Guten Abend alle!
Well, this is my last Switzerland entry and my last great adventure. Too bad I’ll forget all of this in five years - stupid memory. That’s why I took pictures!
What I’ll miss:
- My gremlins.
- Being so close to nature.
- The boats!
- Taking the train.
- Convenient and reliable transportation.
- Weight Watchers everything. Loved the ice cream (chocolate was the shit!), the brötchen, mayo, pudding, cervela, cheese, fondue, meats, snacks, etc. So nice not to have to add calories or nothing. I know I’m okay grabbing one of their products.
- Produce and food is cheaper here (except for eating out which I didn’t do).
- Always baking something.
- Aiden and Rafi never refusing to being my official food tasters.
- This one pan they got in Germany. I want this pan! I’ve cooked a whole chicken in it and my fried rice comes out perfect.
- Fondue and Raclette.
- Medicine that is affordable and it works.
- Going to IKEA for 1 CHF hot dogs.
- Did I mention my gremlins?
- The boys coming into my room with smiles on their faces.
- Watching them adding more and more words to their daily language.
- Going to Büsingen to go grocery shopping. It’s worth it for the drama over who is going to ride in the cart seat. Since its been Libby and I, problem solved, we get two carts.
- My German classes. I had a great teacher.
- And duh, of course Alain and Libby even though they are both retarded sometimes.
- The place we stayed at in Calabria, Italy. You can’t beat on the beach for a little over 100 CHF a week!
- The book stores in Basel.
- Shopping in St. Gallen.
- ALL the castles. CASTLES.
- My IC train. I had my spot after a while. Five minutes later, a guy comes by with a cart offering coffee.
- Montreux and Vevey.
So finally Libby and I found a really good Broki in Thayngen. It’s right behind the Bahnhof. We are having dinner Sunday with the neighbors again. Tomorrow night we are supposed to go out with Priska.
Wish me a safe flight Monday.
Rebekah.
PS: pics from Switzerland will be posted by mid-December.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Grüezi! 4pm of Darkness - The 10th Entry
Shönen Tag alle!
So my time here is almost done (and there better not be any huzzahs!). Yesterday was my last hurrah to Zürich. I went to the Land Museum to see a photo exhibit and the China Garden (which was closed for the winter). There’s a bog pond where they have stones that you can walk on to get to the other side, once there I ate lunch by Lake Zurich, enjoying the early sunset at 4pm. The only way I could describe my day was a line form one of my books, “…all for the last time.”
Did some window shopping and got ingredients for my cake for tonight’s dinner party with the neighbors. Tonight I am baking a lemon vanilla yoghurt cake. It’s in the oven now and I have everything I need to make the icing. I <3 dinner parties! Libby cooking two chickens and I’m not too sure what else we’re having yet, it’s only 2pm!
Earlier this week, Libby and I had our own Zürich day where we went to NONAM (North American Native Museum). It houses a huge exhibition of Native American and Indigenous tribes. Then we met Alain in Winterthur to eat at this place called the Outback Lodge where I enjoyed kangaroo steak for the first time! Ist schmeckt sehr gut!
There was tea time with Madeline twice this week. She came here and then we went over. I got to see their house for the first time. And she showed us the goulashes and dry suits she got for the boys when it wet outside, they can still play.
Let’s see, I was oinked at last week. I glared at someone Wednesday after they reeked of booze and begged me for money for the Zug. Got pissy hearing Spanish on the bus from two obviously loud Dominican Republic Gucci wearing women. And you know what they were blabbing about so damn loudly, coffee. They were complaining about this place that serves bad coffee. Get a life! I laughed when some German guy told them to shut up!
This leads to: the Swiss are as reserved about certain things like us Americas are. In public places (unless you’re drunk) you don’t go screaming about like some whacked up freak, especially on the bus and train. The only allowance is children but they like them to stay as quiet as possible in public places. Like on certain trains, they have cars for families so you can be as loud as you want without bothering somebody. We like to think we are very direct but no, you haven’t met the Germans, they have zero tact. In America we would consider them highly rude.
A good example cane from my German book where we read off a conversation about someone who was having a house warming dinner. Immediately the first question was, “how much do you pay because this is terribly small!” As we know, in America we’d only ask that if we know the person personally and even then, people get iffy. I don’t like sharing how much I pay for something and I don’t ask other people. My teacher was like, “in Switzerland, saying something like that to someone you barely know is horribly rude!”
I don’t think the directness is a bad thing, just funny how cultures are very different.
Speaking of German books, Frau Porolli is giving me Schritte 2 and Schritte 3. In Europe, when you learn a language, you get a certificate and the level tells the work place, or school what you know. You start with A1 (Schritte 1 and 2) which is basic German grammar, alphabet, simple verbs, Dative, Gehen + Infinitive, etc. A2 (Schritte 3 and 4) – is more complex verbs, writing (writing and speaking is different), etc. B1 (Schritte 5 and 6) you only take if you are going to write reference papers, do government work, write a novel, etc.
We would call these, Elementary Conversational German, Intermediate Conversational German and German Composition. I thought it was very nice of her. She did tell me that it’s nice to have a student who is serious about learning. To which I smiled.
Now, here is something we should have in America. What my teacher meant was that the people who go to these German courses are there because the government or the place of work sent them. You legally cannot become a citizen, work or have any say in the government unless you complete A1 & A2 then wait 15 – 25 years. If you’re married to a Swiss citizen its 7 years. Even then if you are married (like in Libbys’ case) you cannot be a citizen unless you get a certificate in A1 & A2.
So two more classes left in A1 Scritte 1 and 10 days to go until I return to Florida. Just wish me a safe flight. I don’t want to hear anything else.
Ich wünche alle sehr schön Abend!
Ciao,
Rebekah
So my time here is almost done (and there better not be any huzzahs!). Yesterday was my last hurrah to Zürich. I went to the Land Museum to see a photo exhibit and the China Garden (which was closed for the winter). There’s a bog pond where they have stones that you can walk on to get to the other side, once there I ate lunch by Lake Zurich, enjoying the early sunset at 4pm. The only way I could describe my day was a line form one of my books, “…all for the last time.”
Did some window shopping and got ingredients for my cake for tonight’s dinner party with the neighbors. Tonight I am baking a lemon vanilla yoghurt cake. It’s in the oven now and I have everything I need to make the icing. I <3 dinner parties! Libby cooking two chickens and I’m not too sure what else we’re having yet, it’s only 2pm!
