Tell Me Why? - the Backstreet Boys...

Yes. We listen to the radio all the time.

Right now there is a huge full orchestral arrangement playing of the Back Street Boys... if only you could hear it. I started laughing when it started playing. The trumpets have the melody.

Anyways, right now it is 12:10 and I just go back from Denners. Denners is like a Right Aid with food and such... but it`s smaller.

Anyways, I had my first Swiss shower last night.. and am sad to report that I`m not sure if I can get my straightener to work. Sigh. Yes, I`m supposed to adjust to their culture and change... but is that little detail really essential to my immersion?

Anyways, we air out the house sometimes, just open up windows and let the fresh air flow in. And I absolutely love the Swiss air, it`s sooo refreshing.

Anyways, this morning I went to post my two letters. For outgoing post, there is one mailbox for each road, and it is yellow. So Anita and I walked down there. And then Ruedi (meine Fatter) and I went to the Backeri to get some more fresh bread and croucants. I forget how to spell that. Crousants? But anyways, we get them fresh almost every day which is amazing.. freshly baked! And the butter is still epic-ly creamy.

OH MY GOODNESS!

*runs off and starts dancing*

Michael Buble!!!! He just started playing on the Swiss Radio... that just about made my day. So I just had the pleasure of telling my brother,

"Ich leibe songe!!!!!"
So happy now... oh so happy.

Okay, so anyways. After we went to the Backeri I watched "Hotel Zach und Cody" with my brother... aka, the Suite Life of Zach and Cody. Mwahah.. it was in German and made me laugh quite a bit. The voices and mouthes didn`t line up.. but at least I knew what was going on. Don`t know if any of you have seen that show before. It`s for short folks... so I guess I`m liable to watch it. And then on the radio, Elvis was playing. And this song my mom plays on the piano, the Music Box Dancer.. and that made me miss her but also smile because it was a beautiful arrangement.

Then we ate.

Then I hung out in my room and pretty much did nothing... yeah, I do a lot of that. My brother plays Age of Empires alll the time each morning.

Then, my host mother and I went out to Denners, which I mentioned above. I needed floss and conditioner... so expesive. 5 or so CHF for one thing of floss. And the conditioner was 6 CHF. My hostmother was nice enough to buy them for me.. I don`t have my allowance yet.$

Then, we went to my grosmaters (sp?) house... my host father`s mother. She lives above the family business, Maler Hinter. It`s pretty big. The mother und father are on holiday and so my host mother had to take care of her plants and so forth.

I think we`re going to bicycle to Sarnen later today, not really sure... but life is very relaxed.

Tomarrow I go to Oltern or something like that. All the exchange students in Switzerland are meeting.. something that could never be done with such ease in the US. I`m really excited to talk to everyone and see how they`re doing. I think Jorge is coming with us in our car. Who knows. But it should be grand.

Once again, thank you SO much for the comments, ahhh, you guys actually care about me! Hehe. And Mom, I love the comments and updates and so far, I don`t feel homesick at all and love to hear what you`re doing. I do read everything you send me.... I just don`t always respond. Don`t take it personally please everyone... realize that I really appreciate it, but my time here is limited and I try to just update everyone through a blog. Within a couple hours of my blog, I had 65 views... danke!

George likes it here...

My host mom.

Anita.

Phillip... he`s obsessed with füssball... he always wears his gear... sometimes even cleats.

Anita.

One of the school buildings... it`s sort of spread out into three or four buildings around the town.

My bedroom is pretty schazzy.

There was a snazzy girl named Kayle who sat in front of me on the 9 hour flight.. sigh, Dutch babies are so cute!

Me... in my new backyard.

Playing füssball in the backyard.

Living room.

The plane in Amsterdam.

Some of the exchangers... all of to different parts of Swityerland.

The view from the dining room.

Ninja Cows

Well, I`m done with another day… well, almost done, in Switzerland. It`s 6:30 PM here, but 9:30 AM for you guys.

This morning when I woke up, people were already eating breakfast… bread, butter, und jam.

Bridget (my host mother) and I went shopping first at some store… Mithinger or something. It`s right next to the store Coop.

To get a shopping cart, you must put 1 CHF (Swiss Frank) into a slot which releases the cart… when you return the cart, you get your money back.

Swiss stores look pretty much the same… but have many different features.

First off, we get a lot of our food from counters like a deli. And we get lots of different types of cheeses… so I love it. In America, we tended to just get Cheddar or Parmesian cheese, but here we might have four different types at a meal. The Swiss recycle everything… so before we went into the store, we put our milk bottles into a huge container to join hundreds of other bottles and soda bottles go in another and egg cartons in another. My English is becoming simpler and simpler as I work on my German.

At the store, they had a huge mannequin all decked out in Lederhosen… it made me smile.

They only have some 6 types of cereal and it isn’t really eaten much.

But chocolate… every store has a least one, sometimes more, aisle of chocolate.

They also have a brand called “Asian Snack” and today we bought Margarita Pizza.

My host brother loves pizza.

Another thing different is that you bring your own bags to the store and pack up the food into them yourself. Meine muter had 5 bags and we put so much food in them. I think it`s pretty snazzy… eh? Yep!

