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 ----->


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.



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.

Sachseln/Sarnen Pics

The mountain range behind the town.

Near the outer edges of town.

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.

Agenda - Mud - Batteries - Bottles - Scones - Red Cars

You know that song, um, I forget how it goes, "Ladies and gentlemen, let's get ready to rumble..."

And then it goes all crazy techno on us.

*nuh nuh nuhhhh*

I feel like that is my soundtrack for now.

My life has too much stuff.

[i like that]

It's like a race, perhaps Chariots of Fire is playing and I'm sprinting along.

[btw, last time I sprinted on the beach was with a lovely huge dead jelly
fish in my hand, and I ended up doing a faceplant, smash, fall into the hard wet sand]

So much to do.

I have to do enough reserach to fill up a 6 page essay, prepare for three tests/quizzes, learn how to name and draw molecules (such as a a 3-methylbenzaldehyde or m-methyl-benzaldehyde or a 4,5-dichloro-3-heanone or a divinylbenzene and while we're at it, why not add in a hexamethylenediamine? I like the 1-propyl-2-methylcyclopentane), read an act of the Merchant of Venice, and on top of that, I have a function or event every single night.

Here is my planner (agenda)... before I've even added in the assignements I will recieve those days:

[click here for a bigger version]

Make note of the babysitting tomarrow from right after school till 5:00, and then dance from 6:30 to 9. I have no idea when I'm going to cram in the homework. On Thursday, I have a orientation for Rotary. Friday, party. And I'm gone all Saturday on a really snazzy trip with the exchangers on a yacht.

Haha.. it's times like these when I don't think I can do it, but God pulls me through.

Gotta love life.

---

Moon River, wider than a mile,

I'm crossing you in style some day.

Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker,

wherever you're going I'm going your way.

---

My review for today?

Amazing? Insane? Intense? Enjoyable?

Scones and chocolate for math?
Hyperness at Spanish.

I had an enjoyable time babysitting Jack and Wyant. Those kids are amazing.

We played soccer, football, baseball...

and then for about 45 minutes or more, we played with mud.

Oh my goodness.. I haven't done that for ages. My hands were caked with that stuff, and so was the rest of me. It was epic. Seriously, if you ever want some fun, just play in the mud. I'm sure there's some sort of benifit you get from it.

They're really sweet kids. Jack is on the right. Wyant on the left. Look at Wyants eyes.. they're so blue..

And of course, leaving the house with two huge freshly baked homemade chocolate chip cookies doesn't hurt either...

---

And, I took pictures of water bottles, batteries, and molecules today...

[this is the battery recycling center, well, box at our school]

[an amine (-NH2) used to find all the isomers of a 5 carbon amine]

[looks like someones going to die soon...]

[cookies for us.. and the new neighbors]

[clase de espanol]

[just a simple hexane carbon chain.. soon to be turned into a hexene or something...]

---

Today, or tomarrow... I challenge you to count the number of red cards you pass on your daily commute to work, school, or just by looking out your window...

I'll tell you why in my next blog, after I get some reports back... no reports, well, no explanation.

Introduction

Sigh,

Finally, a exchange blog.

I'm already an avid blogger, on my other blog, I have, um, at least 130 entries in around 6 months. But I've been waiting to get a blog specifically for my exchange.

This entry could be rawther long....

Well... welcome to Ich bin Zahnpaste... yes. My amazing German skills are revealed to all.

If you're here from my other blog, welcome, if you're a friend, welcome, if you're a family member, welcome, if you're another exchanger, welcome, if you're some weirdo who found this through some random search on Google... um, you're in for a treat?

Many people start a blog and never use it... and I can assure you that that will not happen. I have been avidly blogging frequently for over 2 years.. so it's safe to say that this will be updated... unless I don't have access to a computer in Switzerland. I will limit my computer use while there.

You may have already noticed that there are two blog entries here from January, those, I simply pasted in from my other blog.

