Life's Vignettes

July 7th

So here I am again, at my old desk in my old room next to my old bed. It feels like home! It feels so natural to be here, like I never had been away. I am not sure if I like that! I do not want the novelty of travel to leave so quickly. It was so amazingly fun to return to a place I had been before. As I flew in, it was much prettier than I remembered. (Perhaps because it is summer, I do not know.) There were the infamous rolling green hills, bright blue rivers, flowers hanging from window boxes on the chalet style homes, and the Swiss flag. I could not wait to get through customs (which was so easy!) and there was Inge waiting for me! During the ½ hour drive back to Mettmenstetten, we chatted and caught up on latest news. We arrived just in time for lunch, and how fun it was to see old friends again! Everyone knows that I want to learn Deutsch, so they are all happily speaking it with me, glad to not have to stumble with English. J

I was so tired, but knew I could not sleep yet, so I meandered around with Inge, seeing what all had changed in the year and a half since I had been here, greeting yet more people, and then finally, unpacking. It is so strange to not have Hannah Loewen here! I miss her a lot, especially when I have free time. I will be looking for a walking companion/victim soon. J I already bought a pass for the local swimming pool so that I can use it for exercise daily. Thankfully I have a friend in Inge, in that she loves to swim as much as I, and plans to take me to every lake around to swim. They are all such an amazing blue. I like not having to put on big warm shoes whenever I want to go out, it nice to have summer! It has been cool though, because it has rained since last night.

Hannah, I should write some things for you! Mirjam K. looks so absolutely cute pregnant, she is as sassy as ever, and ALWAYS speaks strictly German with me. LilyAna and her younger sister were here for about a month, but are leaving tomorrow. Sabina still scurries around singing and working, Eva Struder is sick in Dobel, Pia is timeless, and Tabitha and Lydia have gotten taller! You would not believe what a perfect blend Johanna is of Thomas and Daniela. She is dark with a round face, and often has crossed eyes. It’s so sweet to see Daniela be a mother, she has changed since last year. Rahel is all pink and glowing from being outside, I can’t wait to work with her in the greenhouse again. It won’t be for a couple of weeks because they need me for Eva’s job since she is sick. I came the day before the last person with that job left, they had been praying for someone else. Nati asked if he could please just speak English with me, always wanting to improve it ever more. He translated for me last night during the service (we have a 45 minute one every evening) and made me laugh out loud when he said “I have to quick run and play the piano now!”. I have seen almost everyone I think. Simon Stucki is back in the army for 3 weeks, they are called back routinely each year. And Mirjam will be home on the weekend! I can’t wait to see her.

And so for now my life is setting and clearing tables. J After the co-workers breakfast, I clear the tables and clean and set them fresh for the guests. Then I have an hour break, during which I hope to study my Rosetta Stone course each day. Then I go back and clean up the guest tables and reset for lunch. Next is Tzune. I have a feeling I will finish early with some of my duties, so I am not sure what the next hour or so will consist of, but after lunch I clear tables again, and if I am not on the wash schedule (which was just printed, and looks like I will only have twice a week for a few weeks) I get a two hour break. I tried to sleep today since I am so completely tired, but I couldn’t - too much thinking to do. J At four I reset the tables (later I will be in the greenhouse at this time) and it’s supposed to take me a few hours. I have a feeling this may become a sewing time or something because I will finish early. After supper (which is right now and I am out on a chair on my charming balcony) I have free time until the 7:30 service. Now that it is summer and light out for longer, there are always guests roaming all over after the service, or a volleyball game going on. I visited with Julia last night, but tonight I hope to walk. I have not seen the mountains since the first hour I arrived, they have been hidden behind clouds and if I did not know they were there, I would have been sure we had none!

Physically I am not doing well, I am dealing with lots of pain like last time. The jet lag really takes a toll on Lyme Disease! I have that shaky shivery feeling inside, and feel all dizzy. Hopefully that will soon be gone. I feel like my English gets all mixed up here because I keep hearing the wrong construction of sentences, and being the mimic that I am, I pick up on it! Ach well. J

July 10th

Imagine Switzerland as charming as you can, and you can picture today. I just took a walk, a mile or so with Inge, and then a mile or so on my own, and all I could do was smile at the beauty! The mountains are the backdrop, then you have the lower green hills, similar to WI, but much father away with chalets and trees scattered on them. Then closer are some more chalets, trimmed with overflowing flowerboxes. Next you have a green field with Brown Swiss cows eating and staring at you alternately their bells ringing in the breeze, a brook rippling at your left, and lastly you have a field of tall wheat set against the bright blue sky. It’s absolutely perfect. The weather has been quite cool here, I am looking forward to warmth again. I told Inge that I must go swimming 50 times because I spent 50 francs for the pool pass. J

I decided the Guetli people would be good prisoners - they eat bread, soup and water at every meal! (Of course there are all the other delicious things, I am just being facetious.) I have learned in the past few days how VERY important it is to line up the chair and the plate, and to have the plate one centimeter from the edge of the table, and to have the pattern in the plates lined up. After all, this IS a guest house, and people expect it to be “Mega fine!” J It has been a quiet job, I work mostly alone with Zita as my guide. I really do keep busy keeping the tables set and also all the other little odd jobs there are to do, like refilling sugar and salt and pepper, preparing the guests linen napkins, etc. This is first and foremost a guest house, and a lot of people work full time to make it presentable. There are always people cleaning, cooking, changing linens, working in the office, etc. Everyone helps everyone, it’s always a lot of fun to have people around.