Then we headed home where I prepared to go to my first Rotary Meeting at a local hotel so close that I just walked there in 5 minutes.

Along the way I could see the lake and the hills and it was very very beautiful.

In Switzerland, you shake hands… all the time. When you meet. When you say good bye. I swear I shook some 30 hands today.

At the meeting was the other exchanger of the club, Jorge. Jorge a pretty snazzy guy und er komme aus Ecuador.

At the meeting, they offered me wine… which I said „nein danke“ to… here, it’s normal to have alcohol often. But later, at least they had good coffee which I accepted.

The meal was very good… so many things to eat and when I got full and couldn`t finish it, a man asked me if I didn`t like it.. but I did! I loved it!

So many flavours, I wonder if I`ll get sick. My family has so much chocolate… my real mother would absolutely love it here.

After the meeting, Jorge went with me and Bridget around. It was interesting talking to him, yep. We went to the train station first to get our passes. These passes enable us to travel around anywhere in Switzerland (by bus, train, or boat) for a year. I hear it`s very expensive, but I may need it to get to school when I change host families. They needed a foto so we went to the local fotobooth where we both got our pictures taken for 8 CHF.

Then it was off to the Immigration office… well, the main government building of Sarnen. It`s pretty large and very white.. everywhere, with a nice stone path that contrasts with the complete whiteness. Then we had to fill out a form which took a while. They took two of the pictures we had taken at the fotobooth.

Jorge came home with us where we drank (coffe, water, and Nesquick) and talked about, um, stuff.

Then it was off to the bank… that took forever… 1 hour to be precise. I think it was an hour. Yeah. But…

I now have a Swiss Bank Account!

Just as you all told me to get, now I have one. Its got my emergency and spending money and soon I`ll get a card in the post for my account. I also changed all my dollars to CHF. The money is pretty :P

In the middle of the bank was a barefoot mannequin wearing a sailors suit… I`m not sure why.

Next was the post office where I picked up some stamps. I have two letters to mail off tomarrow…

Btw, on my letters (which I know you`ll all send), don`t forget to write:
Margaret Hubert by Family Hinter

I guess the “Family Hinter” part is important… I dunno.

But I`m ready to write back, Sushi stationary at hand.

Anyways, next it was time to drive Jorge home. We got to see our future host family homes. I`m in love with my third home… it looks like something out of a magazine it`s so modern… and I guess I`ll have three younger siblings, the oldest is in 4th grade.

Jorge`s home is really sweet. It`s old, from the 1600`s I think, and has chickens and I got to hold a little kitten for some 5 minutes while we talked… I loved that cat :P

Jorge lives with the principal who is very very different from what I would have expected. He is young, slender, and has a pierced ear.. very different from grey haired Miss Sherwood. His wife is also very kind.

There are cows everywhere… and each time, I “shout” out, “COWS!”

And mom, thank you so much for the update and comment.. I love you!

And I guess the address was messed up there, so I`ll write it again:

Margaret Hubert by family Hinter
Birkenweg 21
6072 Sachseln
Switzerland

Oh, and George is loving it here and get`s a lot of company from my host family.

AHH! My host brother just started playing the drums.. oh my goodness it is soooo loud. Haha, but it`s fine. But I thought something had exploded at first. I see, he is singing too as well. And playing.. and playing... and playing... loudly. He`s pretty good actually... I have his old room and it is covered in pictures of drummers... great thing to wake up to in the morning.

Tschus!

Maggie

Whoot for Life!!

I have now been in Switzerland for more than 24 hours and I`m loving it.

The most important aspect and way to analyze a city is by their food… and it`s pretty different but still quite good.

With every meal I have Nestle Nesquick in my milk.. not that I need any thing in the milk… it`s so rich and really good.

This morning I woke up early and so I had lots of time to just hang out… I do a lot of that, hanging out. And I take a nap each day while I recover from jet lag. I don`t even mean to sleep… it just happens. And eventually I wake up. Yesterday I went to sleep and when I woke up, I thought it was the next day… but really it was still the 8th. I guess we`re usually a day ahead of all of you loverly Americans.

For breakfast, we all eat together. To prepare for it, my hostmother and I went to the local backeri (bakery) and metzgeri (butchers) and picked up some fresh bread and meat… brilliant if you ask me. I really enjoy the fresh bread. It`s a bit hard to eat at the edges… but still better than American bread… except for my grossmuter (grandmother)… she makes amazing bread.

Since I`ve been here it has been very very rainy. In fact, Switzerland is getting flooded. Our little Lake Sarnen`s water is rising and rising and some people`s homes are getting flooded and it`s all over the news. It`s prettz bad in Bern and other places as well. I`ll post pictures as soon as I can.

But while you wait for the pictures, I`ll try and paint a picture in your mind. In front of me is a window. And out the window, I can see amazing rolling hills all covered in lush green grass… nothing is dead, all is alive. And the hills are spotted with little houses.. think of Leavenworth… but this is the real deal! And there are plentz of trees spotting the hill and some are bunched together. I can see the occasional train go by.

