Concert

I made a video featuring the first three songs of my yodel concert and photos from it. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/a7Mi3P0ZKPc

Lausanne

A while back our class took a school trip to Lausanne, a town in the French speaking part of Switzerland.  We took the train for about an hour and than made our way to the new Olympic museum. The town was quite beautiful (forpictures of Lausanne click here) it is in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, therefore having a very different style than the German part. The Olympic museum was quite impressive. Out side were various statues, one of which was the world pole-vaulting record. I am pretty sure it was taller than my house. My favorite was a moving statue of a six-pack. When you least expected it the abs would break apart and rotate. The whole museum was in English or French, which was quite easy for me, but less so for the rest of my class. It consisted of three floors: the first told about the history of the Olympics (including locations, reasons, historical records, and all of the torches), the second was devoted to the evolution of clothing throughout the Olympics (I saw Michael Phelps’s Pants!!!), the third and final floor consisted of Olympic related games that you could play (mind and balance and such) and how the athletes prepare for and during the games (it involves lots of eating sleeping and training). After exploring the museum we had free time in the city, which meant playing on the various playgrounds we found as we walked throughout town. It was quite fun.

Santa Clause and Switzerland

On December 6th Saint Nicholas came to Switzerland. The night before he came we made bread figures. The typical figure is a person, but we got creative. Our creations included; a hedgehog, a zombie, a Christmas tree, and a mushroom. He came over night and brought clementines, chocolate, and peanuts. In the morning we feasted on our bread creations and found a letter from Saint Nick. It said that he would come to visit later that day!!! (side note: sometimes Santa comes to visit you in person. He does not come every year because he cannot visit all of the children every year) In the day we played games (we built a train track in the kids' room), went to the swimming pool, and (of course) did homework. In the evening family friends came over (the same amazing people from Corsica) and we had a afternoon snack. At around 5 in the evening Saint nick cams to our house with his two helpers.

7 Noticeable differences about 'Santa' and his 'Elves' (warning: not actually santa, he does not exist here):

1) Santa wears a dress

2) His 'elves' do not speak

3) He does not bring tons of gifts

4) He does not live in the North Poll

5) His 'elves' are very large, do not make toys, and have black beards that cover their entire face

6) He is not magic

7) He is still amazing!!!

When Saint Nick came to our house he brought a large sack, a book, and two of his (possible criminal (because they are actually very scary)) helpers. First, he read a history of Christmas. Next he told each of the young kids what they had done good that year, and also told them about their favorite activities. Later he gave us a sack of clementines, nuts, and chocolate. Than each a small gift. I received a very tasty packet of white chocolate truffles. Soon Saint Nick left and we had dinner. (Dinner was gorgonzola spaghetti... amazing) It was all very different than what I am used to, however still very fun!

Christmas

Christmas in Switzerland is quite different than in the US, however it is still a wonderful time of the year. Christmas here is much more religiously oriented than my previous Christmas times. The Christmas season starts either the last Sunday in November or the first Sunday in December, this is the first advent. Than the three following Sundays (all before Christmas) also mark advents. Every time you are allowed to light one more candel (of four) until all are light on the last Sunday. The second advent is when Santa clause comes (read about this in amy previous blog post). 

Advent calendar:

One of the very cool things about Christmas in Switzerland is that some towns have their own advent calendar. How this works is when your family participates in the towns are assigned a day to host snacks and such in the evening. You decorate one window in your house with the date you are assigned and different Christmas related things. Than that evening people from the town can come over and have a fun evening togther. This way there are usually houses for every day leading up to Christmas. So every night you can go to a different house and celebrate. My family did not host, however we were able to go to my other exchange friends' house because her host family hosted one (explaining your relationship/how you met people is a lot more complicate once your on exchange). It was a fun evening full of traditional Swiss food (aka bread) and laughter. 

Christmas markets:

A special tradition in Switzerland is the Christmas market. These appear in December over certain weekends. In the Christmas markets you can find booths of local products, nativity plays, foods, and other fun activities. They are also filled with many beautiful decorations. I went to the Christmas market in my town with my family and had a great time. First we looked through all of the different booths. They held everything from sheep wool slippers, to pretty rocks. Later on we went to a candel making station and made... Candles (the title of the station kind of gave it away). We took a piece of string and dipped it into a large bucket of wax, than water, than dried it, than wax, than water, and so on. It took quite a while but was quite fun. Afterwards we got warm apple drinks and head over to the nativity. It was my first nativity and was really sweet with all of the little kids. My favorite part were the boys dressed up in sheep customs (I can only imagine how embarrassed the must have been, not unlike the bunny costume in 'A Christmas Story'). Once the play was over we feasted on crepes, mine was chocolate banana. Than walked around the different booths a little while longer before heading home.

