Mind Your Manners

The way in which the Swiss greet people at a gathering is nice (and contrary to their reserved behaviour in public situations). I attended a class meeting for parents of Isabella's class earlier this week. There were about 25 adults present. Before the meeting began, and after it was finished, each individual went around the room and greeted every other parent by shaking hands and exchanging a few words. It was the same at the farm gathering...when a new family would arrive, they would approach every other adult at the party within the first 15 minutes or so to say hello.

Fun on the Farm

On Sunday we attended a gathering for all the families from Isabella's class. The hosting family owns a fruit farm which also houses cows, goats, chickens, a litter of new pups and 3 litters of kittens. The kids were in heaven, and the adults had a nice time too.

Forest Fire

After 45 minutes of effort (the wood was wet from rain), Todd got a blazing fire going in our little mountain forest. Isabella had celebrated a classmates birthday in the forest, and wanted our family to share a meal there too. So last Friday night we enjoyed corn on the cob and bratwurst. The kids climbed trees and we all played hide and seek.

Birthday Parties Swiss Style

Isabella has been to three birthday parties in the last month and a couple more prior to those. The parties have followed pretty much the same format:

1) party lasts from 5-6 hours
2) a full meal is served
3) cake / ice cream served
4) all children bring gifts with a few small chocolates included on gift
5) no cards are given
6) guests receive gift bags with chocolates and candy - sometimes dried fruit and nuts
7) games are played along with time for free play

We are starting to fret a bit about Isabella's party. She would really like to have one here, but we're not sure how to host one when we, the parents, can't communicate with the children. We might have to convince one of our new Swiss friends to join us for the day.

Rain Rain Rain

We are now on day 17 of overcast and rain. This is starting to get depressing.

The weather in general is "less" than Minneapolis. The winters are less cold and the summers are less warm. The warmest month on average is July with a hign around 75 and the coldest is January with a low around 27. I liked the winter, it was nice throwing on a coat and gloves and being warm enough. I hated the Minneapolis winter where the temps would drop down into the -5 range for days on end. I have already told Kim I don't know how I can ever go back to that ridiculousness. On the other hand, summer takes a long time getting here. I think we need Minneapolis weather April through October and then Bern weather November through March.

According to the Swiss, the rain is a fluke. Fluke or not, we really need to see some sun soon.

Chocolate, Chocolate and More Chocolate

I thought I'd share something that Isabella said after dinner tonight while munching on a chunk of chocolate..."Mom, I'm going to say something that you're probably going to think is strange, but I really mean it. I'm getting tired of eating good chocolate all the time. I'd really just like a Snickers bar or something."

It's funny how people adapt to their environment. Our diet has changed quite a bit since we arrived. We definitely eat more cheese and more chocolate, and probably more bread too. Luckily, to balance that out a bit, we also eat more fresh fruit and vegetables and almost zero processed food.

It's hard to avoid the chocolate though. It's everywhere you look in the grocery store, the bakery, the post office, and so on. Children give chocolates along with their birthday gifts, and you receive a chocolate when you order a coffee or tea. Todd's Swiss coworkers keep bowls of chocolate on their desk.

We're not anywhere near the Swiss average of about 2 pounds of chocolate per person a month, but we're trying our best.

Mother's Day 2010

Todd and the kids prepared brunch on Mother's Day. Izzi made the appetizer pictured below. It had been served at a birthday party she attended the day before and she wanted to surprise us with it. Todd made the meal, and Xavier added and poured the drink for Todd and I.

Brunch was followed by some relaxing and a hike. Another peaceful Sunday in Ittigen.

Enough Words

Realized that Todd and I have been a little wordy lately, and that most family really just want to see pictures of Isabella and Xavier. So here are a couple to fill the gap until we have something more eventful to post.

Apologies to the Man in Black

I hear the train a comin'
Its rolling round the bend
Its going to pick us up here in It-ti-gen
We live on Asylstrasse
Number forty-four
We moved from Mini-Apple
Ain't going back no more

Stuff (or Lack There of)

We had spent close to ten years at the house on Zenith. Over the years we acquired lots of stuff. Most of the stuff was useful and used, but we did have a lot of stuff that was seldomly used. Prior to coming over we made several trips to ARC and gave other stuff away. Still, Heather and Joel ended up storing more than they probably bargained for.