Our house is very modern. My host vater is a painter and so everything looks sharp. There are natural light wood floors most places and lots of windows. In the living room there is a sleek set of leather couches and a slim reclining chair. I guess the house is 8 years old… but I never would have guess that. The lights are off most of the time because we have so many windows.

It’s very peaceful.

Today we went to Lucerne; it’s a pretty short drive there. Meine Hostmuter kauften clothes… rot und scheis (Black?). It was all cobblestone and looked like a picture book… except for lots of people smoke.

And… this is totally the mullet capital of the world… I`ve never seen so many mullets!! I saw 5 group of guys together… all with mullets, well, I guess cultures are different and there are still plenty of people without them. But these are the full blown real deal mullets. Tasha, I think of you every time I see one and I``ve started to count. I`m up to 15 now.

I have few books and not much to do so far… I can`t say I`m bored yet… but I journal a lot and read the books I have. I`m not on the computer much on purpose. I can spend hours just looking out the windows… they tell me that the view is a lot better when the weather clears up.

For lunch, everyone eats together… even my host father comes home for lunch. Lunch is the big meal of the day and dinner is small, such as meats, cheeses, and fresh bread. For lunch today we had some pasta with a brown creamy sauce and chicken… along with canned beans (not frozen) and round little carrot balls. There is plenty of chocolate to eat and I like to eat yoghurt for a snack.

My German is coming along… I’m starting to form sentences and try my best to incorporate the German I know into my new Swiss lifestyle.

Feel free to write to me (physical letter) and chances are you’ll get a snazzy Swiss letter in return… or at least a postcard.

My address is:
Margaret HubertBirkenweg 216072 Sachseln
Switzerland

And don’t forget that postage is a lot more to send a letter here.

I find a lot of comfort and spend time reading the word. I think that coming here is good… I`m realizing how much I`ve been missing out by not reading it as often. God has given me verses… I just open up and see what he has to say to me.

I`ll keep you guys posted,

Feel free to comment,

Talk to you later,

Maggie

Here I Am

Well, there is so much I guess I coul write about... but I`m not used to this computer.

The flight over here was long but loverlz.. zep. I mean, loverly, yep.

With only a bit of time, I`ll juâr tell you that my family is absolutely wonderful and I`m looking forward to getting to know them.

The wether is just like Seattle... right now there is a thunderstorm... it is so loud and I can see the flashes of lightening out over the lake.

Yes, I cann see beautiful hills and the lake from mz bed room... our house is amazing and very modern. Yep.

Me and Philip already watched Narutu or some other TV show.

And I`m starting to learn German right away.

I took a nap on accident... I was so tired.

I laid down and woke up and didnät know what time it was.

And I thought it was tomarrow... but now I know I onlz slept a couple hours.

Please excuse me if I donät reply to your messages and so forth... I`m enjozing life.

And thanks to all of zou who prayed for me.

Tschus,

Maggie

Lastish Post... Eh?

So, how does it feel?

I doubt most of you that I "know know" willl ever feel this way.

When you go to college, you come home for Christmas.

So why dont' I share with you a little bit of my head.

Well - I can't say any feelings I have are that bad, honestly.

I'm soooo excited! I can barely contain myself! And I've chosen to let those emotions carry me through the day and kind of not think about the 11 months part... hehe.

---

Today my friends Jenny and Sarah helped me out once more get ready.

There was much packing, repacking, and stickering.

My last moments were epic.

With Jenny, we mainly spoke of farting super heroes, froze high school musical frames to get funny faces, dancing crazily to "Love Today" by Mika, putting on temporary tatoos of rings of beach balls, going through my medicine cabinet, speaking of warts, spitting on the side walks.

And our famous good bye that isn't so famous.

And for Sarah, we stuck lots of stickers.... lots of them, opened pin packages, pinned pins to ribbon, markered business cards, packed, repacked, made labels, were awesome, went to her house, tried to take pictures with her Polaroid camera... realized it was out of film, hugged her entire family, ate my last chocolate chip cooking that I'll eat in the USA, and said good bye.

But both times I said good bye... I was happy. Smiling. Laughing.

Why? - How is this so? I'm supposed to be a wreck, crying and all.

I think that it is because I was having such a great time and focusing on the now. It's just like this year.. I can't think ahead, I just need to get through each day and each moment.

And so, yeah it's pretty crazy.

---

And this morning, Miss Leah was amaazingly epic.

[she's ninja crazy good at German]

And she helped me write my "speech" if they ask me to give one.. well, not quite a speech. More so a introduction talk if I go to a Rotary meeting.

And she taught me snazzy stuff on dat, akk, and, um, that one other case... nom?

Yep!

---

And I saw Emily and her mom today which was reallly really good. They're some of the snazziest folks I know.. really sweet. Yep!

They came by to say good bye and later we ran into them again.

Emily had a dog she was dog sitting and I think I enjoyed that dog a little bit too much.

---

But these emotions are so weird. I mean, it's so crazy looking at my house and my stuff and saying, "see you in a year!" And I just can't get over the emotions. Any emotions of saddness and regret have not entered my brain. I think I'll break down when I get on that silly little aeroplane.. but I'll hold it together. I just have to. I feel like I have to be brave.. and it's not to hard. I just think forward and I'm so excited and in awe that I really don't have anything to be worried about.

