the waking up early bit... and the staying until 5 bit (which means I get home at the lovely time of 6.17 because my train comes in at the same time my bus leaves...)

3/9 Other than all that, life is good. I have another drama workshop weekend. I get to be all angry and so. Unfortunately, I am missing what will possibly be the last ski weekend I would have had here.

Spring has sprung as all that annoying premade crafty stuff says.

Too lazy to arrange those pictures at the top. One is of Takahiro and Melissa, from Japan and Malaysia respectively. Three are of my school (well, old remodled monestary). One is from my sled of Ruby sledding in front of me. Funny story. We were all sledding down this track, and suddenly, there was no more snow. Not a flake. Melted. Gone. Just road. Then I hiked all the way down the hill with my sled, because I was in front. Good times. And the last one is me doing crochet. Nothing much intresting has happened, so I'll wait to post this and see if something does!

WOOHOO INTRESTING THINGS HAVE HAPPENED!

Tonight (3-22) Was one of the best nights of my life. We did our play (Endgame by Samuel Beckett) for the last time and everything was perfect. Then afterwards, there was an apero and we got to hang out with Gary and Stefan because we all wound up missing our trains. And it snowed as we were walking to the train station. I am now soaked. There's even a tape (minus the last 10 minutes or so ;_;), so you'll all get to see. Stefan told me I absolutely have to keep doing theater. Then, they were amazed as I did as much of the play as a one man show as our short train ride allowed.

Normal Insanity

2007-02-14T00:35:00.000-08:00

So I have been temporarilly rendered insane by a sudden love of "airport literature" especially that of Micheal Crichton, so forgive whatever crazyness seems to spout from that. (Read so far: Jurassic Park, Prey, Timeline, State of Fear)

I woke up at 7am today in order to call Leighanne up, because we haven't talked in forever. It was really intresting to talk with her, as she is the only one who really makes an effort to talk to me here, or well, does so on a regular basis. I don't know how the others are finding their communications with their friends from America. I mean, I just try to have as little internet chatting going on as possible, because then I start to get intrested in the life I left at home and not the fantastic one I am leading here, as frustrating as it can be at times. But anyway, going on exchange is a great way to find out which of your friends are really truely addicted to talking to you...

So I'll back track two weeks to Drama Week, and no, there was not a whole lot of drama going on. The Drama class at school is putting on Endgame, which I have mentioned before. The week before "Sport Vacation" is devoted entirely to drama, the rest of the kdis have regular school, but the drama class has drama all day, everyday, from 8am to 5pm. It was probably my best week here yet. Someone told me that they were happy we had a drama week because they got to know me better. Before, this person said, people would just look at me and think "An american...oh" and go on their merry way, but after a week together, they actually get to see that I am fun and cool and don't really overly fit into their perception of america. (Which of course, I do, in someways, but not in others.) Anywhoo, Zoe stole my camera, so I have about a million pictures of people taken 6 inches away from their faces.

Other than that, I spent the last week (aka first week of vacation) in the mountains, where there is no snow. I was supposed to go skiing with my host sister's boyfriend's class, but we had to cancell a second time, as this time there was even less snow. I find that unfortunate, as I was forced to kill 9 days, in the middle of the mountains, where all there is to do is sleep, read, or hike. I wound up hiking 8 miles one day. I miss skiing weather, and I hope it snows at least once more so I can get back to hurtling uncontrolled down a mountain, while still being outstripped by small children. Nothing beats being laughed at by 4 year old skiing savants. ;-)

We also went on a day trip to Lugano (aka capital of the italian switzerland) and Italy. We had pasta, which unfortunately for us, was just a heated up frozen meal. but italy was pretty, despite the lake being dirty than Luganosee.