Earlier this week, Libby and I had our own Zürich day where we went to NONAM (North American Native Museum). It houses a huge exhibition of Native American and Indigenous tribes. Then we met Alain in Winterthur to eat at this place called the Outback Lodge where I enjoyed kangaroo steak for the first time! Ist schmeckt sehr gut!
There was tea time with Madeline twice this week. She came here and then we went over. I got to see their house for the first time. And she showed us the goulashes and dry suits she got for the boys when it wet outside, they can still play.
Let’s see, I was oinked at last week. I glared at someone Wednesday after they reeked of booze and begged me for money for the Zug. Got pissy hearing Spanish on the bus from two obviously loud Dominican Republic Gucci wearing women. And you know what they were blabbing about so damn loudly, coffee. They were complaining about this place that serves bad coffee. Get a life! I laughed when some German guy told them to shut up!
This leads to: the Swiss are as reserved about certain things like us Americas are. In public places (unless you’re drunk) you don’t go screaming about like some whacked up freak, especially on the bus and train. The only allowance is children but they like them to stay as quiet as possible in public places. Like on certain trains, they have cars for families so you can be as loud as you want without bothering somebody. We like to think we are very direct but no, you haven’t met the Germans, they have zero tact. In America we would consider them highly rude.
A good example cane from my German book where we read off a conversation about someone who was having a house warming dinner. Immediately the first question was, “how much do you pay because this is terribly small!” As we know, in America we’d only ask that if we know the person personally and even then, people get iffy. I don’t like sharing how much I pay for something and I don’t ask other people. My teacher was like, “in Switzerland, saying something like that to someone you barely know is horribly rude!”
I don’t think the directness is a bad thing, just funny how cultures are very different.
Speaking of German books, Frau Porolli is giving me Schritte 2 and Schritte 3. In Europe, when you learn a language, you get a certificate and the level tells the work place, or school what you know. You start with A1 (Schritte 1 and 2) which is basic German grammar, alphabet, simple verbs, Dative, Gehen + Infinitive, etc. A2 (Schritte 3 and 4) – is more complex verbs, writing (writing and speaking is different), etc. B1 (Schritte 5 and 6) you only take if you are going to write reference papers, do government work, write a novel, etc.
We would call these, Elementary Conversational German, Intermediate Conversational German and German Composition. I thought it was very nice of her. She did tell me that it’s nice to have a student who is serious about learning. To which I smiled.
Now, here is something we should have in America. What my teacher meant was that the people who go to these German courses are there because the government or the place of work sent them. You legally cannot become a citizen, work or have any say in the government unless you complete A1 & A2 then wait 15 – 25 years. If you’re married to a Swiss citizen its 7 years. Even then if you are married (like in Libbys’ case) you cannot be a citizen unless you get a certificate in A1 & A2.
So two more classes left in A1 Scritte 1 and 10 days to go until I return to Florida. Just wish me a safe flight. I don’t want to hear anything else.
Ich wünche alle sehr schön Abend!
Ciao,
Rebekah
Monday, November 2, 2009
Grüezi! Happy Halloween - The 9th Entry
Well, I have come to my last month here in der Schweiz.
In my time here I have learned numerous lessons:
1. You're better off being alone. Its absolutely not worth being with someone. Its terrible to see that no one i know is truly happy and content in their relationships.
2. Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies/family even closer. Everyone back-stabs you in the end.
3. Always remember to smile. You'd be surprised how just saying thank you can make someones day.
4. In Europe, there is no such thing as three feet of personal space.
5. If you know where the Bahnhof is, you'll never get lost.
6. Beware of free candy.
7. Even the crazy people need someone to talk to.
8. Happiness is what you make it to be.
So I went to Basel last week, and enjoyed the art city of Switzerland. There are tons of movie houses, museums, shopping, art stores etc. But what i loved the most was all the book stores. Most of them second-hand. I love the way books smell.
I also returned to Luzern, after seeing an excellent exhibition at the art museum, i went shopping and head to the docks to catch my boat from Luzern to Brunnen. Lake Zurich is massive and the boat rode well into the night. Clear skies and an almost full moon made the journey enjoyable and yes, i was the only idiot sitting outside in the freezing cold.
Halloween, came and we carved a pumpkin and lit it outside. I had gotten some candy in hopes that we may receive some trick-o-treaters. Halloween is an American holiday so I was told that no one may show up. Only in the big cities, they celebrate Haloween. To my delight, we did get 2 groups of kids. A group of seven girls at 7pm and a group of teenagers near midnight. Those boys were so happy to get what was left of the candy. They heard me speak English so they kept saying, "Thank you!"
I baked four batches of cookies for Halloween. Earlier that day i started making my doughs, my infamous honey peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisen and orange sugar cookies. I gave all the chocolate chip cookies to Abi & Liby next door since I am not a fan of them.
Not many pics this week. Like I said in the beginning, the only pics I'm sharing are the one on the point-n-shoot. On my blog, i will be posting the pics from my pro-camera.
Rebekah
Pic 1: Halloween
Pic 2: Halloween
In my time here I have learned numerous lessons:
1. You're better off being alone. Its absolutely not worth being with someone. Its terrible to see that no one i know is truly happy and content in their relationships.
2. Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies/family even closer. Everyone back-stabs you in the end.
3. Always remember to smile. You'd be surprised how just saying thank you can make someones day.
4. In Europe, there is no such thing as three feet of personal space.
5. If you know where the Bahnhof is, you'll never get lost.
6. Beware of free candy.
7. Even the crazy people need someone to talk to.
8. Happiness is what you make it to be.
So I went to Basel last week, and enjoyed the art city of Switzerland. There are tons of movie houses, museums, shopping, art stores etc. But what i loved the most was all the book stores. Most of them second-hand. I love the way books smell.
I also returned to Luzern, after seeing an excellent exhibition at the art museum, i went shopping and head to the docks to catch my boat from Luzern to Brunnen. Lake Zurich is massive and the boat rode well into the night. Clear skies and an almost full moon made the journey enjoyable and yes, i was the only idiot sitting outside in the freezing cold.
