Christmastime in der Schweiz

My chocolate Sammiclau with the Advent candles.

  Well it's December, and a week until Christmas comes, and with a little time this morning it is perfect time to write a much over due blog post. In a lot of ways, Christmas time in Switzeraland is similar to that at home, but with a few big differences.

  First of all, one of the most obvious differences is the lack of one of my favorite Christmas characters, Santa Clause. Actually, I have yet to see one in a department store, or in anyone's home. The big jolly man in a red suit is obviously absent from the Christmas season as are his holiday specials on television- which thanks to you tube I have been able to watch. The Swiss may not have Santa Clause, but they do have Sammiclaus or St. Nickolaus who comes to all the children's homes on December 6th. He tells every Swiss child (he also comes to other European countries) whether they have been naughty or nice during the year looking at a big book. If the children have been good, they receive; chocolates, oranges, and peanuts. But when the children have been naughty, they are beaten with sticks by the Smutzli's (people who accompany Sammiclaus dressed in black and are all around very scary).

  Another holiday difference is the focus of the decorations around town and the vibe of the Christmas season. Advent, being the 4 Sundays before Christmas Day, is much more important than it is back home. Almost every house has the four Advent candles, which are placed on a beautiful wreath decorated with little ornament balls. a new one is lit every Sunday in Advent and are re lit for most meals.

  I have also yet to see a Swiss equivalent to 'ABC Family's 25 Days of Chrsitmas' which one of my Christmas traditions I truly miss. No new Holiday specials every night, with the obligatory 'Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer', 'Frosty the Snowman', 'Santa Clause is Coming to Town', just to name a few. I really miss curling up on the sofa with peppermint hot chocolate and watching Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, but thanks to YouTube I was able to find most of my favorite specials to curb my need for Christmas specials.
 
   The decorations here in Altdorf, are simpler and less colorful than the lights and window decorations we see at home. The main street is gilded with big white lights connecting to the tops of both sides of the roof tops, making a beautiful little tunnel of lights. The bigger fir trees are also decked out with lights, but all of them white, as are the ones on peoples house windows. No Christmas lane or houses covered top to bottom in wonderful colorful lights, blow up Santa's, Candy Canes, or reindeer's on the rooftops. And inside its no change, no Christmas villages, no tinsel around staircase, or 14 foot Christmas tree. We will be getting a Christmas tree, but it wont come until a few days until Christmas as most Swiss people use real candles on their trees, so at the moment the house is quite bare.

  It seems strange that Christmas is only a week away, and I still have school next week and have not been skiing yet. It is almost as if Christmas is sneaking up on me, and that it doesn't seem plausible that it could really be Christmas time being so far ways from home. The snow today helped a lot, due to that fact that I'm still a 5 year old when ever it snows. Its just not the same, because I know how my house looks right now, and I miss going to sleep to the sound of my snow globes Christmas tunes. Christmas decorations may be tuned down quite a lot, but seeing the Christmas tree decorated all over school and the lights in the streets still makes me smile and reminds me of how wonderful this time of the year truly is.

My Christmas presents, my mom even sent a stocking! 

The first snow of the season! 

My Swiss Thanksgiving

Two perfect pies; pumpkin, and apple. 

  

   Yesterday was three months in Switzerland, which for the moment does not seem at all possible. I never realized that time would fly by so fast. Home, being Portland Oregon, seems so far away. A place that exists alone, another planet, so far away from Switzerland that it does not seem only a plane ride away. Of course I miss my family, but I cannot imagine not have ever getting on that plane three months ago, which has already changed my life.

   Tomorrow, is Thanksgiving, a holiday which is not celebrated Switzerland, and one of my absolute favorites. I knew that I would really miss home, so I decided I would make Thanksgiving for my host family. When I started planning, I didn't realize it would take so much time and effort.

   First, we had to pick a date. I have school on Thanksgiving, and would not have time to cook, so it would need to be a weekend. Next we needed to find a weekend where the most people would come, and I wanted it as close as the real Thanksgiving as possible. The date which worked perfectly for most everyone was last Saturday, November 19th.