---

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."

-Andre Gide-

"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother"

(Prov. 18:24)

---

So, all you readers - you're going on this adventure with me. So make sure you buckle up your seat belt... cause it's gonna be a crazy ride. And we'll see how many of you will stick with me through it all.. but luckily, I've got Jesus by my side this entire time... but hey, a little support (and luckily I've got plenty of it) never hurt anybody. Thanks all who helped me prepare for this upcoming year.

---

We have a take off in...

Five
Four
Three
Two
One
LASAGNE!

Romen Party - Chya!

-I Love Top Ramen-

[and I normally only eat it with Jenny]

After church today, me and the above folks realized that something monumental needed to happen today.

Various ideas ran through our heads... but one was clear.

I am Maggie.
I love Romen.
Period.

So... a dream come true! We had the most amazing meal.. ever!

RAMEN FEED!

We went over to Safeway and picked up 12 packages of that wonderful stuff.

[halfoftheromenstashthatmademeabsolutelyhappy]

We cooked up a ginormous vat... I like to add sesame oil and some spicy stuff to mine (cause Jenny taught me how to eat Romen real good... she's the chef master)

Of course... we also needed something more than Romen... I mean, it's amazing and great and wonderful... but you need substance.

So we also bought other stuff.. in all, we got:

• Two boxes of Frozen Waffles
• Three tubes of Cookie Dough
• Six packages of Top Ramen
• Three cups of B&J Ice Cream
  

Saying Goodbye

[some amazing amazing amazing people]

I'm going to be honest with you... let you in on a little secret.

Saying good bye isn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be.

There... I said it. I admit it. I thought I would be an absolute wreck today.

Today was my last Sunday at church... and that's pretty much where my closest friends are.

And I've said good bye to so many people, but when you're surrounded by friends and people you love and so happy, it seems like there's no time to be sad.

I did not shed a tear today.

Sad, I know.

But I know what I have to do... and I know that a year, well, it's not the end of the world.

Once I get on that plane, I guess I'll get that *oh interjection what have I done?* moment.. but for now, I'm just excited and sooo ready to go!

"Without the 'me'... it's just be aweso-!"

[a t t e m p t o n e]

[a t t e m p t t w o]

Packing - the Adventure Continues

I'm still packing away.

I think yesterday, I would've said that I hated it... but you know, it's a lot more fun when you have friends doing it with you.

Last night, Sarah came over and we worked on it.

I really will miss that girl.

She helped me get my grounds, see where I was at.... and take me out to see Harry Potter!

Then we came home, watched Johnny English with Rowan Atkins, and went to bed.

[btw - Rowan Atkins is an aboslute genius...]


-Next Day-

Where would I be without that girl?

Jenny.

She came over at 9:55 AM and we packed until, eh, 4:00.

Wonderful times.

She's one of the most excellent packers and helped me narrow down my clothes selection, pack so much stuff more tightly than I thought possible, and reason between neccsessities and that which can be left behind.

Hehe.. it was even enjoyable.

In the middle we headed to the mall to buy gloves and a few other items.. including one epic sweater.

Yep. Then we split a Cold Stone cup of Sweet Milk with Heath crushed in.

And came home and packed some more.

In packing, it was pretty crazy. First, the "gift and non-clothing" suitcase, it was over the weight limit per suitcase for 50 lbs when we weighed it in at 71 lbs. The clothes case we then packed and got it to 30 or so lbs.

Whatever shall we do?

So we did a whole lot of shifting from suitcase to suitcase... it was crazy. And boy those things are heavy! Gah!

But it was fun.. lots of music.

[Queen and country safe and sound with villians six feet underground]

And she made me toast and tea and gave me a bananannananana.

[So chrasimatic, with an a automatic]

Really? Only two full days left? I'm am so excited.. haha, you have no idea. It's like.. um... a room of orange balloons!

Things To Do

To Do List

[this list self distructs in 5 days - so you better do it fast]

---

• Fill in address book with important contacts
• Send out newsletter alerting people of blog updates
• Reply to bajillions of MySpace messages and Emails
• Reciept and Scraps Journal
• Blog
• Prepare external hard drive
• Get debit card
• Make card of contact info to carry in wallet
• Pack
• Make list of stuff to buy
• Pack stuff bought
• Clean shoes
• Do wash
• Wash self
• Get together with Caitie & Jenny
• Get together with Monica & Rachel
• Babysit Jack and Wyant
• Photograph Nick
• Host family gathering
• Write thank you letters
• Mail off turkey's and Ashley's "item"
• Burn off Seattlite CD's plus more for me
• Clean room
• Clean back room
• Prepare Carry On
• Iron shirt and underwear
• Get picture CD to mom