Halloween, came and we carved a pumpkin and lit it outside. I had gotten some candy in hopes that we may receive some trick-o-treaters. Halloween is an American holiday so I was told that no one may show up. Only in the big cities, they celebrate Haloween. To my delight, we did get 2 groups of kids. A group of seven girls at 7pm and a group of teenagers near midnight. Those boys were so happy to get what was left of the candy. They heard me speak English so they kept saying, "Thank you!"
I baked four batches of cookies for Halloween. Earlier that day i started making my doughs, my infamous honey peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisen and orange sugar cookies. I gave all the chocolate chip cookies to Abi & Liby next door since I am not a fan of them.
Not many pics this week. Like I said in the beginning, the only pics I'm sharing are the one on the point-n-shoot. On my blog, i will be posting the pics from my pro-camera.
Rebekah
Pic 1: Halloween
Pic 2: Halloween
Friday, October 23, 2009
Grüezi! Mountain buses have grammatical errors - The 8th Entry
Guten Tag! Ich wünche alle ein sehr gut Tag. :)
I don’t know why I bother, once I return to Spanish infested SE Florida it’ll all disappear anyways. It’s still fun to dream right? Whatever. LOL
Okay, it has been a while, so I did a lot in the last few days so not to bore people with descriptions, I’m just gonna list stuff. If I feel like expanding, I will. And as per request, I’m writing these in Word first before placing them in the email since the lack of capital “i” are pissing some people off.
Well, I didn’t go to Luzern yet since I found an exhibition that’s opening on the 25 of October I want to see, so next week.
Last weekend was Liechtenstein (it’s a TINY country between Austria and Switzerland. You can drive through it in 25 minutes.). It’s a 3 hour train ride; Schaffahusen to Rorschach to Buchs then a bus to Vaduz (the capital of Liechtenstein. It’s nice to see a country with barely any poverty, everyone has a job, and everyone is middle class or above. Well, they have more companies and
factories than people. Regardless, I visited the Landmusuem to learn about its rich history and then to the Art Museum for an amazing exhibition called, Modernism as a Ruin. Deals with a lot of my personal concepts in my art. It’s on loan from Nuremberg, Germany.
They have a strange German dialect that I barely understood but funny thing is, they all speak English which I didn’t realize until after I spoke to them in German and then another person comes up behind me and speaks in English.
Then Tuesday was French-Swiss day. It’s a 4-5 hour train ride so I dedicated a whole day to it. Sat with some Americans (by accident, they found me) all the way from Zürich to Lausanne. From there I traveled to Nyon and took a mountain bus to Chateau de Prangins where I saw a great exhibition. The one thing I will thank the French for is bringing everyone out of the Christian inspired dark ages. Blessed science! Blessed Literacy! Blessed medicine! Blessed personal hygiene! It was really cool to see some of the first indoor plumbing showers, books on delivering babies and STD guides.
Then went to Vevey to go to the camera museum which was awesome. Then took a boat from Vevey to Lausanne. It was cold that day, -2 C so like 29 F? And I and these two gay guys from America were the only people sitting outside. We huddled together, watching the sunset and enjoyed the ride, waving to kids who were waving to the boat as it passed by. An hour and a half later, we arrived to Lausanne and never being there before, we found the underground tram that took us to the Gare (they didn’t know that was the French term for train station). At the
Gare/Bahnhof, they continued off to Genevé (Geneva) while I waited for the IC and headed back to Zurich.
Too bad I fell asleep on the bus, (I had to get up at 4:30am to catch a train out) and had to walk a good thirty minutes back to the house. Luckily, it’s right on our jogging path so it was familiar.
The next day, I went boating on Lake Zurich, which was fun. Weather had predicted that it would rain. It was nice to see that the sun came out by the time I got to Rapperswill.
Went to Kika (in Germany) and got pants! My 16W jeans have officially become useless (even with a belt) and I needed another pair of pants. Got a 44 (14) pair of black courds, would have gotten a 42 (12) but my only problem with the 12s is that I don’t have a waist, so its tight
and the “muffin-top” even though its in style, doesn’t looks good on anybody. I’m thinking of getting another pair since it was cheap, 9,99 Euros or 13,50 CHF.
Okay, since nobody remembered, the CHF is EQUAL to the $ right now, so I am not converting amounts to the $. The Euro is very high, unfortunately, so that’s why I show conversions. It may look like you get a lot for your money but you have to think about it like this: If I give 20 CHF to trade in, I’m only going to get back not even 14 Euros.
The boy’s birthday party is Sunday. They’ll be two.
I think I’ll be heading to Basel tomorrow.
The mail is delivered by a person on a motorcycle and they come twice a day. The streets are narrow here that it would be pointless to have a truck.
Das Woche, Ich koche; chicken und dumplings, meat loaf oder Fleischbraten, honey-rosemary cakes, biscuits, und baked Wurst und Käse sandwiches. Ist schmeckt sehr gut!
Ich wünche alle ein schön Schlaf!
-Rebekah
Pic 1: Watching a guy seriously diving in the freezing weather in Rorschach.
Pic 2: Schloss Vaduz. The country is ruled by a monarchy so the royal family lives there.
Pic 3: From Buchs to Rorschach.
Pic 4: View from Chateau de Prangins overlooking Lake Geneva.
Pic 5: On the way to Lausanne.
I don’t know why I bother, once I return to Spanish infested SE Florida it’ll all disappear anyways. It’s still fun to dream right? Whatever. LOL
Okay, it has been a while, so I did a lot in the last few days so not to bore people with descriptions, I’m just gonna list stuff. If I feel like expanding, I will. And as per request, I’m writing these in Word first before placing them in the email since the lack of capital “i” are pissing some people off.
Well, I didn’t go to Luzern yet since I found an exhibition that’s opening on the 25 of October I want to see, so next week.
Last weekend was Liechtenstein (it’s a TINY country between Austria and Switzerland. You can drive through it in 25 minutes.). It’s a 3 hour train ride; Schaffahusen to Rorschach to Buchs then a bus to Vaduz (the capital of Liechtenstein. It’s nice to see a country with barely any poverty, everyone has a job, and everyone is middle class or above. Well, they have more companies and
factories than people. Regardless, I visited the Landmusuem to learn about its rich history and then to the Art Museum for an amazing exhibition called, Modernism as a Ruin. Deals with a lot of my personal concepts in my art. It’s on loan from Nuremberg, Germany.