If you have no idea what's going on and what this blog is out, here's an overview:

One day, I decided I wanted to become an exchange student. Why? Because there were foreign people here and I wanted to get in on it. If they came to America, couldn't we go there? I started avidly doing research. After looking at various organizations and speaking to a family friend, I realized that the best option for me would be Rotary. I'll do a rave about Rotary in another blog. Anyways, I called some numbers.. accidentally got a man while he was on vacation in Arizona, and made some connections. Within a couple weeks, my family and I were interviewed at Starbucks. I was just days away from the deadline.. so close to missing it. So I ran around town trying to get all the paperwork filled out. I got my application papers in. Got accepted to go on to the next phase. Got interviewed again by a couple nice folks. And was accepted as an acutal exchange student. One day I got a call, I had been accepted to Switzerland. I was quite excited. I accepted that offer. And here I am.

There is so much more to that story, I could elaborate for hours, but that would become a huge walllish block of text.. which no one wants to read.

Anyways, I simply want to do something with my life. I've been in advanced classes since fifth grade, always pushing myself. And I'm realizing that I want to do more, push myself further.. but not in an academic sense. I realized that the best years of my life were being drained away doing homework.. not living life. Of course I'll do more that my share of homework in Switzerland, but on top of that I get the experience of a lifetime. I get to experience a new culture, language, families, friends, life.

I leave around August 2nd or something like that. I will come back sometime after June 15.

Yes. That is 11 months.

The six most common questions/comments I get almost daily are as follows:

1. Won't you get homesick?

Haha.. are you kidding me? Of course! Not seeing my family for so long with drive me insane. But that's part of the experience. The "game plan" is to keep myself so busy, that I won't have time to be homesick. This will included finding new activities and hobbies to occupy myself with. With no time to mope around at home, I won't have time to feel sorry for myself and start feelings homesick. And being homesick and missing everyone is quite differnt. I can miss you all without falling into the deep abiss of depression.

2. Are you excited?

I think the answer to this one is just about as obvious as the other question. I am so excited. Although, I have to admit, it is quite unrealistic at the moment. My mind is having a hard time even fathoming that I'll be gone for 11 months. But if thousands and thousands of other kids have done it, why can't I? I'm excited about all the new experiences I will, well, experience.

3. What do they speak in Switzerland?

In Switzerland, the majority, around 63.7 % speak German, 20.4 % French, 6.5% Italian, and less than 1% Romansch.. and yes, I have memorized these numbers and rattled them off to people when they ask. So of Switzerland has four official languages, German, French, Italian, and Romansch. This is because Switzerland is, well, it's like it's the middle of everything. It's touching Germany, Italy, and France.. so it's got so many different cultures mixed and blended and packed into one little country. Yes. It is quite small. But it's pretty much amazing.

4. So, what language do you speak?

...Spanish.....

5. How will you learn the language?

Just like all the past exchangers before me. Yes, I am studying German in my free time at home and going over the book they sent me from Switzerland (the Yellow Bible), but a lot of language skills are picked up through immersion. Think about it, teens are sent to places such as the Czech Republic.. but no school that I've ever found teachers Czech. When someone is placed in a country where they don't speak their language, the mind is forced to adapt and learn the language for survival. Complete immerision is the way to go.

6. Enjoy Sweden...

It's Switzerland.. not Sweden. And the folks there, they are Swiss. Swiss. Swiss... not Swedish or Swedes or something like that.

I'll probably blog a couple more times tonight.. I've been waiting for so long to get this blog. I just wasn't able to come up with the right title.

God Bless,

Maggie

New Home for a Year?

I chose...

to go to Switzerland.

My new country! Where I may live for 10 months next year. My foreign exchange info.

Here it is! I have officially been accepted. And they officially have a spot for me in....

---

Switzerland

---

Cool huh?

But I don't have to go there. Nope. They're currently still looking for some other places for me to go (such as Sweden). But it's good to know I have a place to go. I have three families lined up for me in Switzerland that I could live with.

But the question is. Is this where I want to go? Should I wait?

I have one to two weeks to make my decision. Time to do some research...

---

Switzerland:

It's here:


They have cool photo frames (old blog).

Did you know that...

• They have the highest chocolate consumption in the world! It's around 22 lbs (10 kg) per person!


• They have the 4th highest cheese consumption too at 20.6 kg per capita!


• They speak German (64%), Italian (6.5%), French (20.4%), and some Ramanish (less than 1%)
  

With ninja stuff like that, I think I'd like it there.

---

If anyone knows anything about Switzerland (besides the fact that it's cold, it costs a lot of money to live there, or that they tuck their pants into their socks) feel free to tell me