God... I can't do this on my own. I'm running low on energy and feel like I just can't keep going. I'm ready to stop now. Ready to press that pause button on life. With you, I know I can do this. Because you have told me that if I rely on you for my strength, so much more is possible. I pray that you will be with me threw this entire year and as I pack. I pray for patience, wisdom, understanding, discernment, and strength. I pray for a good nights rest, that tomarrow I'll be healthier and my throat won't hurt as bad and that the amoxicillin won't make me nausaus. Thank you so much for this upcoming year. I'm looking forward to it so much... and I know you'll be right beside me every step of the way. You'll get on that plane with me so really I have nothing to worry about. I'm to be anxious about nothing... and just pray to you when I have worries... but I still do, which I guess is silly. You know what's happening in the end and everything is just a step closer to your final plan, so I just need to live my life for you. I pray that I do that, live for you God. I want to be your servant. Give me a servants heart.. I want to serve. Why God? Why am I so selfish? Why am I so eager to please myself and think of myself. To think that I'm always right. It's so wrong. I hate that part of me. But it's you who can change me. So be with me now,

Your daughter,

Margaret

Packing Cleaning Deuteronomy

Packing
is
one
of
the
hardest
things
ever.

Hehehe.. my room is an absolute mess.

Everything is everywhere.

Huge bags of trash, recycle, give away, store.

Boxes.

A suit case.

A pile of gifts.

Journals.

Cards.

German language tools.

My bed is covered with a mountain of clothes that would even put the Matterhorn to shame.

Deuteronomy 23:12-14

For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.

I guess that means I better put away my underwear and other unmentionables... I definitly want God to be with me through this :P (mwahah, gotta love SOAR).

[a u f d e m f e s t]

Party... yes, Maggie likes to go to parties... or perhaps I ought to use party as a verb.

I like to party.

It only became a verb in the late 60's.

So perhaps I shall just stick to the pre-1960's way...

I enjoy going to parties.

I enjoy hosting parties.

Oh what a lot of fun, a party! a party!

My oh my, shall we have some crumpets at the party dear mumsy?

Anyways, I wanted to see everyone before I left.

WAIT, not wanted to... I NEEDED to see everyone.

And still I can't.

But anways, on Tuesday, I had a load of people come over.

And they were wonderful.

Pretty much the people who I wanted to see before I left came... and if they didn't come, well. Um. Nevermind. But it was amazing. I've never seen people from all my walks of life interact like that before. I had school friends with square dancers with church friends with family friends with my family. All walks of life!

And it was just a grand old time.

I got lots of orange stuff.. it made me oh so happy.

And thank goodness I didn't buy TOO much underwear and socks... my friends took care of that. Specifically Jenny, Callie, Ashley, Lorilee, and Elisa. And one pair of underwear came presigned.. it was amazingly orange and striped and I love it. With green sharpie. So I have to set it with an iron tomarrow. I think I shall wear it on the airplane. I'm sure you wanted to know that.

SOCKS!

I'm in love!

Gracias to all who gave me socks...

One group covered the realm of orange socks... they were amazing... AHHHHH!
Callie, Ashley, and Lorilee - thanks be to you!

And Elisa covered the fuzzy and yummy smelling sock arena.. YUM!

I don't think I've ever been so happy in my life.

But saying good-bye... is it all that hard? Yes, and no. When you're surrounded by your friends, it's hard to picture not seeing them for 11 months. I didn't really think about it. And I was in such a good mood that crying didn't really seem like an option. But it's hard to let go. I mean, the final good bye. Few people know what I'm talking about. I mean college kids, they come home for Christmas, no biggy.. but I won't be coming home. When I say I'm gone for a year, I mean it. No breaks. And that makes everything 2.46 times harder.

To all of you who came, this is for you. Thank you so much for joining me. It meant the world to me. So much to me. I am absolutely greatful. And I feel so blessed by God, so greatful to him, that I have gotten to know you through the years... and of course we'll still keep in touch.

But of course things won't be the same the next year - I need to face that one fact.

• No sleep overs on the deck underneath the stars, making wishes.
  
• Afternoons in Seattle.
  
• Runs through the fountains.
  
• Tea outings.
  
• Mornings before school out front.
  
• Lunches in the courtyard.
• Wagon runs through the town.
• Long waits for a bus that's 5 minutes late.
• Mad dashes through Grocery Outlet.
• Chicken, bagettes, and cake in the grass.
• Bike rides on the trail.
• Walks at sunset.
• Worship together.

And I better stop there before I start crying again like a sillly little baby.

Truth is... I'm not scared.

Honestly, I'm not... or I'm in serious denial or something.

I feel like I'm ready to go, ready to take over and I'm sure my favourite youth pastor could say something funny here in a blog like this.

Switzerland - brace yourselves... cause in 5 days, someone's coming over like you've never, ever seen before....

MWAHAHAAHA!

Heheheh, that acutally felt kinda good.

Strep

It was only two days before the party... well, it was still night.

Sunday/Monday Night.

I wolk up in the RV in the backyard at around 4:00 and felt horrible. Walked in the house, and pretty much collapsed in the front room armchair. Not collapse collapse... I just fell asleep.

I wolk up and felt absolutely awful.

Temps up to 103.1 degrees F.

Soar Throat
Head Ache
Stomach Ache
Sore Muscles
Excessively Tired
Boiling Hot
Freezing Cold
The Works

Anyways, God really is cool, I had to go to the doctor for various problems I had (what can I say? I'm a problem child) and so I got diagonosed the day of my party.

