The Rhine Falls and weekend pictures

Chickens!!! lol . . . near Lacey's dwelling

I love these clocks!!! I want to own one one day, they do cost a small fortune though . . .
IKEA!!! I want this mug, tis huge!!!!
Pizza flambee! How sophisticated!
Girls night out. ;-)
The FALLS!!! Und reganbowen (rainbow)

Lacey snapped this one and it looks like I am standing in the middle, love it!!!
WOW!!!
Alter des falls, they are 14,ooo -17,000 years old!!!

Where the little Swiss flag is in the middle? Yep, that's where we were standing . . . "it rocked my world" ;-)

Deutsch Learnen!!!

The Rhine Falls the largest waterfall in Europe I believe. Doesn't look all that fascinating from this distance, but we took the ferry out to the middle of the falls and climbed up and it was AMAZING!!!! The water is so clear too . . .
In the middle of the falls

Meinem Deutschkurs und das woche!

German classes this week started off rather well, despite my nerves getting the better of me. I did not feel prepared walking into class on Monday, but everything went smoothly, so left feeling alright. ;-) One day we even lit candles holding them to our mouths to pratice our "p's and q's" literally. At which time I dutifully pulled out the ever famous "My Fair Lady" and recited, "In HARTFORD, HEREFORD, and HAMPSHIRE, HURRICANES HARDLY ever HAPPEN!" Frau Tscherrig actually laughed, hehehe. I do believe Higgins was proud. ;-)

For one of the homework bits we had to write a letter in response to another letter we had read together in class. Following is mine first in German, than in English. :-)

Liebe Carla,
Hallo, wie geht es ihnen? Ich bin super das monat mit meinem ferien von universitat. Danke fur irhem lang brief! Jedoch, ich habe keine zeit zuschreiben langsam brief, aber bald ich schreibe mehr. Tut mir Leid! Ich leibe dein bild, dass du mir geschickt. Deine familie ist ganz schon und ihrem hund Jacques ist uber niedlich. Wie alt ist Jacques und was Art ist eure hund?
Ich auch liebe Tanzen! Ist eure tanzpartner ganz gut tanzer aber mehr wichtig ist er gut ausseherd? ;-)
Ich mochte zuschreiben mehr, aber ich muss gehen arbeitet. :-( Ich schreibe mir bald, aber bis bald, du habst gut wochenende und habst gut zeit mir eure tanzpartner. :-D
Deine Freundin,
. . . This is not correct I know, but I am so pleased. :-D

Dear Carla,
Hello, how are you? I am super this month with my holidays from university. Thank you for your long letter! However, I don't have time to write a long letter, but soon I will write more. Sorry! I love the picture you sent to me. Your family is lovely and your dog is so cute. How old is Jacques and what type of dog is he? I also love dancing! Is your dance partner a good dancer, but more importantly (the teacher chuckled at this part) is he handsome? ;-)
I want to write more, but I must get to work. :-( I shall write soon, but till then, have a good weekend and have a good time with your dance partner. :-D
Your friend . . .

I love German . . . truly tis a gorgeous language!!! However, Italian has to be the sexiest . . .

This weekend nothing much has occured, however it was fun and enjoyably relaxing. Saturday, Lacey and I had intended to tour some Roman ruins near her house however we both slept in rather late and instead went to Media Mart and IKEA in Dietlikon to look at cameras and movies and furniture. ;-) I love IKEA!!! Then we ate Bratwurt and jumped on a few trains and came back to eat the frozen pizza we bought at the Coop and hang out. After a lovely girl's night we walked to the train station and slept fabulously.

Sunday was church and I must say that I am always encouraged for the next week after listening to the readings and the sermons. Never is one sermon the same as another and somehow each time I actually make it to church, I am amazed at how relevant what the Pastor says is towards my own previous week. After church we walked to Stadelhofen Bahnhof while I talked to a fellow homeschooler who was visiting his friend who is a new aupair. After the others joined us the witty remarks flew about between the two guys and twas vastly amusing. Apparently do not try a mocking Hitler sallute in relation to Monty Python while on a SBB train . . . even if you are British, and apparently one's language deterorates upon learning a new language . . . I wonder. We were laughing so hard over so any silly things and then as a lady stepped off the escalator with her dog (we were talking in a circle) the dog, who was attached to a leash runs around us trying to eat pigeons. Lol, we were carrying on so, everyone was watching with their straight faces.

