Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Sachseln?

Yes.

It is true.

I know where I am staying in Switzerland.

God has amazing ways of working in my life. When I first heard where Nelly was going, Bern, I have to admit I was a bit dissapointed. Why? It's Bern. In going to Switzerland, I knew that I had to remain active to keep myself from getting to homesick. Keep myself busy. Get plugged into different activities. I knew that while there I could do square dancing and curling. And which city had both these activities? Bern. Yep. And I was left not even knowing which city I was to go to.

But then I realized that God knew where I was going already. God knew what would be perfect for me. He knew which family would work for me. School. City. He had a plan for my life. And then things were okay. I decided to give the entire matter over to him and not worry aobut it.

And I'm glad I did. There was nothing to worry about. God blessed me again and I am so thankful that I am going where I am going.

My new town is quite cliche.

It's in the very center (literally) of Switzerland. In the moutains. In the canton of Obwalden. On the lake of Sarnen. In the town of Sachseln.

Yep. I will be living in the moutains. I looked up my house on Google Earth and it is amazing. I am right next to (litterally - only a small road seperates the house and lake) Lake Sarnen. It's absolutely beautiful.. and as I said, cliche.

As Nicole (a Swiss exchange student) put it, "Of all the places *laugh* Obwalden? It's the most Heidi-like."

You know Heidi, that story of the little girl in the moutnains? Well. That's where I'm headed. But Nicole did proceed to tell me how much fun I would have there and how it's a wonderful place.

What about my family?

I'll be staying with the Hinters.

[hinter means "behind" when translated from German to English so many
websites have confusing text when I search their name and translate them to English]

The Hinters have three kids.

Anita - 17 years
Sandra - 15.5 years
Phillip - 12 years

So I'll be the middle child... I guess.

I'm really excited to have some siblings.

I've done some searching on the internet and found them on several sites... and I'm so thankful to God. Just from the little information I have, it seems like they will be the perfect family for me.

School?
I will be a student at Kantonsschule, Sarnen.
Sarnen is the town right next to little Sachseln. It's quite a bit bigger.

The school looks quite snazzy, there's a link to its site over there ----->

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On the left is the school. On the right is a hospital.

Church?
I could use some prayer here. I'm really dependent upon my church family and enjoy all the fellowship I get with them. Thankfully, I have a church. It's a bit different though, Catholic. But I am quite greatful to even have a church.

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There was a patron saint or something, Brother Klaus, who did something major over here. I have to do more research. But anyways, it's large enough to put it on the map. Lots of folks to pilgrimages here.

I'll put up a blog of just pictures of my town below this one... so go take a look if you like... I guess.

It all seems unreal.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Sachseln/Sarnen Pics



The mountain range behind the town.

Near the outer edges of town.







Friday, June 8, 2007

I Don't Like Butterflies

Yeah.

I'm mowing the lawn like a good girl (yes, I even volunteered to mow the lawn.. I enjoy doing it).

So I'm cruising along.

Listening to the Who.

Mowing.

Mowing.

*INTERJECTION*

There was a butterfly.
It was hobbling around.
So I didn't want to kill it.

Cause killing butterflies is like the epitome of cruel eh?

I mean - who wants to die between the horrible blades of the lawn mower?

Being smashed between them?

Those delicate wings...

And it looked like a freakin' cripplie.

So I waited for it to go on.

I sat with the lawn mower running for a minute.

*fly little butterfly - fly away!*

[I would have stopped the lawn mower but the thing is I can't start it. Don't know why. It jerks my arm and never makes a sound. So I get my dad to. I love to mow the lawn, honestly, but I can't start it]

And then I went around it.

I came back to the same spot... there it was.

Sitting.

Hobbling.

Looking pretty.

*interjection*

So I waited.

Waited.

I move closer.

Now the butterfly can feel the whirring blade's wind blowing towards it.

Grass particles pelting it.

And it didn't move.

I waited.

And went around it.

Now our lawn has a big patch where the grass is tall.

"Um Dad.. sorry about the square. Yeah. There was a butterfly... yeah. It's now called Butterfly Land. Yes. The butterfly has a name. I named it Fredrick."

So I figured, why not get a picture of it?

I grab my camera.

I figured, it didn't move when the lawn mower was inches from it roaring horribly... I'll just sneak up.

I sneak up so slowly.

Aim.
Point.
Shoot.

*interjection*

It was a fraud.. no cripple.

It could fly.

I was sad.
Angry.
Frustraighted.

So I mow next to it, and it stays. I sneak up on it and it flies away.

What?

Yes.

And now our lawn has a square.

I think that I'll say that aliens landed... but instead of a crop circle where the grass is cut in a circle and lower than the field.. well, the grass is higher, not cut, and in a square, not circle.

The End

Update That Covers a Month

Well, I haven't blogged for a while.

This can be explained for various reasons.
  1. I'm taking my meds... which means that I want to be on task more. And I feel quite gulty when doing stuff such as blogging when I should be cleaning my room.
  2. There's been little to blog about. It's an exchanging blog and I'm not on my exchange yet.
  3. School is coming to an end but not without first making a huge impact on my life. I've never gotten this little sleep night after night ever before. I think I'll go insane. I'm ready to slow down.
  4. My entire hand was caught in a fire and I can't type now without pain.
Okay, so 1-3 were true. The kids are down for 30 more minutes. The littles baby girl is asleep until 3:00 and the toddler boy is allowed to arise at 3:00 as well. This is my fourth babysitting job of the week. Here's an overview of the week:
Monday - Maia
Tuesday - Jack & Wyant
Wednesday - Hannah and then Janelle & Joannah
Friday - Curtis & Carrisa
I guess I ought to feel blessed to have so many baby sitting jobs.. and I do! But combined with homework and life is getting to be too much.

Walking with my dad last night was great. Just a reminded that it's okay to take a step back in life. Rely on God. He should be the first one I call on when things get rough. He's gonna be there for me. Watching my back. He won't give me nay more than I can handle.

Yesterday, I worked on a Spanish project with three other girls from 2:00 to 8:30... without any breaks. Just working constantly. It was fun though. I enjoyed the product that we made. Itwas a snazzy video. But when I finished I still had 4 assignments to do. Well.. two assignments and two tests to study for. I decided to rest my eyes from the computer for just 10 minutes. So I laid down with the lights on on the floor of my room. Next thing I know, it's 5:20 in the morning and time to get up. But, I think I needed that rest more than anything else.

Recently I got to go to St. Edwards park with Jenny, Caitie, Nate, Hannah, Emily, and Ian. That was a great time. It just seems to feel so relaxing with them. We all know each other and there's no pressure in anything. We just are. Are. We are friends. And nothing is going to stop that. We've been together long enough that life is good.

We hiked around a bit. Wandered through the woods. Sat by the lake. Sat on a log. Jumped.

Then we headed to QFC for some picnic fixings. Our picnic consisted of a bagette, baked chicken, and a cake. Cake and chicken and bread... can't beat that.

The music department of my school also recently went up to Vancouver for the weekend. I could go on about how snazzy it was and what a blast I had... but that could take pages. Which normally I would do. But there's so much. And only 18 minutes left. So pretty much I'll tell you this. We won. Everything. Everything we entered or attempted to win.. we won. We swept the competition. We were the champions. They ran out of trophies. I guess I sound cockie.. sorry. But I was quite pleased. We've been working so hard for this. Just our sophmore orchestra was able to beat the orchestras for four year high schools. I feel so blessed to be able to go to such a good school that supports its music department.


There is so much more to tell. But I'll save that for another day. Time to do a blog entry exclusively on my information on Swizterland.