This week I am once again at home. Yesterday I went to Zurich to buy a cool hat, well not in order to buy it, but I wound up with a hat. And Yarn. And A new Micheal Chrichton book (Prey, which is shaping up well after the less creature based State of Fear). And Stitch n' Bitch: The Happy Hooker (a crochet book, for those of you who don't know...) So I hope to spend the rest of today trying to keep my crochet looser (cause I seem to crochet like someone with nervous tension...), reading, and planning my trip to Genf (aka Geneva) Thursday.

Happy Valentine's day everyone!!

See, Wilhelm Tell IS really the national hero, there's a big staute and EVERYTHING!!

Party Aminal

2007-01-28T04:36:00.000-08:00

Well hello

In the last few weeks, there have been a few goodbye parties for the kids from my class who are going away on exchange in teh second semester. So here's pictures. Roll over for text for names and such nonsense.

Most exciting of all, I saw a Wii! Granted, it was in a box at Migros, costs a hundred dollars more than it does in America, and it can't play American wii games, BUT I SAWED IT!!!!! Until sometime later, ciao sämme.

Weird thing of the day

2007-01-15T11:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I found out what geil actually means. It apparently means hot for someone.

You wind up using geil like you would use cool in english.

That gives a whole new weird meaning to things being cool. (or well, in this case, geil.)

I find it slightly unsettling.

Also cool, the free newspaper heute always has a mini thing with a quote from Paris Hilton, and how cool they find her on that particular day. It is amazing the stupid things she says.

Saturday, I went to a party. Pictures to come, this is my Photo Safari week before 3 kids leave for Austrailia and New Zealand.

New Schedule

2007-01-15T11:25:00.000-08:00

After the Sport vacation, I have a new schedule in the school. Oh the joys.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:00	Math		Geography	History	Social Studies
8:55	Math		Geography	History	Social Studies
9:50	Chinese	Law	Biology		Social Studies
10:50	Physics	Law	Biology		German
11:45	Physics	Chorus	Big Band
12:35			Big Band		Gym
1:25	German	Gym		Music	English
2:20	German	Gym	Math	Music	English Halfclass
3:15	Chem		Theater		Chinese
4:10	Chem	English	Theater		Chinese
5:05		Class Discussion

We all find Mondays Terrible. My class hates math, our Physics teacher explains nothing, and chemistry no one understands. Right now, on mondays and tuesdays we don't have school until 10, but after break it will only be on Tuesday. And we only get out one day a week before 5.

Woohoo second semester.

For all of you in South America who don't go to school, I hate you. Really. ( I kid, but this schedule just bites the big one.)

Though I must say, that 4 period long Lunch break on Thursday kicks ass. I can totally go to Zurich and just walk around.

Hello Friends and Enimies...

2007-01-11T03:58:00.000-08:00

Well, as I am more or less sick (by my American standards, not those of my classmates), I actually have a few hours to update about Christmas and New Years and randomness.

Hmm, Christmas was insanely quiet for my standards. Really, horror movie quiet, or butter commercial homely, whichever comparison you prefer. I went skiing in the morning, before the 3 inches of snow melted. Then Carla and I decorated the christmas tree. Then we waited for dinner. Before important dinners (or dinners where you have guests), there is always an apero, which means you drink a glass of wine or ice tea or whatever, and eat small things like thinly sliced salmon or breadsticks, or chips, or whatever. So there was also an apero (with slamon and toast out of a real TOASTER!!! I didn't know we had a toaster, so this was a fairly exciting development for me...). Then Carla bugged Juana Lydia and Kurt so much that we opened our presents before dinner. I got a watch from my host family, a handmade Patrick toy from Carla (I have taken to watching Spongebob here, for some reason, it is not as insanely stupid as it is in English, and Invader Zim is just a little too high over my level of understanding, mostly because of the complete randomness and constant mention of ham.), and from my family at home I got clothes, an earring and necklace set from my aunt, the traditional Xmas PJs from my mom and dad, and 3 games for my nintendo DS (which I had already opened before Christmas...Oops.) The best present by far was Juana Lydia's red New Years underwear. Apparently, in Italy, it brings good luck to wear new red underwear on New Years Eve. When Juana Lydia heard this a few weeks back, she said jokingly that that should be her Xmas present. We laughed, a lot.

