A Fleet of Postkarten

[apictureformymother]

I just sent out some 7 letters and postkarten today... I wonder who they could be for?

But I lack a lot of addresses. I..m not going to beg you for your address... it..s only so YOU can get some mail, but I would appreciate getting some more addressess.

Do not assume I have your address! I have a few from church... but it doesn..t hurt to send me yours... right?

It costs me around 3 American dollars to send each of you a postcard..... so a response would be nice. I can..t make you write back. But it wold definitly make my day. Even just a postcard saying "Hey Maggie.. you are orange."

Postcards are good, I put them on my wall.

Letters are good, I put them in a book.

Margaret Hubert
Birkenweg 21
6072 Sachseln
Switzerland

With the postage normally coming to .90 cents for a normal letter or postcard.

So send me your address.... now.
(And your birthday toooo :P)

Danke,

Maggie

"I`m not a tourist, I`m a photographer."

Today was excellent.

I woke up at 7:00, out of the house by 8:00.

First stop was Gruyères... a castle in the French part of Switzerland.

It was amazing and beautiful.

The area is known for it`s gut cream and butter... so we got food and such. I guess my host parents always have coffee every afternoon. And we got crousants... but they were really hot and fresh out of the oven. Have you ever tasted those things that fresh?

It was amazing.

And for exactly and hour we wandered around the courtyards, not really in the castle because we didn`t have time. I bought four postkarten... one for me and three for other people. Who could they be for? Hmm... I already filled them out in the car.

Ooh! And yesterday in the mail I got three pieces of mail :P A letter from Sarah (she is loverly), Mom (she is grand and I miss hugging her), and the Immigration office with this passport visa thing I`m supposed to have at all times for a year.. yeah right.

Anyways, the car trips were long.. for Swiss standards. We went over the pass and around for 2 hours... sigh. But it was ok.

Then we arrived in Lausanne by Lake Geneva where the Hinter`s friends live.

They had a pool.

We had food.

They had two sons.

The food was good.

We went schwimmen.

I took a bajillion pictures of swimming folks and made a short slideshow to save room on this blog...

And yeah, it was a good day. I`m keeping this blog short as I am very tired.

Ich bin müde.

And on the way home we stopped at McDonalds.

And then we went home.

And on the way home, me and Philipp were ninjas. He helped me with German... and he reallly likes Christlich "rockmusik" as he calls it. He was surprised when he learned he was listening to Christian music. He still loves Skillet but I also exposed him to Toby Mac, Relient K, and Run Kid Run today.

Pics later.

You`re a Falling Star

Once again, I have free time... well, no family is around.

The neighbors are over for a nice glass of wine and nuts. They are very nice and I enjoyed a short conversation with them. But then I, um, left. Cause it`s just adults. Anita und Philipp are in their rooms.

Today was a special day.

We went to this gorge where the fictional Sherlock holmes was supposedly shot. I couldn`t read the plaques to understand... but I watched a travel video about it back at home. I think it was in Lucenes or something.

Anyways, I got up at 8:00 to be ready by 10:45.

Breakfast was gut, as usual.

I cried a lot when I learned that Kathy Albright has passed away. And my host mother didn`t know what was wrong. And I kept trying to tell her but I couldn`t talk. So she gave me a nice big hug for a minute or more while I cried. And finally I could tell her. I am sad because I never got to say good bye. I even sent her a letter... and it will never make it to her. And I grieve for the Albright family. But for Mrs. Albright? I am so glad for her... I mean, she`s up in heaven right now. Imagine that? It`s crazy to think about it and I bet she`s have a blast... but I still miss her. But I guess she can come see me in Switzerland now. And she doesn`t feel sick any more. So I talked to her. I don`t know if it will make it to her, but maybe God can say hi to her for me. I mean, he can do all things. And I bet she`d love the scenery here. But still... I cry, I cry now as I type this. I cried this morning. George is one excellent companian when I`m sad.

Sigh.

I can`t imagine going through that. God bless them. Last night, I was praying so much for her. God kept putting her on my heart, and especially the family. And so I prayed. And now I cry again.

Anyways...

We picked up Jessica first at the trainstation.