 Christmas:

Christmas in Switzerland can be celebrated on a variety of days, but th main day is the 24th of December. For my family, we have three different gatherings with family. On the 19th, the 24th, and the 26th. On the 19th we had lunch with the family from my host dad. On the 24th we went into church and later had dinner with the family of my host mom. And the 26th is once again with family from my host mom. A typical Christmas dinner starts with snacks and drinks. Afterwards is a salad followed by the main course. Once the meal is finished the kid usually play a game of some sort while the adults talk. In the evening we sing Christmas carols togther in the living room, than the kids preform the music they have learned that year. Finally gifts are given and received and thank your exchanged. After gifts is dessert, where you have something delicious and Christmas cookies on the side.

Euro Tour

At the end of the year Rotary has a Euro tour. This year the tour is 17 days long in 11 different countries! We go to Paris, France; Brussels, Belgium; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Berlin, Germany; Prague, Czech-Republic; Bratislava, Slovakia; Vienna, Austria; Budapest, Hungary; and Venice, Italy. It sounds amazing and all of the old exchange students have told me it was their favorite part of the year. It is in June/July. The only downside is I would miss the last two weeks of school, and would have a very short window for goodbyes afterword. If you would like to look at the tour here is the plan.

Matterhorn Weekend

This past weekend I was able to meet up with all of the other exchange students again. It was the first time that ALL of the 120+ exchange students from Switzerland were all in the same place. We all took a train -it was reserved for us- down to Zermatt. Zermatt is a touristy town and home to one of Switzerland most popular mountains, the Matterhorn. Here are some links so you can learn about the town: photos of Matterhorn click here, more information about Zermatt, click here. We arrived around noon on Saturday and our crowd walked from the translation to our hostel. Later in the day we had a scavenger hunt around the town, than we trekked back to the hotel to learn about Euro Tour. Once we were all hungry we headed to a restaurant for a fondue dinner. After eating as much cheese and bread as possible as well as meeting many new people, we headed through the city once more. This time we walked through the town at dark. Electronic cars roamed the streets (real cars are not allowed in the city because it is too clean) pushing over everyone, the tourists, skiers, and everyone else in the way. We reached our destination at a small hotel. Our group of 120+ crammed into the small bar in the basement of the hotel and had a disco party. There were many types of dancers... The latinos (who were actually really good at dancing), the american guys (who thought they were good, but looked ridiculous), the american girls (who either danced with the latinos or danced in a small group in the back because... well lets just hope you don't ever have to see us try to dance), and lastly the Australians (who were crazy). By the end of the night it was 12:30 and, having to wake up at 6, we went to sleep. In the morning we had breakfast at the hotel -which thankfully included free coffee to balance out our lack of sleep- before putting our winter clothes on. I put on two pairs of pants, my nice new snow shoes, a shirt, a sweater, a jacket, a hat, gloves, socks, and my Oregon flag. I was prepared to not be cold. Today, we were going to the top of the little Matterhorn. Temperatures there were around -10 degrees C (14 degrees F) with 20 km per hour winds (12 mph). It was very, very cold. The elevation of little matterhorn is about 13,000 feet (around 3,900 meters). We took the chair lifts for about 15-20 minutes to arrive at the top, and boy was it cold. All of the exchange students huddled together, especially the ones from South America. At the top we went to an ice palace inside of the glacier. It included an ice slide. My friends and I tried going down on our stomaches, head first. It didn't work out very well. Once we were finished we headed back down to Zermatt, ate lunch, and had a little shopping time. Than it was a long train ride home. All the exchange students traded pins and now my jacket is full on the front and the back. It was an amazing weekend thanks to Rotary, and my host mom for keeping me warm with many winter clothes.

Yodel Club

Since October I have been participating in a Yodel club. Both of my younger host siblings are in the club and I was invited to join. We met every Tuesday and rehearsed swiss german christmas carols. I have four concerts in December and last Tuesday I had a Dress rehearsal. I get to war a traditional swiss Sunday dress, something most swiss people won't even get to do. I will try to make a video of our songs later, but for now enjoy the pictures.

Winter

The first snow has fallen. It was merely a dusting, yet, for me, snow has always marked the beginning of winter. In the morning on my walk to school all is dark, however if I focus I can make out the frosted trees on the mountain top. This week I started to become cold, I am used to a harsh climate, yet there is a point where wearing toms (a type of shoe, click here for a picture) to school. I gave in and purchased a nice pair of snow boots that will keep me warm and dry the whole winter season. A long with the first snow, the winter decorations in our house went up. The windows are sparkling with snowflakes. Snowmen and other winter creatures fill the nooks and crannies. My room is decorated with santa clauses, snowmen and snowflakes on the windows. I even bought a garland to hang around my mirror. I am excited for the holidays and wish all of you in the US a happy Thanksgiving next week.