  The next on the list was making the shopping list, and deciding which dishes I would make. I went for the traditional, everything that we would eat at home on Thanksgiving, except for the gravy. I just didn't have the time. On Thanksgiving, we of course have to eat Turkey. There were at first a few problems with the turkey, first the turkey's are not available in the Swiss grocery stores until Christmas time, so we had to order one. And next, which size? We ordered the turkey in Kilograms, which are smaller than pounds. It turned out we could have ordered a larger turkey, we had absolutely no left-overs.

  Friday after school, I rushed home so that we could start shopping. I had my extensive list written, organized by each dish. And within an hour found everything we needed. We headed home, and I started preparing food for the next day. I had to prepare the stuffing, so that the spices and vegetable flavorings would soak into the bread cubes. I also had to make the dough for the rolls, it needs to rise in the fridge.

   I woke up Saturday morning, at 8:00 am, which I would agree is quite to early to wake up on a weekend, but I had to make the pie dough made and get the pies in the oven. I had cooked the pumpkin the night before, so that I would not need to worry about it taking too long the next day. A note on pumpkins in Switzerland; first, there are no pumpkins in grocery stores, second German only has the word for 'curbis' meaning squash, not a pumpkin in particular, and third you have to order a pumpkin if you are in need of said pumpkin for a pie.

   Once I finished my pies, I made one pumpkin and one apple, I had to start working on everything else. The turkey, needed to be in the oven by 2:00pm, which left me a little time to decorate the table and clean up my mess, before I made another mess.

  Cooking a turkey, in the USA, requires a regular sized turkey oven. But in Switzerland, the mention of an oven used maybe twice a year, only for the Thanksgiving Turkey, is an absurd idea. Actually, when I mentioned it, my entire host family thought I was joking. I followed a simple recipe to cook the turkey, which turned out to be fairly easy, but time consuming.

  The last hour, before we ate, I was absolutely everywhere. I had everything to finish, but I had a lot of help, and everything fell together perfectly. I cooked the entire day and I was completely exhausted, but the pay off was well worth it. To me the best way to celebrate Thanksgiving, is with family, and I did just that. I absolutely thrilled with the reactions of my host family, almost all of the food was devoured. I am proud to say, that my first Thanksgiving, cooking alone, was in Switzerland. You can't get any better than that!

My wonderful Turkey

                                                                             
 

Moments of Adventure

   It's been a while since I last posted, three weeks to be exact, I thought today would be a wonderful day to share some of the happenings of my Swiss life. The first full week of November was a wonderful one, only two full days of real school. We had Monday and Tuesday off for All Saints day, Wednesday and Friday were in school, and Thursday was spent in Zurich visiting art museums with my class. With a full four day weekend in front of me, I took the opportunity to catch up on lost sleep.
 
  Of course, I could not sleep the entire weekend away so on Tuesday I spent the day in Bern ice skating with other exchange students. I am not the most coordinated person out there, which made ice skating fairly difficult. I cannot remember the last time i went ice skating, which made it all the more difficult. I fell quite a few times, and once was not entirely my fault. I was skating, very cautiously, when I was accidentally spooked by someone who mistakes me for someone else. It was extremely hilarious for me, and in true exchange student fashion, this lovely moment was caught on camera.

'Oops, I thought you were Bren'.
Another note, I am laughing in this picture, not crying. 

  We ice skated for a few hours, but because we all had school the next day we headed back to central Bern to grab something to eat and head back home. Some of the exchange students stayed, because they don't live so far away, but my feet were sore so I decided it would be a good time to head back. Me and three other exchange students (Two from Canada, and one from Kansas) headed out for Mexican food. After wandering the streets of Zurich for the better part of a half an hour, we landed on a Mexican restaurant. We soon learned that for one, Switzerland is extremely expensive in the Mexican food section, and two that the waiters do not take to kindly when you only order three appetizers and drinks. After our delicious dinner of chips and cheese dip, we all headed back to the Bahnhof (train station) to catch our trains home. It was a wonderful day, and definitely not my last time ice skating, i improved quite a bit towards the end, but I haven't yet mastered how to stop on skates, I ran into quite a few people.