Meet Jessica:

Jessica is here on her exchange from South Africa and her first host family was the Hinters, my current host family.

It was insightful to hear about her exchange. Since she`s from the southern hemisphere, she comes here from January to January, while us up north come August to August.

Then we picked up Corey... Coriè? I don`t know how to spell her name. But I do know that she is my host mother`s goddaughter.

Meet Corey:

Next we picked up Jorge in Giswil.

You know Jorge:

Then it was off through the pass to the gorge.

It was a schnazzy drive, seven of us in one car.

We arrived.

We payed.

We hiked... it was a crazy cool hike.

Kinda like the pathway of doom.. no wonder Sherlock died.

It was a wooden walk way around a rocky cliff sort of thing, on the wall. And underneath us was a rushing river thingy. And sometimes we went through caves and got dripped on a lot.

Jorge brought Mivella.

Mivella.

Mivella is the Migros version of Rivella. And he had a pretty large bottle of it. I told him to carry it with pride... cause it was pretty large for one person. Luckily he shared :P I love love love Mivella. Jessica said that most American tourists hate it, but the exchangers don`t mind it. And, well, I can`t describe the taste at all. Sorry.

Here are some pics with the Mivella... it makes a good foto prop.

Can you spot the super white American?


Mivella... definitly worth showing off.


Mivella Love.. Mivellove


It never gets old.


Mivella makes a good friend.


It listens whenever you talk to it.


I have no idea what is happening here.


Mivella, the center of attention


About to get a drink.


Ahh, it ist so gut!

Yep.

And we walked, and finally we reached a picnic area by the water. It was quite nice. We had brot und kessen (sp?) und fleich. It was really good. And of course, we had Rivella und Mivella und Chocolate.

Lots of talking the entire way.

And afterwards, we got ice cream!

SUPER

Ahh, anyways, I read Pingu books at home, because I can sort of understand the German. And then I found out they had Pingu ice cream.

I got it.

You take off the hat to eat the ice cream out of where the brain should be... it is sooo good. Like it`s kiddy glace.. but it`s amazing and creamy and thick and, wow, I can`t even begin to describe the taste and texture as I put each tiny bite into my mouth. It just melts on the tongue. It`s sooo smooth.

Pingu!

Then there was a fantastic playground right by where we got the ice cream.

At first, I was the first to play on it, the rest stayed at the table. And Philip was playing too. But soon, everyone came and joined me. What can I say, playgrounds attract people of all ages.

And then we had a group shot...

And we headed home.

Yep.

And I hung out a bit.

I swept the garage.

And then the two folks came over for wine.

And in the middle of this blog, I went out and joined them and I practiced my German... I am actually pleased with myself... kind of rare. I was able to keep and make a conversation with the. And the lady didn`t know a lot of English so it worked out fine. I`ve learned enough that they said that they could understand me. We also had tuna on fine crackers.

Then I mentioned the meteor shower tonight... and so we watched it. And the couple went home. And we pulled out lawn chairs.

Sigh.

Life out of a book I tell you.

The sky here is so clear... it`s amazing. And so I was on a lawnchair with Anita and we saw so many falling stars. And two were very clear and long and bright and distinct. It was a magical moment. I was out there and we were all laughing like a family and I`m next to my sister under a blanket. And we just watched the stars and laughed.

Yes, I miss my family at home a lot... but God has blessed me and knew which family I would do well with.. even if my little brother does chase me around with big wooden sticks.

David Beckham - Making It Real

Mmkay. So it`s my third blog.. but whatever. The family is watcihng TV and it grossed me out too much. It`s where they go to hotels and look at the germs in the bed and vacuum and show everything.. gah, I couldn`t stand it :P

Anyways, I woke up this morning a bit later than normal... 9:00. And breakfast was all set for me.

I always clean my room each day in the morning, evening, and afternoon... I have nothing better to do.

On my calendar today it was covered in questions from someone... so I wrote a letter to them. Yep. Love the Sushi stationary?

It was a sunny day.. but also very rainy.

Next... well, I made book marks tags. I newspapers and food ads. The second one featured one of my favourite stores, Denners. And on it I put my new favourite drink, Rivella. Rivellla is impossible to describe because we have notihng like it in Ameria. No taste like it. But it`s pretty much pop.