[s t r e p t h r o a t]

Awful diagnoses.

But luckily, I got on antibiotics and was feeling better.

Krispy Letter Center [it's the KLC]

[oldish pic of epic proportions]

I got a letter from my sister.
I am happy.
She said they have snow gear for me.
That saves me in the packing process.
And they go to church.
And I can go Blauring[!]

Yesterday, I went to Echo Glen.

There were quite a few of us [?] including....

Me, my dad, Bill, Emily, Nate, Bethany, Isaic, Nathan, Steven, Aaron, Hannah, Steve, DeAnn, and Kirsten.

For those of you not with CCB, Echo Glen is a youth detention center.

Anyways, the kids were pretty responsive which is snazzy.

And one of the guys who works there, Greg, gave Nate, Kirsten, and I a campus tour on a golf cart!

It was quite amazing.

And on the way home, we stopped for Krispy Kreme Doughnuts... which always seems to make me happy.

Wake Up Call

[My father and I
in our snazzy coat
or blazer thingy]
Click a pic to make it bigger.

Today was hectic. Today was busy.





But it ended fantastically.

[I love the word fantastic, it sounds crisp in the mouth and explains exactly what I want to say]

Anyways....

My day went something like this:

Prepare Breakfast and Lunch for 24 people --> Orthodontest --> Dentist --> Orthodontest --> Rotary Picnic!

Anyways.... I could go on and on about how my mouth is crazy now. Been open for hours.

But that's not what about this blog is about.

Wait a minute?

Oh my goodness... this entire blog.

Have you yet looked at the URL? Zahnpaste.

Zahnpaste ist "toothpaste" aus Deutsch.

So I guess I have the right to ramble on about my toothly matters.

but would that interest you?

Will any of my day interest you?

Well, the blog is to document my life for me.. and I just give you guys a look at it to amuse yourselfs. That's why I don't care about boring you all to death with my droning blocks and walls of text.

We were about to leave for the park when we got a call from Gabby.

Gabby: a ninja who is going to Ecuador for her exchange.

Anyways, she needed a ride. So we picked her up. And off we went to Lincoln Park.

It was beautiful there! Seriously. I never lie. Ever. You have to trust me here. Ok? Babysteps. Just believe me. It was beautiful.

It's a bit of an eye opener.

There were some rebounds there who had just gotten back from their excahnge.

(Before you leave for your exchange, your and inbound. While you're on it you're an outbound. And after you come back home you get the term rebound. If it's your second exchange your a yo-yo)

Anyways, we were able to ask them variosu questions.

Later it came to "advice time." Essentially, they told us stuff that we may have heard before but never listened to. And just coming from them, I took it more seriously :P It was so much more real coming from them. Or perhaps it's just that I'm leaving in 18 days.

18 days?

Whoa.

That's soon.

Anyways, there's just a few general things that I need to remember in Switzerland to maintain my sanity.

I don't know why any of you would care? But I'm putting them here so when I'm getting all sad and emo on myself in my bedroom in Switzerland, I can look back, read this, and shape up.

• Be open. Be open to their culture. Be prepared to change. Be prepared to be laughed at as you goof up the language... and be ready to laugh with them and try again.
• Keep busy. Get a hobby. Stay active. Empty time leaves time for time to miss home. But if you're busy, it's not so hard. (Note: I've taken care of this already by getting myself into a drama and music program in my town... but who knows what else I might do. Yodeling?)
• Make connections. Make relationships. This includes friends, family, and Rotarians. Let them know your needs. Be prepared to throw yourself out there and be the first to talk.
  
• Accept invitations. How else do you get to know someone?
• Keep moving. Don't get stuck on the little things.

It all may seem simple... yet I'm guessing that after days of constant German, simple things like that may be forgotten. And it's while I'm still sane (that may be debateable however) that I need to go over these things.

Be prepared!

Hey! I could be one good boy scout... er, or girl scout.

I got to say my good byes today as well.

Good bye to Kenzie, Hilary, Jacob, Andrew, Kelsey, Taylor, and Lillian.

I'll maybe see Gabby tomarrow.

I'll see Nelly at the airport.

Thank goodness.

And Nelly - you'll probably be reading this. Maybe not.

But anyways.

I'm so glad to have someone like Nelly going on this adventure "with" me. Sure we won't get to talk as much in Switzerland.. but knwoing that there's someone else who knows what I'm going through will be great.

Plus... it could makes those long airplane flights a bit more enjoyable.

Until another snazzy day...

-Maggie-

[I love Seattle skies..]

One Would Think...

One would think...

That as time goes by, I get more and more nervous about Switzerland.

And... they're, well, not entirely right.

It's one of the hardest emotions or feelings to convey. Okay.. not the hardest, but it's difficult to explain.

I have moments every once in a while, where I think, "Oh interjection, Maggie, what have you gotten yourself into?"

but mostly I just want to go.

Now.

Leave.

Yes. It's true.

Why?

I don't want to say good bye. Those words will be so hard for me. Why do you think I didn't go to school that last day? I didn't want to go through that. I just avoided it. So to all of you who I missed... well, good bye.