After looking at 115CHF shoes we walked to an Italian resterant and had fabulous food, then parted ways and now I must study, get ready for tomorrow, call the family, and curl up with a good book!!! The weeks are starting to get colder, which in and of itself would be fine, however soon I shall need warmer clothing, which I do not possess at the moment, and apparently the sun disapears entirely here for months . . . :-'( I've been told to visit tanning beds in order to prevent "no sun depression". *rolls eyes*

"God uses our difficult past to prepare us for His bright future"

Today's NT and OT readings= Ro. 8:18-39 and Gen. 46:28-47:12

Have I said yet how much I love IPC Fellowship!?! It is such a small, lovely traditional church, which I have just found out, has once a month fellowship meals. :-D Today was communion and the Apostles Creed as well as a church picnic afterwards, which I dutifully gave up in order to study my German. ;-) Every service is the Doxology and Gloria Patri and lovely Hymns, which I hardly ever know . . . lol.

Walking home Friday night after a lovely Chinese meal in the city with a huge bag that Jessica gave me full of brown sugar (apparently an exclusive American item), vanilla, hair straightener, and other items I had to pass a group of kids smoking and whatever else in the dark. I started to walk a little faster as I passed them and as I did so they yelled, "Gruezi" and "Hoi, schatz!" Hmm, after talking to Lacey at the Rhine Falls the next day I discovered schatz is an endearing term, like sweetheart, darling, perhaps honeychile'? Oh my . . .

Saturday, I met Lacey and we went to the Rhine Falls in Schlosshausen!!! I was so thrilled! And they were absolutely terrifying!!! People could have DIED there!!!! Seriously! The day was perfect and my pictures were fabulous, which I shall add soon!

Trying to figure out "am, auf, im, in, ins, ab, bis" and so forth and looking it up in an English/German online dictionary for "im" discovered, "Nie im Leben" means, "Not on your Nelly". Um, what!?! Apparently I am not only learning German, but British English slang. . .

Tomorrow morning my German classes begin again and by 19 of September I shall have finished A1 and will hopefully start A2 before Herbstferien (fallholidays) because I still have levels B and C to do. 0_0 I am actually rather nervous, but excited as well to finally get back to classes again, hopefully I will not look like an idiot . . .

The last week or so . . .

The gypsies came to town . . . stayed only a few days . . .
During Kathlyn and Marcel's going away party, we saw some guys jumping off the bridge into the wter below. This was right before they jumped in . . . nude . . .
At the cinema to see "The Dark Knight"!!! The Theatres here are amazing!!! They even have bars inside!?! O-O
Jessica drying her hands in the awesome dryer! These things are amazing! They dry almost immediately therefore conserving energy.

The kiddos are back in school with less time off and more evening activities, which gives me more time to get other stuff done, so I think it will be much easier in this respect. We are also getting to know each other better so we are enjoying the time we have together more. I shall continue to help them get ready (7am-8am) on Mon., Tues., and Thurs. mornings for school and then will be back to make them lunch at noon and will be there until Mr or Mrs X arrive home, anywhere between 7-9pm. Wednesday and Fridays I pick them up from "Hort" at 5:30, therefore giving me all day on Wednesday free and Friday afternoon free, which is fantastic. Then Friday or Saturday evenings I babysit, depending which one works out best, and Sundays are always free, which lately have consited of sleeping in, church in the morning, bying bread and cheese or a salad at the Stadelhofen bahnhof Coop for lunch and eating and relaxing by the Zurichsee lake during the afternoon with whoever is available. Sometimes day trips are taken to places in Switzrland that can be reached by train within 4 hours or so and then everything starts all over again on Monday. :-)

Starting next monday I get back to my German classes which will be lovely. Honestly, I haven't been studying as much as I ought to have studied during the sportsferien so this week I am cramming. Does watching movies in German count!?! Classes will be Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri. from 8:30-11:20am.