And the first one was just a mix of all sorts of pixtures. I`ve started a collage of funny soccer faces... cause I have a soccer magazine now.

Click on a pic to see it bigger...

And I read a bit as well of my new Disney magazine. My family has a pile of old magazines they are throwing out and I rescued a few.

Then I bicycled around Sachseln a bit because it was a beautiful day.

And I went to the store, Denners, again and the Mezgerei.

Here, they have a different garbage system. They had it like ours but changed it last year because they figured, why shouldn`t people with more garbage pay more and vise versa. Anyways, now they have a bag system. You can buy a blue bag at the store, just one fee for a bag, and then you fill it up and put it in a special bin on every street (no garbage cans). You buy the bag at shops. Or you can get black bags and not pay... but you go to a special garbage center where they weigh it and you pay based on the weight of the bag. Clever eh?

Dinnner and Lunch was sausages... yum.

And for dessert we had a yogurt, granola, fresh berry thingy... I liked it.

OOH! Their mustard, it comes in some sort of a tube... like a giant toothpaste tube. I love it!

And I hung out a bit.. check out the other blogs.

And in the middle of this blog, I keep going to be with the family. Anita, Philipp, Brigitte, and I were all singing together some sort of camp song. Sigh. So nice. And then we were all shouting the alphabet together.... three languages at once. Loud, soft, quick, slow.

Thank you God for putting me in this family, you knew what I needed. More on that in another blog.

Oh yes, and here is my blazer:

Tchuss und thanks for the support,

Maggie

Still Blogging

I am now going to reflect on something they told us yesterday.

So I know the whole, "don`t talkt to people back home too much or you won`t be living the moment"

But then they addressed blogging back home. They said that this is our exchange and that we don`t have to share every moment with people back home. That we should save stuff.

And I whole heartedly agree.... I should save stuff... but this is my journal.

I have a journal here, but I just can`t get into it. And it takes so long to write everything down. So I realize that I`m telling you guy everything, but this is for me too... and that is why it is so long.

They also said that we would be missing out on life if we were always recording it. I disagree. When I blog is times when my whole family is watching TV or my sister is napping or something like that. I watch when I do and try to be careful. Usuallly I blog in the evenings.

Also, before I blog, I ask my mother if there is anything I can do to help. Any chores or jobs.

I guess this blog could just be a way of getting rid of some guilt that the Rotary put upon me :P

So despite what they told me... I will still continue to blog.

This is a record for me of my exchange, and who knows, maybe I`ll print it out somday.

My Hardcore Host Brother

My host brother is Philipp. And I can write about him here, and I don`t care if he finds it. All I haveis complements.. and that which is negative I keep to myself. Anyways, he does`t speak English. But the rule for myself is always assume that the person is going to read.. and understand, what you write about them.

Anyways, Philipp is hardcore.. definitly.

For the past two days he has dressed up as a ninja and always has ninja stars in a pouch around his waist and a belt on his leg with plastic knives in it.

I`ll be reading or just sitting and all of a suddent he`ll pull a knife up to my neck.. kind of freaky.

And just a few minutes ago, he was chasing me with a metal pole.

Gah - will I survive this year?

Yes.

And today, I walk in the room and he`s wearing some crazy cool mask and just surfing the web like that.

He came into my room, and I played for him Skillet... he loves it!

He was rocking out and dancing and lipsynching into a pole... hehe. You ought to have been there.

Then I hid under a tisch.. I have to feign dead quite often.

And I told him, "Meine musik ist Christlich."

And he didn`t belive me at first.

"Vas?!!? Ist... Christlich?"

And I was like, yes, it`s Christian...

Here in Switzerland, for Christian music, they mainly only have hymns. So when I told them we had drums and guitars and keyboard for church, they were surprised. No clapping at their churches. Yeah.. I`m definitly going to expose them to Christian music while I`m here.

78 Students

Today was a quite nice day for me.

Mwahah.. I sound like a German now... er, anyways.