Just of few of us, on the ice, in Bern. What a lovely day it was.

    Thursday, was spent in Zurich in various art museums, with my wonderful class. Normally I hate Thursday's, for one school starts at 7:30 and goes until 5:00pm, which makes me very tired. But this Thursday was actually quite fun, I got to sleep, which of course made the day a lot more bearable. Once we arrived in Zurich, we caught another train to Winterthur, about a 20 minute train ride away, once we arrived we took a tram to a photography museum. The pictures themselves, were interesting, but having to analyzing them was extremely boring. I can hardly stand that in English, and in German, not a chance. We ate lunch in Winterthur, and then headed back to Zurich for my favorite exhibit, 'Photo's of the World 4' which I found absolutely fascinating. There were so many pictures from all over the world, and I found it so interesting. When we left the last museum, we had over an hour break  to hang out in Zurich before catching our train home. 

What a lovely shot?

Peace!

                

 

Happy Two Months, Switzerland!

  I've have been sitting here, with my netbook, attempting to write about my two months anniversary with Switzerland, but the problem is I can't seem to figure out what I should write about. Most things here are becoming less sparkling, less extraordinary, more normal. I have a daily routine for school, and while I don't remember where most of my classes are or the names of my teachers I can understand a lot more of what is going on in class.

  My German has greatly improved to the point where I can actually have a full conversation with someone. The problem is that in Switzerland, everyone speaks in dialect which changes slightly as you travel around the country. Swiss German is difficult to understand, but even more difficult to speak. 'Urner Deustch', the Swiss German spoken where I live, is harsh and difficult to understand. I have a decent understanding of High German, but have not even begun to attempt to learn Swiss German. At this point, I  should be focusing on 'Real German', but I plan to work on Swiss German in maybe February.

  School itself has gotten a lot better. It is not quite as boring as usual and now that I can speak more German, I can talk to more people. The easiest classes are probably math, English, and French. My art classes are fairly easy as well because there is not normally a lot German. Sports and swimming are also easy, but really fun because I get to let off steam. My most difficult, and there fore most boring classes are history and German, in those classes I tend to doodle and work on French.

  Looking back, two months ago I would have never imagined what my exchange would really be like. I would never have thought of all the adventures I would have. Of course I imagined school, my host family, and Switzerland itself, but I really had no idea what it would be like. When you go on exchange you can't plan anything because you never know what is going to happen next, you just have to live. 

And off to Mt. Blanc we go!

   At breakfast this morning I decided to calculate the hours I have spent on trains this week. It added up to approximately 24 total hours of trains and buses. I was in Zurich twice, once in Basel, and the longeset quantity of train time was the trip to Chamonix, France.

   Bright and early Monday morning I awoke to shower and finish packing for a two day trip to Chamonix Mt. Blanc, France. We started the journey first to Luzern, then another train to Lausanne, then to Martingy, from there a special bus to Chamonix. It was an exhausting journey, but I absolutely love traveling on trains. You can see so much of the country and there is absolutely no traffic. I brought books and did a lot of sleeping.

   The last leg of the journey was spent on a bus through the French Alps, which was extremely long and high up, but incredibly beautiful. The mountains, some of which were covered in snow, are breathtaking. When we finally arrived in Chamonix I was completely exhausted, but we were only there  for one night, meaning there was no time to be tired.

  The first thing we set out to do after arriving, was to find the 'Tourist Information'. Martha, my host mom does not speak a lot of French so it was up to me to help find us a hotel. Im fluent in French, five years of a French elementary school gave me that, but when I tried to speak French to the woman behind the counter, what came out of my mouth was a jumble of French and German. It took me a moment before I was able to ask her what we needed.