July 31 - it's supposed to be a grand old happy day.. but it's going to be pretty sad. So you all need to come and cheer me up eh? Yes. You do.

It stilll seem surreal.

Am I really leaving my mother? father? brother? church family? friends?

all.of.it

Behind.

I'll come back, sure I will.

And I'll grow, and, um, mature? But I will change. Undergo an adventure many people can't even imagine. Hopefully most of you reading this can.

Anyways, while I'm learning to live in a new way, being stretched in all directions...

You'll be at home. With the same poeple. Just furthering the development and depth of your relationships with each other.

Getting to know each other.

And while I will think of you each day, not a day will go by without me thinking of you.

You won't miss me.

Sure, you'll have dates or moments when you'll think of me... but each day? Of course not. You'll get used to it. You're in your safe little home. Safe little school. Safe circle of friends.

But.

I'm not.

New food, new culture, new language, new people, new family, new friends, new church, new school, new traditions.

I'm not complaining, I assure you I'm not.

I brought this upon myself.

And I'm excited.

I feel so privliged.

I feel so blessed.

Ready to jump in, experience life, live life.

Not just think about it.

Here I go, like when you get strapped into a rollar coaster.

I always have that moment of dread and I realize I'm in for the full ride, no turning back.

22 more days till I'm gone for 340.

Summer Beverage Guide

Just telling you what I've been consuming lately during the hottest days of the year...

Pay attention.

Heed my advice.

Head out.

Treat yourself right.

You deserve it.

It's a good thing.

---

First, I love Jamba Juice. It's like a lifeline. Couldn't live without that stuff and don't know how I'll survive without it next year.

Today me and mi madre went out to Jamba Juice.

What to get?

I like Tea so I got the....



I don't know how to describe it. It's amazing with so many flavours in one large cup. I guess they say it best.

Dazzle your palette and fuel your active body with this zesty blend of red tea, raspberry juice, strawberries, sorbet, frozen yogurt, soymilk, raspberries and ice. The only thing you have to lose with this energizing mix of fresh berries and rich source of vitamin C is your mid-day doldrums.

So true.

My pallette has been dazzled :P

---

And what's Seattle famous for?

What can be found multipul times in every city in the area.

You gotta love that place. Seriously. If you don't like it. Get away from my blog. Right now. Shoo! Yes. I mean it. You don't even have to like coffee to like Starbucks.

I myself am not a huge coffee fan... but I love mostly everything else that place serves.

Such as the drink I got the other day when it was very hot and I was tired in Seattle.

The perfect pick-me-up.

Raspberry Mocha Frappuccino® Blended Coffee



There it is. Packed with flavour. A subtle but very noticeable (if that's possible) taste of raspberry in each sip.

And raspberries are refreshing.

So this is refreshing.

A delicious combination of juicy raspberries,

chocolate and the finest Latin American coffees,

blended with ice, topped with whipped cream and raspberry drizzle.

As it said. It is delicious. So I advise heading out to your local Starbucks and grab one of these. It really is good.

---

Annie Waits

And so

Annie waits, annie waits, annie waits

For a call

From a friend

The same

Its the same

Was it always the same?

Annie waits for the last time

The clock never stops, never stops, never waits

Shes growing old

Its getting late

And so he forgot, he forgot

Maybe not

Maybe hes been seriously hurt

Would that be worse?

New hair cut + Messy Room = My Life Right Now

[this pictures is in black and white as that is how we do pictures at my church when we get our hair cut :P]

A Day Away

I had just gotten back from camp and was a wee bit exhausted.. but more than anythingI just wanted to see the kids aagain. They were so sweet and life just felt incomplete with out a hand to hold all the time or someone to sing with me. I just wanted to be there for them. It was hard to release them into the care of their guardians... until you realize that you can hand them into God's hands. Now I feel a little bit better. God's up there watching over them and he was smiling down on us that entire week of camp. I know already some campers from last year have gone to heaven, but at least they heard the message of Jesus and recieved his love before he went up there. Now we have his sweet little sister to care for as she makes her way through life and it just breaks my heart to hear what all these kids have gone through.

So Emily and Hannah planned out a "weekend" of action. On Sunday, we were picked up without any knowledge of where we were going. We refers to Jenny, Caitie and I. Well.. I did know a bit only because I wasn't sure about going. We were whisked away to Seattle to stay in a snazzy hotel.. wow. I was so happy. Thrilled. Excited. Joyful.

This is what I need. An older "sister" to get me through things. Emily watches over me. Takes care of me. She makes sure that I'm okay. Megan does that too which is such a blessing. With both of them there for me ready to listen or answer questions with me, I feel a lot more prepared for life. They are both Godly women and by watching their lives line up with the Bible's teachings, I know that their advice will help me live a life like God would want for me. And I'm encouraged to check what they say in the Bible... and it does line up.

So anyways, Emily was loaded, loaded with food. It was insane. And she even brought pickles and snap peas just for me. Yum. I love those things. But also there were cookies and dove chocolate and lots of fruit. Ahh! I love dove. So I melted the dove and dipped strawberries in it. That was quite lovely.