So then we ate dinner, which consisted of some sort of rice with carrots and meat. It's from Nicaragua (my host mom is from there). I learned there is absolutely no real traditional christmas supper food, mabe Carp, but only because of all the foreigners in Switzerland. Then we went to bed.

I spent the next few days skiing- there really isn't much more to do at my family's vacation house. I perfected my technique of not falling down (because I can't stand up with skis on. So my strategy was not to fall in the first place.) My host sister Paula's boyfriend came to stay with us a few days. And it turns out that our skitrip was cancelled due to lack of snow. Oh well, there was still snow by the vacation house, so I just stayed there.

On new year's eve, we had guests, the leader of Sofinisbas, which is the organization with which my host dad went to Nicaragua with (in order to build houses, I think), and his wife, who is Canadian, and therefore speaks really odd german. But anyway, it was nice having a vegetarian in the house, because I didn't have to eat so insanely much meat as before (I still lean towards vegetarianism...). So on New Years, we had Rocklette, which is a swiss speciality involving, guess what, CHEESE. (They had asked me what the biggest surprise in comming here was, and I said that the Swiss really do eat that much cheese. There was much laughter, because it's true, and I don't like cheese, I suppose...) There is a little oven on the table, and you take out your tray, out a slice of cheese on it, and put it back in the oven. then you wait for it to melt. In the meantime, you can take a potato, and cut it up, along with small pickled onions and pickles. When the cheese is done, you put it all over everything and eat it. I prefer it to fondue by quite a considerable margin.

Then after a few more days of skiing and doing basically nothing, I came home to a pile of mail. My counsoler gave me Chuchichäschtli, the Swiss German- German - English Dictionary and a scarf. (For those of you who don't know, the real test of your swiss german knowledge is being able to say "Chuchichäschtli" without people laughing at you. I can almost do it. Almost. The last time I said it was in front of my German teacher, who silently started cracking up.) As well as a small package from LeighAnne, with a cd full of pictures and recordings (which are all on my MP3 player) which was and continues to be insanely cool. And hillarious. "And what else are we doing? Oh Jingle Bells! I fucking hate jingle bells!"

In short, the whole holiday experience was exactly the opposite of what I do at home.

For the next 3 weeks I go to school normally, then the week after that, I have Theater Week. Believe it or not, I have a part in the play. "Endgame" by Sâmuel Beckett. I am Hamm 2. To make the Beckett play actually intresting (because trust me, his plays aren't. It's what doesn't happen that is important, not what does), we split the two main characters into 6 pairs, which means that I only have 1/6 of the lines I would have if I were the only person playing Hamm. And anyway it is cool. I hope someone records it actually. In short, it's the end of the world. Hamm can't walk, and Clov waits on him and keeps saying he's going to leave Hamm. Which he does, presumably at the end. After tons of intresting exchanges like

"Clov!"

"Yeah."

"What time is it?"

"The same as normal"

"Have you checked?"

"Yes."

"and?"

"Nothing."

"It must have rained."

" It won't rain."

Facinating.

Anyway, after theater week, I have two weeks more of vacation. Then a few more weeks, then easter vacation. Then slightly more school, then summer vacation. Then I come home. That is crazy.

I hope you all are having fun. Greetings to teh extended family, because I don't know how many of them read this, and to Peter (in case LeighAnne is reading)

Ciao miteinand.

Woot

2006-12-22T08:51:00.000-08:00

Today I bought a sweater. Just for some random infmormation.

Well two weeks ago, I went skiing for the first time. It is in all honesty not all that bad. Like iceskating, but with longerblades and, uh, downhill, which adds a certain challenge to the whole thing if i say so myself.

I just typed that whole thing without mixing up the y and the z key once! God I am going to be screwed when I come back to good olde american keyboards...