They have a strange German dialect that I barely understood but funny thing is, they all speak English which I didn’t realize until after I spoke to them in German and then another person comes up behind me and speaks in English.
Then Tuesday was French-Swiss day. It’s a 4-5 hour train ride so I dedicated a whole day to it. Sat with some Americans (by accident, they found me) all the way from Zürich to Lausanne. From there I traveled to Nyon and took a mountain bus to Chateau de Prangins where I saw a great exhibition. The one thing I will thank the French for is bringing everyone out of the Christian inspired dark ages. Blessed science! Blessed Literacy! Blessed medicine! Blessed personal hygiene! It was really cool to see some of the first indoor plumbing showers, books on delivering babies and STD guides.
Then went to Vevey to go to the camera museum which was awesome. Then took a boat from Vevey to Lausanne. It was cold that day, -2 C so like 29 F? And I and these two gay guys from America were the only people sitting outside. We huddled together, watching the sunset and enjoyed the ride, waving to kids who were waving to the boat as it passed by. An hour and a half later, we arrived to Lausanne and never being there before, we found the underground tram that took us to the Gare (they didn’t know that was the French term for train station). At the
Gare/Bahnhof, they continued off to Genevé (Geneva) while I waited for the IC and headed back to Zurich.
Too bad I fell asleep on the bus, (I had to get up at 4:30am to catch a train out) and had to walk a good thirty minutes back to the house. Luckily, it’s right on our jogging path so it was familiar.
The next day, I went boating on Lake Zurich, which was fun. Weather had predicted that it would rain. It was nice to see that the sun came out by the time I got to Rapperswill.
Went to Kika (in Germany) and got pants! My 16W jeans have officially become useless (even with a belt) and I needed another pair of pants. Got a 44 (14) pair of black courds, would have gotten a 42 (12) but my only problem with the 12s is that I don’t have a waist, so its tight
and the “muffin-top” even though its in style, doesn’t looks good on anybody. I’m thinking of getting another pair since it was cheap, 9,99 Euros or 13,50 CHF.
Okay, since nobody remembered, the CHF is EQUAL to the $ right now, so I am not converting amounts to the $. The Euro is very high, unfortunately, so that’s why I show conversions. It may look like you get a lot for your money but you have to think about it like this: If I give 20 CHF to trade in, I’m only going to get back not even 14 Euros.
The boy’s birthday party is Sunday. They’ll be two.
I think I’ll be heading to Basel tomorrow.
The mail is delivered by a person on a motorcycle and they come twice a day. The streets are narrow here that it would be pointless to have a truck.
Das Woche, Ich koche; chicken und dumplings, meat loaf oder Fleischbraten, honey-rosemary cakes, biscuits, und baked Wurst und Käse sandwiches. Ist schmeckt sehr gut!
Ich wünche alle ein schön Schlaf!
-Rebekah
Pic 1: Watching a guy seriously diving in the freezing weather in Rorschach.
Pic 2: Schloss Vaduz. The country is ruled by a monarchy so the royal family lives there.
Pic 3: From Buchs to Rorschach.
Pic 4: View from Chateau de Prangins overlooking Lake Geneva.
Pic 5: On the way to Lausanne.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Grüezi! Not Up to Wooden Chairs - The 7th Entry
Yeah, I know this is late.
Alain got sick, then the boys got sick and when the kids get sick...so do I. The only thing bad about Schaffhausen is that nothing is open past 7 or 8 pm. So when I was in Bern (the capital city or Hauptstadt), Sunday I got the boys cough medicine at the Apoteke (pharmacy) since the Rail City (the mini city underneath the Bahnhof) is open 24/7. And on Monday, i had to go to Herblingen, to their Apoteke to get me something too, and i slept all day and all night, not waking until 11am on Tuesday.
Now in Europe, its not like back in America where you go to Walgreen’s and grab anything you want and the only time you go to the counter is when you have a prescription. For any kind of medicine, prescription or not, you have to go to the counter and tell them your symptoms and
they recommend something. If anyone saw Bridget Jones Diary where she's trying to buy a pregnancy test in Switzerland but she doesn't know German, it’s exactly like that. Except that no one joins in...That’s in Italy where no one minds their business.
In a way, it’s good and bad. I can see the pros and cons of it. You just have to be stern if you want something specific. When i came back from Italy and that crap those people gave me didn’t do anything; you had to figure that I had an infection in my lungs and sinuses, fabulously green snot, i spend my whole night hacking up stuff and all I can think of is that I need antibiotics...in America I would be paying hundreds of dollars for medicine that didn’t work because I can’t afford amoxicillin or a Z-pack.
I was skeptical when Libby went with me the day after Italy and she translated my symptoms. The pharmacists comes back with a tiny box that costs 7.50 CHF, it contains 20 effervescent tablets, a total of 600mg a day. For the first time in my life, what only antibiotics could cure, 3x a day for 10 days fizzy tablets did. My goodness, too bad none of that OTC crap back home could cure an infection. If you can do math then you would have been like, "Bekah, wait 20 divided by
3 is not 10, silly!" Alain had some left over from a year ago and I finished off his.
So this time, the second i felt the "gross, icky taste" in the back of my throat (Monday), i went to Herblingen and got the same thing again. Since i caught it a week earlier, today, i only have a stuffy nose. Yay for awesome medicine without a prescription.
Like i said, I was in Bern, Sunday. You can tell that it’s a really old city, very different architecture from Zurich and Schaffhausen. I saw the exhibition, "Kust der Kelten" (Art of the Celts), and I will say that its one of the best Celt exhibitions I have ever seen. I have yet to see one with a complete burial chamber back home, and to see one here was amazing. Too bad I had no one with me to go Art History psycho with. Afterwards, I walked up quiet streets lined with
Victorian row houses <3!, to the largest rose garden in Switzerland. They have a small cafe there that’s open until midnight and it was beautiful. The view of the city below was spectacular and I enjoyed a cold sunny day while eating the much I brought with me.
Again, since i only seem to draw all the weird people, I had planned to enjoy my ride back from Bern to Winterthur by going on the IC so i can work on some revising. So it’s a packed train but i did find a seat with a table. Then some old guy sits across from me. So i expect him to enjoy his coffee, gipfeli (croissant), and French translation of some American murder book. No, instead that he decided that he was going to talk with me and when he found out that i could speak English, the next hour was torture until he got off at Zurich. I heard all the demographics and population of every city in Switzerland, he even pulled out maps...pulled out maps. I swear it was to torture me. Can he not see that I had a 200 page stack of papers and a red pen in my hand, like dude, seriously...