   After we found a hotel, we settled in and set off to wander the town. Chamonix it self an absolutely beautiful quaint mountain village. What makes it so special is the spectacular mountain range in the back drop. The view of Mt. Blanc, the highest peak in Europe, is absolutely breathtaking. We spent the afternoon wandering through the shops and enjoying the sights. 

   For dinner, we ate at a the hotel's restaurant where we were staying the night. Both of us ordered the  special three course meal. I had smoked salmon, then potato dish with bacon, and finished with a spectacular creme brulee. It was an absolutely fantastic meal, but I ate way to much so food that I needed to walk around the village at night. 

  The next morning we woke up early, because who would sleep when your on vacation, to ride the gondola to 'Aiguille du Midi'. At 12,602 ft, it is the highest point you can reach without any climbing. The only peak that is higher, is of course Mt. Blanc the highest peak in Europe. To reach the top, you have to take two gondola's up the mountain. The first takes you half way to 'Plan de L'Aiguille' , and the second (which is the longest un-supported gondola in Europe) takes you to the top. 

  We rode the gondola at about 9:00 am, so there were still a lot of clouds in the sky, but never the less it was the absolutely most beautiful view I have ever seen. The mountains, all of which are completely covered in snow every month of the year are breathtaking. From the top, you can see all the way to Switzerland in one direction and to Italy in the other. 

  As usual, I did not pack particularly well for this trip. I didn't really think about needing my winter coat or anything, but I should have realized that we were going to be 12,000+ ft in the sky and it would be very cold. As the sun started to come out, the clouds started to disapear and you could really see the mountains and the tiny village of Chamonix down at the bottom. 

  When we got off the mountain we set off to the hotel to pack our thing had head back home. We wanted to leave early enough so we could stop in Martingy, Switzerland for a dog museum, but when we got to the train station there was not going to be a train for 3 hours, very French. They are striking, until the election on Monday meaning they are not having the frequent train service we would have liked.

  Because we had to wait a while for our train, we decided to stay in Chamonix for lunch and then start the long journey home. When we finished lunch, we headed out to the train station to take a bus to Martingy, Switzerland and then home.

Monday- In Zurich, with two exchange students from Canada (Emily and Kim),
one from Argentina (Alejo!), and me!

Tuesday- More exchange students.. (from left to right, Mark-USA, Carly-Canada, Me, Ana-Mexico, Jada-USA, and Andrea-USA) We are in Basel, on the bridge of
three countries, at one time! Switzerland, France, and Germany.

Wednesday- In Chamonix, France!

Thursday- Oh look it's Mt. Blanc! 

  

Those wonderful moments of being a crazy exchange student

Yesterday we planned to go to Lugano, in Tessin (the only Italian Canton in Switzerland) with a big group of exchange students. As it turned out, it was just me and Carly and Ana (who live in Bern), none the less it was a very eventful day! Once we arrived in Lugano, after a 3 hour train ride... we set out to find Italian pizza for lunch.
   
We wandered around for a half an hour trying to find an appropriate restaurant, not too expensive and preferably not too fancy. None of us speak any Italian, and in Tissin very few people speak German. We found a reasonable place for lunch, and spent a long time deciding on which pizza to get and confusing our waiter when we asked to split one, three ways. The pizza was fantastic, and perfectly Italian.    We ordered 'Porcusito Pizza e Funghi', basically ham and mushrooms on pizza with mozzarella and the most amazing tomato sauce. The best part was that each of us had our pizza a particular way, Ana- who didn't like the ham, Me- who does not eat mushrooms, and Carly -who loves both. The pizza was absolutely delicious. Our waiter, who spoke no German and very little English was very confused at why we were in Lugano. After our fabulous lunch we just started walking, no idea where we were going or what were going to find. We didn't plan anything, we just walked and stopped to take pictures. Lugano is an absolutely beautiful city, it looked similar to Luzern- Lugano is also on a lake- but reminded me of being in Italy. I frequently forgot we were still in Switzerland, everyone was speaking Italian and it didn't seem like we could still possibly be in Switzerland. In true Italian fashion, we had to stop for some gelato, which was absolutely amazing by the way. It was extremely hot for October, probably because we were so close to Italy...but in Switzerland there is fresh clean drinking water everywhere. And its free.