During the past few weeks many aupairs are leaving or getting ready to leave. :-( Some are gearing up for huge month long trips as soon as their contracts end and then coming back for a quich goodbye. Eveyone has been having goodbye parties and farewells of one sort or another and that feel of summer freedom is coming to a close.

However, new aupairs are coming and it is exciting to be able to get to know more new people, as well as look forward to potential trips together. By Christmas almost all the girls I have made friends with will have left and I shall be making new friends. Even though I have become homesick at times, I am already wondering how will I ever leave. I've become situated and feel more at home here as time goes by and hope that within the next year I will be able to communicate in German decently and not so haltingly. Having said that, I know I can not be an aupair forever (thank goodnes ;-) ) and will just enjoy what time I have left!

Anybody want to travel to New York with me next year? ;-)

My weekend adventures!

On Friday of last week or so, lol, I met Lacey at the airport (Flughafen) and we did some shopping for her BBQ she was hosting while her host fam was away. :-) I helped her get the place ready a bit and entertained guests as they trickled in while she kept going down to the bus stop to pick up people and show them the way to the house. When everyone showed up we had a merry time, great food, and lively discussions. :-D We also celebrated Sally's b-day with a special aussie dessert!

Ethan snapping photos!
Jessica, Heinrick, and Bernd

Megs! She is so cute and made two wonderful salads! Yum! Aupairs in the kitchen!!!Street Parade in Zurich was interesting . . . people came out . . . where had they been hiding all these months?!?
This made me so mad . . . definitely NOT a family affair . . .

What must be going through their heads at this moment . . . lol . . .
And People were INSANE!

ICK!!! All the trash was horrible. Not smart wearing flip flops, amashing my feet didn't get cut up with all the broken glass . . .
It was SSSSOOOOO Packed!!!! Millions of people . . .
After spending the night with Lacey, I just camped out there the whole weekend, we went to Church, met Chrissy and then walked along the lake. Zurich was clean again!!!

This was great! We stopped walking along the lake to watch this guy and for once in my life my smile got me in trouble, because he saw it and called me over and said that I had "gross" smile, haha, meaning BIG smile and said I deserved two ballons for my smile and then said I was going to be married with a smile like that, I was so embarassed . . . so he made me a heart ballon with a white bear on the side. :-P

Riding the train to Lacey's for supper

Raclette!!! The absolute best supper of my life, so much cheese! Traditionally they also eat pickles, lots of wine, too help in the digestion of all that cheese. Oh, the Swiss are amazing and the Germans, with their hearty meals, yum!!!

Montreux on Tuesday

In one of towers
A courtyard
Lake Geneva!
A street in Montreux near the water and the Bahnhof
Chillon bus stop
Lord Byron!?! In 1816 he went to the Chateau to see the dungeon where Francois de Bonnivard was imprisoned in 1532. Afterwards he wrote the poem, The Prisoner of Chillon.

See the imperfections in the glass!!?!! I love old windows!
The coast of Montreux
another courtyard
Over the YEARS, prisoners carved their names on the stone walls . . . amazing . . .

The original boards used when making the castle to uphold the gothic arches.
Byron carved his name on Bonnivard's pillar!!!! Ahh! It was surreal!!!
Bonnivard's pillar
11th century paintings!!!

Original paintings, more towards the 15th century
Montreux is so quiant and lovely. Just a gorgeous little town in the French speaking area of Switzerland. Tuesday I didn't have anything to do so I decided to take the train almost three hours to Montreux and see the Chateau Du Chillon there and walk around a bit. I ended up spending three hours touring the castle, had to figure out how to buy a bus ticket in French on the bus by myself for certain zones, haha, so proud of myself. ;-) Then to promenade by the Lake (of Geneva) was so lovely. Definitely worth spending an afternoon there. Not really much else to do, but if one wants a romantic quiet weekend this town is perfect!

The Chateau was so beautiful. Like stepping back in time and so well preserved, I felt like a part of the past, fabulous!