Wednesday was the Weihnachtsfeier at the school. I sang in the choir. the church is freezing. that is all that I learned. When our teacher told us to dress warm, I assumed he meant it how normal people take it, namely a sweater and maybe a scarf. He did not tell me I would loose two of my favorite toes that evening... Anyway, as a novelty, the whole thing (and I mean whole thing, the parts out of the bible, the songs, everything) was in english, which made freezing to death just that much more boring. I also decided while my bum litterally froze underneath me that monks needed girlfriends. Badly. I mean, who has time to paint random woodwork gold?

Afterwards, I went to our class's christmas party (which involved me walking in the bitter cold to the Spinnerei and then climbing up to the 4th floor). We all ate sandwiches, played a game (which our english teacher, who is the teacher responsible for our class, did not like for some reason; I thought it was funny.) We had invited our Geography teacher. It turns out he is in fact the coolest teacher we have, most likely simply because he is young. I found out that my Winkel (lit: Angle, but in this sense, Secret Santa) was. And I got a few lovely notes from my friends via Angel Post (there was a bin in the cafeteria and you throw in a note or a present with the name and the class on it, then "Angels" deliver it to the different parties around the school. I also saw a Schmutzli or two...)

For the next two weeks I am going to my family's vacation house. We're celebrating christmas and wishing for more snow. I still have to pack actually....

For those of you who are counting, I now have a new ear piercing. my mother was one hundred procent right; You can pierce your ear anywhere you have a needle and a potato. It actually doesn't hurt at all to do so, but sticking the earring in was a bitch (the post was thicker than my pin...) It is exactly how I imagined it would look. It hurt a hell of a lot less than the first time I had them done. Pictures when it is all healed.

And one last thing...

Well that went fast!

2006-11-29T02:55:00.001-08:00

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.

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

2006-11-27T12:51:00.000-08:00

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.

2006-11-24T14:45:00.000-08:00

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!!

2006-11-11T09:40:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2006-11-08T11:57:00.000-08:00

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!

2006-11-04T07:38:00.000-08:00

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:

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

Procrastination continues...

2006-10-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

I have learned that the swiss students procrastinate too. Good. Now I don't feel so bad that I am not yet finished with my AGSW project book.

Instead, I spent a good 30 minutes talking to my father and mother. Also good.

I am thinking that once I write 3 more pages, I will go write a letter to leighanne.

A little something to tide you and me over until dinner..

2006-10-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

So, I am working on a huge email/entry, but it isn't finished because I haven't had time to get the pictures off the camera. But I want to pull on your coat about something...

After I was introduced, the teacher said that we were going to start notes, so everyone should take out there paper. The paper was taken out, and it was neither college ruled nor wide ruled. It resembles graph paper with margins,
with darker lines for writing, and lighter guide-lines.Chapter One: Line functions, was written on the tableau (chalk board). Everyone wrote the title, and the I hear a universal unzippering of pencil cases: out comes 32 rulers. Every single student used their ruler to underline the title. As the notes went on, whenever a line or underline or a boxing of a formula was written, a ruler was used. Then the teacher asked the class to draw a circle, and what do you know 32 compasses appeared, and 32 perfect circles were drawn! To sketch a figure in France means to create a to-scale, geometrically accurate, straight-lined artistic masterpiece. -Zach, in France
This is also entirely true in Switzerland. It is really unnerving. In my class, all the kids have these felt tip pens in different colors so that they can EXACTLY copy what is on the projector. If the teacher writes something in Red, out come 24 red pens. If the teacher draws a line with light blue chalk on the board, it is also light blue in the notes.
I honestly just cannot work like that. My pencil case has one blue fountain pen. One magical fountain pen ink erasing pen. One pencil. A pack of lead. An eraser. I have only one tablet of paper.
Do some of you remember that lip piercing that I have wanted for a while but will never have the courage to get? I've seen three (female) classmates here who have one. Not like the goth kids either, normal people. And I just remembered my parents are reading this! Forget those last few sentences! Seriously mom and dad. No body piercings... yet. -Claudia, Spain