But from him, I realize something hard; i consider myself a very intelligent person, but you never feel dumber than when you come to somewhere like Switzerland. These people NATURALLY speak at least 3 languages. This guy spoke, (he's from Lausanne (in the French part)) French, French-German dialect, Swiss German dialect, High German (what I’m learning) and English - pretty darn good English. You feel like and idiot when you can only speak ONE language, then they know you're from America. Yay for living in a xenophobic country! And these people
ask you things about your own country that i don’t even know. Makes you seem like you live under a rock you're whole life.
Oh well, my other adventure, went horribly. I attempted to hike the Shilwald forest but it was raining (which doesn’t bother me) and i was okay with my jacket that had a hood and its waterproof, waterproof boots, thermals BUT my backpack isn’t waterproof and it’s big and
bulky. So I had to return home, with a soaked backpack and everything got went, realizing that i can’t hike in this country without a waterproof backpack. So there will be a second attempt as I am going to borrow one.
Winter's here, the leaves are turning and yesterday the temperature was 40 F, tomorrow when i go to Luzern, it will be 30 F. Oddly enough, since I've been here to experience the transition in the temperature drop, its not very shocking. I was actually surprised that it was as low as 40 yesterday since it didn't feel like it.
Remember that in one of my earlier emails, which i mentioned about the boosters? It just so happens that Alain's boss’s secretary gave them something even better. Over here, they have these wooden chairs that you can adjust so it grows from infancy to the age of 12. She gave
them the two she had since her children don't need it anymore. Libby was so excited since that was what she originally wanted but it 75 CHF each without the trays and straps (they would have needed it back then) and they couldn’t afford it. Libby and Alain keeping everything clean are going to sell the two highchairs since they also kept the original boxes.
Hrm, since I always seem to add a German conversation on here:
My trip to the Apoteke on Monday:
A pharmacist approaches me since her counter is open and i can't see her because of the support beam in the way:
"Grüezi! Kann Blah Blah Blah ?" (She’s asking if she could help me)
I reply, "Ja, kann Ich habe das? Aber in zweihundred, bitte."
She takes that package from my hand that says 600mg. She smiles, "Genau."
And I follow her to her counter where she hands me the 200mg box, "Das ist?" she reaffirms.
I take the box, "Ja! Genau, vielen dank.”
“Bitte shörn.” She types on the register. “Seiben und fünfzig.”
I hand her 7.50 Franks, repeating what she said (it helps me with my numbers), “Seiben und fünfzig.”
She takes it and counts it, “Danke! Tschüs!”
“Ciao!” And I leave with my medicine.
Pic 1: Aiden and his wooden chair.
Pic 2: Rafi and his wooden chair
Pic 3: The boys.
Pic 4: the boys.
Pic 5: Bern from the rose garden.
Pic 6: Otterngutstrasse, Libby's street.
Pic 7: Horgen, the town of water ferries (not fairies, ferries).
Now I was asked why am not in any of the pictures? Well, i travel everywhere alone.
Ciao,
Rebekah
Alain got sick, then the boys got sick and when the kids get sick...so do I. The only thing bad about Schaffhausen is that nothing is open past 7 or 8 pm. So when I was in Bern (the capital city or Hauptstadt), Sunday I got the boys cough medicine at the Apoteke (pharmacy) since the Rail City (the mini city underneath the Bahnhof) is open 24/7. And on Monday, i had to go to Herblingen, to their Apoteke to get me something too, and i slept all day and all night, not waking until 11am on Tuesday.
Now in Europe, its not like back in America where you go to Walgreen’s and grab anything you want and the only time you go to the counter is when you have a prescription. For any kind of medicine, prescription or not, you have to go to the counter and tell them your symptoms and
they recommend something. If anyone saw Bridget Jones Diary where she's trying to buy a pregnancy test in Switzerland but she doesn't know German, it’s exactly like that. Except that no one joins in...That’s in Italy where no one minds their business.
In a way, it’s good and bad. I can see the pros and cons of it. You just have to be stern if you want something specific. When i came back from Italy and that crap those people gave me didn’t do anything; you had to figure that I had an infection in my lungs and sinuses, fabulously green snot, i spend my whole night hacking up stuff and all I can think of is that I need antibiotics...in America I would be paying hundreds of dollars for medicine that didn’t work because I can’t afford amoxicillin or a Z-pack.
I was skeptical when Libby went with me the day after Italy and she translated my symptoms. The pharmacists comes back with a tiny box that costs 7.50 CHF, it contains 20 effervescent tablets, a total of 600mg a day. For the first time in my life, what only antibiotics could cure, 3x a day for 10 days fizzy tablets did. My goodness, too bad none of that OTC crap back home could cure an infection. If you can do math then you would have been like, "Bekah, wait 20 divided by
3 is not 10, silly!" Alain had some left over from a year ago and I finished off his.
So this time, the second i felt the "gross, icky taste" in the back of my throat (Monday), i went to Herblingen and got the same thing again. Since i caught it a week earlier, today, i only have a stuffy nose. Yay for awesome medicine without a prescription.
Like i said, I was in Bern, Sunday. You can tell that it’s a really old city, very different architecture from Zurich and Schaffhausen. I saw the exhibition, "Kust der Kelten" (Art of the Celts), and I will say that its one of the best Celt exhibitions I have ever seen. I have yet to see one with a complete burial chamber back home, and to see one here was amazing. Too bad I had no one with me to go Art History psycho with. Afterwards, I walked up quiet streets lined with
Victorian row houses <3!, to the largest rose garden in Switzerland. They have a small cafe there that’s open until midnight and it was beautiful. The view of the city below was spectacular and I enjoyed a cold sunny day while eating the much I brought with me.
Again, since i only seem to draw all the weird people, I had planned to enjoy my ride back from Bern to Winterthur by going on the IC so i can work on some revising. So it’s a packed train but i did find a seat with a table. Then some old guy sits across from me. So i expect him to enjoy his coffee, gipfeli (croissant), and French translation of some American murder book. No, instead that he decided that he was going to talk with me and when he found out that i could speak English, the next hour was torture until he got off at Zurich. I heard all the demographics and population of every city in Switzerland, he even pulled out maps...pulled out maps. I swear it was to torture me. Can he not see that I had a 200 page stack of papers and a red pen in my hand, like dude, seriously...