Forward to Ittitgen. So far we have brought or bought mostly necessitites, other than kid stuff, Kim and I have very little extra stuff. Kim and I have had some odd conversations since we have been here. She called me earlier in the week to make the final decision on buying a 60 chf vacuum cleaner. We have had many conversation about buying a Nespresso Coffee maker. These are things that back in Minneapolis we probably would never have mentioned to each other. If we "needed" something we bought it. Here we are more considerate due to the unknown duration of the stay. It is nice living a simplified life.

I miss my stuff. I didn't bring any tools other than two wrenches and hex wrenches to put the bikes together. I bought one phillips and one standard screwdriver and a cheap hammer. I have delayed projects (fixing Izzi's breaks or lowering the bunk bed) because I don't have the tools. I have found several cool rocks I would like to polish but obviously we didn't bring the rock polisher.

So in short, stuff is good and bad. I know we had too much stuff back in the states, I know we are running a little lean here. Hopefully we find the happy medium.

The Language Dilemna

I started a German class last week, and Todd has also been receiving German one morning a week at work. I very much enjoy studying languages, and for me, speaking the local language is one of the most enjoyable aspects of visiting another place.

But here in Switzerland, it is a bit more tricky than putting in the hours to learn the language. We live in a German speaking part of Switzerland (Switzerland has four official languages: German, French, Italian and Romanch) but the Swiss speak their own very distict dialect of German, generally called Swiss German. It gets even more complicated since each German region has their own dialect, thus Bern-German or Basel-German. We know a German woman who has lived here for 3 years. She can now understand Swiss German, but cannot speak it.

So, Todd and I are both studying high German. There are courses here teaching Swiss German but you must know a moderate amount of "high" German before you are eligible to take them.

Finally, most people here speak fair to good English. Of course I've run into people who don't but there is usually a coworker they can call who does. I've never had difficulty getting anything done due to lack of language. So, the question I ask myself is does it pay to learn high German? Would a Swiss person rather converse with me in English which they speak well or in my broken high German which many Swiss really don't like speaking anyway.

The bottom line is that I'm here, I have the time, and I like languages, so I will study German. Will it ever serve me here? Probably not.

Making Cheese

Isabella and Xavier's school resides on property that was previously a farm. Thus, many of the buildings from the farm are still there and used by the school, such as the cheese making building.

Today Isabella and several others in her class made cheese. A parent in the class, who owns her own farm and is a cheese maker, led them through the process. Below is a picture of Isabella and the portion of cheese that she brought home. She will continue to care for the cheese until it is aged and ready for eating.

This Week's Favorite Places

Izzi and Xavier are currently enjoying two places very close to home.

On Thursday after school, Isabella asked if she could go on a picnic with Xavier and without me. I asked where, and although she couldn't exactly describe the place, it sounded like an acceptable distance from home. Izzi and Xavier came home a couple hours later, very satisfied with their private outing. On Friday, they wanted to show me the beautiful meadow where they had shared their lunch and played.






The meadow is next to a small vineyard and several farms.


On the walk home, Xavier also showed us the goats that his class has been visiting.

Water squirters, Snails and Goats

Izzi had another birthday party today, from 11:00 until 5:00 out at a classmates farm about 10 miles from here. Kim took her out by bus and Xavier and I went on a mission to find a squirt gun and run amok. We found a squirt gun had some lunch (hot dog, fries and tacos-the burger place was closed today) and came back home. The day was overcast and rainy but we had a good time and the snails were out in force today.


There are snails all over the place. The largest I have seen was probably the size a 50 cent piece. I don't know why I find them interesting, but I just like to watch them slime around. One thing I don't like is the fact that you will be walking across the lawn and CRUNCH...smushed snail. Stepping on them sounds like crushing a potato chip.

Next up was a visit to the goats:

There is a rest home right up the street from us across from the kid's school. The have 4 or five little goats in a little pen. The kids feed them grass and their teeth look just like people teeth. There are a few houses in the hood that have sheep or goats (the school has 5 or 6 sheep of their own). I like the fact that in the middle of town people have animals they raise.

It was just one of those days. The weather was cruddy, didn't really do anything exciting but I was very happy that we are all here.