That is also true of Switzerland. Completely normal people with normal jobs have body piercings. When I got my Ausländerbeweiss at the city office in Baden, the guy who interviewed me and took my picture had an eyebrow, nose, and lip piercing. He was also in a Tshirt. I find it a little disorienting at times that you can see all these piercings by lawyers, doctors, government offices etc.
That is all I have for now, except that I am jealous of all you guys who are doing kickboxing, karate, and other insanely fun classes. I honestly have no time in my schedule for it.
Until my next big thing!
Alyssa

Variowoche and the Not-Strictly-Nessacary-But-Somewhat-Welcome-Vacation

2006-10-12T01:45:00.000-07:00

(MORE PICS TO COME LATER TODAY!!! I have to go to school and learn Chinese, Physics, read some Berdholt Brecht, and beat my class at math. ) EDIT: Done for now, with love from Switzerland, the land of wilhelm tell and Fleischkäse (more to come on that next time), Alyssa

(written 10/9) Well I haven't posted in approximately a month, but that is Switzerland for you. Actually, Truth be told it isn't Switzerland so much as my own laziness. But hey, bygones and so...

First off, my hair is ungodly long. Why you ask? because a haircut in Switzerland by a professional costs 80 CHF. that is more than a concert ticket. More than 3 concert tickets actually. That is a lot of money in my eyes, so at the moment I am just pretending that I have those spooky side bang things and hoping that in a month it won't look so weird.

I am looking through my camera and I have a picture of a graveyard, which I thnk is a little spooky, as I don't remember going to a graveyard. Then again, I am probably the kid of kid who would just go to a graveyard and sit around, I am kind of weird like that.

On to Variowoche. During Variowoche at my school, the kids get to do soemthing entirely frivolous for a change. I was in fashion design. On the first day I was dressed up in a lovely paper dress that my partners and I designed. I think on the third day we were assigned to make clothes that expressed something about us that clothes normally can't express (sore throat, in love, etc.) out of natural materials that we collected in the woods (cause that totally is not at all a weird assignment). As i recall we were instructed to wear nice underwear for the photoshoot. Umm, yeah. the American in me is not quite used to the ammount of nudity in europe. It is seriously everywhere. There is a series of ads with the phrase "Love Life. Stop Aids" and in all of these ads people are naked. they are fencing naked (oww...). They are playing ice hockey naked (cold...). That I can deal with, but the idea of taking off real clothes and putting on ones made of leaves for a school photoshoot is a little odd to me.

Looking through my pictures, I have one of the restaurant we hiked to in the mountains with one of my host parents friends. It was good, I ate some Lebkuchen and hot chocolate. Delicious. I also have a picture of the cows with the bells, but I finally found out what the huge bells are for. Apparetntly the oldest cow gets the biggest bell. They wear bells so that when they are lost in the mountians, someone can hear them.

And as an intrseting sidenote, military duty in Switzerland is compulsory for men. I am not sure how it works really, but springing out of this is a really hot issue that I find facinating: weapons in the houshold. These young men who are doing their Militärpflicht as it is called take their weapons home. Not ordinary shotguns and hunting weapons, I am talking about the kind I used in James Bond video games with my brother and dad. Huge, Automatic weapons. It seems to me that the majority of men think that the women are making too big a fuss about it, but to me it seems to be something that one should make a fuss about. Something like 60% of the suicides in Switzerland are committed with these weapons. There are also horrible stories about women whose husbands basically held them hostage with them. When a divorce is impending, the lawyers apparently advise women to hide these weapons. I find it crazy that apparently every house in Switzerland, a country which hasn't had a war for something like a 100 years, has an automatic weapon that I have only seen in video games...And as this picture demonstrates, on the bus...

The rest of my photos are kind of dull and touristy. I went to the Rheinfalls, which are really impressive. And the Matterhorn, the highest mountian in Switzerland. I also was in France for a day, but I only really got a picture of a really neat church. Ironically, in france, every french restaurant in the town was closed; So we had to have italian (which was the best choice out of Kouskous, Chinese, and Kebab).