But from him, I realize something hard; i consider myself a very intelligent person, but you never feel dumber than when you come to somewhere like Switzerland. These people NATURALLY speak at least 3 languages. This guy spoke, (he's from Lausanne (in the French part)) French, French-German dialect, Swiss German dialect, High German (what I’m learning) and English - pretty darn good English. You feel like and idiot when you can only speak ONE language, then they know you're from America. Yay for living in a xenophobic country! And these people
ask you things about your own country that i don’t even know. Makes you seem like you live under a rock you're whole life.
Oh well, my other adventure, went horribly. I attempted to hike the Shilwald forest but it was raining (which doesn’t bother me) and i was okay with my jacket that had a hood and its waterproof, waterproof boots, thermals BUT my backpack isn’t waterproof and it’s big and
bulky. So I had to return home, with a soaked backpack and everything got went, realizing that i can’t hike in this country without a waterproof backpack. So there will be a second attempt as I am going to borrow one.
Winter's here, the leaves are turning and yesterday the temperature was 40 F, tomorrow when i go to Luzern, it will be 30 F. Oddly enough, since I've been here to experience the transition in the temperature drop, its not very shocking. I was actually surprised that it was as low as 40 yesterday since it didn't feel like it.
Remember that in one of my earlier emails, which i mentioned about the boosters? It just so happens that Alain's boss’s secretary gave them something even better. Over here, they have these wooden chairs that you can adjust so it grows from infancy to the age of 12. She gave
them the two she had since her children don't need it anymore. Libby was so excited since that was what she originally wanted but it 75 CHF each without the trays and straps (they would have needed it back then) and they couldn’t afford it. Libby and Alain keeping everything clean are going to sell the two highchairs since they also kept the original boxes.
Hrm, since I always seem to add a German conversation on here:
My trip to the Apoteke on Monday:
A pharmacist approaches me since her counter is open and i can't see her because of the support beam in the way:
"Grüezi! Kann Blah Blah Blah ?" (She’s asking if she could help me)
I reply, "Ja, kann Ich habe das? Aber in zweihundred, bitte."
She takes that package from my hand that says 600mg. She smiles, "Genau."
And I follow her to her counter where she hands me the 200mg box, "Das ist?" she reaffirms.
I take the box, "Ja! Genau, vielen dank.”
“Bitte shörn.” She types on the register. “Seiben und fünfzig.”
I hand her 7.50 Franks, repeating what she said (it helps me with my numbers), “Seiben und fünfzig.”
She takes it and counts it, “Danke! Tschüs!”
“Ciao!” And I leave with my medicine.
Pic 1: Aiden and his wooden chair.
Pic 2: Rafi and his wooden chair
Pic 3: The boys.
Pic 4: the boys.
Pic 5: Bern from the rose garden.
Pic 6: Otterngutstrasse, Libby's street.
Pic 7: Horgen, the town of water ferries (not fairies, ferries).
Now I was asked why am not in any of the pictures? Well, i travel everywhere alone.
Ciao,
Rebekah
Monday, October 5, 2009
Grüezi! Girls are Grazing Cows - The 6th Entry
Now we're catching up. All the posts from the email will be added the same day here. As for the pics, I'm working on those.
Guten Tag alle,
Well, even though i did a few things this week, I think I will take a moment to write about other things.
- The boys saw their first hummingbird this week. Libby has a bush with purple flowers out front and early in the morning, it came by for a while to enjoy nectar.
- They all had a safe trip to Serbia, another poor as dirt country, Alain told me that 1 Euro goes a long way. He went to withdraw money from the ATM just to find out that you can only take out 4 Euros at a time when 200 of their money = 4 Euros. The monthly income is 150 Euros a month. Do the math. Billiana's and Sergio's re-wedding ceremony and party was wonderful (they are married but they renewed their vows), they had a lot of technical difficulties with broken planes, broken taxis and the limo forgetting to pick up the bride and groom. Libby said that Alain danced the night away, a beer in one hand and a cigar in the other. LOL.
I can't believe I haven't spoken about the neighbors! Their landlords are Indian; very nice people. Their neighbor who rents the townhome unit next door are weird. Since I'm out front often Libby warned me that the husband likes to wander around in his undies and I thought
that maybe she meant like boxers or tighty-whities. So I'm with the boys and they're being handy helpers by putting clippings in the bag when the wife comes out and I wave hi. They don't speak English and at the time I knew no German. She came out with her water can and started
working on their flowers. Now they are an older couple, maybe in their fifties or sixties, she's wearing pajamas and her husbands calls for her and she responds. Suddenly he steps out, wearing nothing but a little black bikini bottom and smiles and waves. I wave back; the boys
getting a glorious view of saggy skin, beer gut and grey body hair. LOL.
Okay, so I was alone this weekend and I rocked out, taking vengence on the neighbors below us who decided to have a party that lasted all night long playing their shitty music untill 6am without turning down the music. Saturday I make the trek to St. Gallen. A 2 hour train ride
through the countryside. On the way i took a train that rode next to the Rhine and it was very beautiful. We had to go through Germany for a moment but luckily "Kontrolle" didn't come on the train. My GA pass only covers fare & routes for all of Switzerland.
There was barely anyone on the train for about an hour and a half until we got to Romanshorn where a group of teenage girls decided that out of the entire empty train car that they were going to sit adjacent from me. We took off and they started eating loudly, smacking their chompers and eating with their mouths open. It was very annoying but i soon found out that it provided the perfect soundtrack to the pastures of grazing cattle outside the window. Then after they were done they were suddenly very loud and annoying, a few others who sat in my car at the time were, "shush"ing them constantly. Then one of the girls held out her hand to the friend in front of her and said very loudly in English:
"Hello! I am a frog! Hello! I'm a frog!"
"And what do frogs eat?! Flies!" said the other.
"Hello! I am a frog that eat flies!!" she repeats.
"Rararaaaazooooom!" screaches the thrid one.
The look on my face was priceless. A man came over and spoke to them. They giggled at him as he walked away. It was the longest 30 minutes on a train.