We headed out pretty soon to walk around town... and eat. We had a couple choices on where to eat but naturally the Old Spaghetti Factory was the chosen place. Who could not love spaghetti? The wait was around 15 minutes outside.. but they give you this snazzy buzzer/beeper that tells you when it's your turn. It was in my lap and it went off and I screamed and jumped and I started the group.

Waiting outside for the spaghetti.

It wasn't a long wait and as usual, I made a friend.Little Miss Scarlet was an adorable little 2 year old who gave us the biggest smiles. We headed in to a room that looked like something of a pirate.

Each of us ordered a bottomless strawberry lemonade, which means we had free refills through the night. Our servers were Kirsten and some other person. It was her first day ever and she was really sweet. Since she wasn't bored of her job yet, she was really fresh and enjoyable. I wish all servers were like that. But I guess eventually they just get sick of the job and it's not as exciting.

For the meal, most people got the managers favourite, which is spaghetti noodles with two different types of sauce on two sides. But I got my favourite, the Spaghetti with Browned Butter & Mizithra Cheese. It leaves little to be desired. This was a commen way for the Italians to eat their pasta. Not to heavy or anything. If you haven't tried Mizithra Cheese, you haven't lived. It's like mozzerella but entirely new demensions are added in flavour. It's a lot more strong and it's a hard cheese. It's flakey and has so much flavour. Mmmm. I love it and order it every time I go to the Factory.

Bathroom break at the Factory always involves a stop at the phone booth.

The Factory is great in their prices. It looks expensive at first, $9.25 for my meal, but then you look at what you get. First you get a soup or salad. My salad was amazing with pesto sauce. I've never had pesto sauce before so it was love after first bite... not that unsimilar to the love of a vampire. Okay. Bad joke if that even was one. Anyways, it was really refreshing. And you get loaves of sour dough bread to share with fresh, creamy, whipped butter. It's really satisfying.

Troy Bolton: Oh What's that?
Zeke: Oh, it's a creamy custard like filling with a caramelized surface, it's really satisfying

Hhaha.. sorry, couldn't help that. My blog though and I can quote High School Musical if it seems to fit the blog. Anyways, after the salad, the bread, and the noodles you get one more treat. Spumoni ice cream. We even got an extra one cause they had one melting that they needed to serve. Wow. I love that stuff. Jenny and Caitie got vanilla ice cream which I couldn't even comprehend. It's like Neopolitan on steroids. It's got pistachio, chocolate, and cherry. Now I hate pistachios and any sort of nut thing... but I love this. It's one of my favourite types of ice cream. All those flavours together in one bowl ready to be mixed at the command of my spoon. Such harmony. Such beautiful. Spumoni. It's also a fun word to say. Scarlet the baby stopped by our table as she left. There were plenty of left overs that we took home to eat at midnight later that night.



We headed out towards the waterfront to the new Olympic Sculpture Park. The Olympic Sculpture Park is a new park that was opened by SAM (Seattle Art Museum) that is pretty snazzy. I guess it's pretty self explanatory. But it's fun to just hang out there. You've got a perfect view of the water front and it's pretty peaceful... until the train comes. Anyways, we had a seat in the eye benches, benches shaped as eyes, to get a lovely, er, view of "Father and Son." A scultupre of a father and son.. lacking clothing. Whatever. It's art.

Poor Emily... I seema bit too excited about the statue.

Jenny and the lovely statue right on the waterfront.

Then there were some Puzzel Men I chatted with. I don't know who they were. But they were playing Sudoku and Scrabble at the same time.. the epitome of nerd-dom. And they were my heroes. We talked only a little. I learned what a spat is. And after one person finished his turn on the Scrabble, they'd switch game to book. It seems a good way to live life as an adult. They were about 25 years old.

We headed up the steps behind the eyes and men to the terrace, deck, raised level overlooking the waterfront and the view was amazing. God is so good.

Pic by Caitie. You can't tell, but there are some snazzy mountains in the distance.

I took this pic, I guess. I thought the color scheme was snazzy. But if I had done it again, I would have straightened out the horizen.

Jenny, Emily, Caitie, Hannah, and I.



Some more sculptures.

After all that, we headed home. Even with six of us, Seattle isn't the safest place in the world.

We got to the hotel, went swimming, talked, ate, talked, ate, talked, slept, got a bloody nose, slept, got up, got dressed, got in the shower.

Then we went to the Science Center and met Dr. Sean who was amazing.

Butterflies at the PSC.

And then of course, what do you need to do when you're at the Seattle Center? The fountain of course. We came prepared in with swimsuits and food and headed to the fountain. I love that fountain. It's an icon of Seattle and really represents it well. It's the International Fountain... built for the world's fair. There's usually music playing. The water is clean, you can tell because of the chlorine, and there are kids, teens, and adults running around everywhere. It was the perfect ending for our trip. Really wonderful. And the perfect way to cool off. Not as many kids this day as it wasn't as hot, but stay tuned for the next entry where there were a whole lot more kids.













And that was pretty much my day. Afterwards, me and Jenny hung out a bit at her house. Went to the park. Kicked around a socker ball. Played on the play ground. Played catch with a tennis ball. Just all easy stuff... the way summer is supposed to be.


Life is good.