Carly, Me, and Ana in Lugano

After gelato, we decided we could take a train to another city 30 minutes away- Belinzona. We all have train-bus-boat passes so we just hopped on a train to Belinzona. Once we arrived, we walked around for a little bit, when we happen to stumble upon a tunnel, which led to two elevators. We of course rode the elevators up, and voila! A Castle! We had just happend to stumble upon an old Italian castle, on a hill... It was a wonderful surprise! We just started walking around the grounds, enjoying the beautiful view of Tessin. We also happened to find a tunnel, under-neath a double sided wall. There was enough light to see, but we kept looking for dungeons... we didn't find any. 

Ana, Me, and Carly; Sitting on part of the walled castle.  

When we left the castle, we decided we should buy some food, at 'coop' to eat on the train home. Once we left the castle, we about 25 minutes to find food and head up the hill to the train station, the problem is we might have gotten a little distracted in 'coop', and got stuck in a long line. When we got through the line, after purchasing: bread, turkey, cheese, cookies, and bananas, we had all of five minutes to catch our train. We sprinted up the hill and barely caught our train! The three of us were completely exhausted to the point where literally everything was funny. I felt really bad for the people in the same compartment as us. We were hysterically laughing at everything and being really abnoxious, but we didn't care. We played 'Crazy Eights' on the train ride and practiced German phrases. We talked about what we have seen, the people we have met, and the journey we took to get here. I am really jealous that Ana flew into London, and because she had to change airports her father hired a driver who stopped along the way so she could take pictures. A year ago yesterday, I was sitting in an interview to be an exchange student, and yesterday I was sitting on a train in Switzerland, speeding through mountains, heading home.

I had the most amazingly wonderful day, definitely one of my best memories so far. Something that I will remember for a long time because of the randomness of the adventures we had. We never planned anything, other than what time we would meet. I never expected that any of this would have happened, because when you go on exchange anything is possible and you can't plan the unpredictable. I don't think I have ever laughed this hard since being here, with people who I met for the first time that morning. It felt like we had known each other forever, Ana and Carly have been friends for two months and both of them met me today. Exchange gives you something to talk about, something that no one else will ever understand. We already have inside jokes from silly It so strange to think that I have friends all over the world, and from every corner of the earth. I can't imagine not being here because this has become my life, the new normal.

Mountain Climbing Tuesday

Oh look! Some snow, I slid down the hill on the snow! 

 On Tuesday we went hiking, with a Rotarian and one of my host mom's friends. I had to wake up at 7:15 am, which was not my ideal time to get out of bed during vacation. None the less I got out of bed and we headed out to Gottard Pass where we would begin the hike. Thankfully, I was able to sleep for the 1 hour drive to the trail head. Once we arrived we set out on the hike to the top of 'Glubin' mountain. It was absolutely perfect day; blue skies and sunshine. We started out with a trail, but after a while we were walking over rocks and following the signs. We were high enough up, that there was a little bit of snow!    


<= For Sean, these are abandoned Swiss military bases. There were all sorts of look out spot all over the mountain while we were hiking! The bases are no longer used by the Swiss military, but are all locked up.        

The beautiful view from the top of the mountain. You can see the continental divide, between Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. You look straight and can see Tissin, the Italian part of Switzerland. And behind that is Italy. On my left was Austria. It was a perfect view of the Alps. You could even see the snow from the glaciers, at 9000'.

<= Me from the top of the mountain! Absolutely exhausted from all the hiking, and we still had to get down the mountain! 

It was a lovely day, but when we finally got to the car I almost automatically fell asleep. I was completely exhausted. It was a lovely hike, but I was so tired; a combination of the elevation, German, and the long hike. Apparently this is the last time for hiking till Spring, it will start getting cold and snow will cover the mountains soon!