Today was the Welcome Meeting for all of us inbounds in Switzerland... something that couldn`t be done in the USA... it would be hard to get all the students together from all 50 states in one hotel just for a couple hours with such ease.

This morning, I actually had a wake up time... I had to be out of the house by 8:00. And when the Swiss say 8:00... they mean 7:55.

On Sundays, we get a special bread (topf?)... and you can only buy it on Saturdays to eat on Sunday. Only on Sunday. Get it?

It is soooo gut!

Anyways, after breakfast, Ruedi drove me and Anita to Griswil (or something like that). Anita was dropped off at the train station and then we went into the village to pick up Jorge. On the ride, we had some pretty interesting music. Lots of polka, accordians, and even Frenchy Brown. Yes... they have accordian music on the radio. There are only three radio stations.

We had to go to Oltern which is around a 55 minute drive... it`s between Zurich und Luzerne.

We got there around 15 minutes early... but it was fine. I found some people I had seen in the airport. They also had lanyards and nametags made out for us. Pretty soon, we were all trading pins... that`s what we do, trade pins. I`ll show you my blazer later. We also trade business cards. Mom, can you go to Kenmore and get me more pins? I`m almost out.

There are 78 or so of us... 48 of which are girls. And we are from all over including the USA, Canada, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Sweden, Germany, and some other places I forget. The person from Germany goes to the French speaking part of Switzerland since German would be simple. There are also many exchangers from Australia and South Africa, but they come in January and leave in January, so we got to meet some... and they are epic (humorous).

We had lots of lectures.

We drank mineral water.

We ate lunch outside.

We did some workshops.

We went home with my headmaster, Jorge`s host father. Patrick. He biked all the way there! That`s, well, just think about how far we get by going 86 mph in around 55 minutse.. and he biked it. His wife met us there.

We drove home and then Patrick, Jorge, and the mother (I`m horrible at names) came up to our garden and we drank water, Rivella, and ate chocolate and talked.

Apparently I am well prepared in German from the book and learn schnell (fast)... I`m not to sure, but if they say so, why not?

After that, my brother is my hero. He has ninja stars made of tape and a little sheath on his pants and everything. And he`s made a tape helmet. And bow and arrow. And everything.. very creative.

And then we had dinner.. AHH, I love Swiss meals! We started wtih honey dew melon and then played around a bit. Then we had mashed potatoes.. .and I loved them. I think there was clove or something in them. And there was a special gravey with spices. I dunno. But it was reallllly good. And we had some sort of sausage that was amazing with green beans.

We played some more.

Then Philipp went outside and I looked out and the neighbor kids told me to come down, so I did. And we scootered a lot. It`s great hanging out with them because I can learn German fro them and they don`t mind if I mess up and just laugh along with me. And I really enjoy it. And then it rained. So the smell was amazing. It was fresh Swiss air + rain smell + smoke from bbq... and I just felt like I was in a book it was so amazing. I can make German sentences now and am doing ok, I guess. Language school should help a lot.

After that, me and Anita went biking around, and it was a bit dark, but oh well. We went to the new school and it is fine. It even has beach volleyball complete with a court outside with golden sand.... it`s really neat. And then we went to the soccer fields (they have 3 or something like that..) and then down to the water and back home.

On the bikes are these lights that are run by the bike tires spinning. There`s like a gear that spins as it is in contact with the wheel and it powers the lights.. hehe, I love it and I think I got a bit too excited when I saw it :P

Well, off to bed for me. I`ve got clean hair and nothing really planned for tomarrow.

Tchuss,

Maggie

Soccer and Churchbells

My host mother and father are at a party... my brother is watching TV... so I have time for one more blog...

This is my journal, so I realize that you all probably don`t read it all... but I do a lot of this in place of writing by hand. Eh? Ja.

So we did end up taking our bicycles to Sarnen. It was an amazingly lovely trip. There were cobblestone roads, gravel, and pathed. And bicycle paths. And a snazzy park. The park was pretty flooded and we had to go through huge puddles a couple times. I think I want to go biking on Monday again.

When we got home, I had ice cream and my host dad was mowing the lawn. Anita washed her bike and Phillip was playing with the kids out front.