St. Gallen is a fairly large city. Houses one of the oldest libraries in existence, has a gorgeous rose garden in the center of the city and on Saturday is market day. All the stores are located in St. Gallen, open for business. People were handing out free chocolate, free bratwursts, Asian chicken, free wine etc. There was also an open air market where farmers sold their breads, crops and flowers. I visited the Textile Museum which was very nice, depicting the history of the textile industry in Switzerland. Also, companies had samples made available for citizens to purchase.
On the way back i took one of the regional trains, which i like riding. They are different from the Thurbos and S-Bahns. The regional trains have the tables, dining cars, lounges, etc. The one i rode was the IC that goes from St. Gallen and hits, Zurich Flughafen, Bern Flughafen and Geneva Fluhafen - so technically it rides across the entirety of Switzerland. They have a kidding play train car, places where large groups can sit and have meetings or chill out and areas where you can catch a snooze.
The IC doesn't go to Schaffhausen so I had to get off at Winterthur and i ran into my German teacher Frau Provolli. She asked me what i was doing in Winterthur since I lived in Schaffhausen. I was rather proud as I told her in German, "Ich komme auf St. Gallen. Ich gehe zu die Textile Musuem. Das Bahn nicht geht zu Schaffahusen. Das ist warum Ich bin in Winterthur." she got the point.
Sarah saw me off as I drove out of the driveway to get Libby, Alain and the boys. I thought i was going to be late since a ricer car was going 60 on an 80 highway, but there was one lane due to construction. One i got to the autobahn and the speed signs at night show a gray stripe, i gophered the guy in from of me. Normally its 100 which you can go 120 but the gray ban means that you can go as fast at your car can take you. It was awesome going 140! I made up time until i got to Zurich, then it dropped back down to 100. By then i was early. Booyah!
The boys were exhausted from the trip and I let them sleep until 9am (they normally wake up at 7:30), we had a fun morning (they are napping now). We watch Baby Einsteins (the animated series) in German, the boys love singing with the girl, Susan. Pip and Pepper, a German kids show with these muppets who cook and they share fun recipes for kids. Then after some reading and wrestling I got them to tire down by watching a show that Libby hates but they boys love it, "In The Night Garden" on CeeBeeBies (BBC kids station). Its a weird show, practically pointless but the boys love the music and they love the main character who floats off in a boat to the garden, he has a "blankie". Its about getting ready for bed and they like to wave to
all the characters as they go to sleep.
Pic 1: The inside of the kids train car on the second floor.
Pic 2: Marktplatz in St. Gallen.
Pic 3: Lace from a local company.
Pic 4: Schloss Herblingen. I walked an hour there just to find out I couldn't tour it.
Until next time, Ciao,
Rebekah
Guten Tag alle,
Well, even though i did a few things this week, I think I will take a moment to write about other things.
- The boys saw their first hummingbird this week. Libby has a bush with purple flowers out front and early in the morning, it came by for a while to enjoy nectar.
- They all had a safe trip to Serbia, another poor as dirt country, Alain told me that 1 Euro goes a long way. He went to withdraw money from the ATM just to find out that you can only take out 4 Euros at a time when 200 of their money = 4 Euros. The monthly income is 150 Euros a month. Do the math. Billiana's and Sergio's re-wedding ceremony and party was wonderful (they are married but they renewed their vows), they had a lot of technical difficulties with broken planes, broken taxis and the limo forgetting to pick up the bride and groom. Libby said that Alain danced the night away, a beer in one hand and a cigar in the other. LOL.
I can't believe I haven't spoken about the neighbors! Their landlords are Indian; very nice people. Their neighbor who rents the townhome unit next door are weird. Since I'm out front often Libby warned me that the husband likes to wander around in his undies and I thought
that maybe she meant like boxers or tighty-whities. So I'm with the boys and they're being handy helpers by putting clippings in the bag when the wife comes out and I wave hi. They don't speak English and at the time I knew no German. She came out with her water can and started
working on their flowers. Now they are an older couple, maybe in their fifties or sixties, she's wearing pajamas and her husbands calls for her and she responds. Suddenly he steps out, wearing nothing but a little black bikini bottom and smiles and waves. I wave back; the boys
getting a glorious view of saggy skin, beer gut and grey body hair. LOL.
Okay, so I was alone this weekend and I rocked out, taking vengence on the neighbors below us who decided to have a party that lasted all night long playing their shitty music untill 6am without turning down the music. Saturday I make the trek to St. Gallen. A 2 hour train ride
through the countryside. On the way i took a train that rode next to the Rhine and it was very beautiful. We had to go through Germany for a moment but luckily "Kontrolle" didn't come on the train. My GA pass only covers fare & routes for all of Switzerland.
There was barely anyone on the train for about an hour and a half until we got to Romanshorn where a group of teenage girls decided that out of the entire empty train car that they were going to sit adjacent from me. We took off and they started eating loudly, smacking their chompers and eating with their mouths open. It was very annoying but i soon found out that it provided the perfect soundtrack to the pastures of grazing cattle outside the window. Then after they were done they were suddenly very loud and annoying, a few others who sat in my car at the time were, "shush"ing them constantly. Then one of the girls held out her hand to the friend in front of her and said very loudly in English:
"Hello! I am a frog! Hello! I'm a frog!"
"And what do frogs eat?! Flies!" said the other.
"Hello! I am a frog that eat flies!!" she repeats.
"Rararaaaazooooom!" screaches the thrid one.
The look on my face was priceless. A man came over and spoke to them. They giggled at him as he walked away. It was the longest 30 minutes on a train.
St. Gallen is a fairly large city. Houses one of the oldest libraries in existence, has a gorgeous rose garden in the center of the city and on Saturday is market day. All the stores are located in St. Gallen, open for business. People were handing out free chocolate, free bratwursts, Asian chicken, free wine etc. There was also an open air market where farmers sold their breads, crops and flowers. I visited the Textile Museum which was very nice, depicting the history of the textile industry in Switzerland. Also, companies had samples made available for citizens to purchase.
On the way back i took one of the regional trains, which i like riding. They are different from the Thurbos and S-Bahns. The regional trains have the tables, dining cars, lounges, etc. The one i rode was the IC that goes from St. Gallen and hits, Zurich Flughafen, Bern Flughafen and Geneva Fluhafen - so technically it rides across the entirety of Switzerland. They have a kidding play train car, places where large groups can sit and have meetings or chill out and areas where you can catch a snooze.