Last night I missed Hani so much, I heard that there were goodies in the kitchen (and trust me, I have hardly been eating here for fear of gaining like last time!) but I decided to run down and see what was there when I made my nightly magnesium. There was Helen Guggenbuhler and her father, and Herr Gerhig. What fun we had sitting around the table talking! Neither Helen nor Herr Gehrig can speak much English, so I tried to say everything in German, which led to a lot of laughter. They tell me my accent is good, but the arrangement of the words is not so good. J I really think I have learned a lot in the week I have been here. I have been studying my Rosetta Stone course each morning for an hour, and that combined with hearing it constantly works well. I do hope that I can really learn to speak it, not just understand it!

OY! The noise here! I tell you, these neighborly carpenters NEVER sleep! Seriously, at 6am, they are already using their saws and hammers, and the perfectionistic Swiss work and work and work on the road outside, pouring and smoothing, pouring and smoothing. For a week now, on this one stretch! I can’t imagine how long it will take to paint! I have one loud bedroom. J Seriously though, it is because of this way of thinking that everything is so nice in Switzerland. The homes with junkyards that you see in WI you would NEVER find here. Along the walking path, there are stacks of exact bundles of firewood tied with string. Or the wood stacks have every piece precisely the same size. Everyone has flowers and flowerboxes, as a whole. I will take my camera out and start snapping pictures for you to see this place in the summer. It’s simple lovely.

Do you remember the little boy (Phillip) who took me walking in Slovakia last year and told me about the Mafia? He is living in Switzerland now for school, and has grown up so much! I just saw him for the first time today. And Christina is almost as tall as Julia! Her voice also is like Julia, only a tad lower. I had coffee with her and Heinz and Inge today before my walk. I love having my own family here. Mirjam comes this weekend. And Simon should be back from the army for the weekend, so hopefully I can send this post then. Sebastian called me today, and he is going to mail me a modem to try with my computer. But that will not be until next week. When I have internet all the time it will be much easier to stay in contact.

It was harder to leave home this time, but now that I am here I am really enjoying it. I am so relaxed, not having to drive in to work each day, and such. I feel like I can just kick back and relax about life for a time. Life is so slow here in de Schweiz And it is nice that I can profit from language learning as well. Claudia is a lady who used to be a co-worker here, and she is now married and lives nearby with about 8 children. I got to know some of them last time, and she has had a baby since then. Her little girl Hannah is teaching me German, it’s so cute! We do the simple things like “nose, mouth, ears”. J I think they think it is so funny how I can’t speak well. J
Tonight we had what they call “a feast” in celebration of the new barn. The economy is bad here as well, and so they have decided to invest in beef cattle. (Meat is very expensive here.) Many of the locals came to help so in appreciation they hosted a large party with an Appero in the stable, and a grill out by the house. These people do things right! I had to get a wet cloth and re-wipe all the silverware and glasses in case the kitchen left a watermark. We folded fancy napkins, and decorated a large buffet table. There were games, a slideshow, music, etc. Guetli can really pull off a party! Julia and I took a walk around 10, the mountains were glowing in the evening twilight.

July 11th

And so today the busy guest season starts. They tell me I came just in time to have a slow week of learning everything because from now on out we will have many many guests. I admire those kitchen workers. Many of my friends will be home this weekend, the young people who are in school stay here and help since it is such a busy time. (Tall Tabea, Tabea Jegge, Regula -who came to visit us- , Lydia and Tabitha.)

July 12th

I think I am getting the cold that my family had a week before I left. Just last night I was telling Rahel that I was so happy my immune builder works so well. She said they also had a cold going around here as well. Then I woke up with a sore throat and congestion. And I am so happy for the extra help this weekend because my Zita is sick as well. For breakfast we had the traditional Zupfe bread they eat on Sundays here. I have missed it! I carry around a small notebook and write down words I learn or hear a lot and ask the meaning. I figure if I can learn 50 words a week I am doing well. Then if I can understand 3 or 4 words of a sentence I can get the general gist of what they are saying.

I am sorry this is so scattered. I have to write what comes to mind to tell you! Last night Rahel and I went walking again, and I asked her, “Are you used to this?”. She replied, “Used to what?” Switzerland! Each cow on the slopes has a bell that rings across the valley, it was so very lovely out. It is so nice to have so many people to ask to walk with me! That way they don’t get burned out if they only walk once a week. J I am having a lot of fun sleeping with Helen. At night we have these hysterical conversations with a German/English dictionary. J We decided that from now on I should try to speak in German with her, and she in English. It makes for a lot of laughter and fun. I find it much easier to be humble and speak Deutsch with those who know very little English. I feel like an idiot to try and stumble like a child with the friends I can have a normal conversation with. Mirjam and Julia love to laugh at my German, they said I sound like a helpless little child. Rahel says my German pronunciation is better than her English, and she dreads how much better I will be at her language than she is with mine in a few months. I told her as soon as I can speak Swiss German I can imitate people with much more accuracy and she laughed and laughed and said “Maybe it is better you not learn it!”. J

Well sometime soon Simon said he will help me send this, perhaps today I can post to you, and by next weekend I will have my own internet! Hopefully I can learn it thoroughly this time, because he is gone again to the army next week and is always so busy I do not want to bother him. So keep emailing me, miss you, love you!