So I headed out to the front street and played with the two neighbor children for a good hour on scooters. Wow. It feels so good. I mean, I feel like I`m living a life out of a book. Cliche. We were scootering and playing tag and singing and speaking nonsense. And I feel easier speaking German with them... so I do. I just go for it and don`t even care if I speak it write. They sometimes help me. I feel bad though. They`re names are French and I can`t really pronounce them. But they know my name by now :P

"Maggie!" "Het!"

Het is what you shout out when you tag someone.

I wish I could convey how much fun I had then. We were just running around. And than we sat down on the cement... and made farting noises.. ahha, yeah. Oh so mature. But they think it`s hilarious.

But here, there`s a lot of family time. Me and Phillip played with a balloon for a good while outside in the yard. Then it popped on a cactus and we started to pretend to cry and burry it and comfort each other. Sigh. Good times. Thank goodness acting doesn`t always require words.

Then we made pizza since the parents are out. It was really good and after it me and Anita talked for almost an hour out in the yard.

Earlier today, we both we outside in lounge chairs reading. Her with some hard Swiss book and I was reading about Pingu the Penguin. And my host mother was like, "Ahh, how nice. Both my daughters reading together." And that made me smile. We do a lot of stuff outside.

Anyways, after chatting and pizza, we all played soccer in the backyard. I think that`s just snazzy. We`re all different ages, yet here they do that, play together. Hang out together. Do stuff together. I hear it`s not like this during the school year, but still. And our neighbors, this afternoon they all sat as a family together for two hours or so playing games and stuff. And we play games too. Me and Phillip like to play Uno and usually our mom or dad joins us.

The weather is so nice now... sometimes it`s hot, but usually just comfortable. And just staring out the window gives me hours of enjoyment... although I prefer to sit in the grass.

Here is a vid of the bells, you can hear them from my house:

Question and Answer Time

People have asked me various questions... so why not answer them here for all to read? And some people said stuff I wanted to make comments too, so I`ll do that here too.

What else is good in switzerland? army knives, cheese, uh...watches? - Gabe



Yeah! There are lots of cheese... so much of it. Everywhere. And there are watches everywhere... and everyone is always wearing one.. except me. I feel out of the loop. And they sell the knives at plenty of places.. but most are awful tourist spots :P But oh well, I love them anyways.



Is there really an entire aisle of chocolate? - Ian



Yep! Lots of chocolate... and it`s in more than one place in the shop. Some up front, some in an aisle. And at some stores they have an entire corner of the store devoted to chocolate with a couple small half aisles and a wall covered in it.

And some of the chocolate is funny. Like my host mother is always offering me chocolate and I have a bowl of it in my room and two shelfs of it in the kitchen. And one type is called "Kitten Tongue".. and it`s shaped like a tongue. Kind weird if you ask me... but at least it tastes good.



So, when you come back, are you going to be shaking everyone's hands all the time? - Ian


Err... most likely... and the triple kiss thing is pretty intense. You say "hi", shake their hand, and do the whole kiss on the cheek thing three times.. it`s pretty crazy cool... but honestly, I find it awkward.

Oohh ohh i also thought the cart thing was pretty cool even tho if u dont have money u cant get a cart - Elisa

The money is nothing... well, only 1 CHF. So it might be like putting in a quarter... anyone can have a quarter. And in my family, we have a couple francs in the car at all times.

Why are all of your “y’s” replaced with “z’s” and “z’s” replaced with “y’s”? - Lexi

The Euro computer is differnt... and the Y`s are where the Z`s normally are here. And the apsotrophe and colon and everything is different... sometimes it`s easier just to type like I do in America.

Did you know any German before you left? - Lexi

Ein bissen. I knew a bit from a book they sent me. Apparently, I`m doing pretty well and I`m able to sort of communicate. Luckily, my family knows English and helps me out.

When do you start school? - Lexi

I start school on the 20th... but that`s just in our canton, Obwalden. The rest of Switzerland starts school this upcoming Monday. And when I start school, it will first be a special language school that I`ll have to take the bus to each day.

What is your family like? - Lexi

My family ist super! Well, it`s hard to put them into words... my host brother at least. They`re schnazzy people and I`m happy to spend the next four months with them.