The IC doesn't go to Schaffhausen so I had to get off at Winterthur and i ran into my German teacher Frau Provolli. She asked me what i was doing in Winterthur since I lived in Schaffhausen. I was rather proud as I told her in German, "Ich komme auf St. Gallen. Ich gehe zu die Textile Musuem. Das Bahn nicht geht zu Schaffahusen. Das ist warum Ich bin in Winterthur." she got the point.
Sarah saw me off as I drove out of the driveway to get Libby, Alain and the boys. I thought i was going to be late since a ricer car was going 60 on an 80 highway, but there was one lane due to construction. One i got to the autobahn and the speed signs at night show a gray stripe, i gophered the guy in from of me. Normally its 100 which you can go 120 but the gray ban means that you can go as fast at your car can take you. It was awesome going 140! I made up time until i got to Zurich, then it dropped back down to 100. By then i was early. Booyah!
The boys were exhausted from the trip and I let them sleep until 9am (they normally wake up at 7:30), we had a fun morning (they are napping now). We watch Baby Einsteins (the animated series) in German, the boys love singing with the girl, Susan. Pip and Pepper, a German kids show with these muppets who cook and they share fun recipes for kids. Then after some reading and wrestling I got them to tire down by watching a show that Libby hates but they boys love it, "In The Night Garden" on CeeBeeBies (BBC kids station). Its a weird show, practically pointless but the boys love the music and they love the main character who floats off in a boat to the garden, he has a "blankie". Its about getting ready for bed and they like to wave to
all the characters as they go to sleep.
Pic 1: The inside of the kids train car on the second floor.
Pic 2: Marktplatz in St. Gallen.
Pic 3: Lace from a local company.
Pic 4: Schloss Herblingen. I walked an hour there just to find out I couldn't tour it.
Until next time, Ciao,
Rebekah
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Switzerland "Teil fünf"
Sent September 28, 2009
Grüezi! Sweating in the cold - The 5th Entry
Howdy!Oh, such a simpler entry. I think I'll start with reminiscing some good times from Italy.
1. At the first moment of dusk, hundreds of bats silhouetted against the dimly lit sky barely feet above us.
2. On the way down, Libby fell asleep between the boys just to wake up to Aiden picking her teeth and Rafi with his finger up her nose.
3. Walking through Armaroni at night during their Catholic holiday and it was pitch black.
4. Fireworks waking us all up at 3am, celebrating the Catholic holiday.
5. Laying in the sun.
6. Doing laps in the pool.
7. The look on my face was priceless as the sun rose and I saw Italy for the first time.
8. Five hour siestas???!!! And worst, nothing opens or closes on time.
LOL.
So, the boys adjusted back from the trip the worst. It was their first time being away from home long and for the next two nights they didn't sleep. After a day or two i was well enough to get back to jogging and it felt good to do so. I finally went to the harbor side city of Rapperswill (Rapper-svill) and walked the longest wooden bridge in Europe to the village of Hurden. The entire time i kept telling myself that thousands of people every year walk this rickety halfway rotted wooden bridge, it was the only thing that kept me from freaking out because every time i stepped on the vertical long bent pieces of wood, they either shifted or creaked and all i saw was myself plunging into Lake Zurich. I took the S7 train to Winterthur which rides along Lake Zurich so on the way back, i enjoyed a very scenic view of the lake.
It's been French movie week on one of the British stations (with English subtitles) so I finally jumped on board by watching a French/Romanian thriller called, "Them" which is based off a true story. It was a creepy film, but not in a supernatural way. More like a commentary on the outcomes of neglectful parents and some of the social issues of Romania. I really enjoyed it and being Romanian is one of my obsession countries, it was much more enjoyable.
Yesterday, Priska, Marco, Libby, Alain, the boys and I went to the Bachtel in Hinwill. Its one of those radio towers that you can climb but to get there, you park at the base of the mountain and hike up. its a 3/4 of a mile hike up the absolutely steep mountain. It was a terribly difficult hike and poor Priska who is a pack smoker, she kept saying, "Leave me behind! I can't do it!" then i gave her a pep talk. "If my fat ass + asthma can get up here with minor difficulty and all the old farts (who are passing by us with Nordic poles) who are making us look bad, then you can do it too!"
We were drenched in perspiration, our clothes soaked and red in the face as we went to the top of the mountain. The had a little restaurant and a kiddie park plus the radio tower. The climb was worth every difficult second to see the view. Afterwards we ate at the American inspired ranchero restaurant at the base of the mountain. Apparently, the original owner went to America, got inspired and came back to build this restaurant. The burgers sucked, taste like those frozen overly salted patties from the store but the ice-cream was the bomb!
Aiden babbles in gibberish like he's talking to you. Rafi says two words constantly (even though he doesn't know what they mean) "Why" and "Ich" clear as day. oh, "Ich" means "I" in German. Not the letter "I" but as in, "Ich habe ein klein Häschen." "I have a small Bunny."
We are currently looking for seat boosters since the boys do eat well at a table but the dining room table is really high and we all eat together so after realizing that its going to be too expensive (she has 2 babies, everything is double!), i told Libby that we can just get some foam, fabric and cardboard and we can make a small booster.
Shopping at Glatt Zentrum in Zurich on Friday where i encountered my first person asking me for money at Zurich Oerlikon Bahnhof. It was interesting because i was just standing there at my platform and some backpacker came up to me with his palm open and said something really
complicated. So I replied with, "Wiederholen Sie, bitte? Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch."
I don't know if he understood me but then he said much more simply, slower and loudly, "Kann Ich habe drei Franks, bitte?"
Since i finally understood i shook my head, "Nein. Tut mir leid."
Oh i know, i should have given him at least a Frank for amusing me. Oh well. LOL.
Well, Libby, Alain and the boys go to Serbia (its a country) on Friday with Billiana. I will be dropping them off at Zurich Flughafen. So wish them all a safe trip!
pic1: Boys eating ice-cream.
pic2: Rapperswill's Schloss (it was foggy that day)
pic3: We encountered cows on our way down. That's Priska with Rafi.
pic4: a doggy poo bag dispenser and no, that's not graffiti.
Ciao,
Rebekah
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