(you know this is going to be your new desktop, don't fight the force of switzerland!!!)

Other than that, not much is going on. I have to sign up for a Rotary outting today, then find 5 sponsors in the next week. I am not quite sure that it is a fair system; it must be really hard for the kids who don't really speak German all that well yet. The hardest thing is that people, especially older people, can't stay speaking High German for extended ammounts of time. First of all, it isn't their language, it is quasi-foreign. second of all, as my host father told me, people who lived through WWII see it as the language of the Nazis, and therefore won't speak it. Even though my German teacher and the Rotary Club insist that I should ask people to speak high german around me all the time, I rarely ever ask if someone starts talking to me in Swiss German.

I hear high german all day in the school, and I would say that I am fairly fleuent. I understand the news (TV and the newspaper), I can understand spongebob (which for some reason, i find entertaining in German when I never watched it in America), most movies on tv, the teachers, I can hold a conversation about as well as i can in english (which doesn't say much because i have horrid conversational skills). If I concentrate a little, I can also understand most swiss german, and swiss german doesn't sound so foreign either now. English is weird. When we were at the Matterhorn and there were assorted tourists from english speaking countries, I honestly couldn't understand what they were saying without really focusing on it.

2006-09-23T03:57:00.000-07:00

One of the stands in Hell during SoNaFe.
Our stand in heaven obviously, inside we have a hooka, beer, and cake. No one was buying cake, so it was free after 10pm.

Juana Lydia and Martin (paula's boyfriend) laughing about my foot getting stuck in the mud while we were searching for mushrooms.

A swiss cow. It is actually a lot larger than the picture makes it look. A little church shrine where we decided to have a picnic. It takes an hour to hike there, and about half that to get back. pfft, mountains...

Martin, me, Juana Lydia, and carla in front of a rock formation that I apparently have to hike the next time we go. There is about a 30 foot sheer drop behind us. Carla and I signed the book in the shrine, which politely informed me that we were some 2073 meters above sea level.

The cloud sea in the valley as we hiked back. View from the window outside my flute lesson room. I just really like the statue. Those stairs lead to my chemistry room, where I have found the swiss equivavlent of Gary. Only a scholastic scrimmage kid would know to whom I am refering.

Waiting in the Kreuzgang outside of the music room.

That is all for today, goodnight and have a pleasant tomorrow.

2006-09-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that I have not blogged in forever. huh. funny that.

there will definately be one after herbst ferien. I will try for one before. Thanks dudes.

A short report

2006-08-11T00:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I`ve been in switzerland for a few days now, since sunday actually.

I spent the first few days at my counsellor Micheal`s house. I visited my first castle, Castle Lenyburg, and shopped around Migros, the Bahnhofplatz, and old Baden.

I`ve been reading Harry Potter, but other than that there isn`t much to do until I start school next week. Today, I am going out to buy a cell phone. I have yet to open a bank account. This Sunday, I have my first Rotary Club Meeting. For some reason, it doesn`t sound as fun as the ones in America. Perhaps because there will be no Tiago there. TIAGO!!!!!!!! LOL. Tuesday, I visit the school I am going to with Micheal, so I can make a schedule (which hopefully will include some much needed flute lessons). I saw the school last night with my host father and sister. It`s very nice actually, less like a prison than Nazareth, much less.

My mom apparently got an aim account to talk to me, to bad I have MSN here. But it was cute, she was happy to have used lol in the email.

Journaling has actually been going really well as a substitue for blogging; I wrote for 2 and a half hours in Amsterdam airport alone. There`s also this awesome Iced Tea here you can buy at migros, Lotus Blume White Tea, it`s a lot sweeter than the other drinks I`ve tried here, and I`ve tried absolutely everything offered me.

A test post

2006-08-04T22:44:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

At this time tomorrow, I will be in Switzerland, and the adventure begins.