Happy Sylvester!

Apparently that's what they call New Year's here! I've seen these 'Sylvester party' posters everywhere but I thought they were advertising a certain kind of party, you know like a rave or jungle party, so I asked Oli what a Sylvester party was and he said that's what they call New Years' parties in general... weird, eh?!
Anyways... there's supposed to be a slammin' party here tonight but I'm sure it'll pale in comparison to the party going on in my flat tonight!!! Hope everyone has a great time bringing in the new year!
And looking back on the old, may you enjoy the memories and lessons that it brought you! I certainly will!!! Have a good Sylvester, everyone!

Hey Momma!!!

Just wanted to give a shout out to my mom on her birthday... she's %+ this year!!!
Not sure if I'll get to talk to you today, either cuz you're not home yet or Josh is on the internet and I can't get through! Just know that I love you muchly and I hope that you had a great day... and that the men in your life took you out to dinner... Randy's has good eats, or you could go for some chicken fied rice and a Pesi at the Silver Grill!!!!! Good times, good times!
Also, a p.s. to my fellow bloggers and xanga-ers... POST SOMETHING!!! I feel out of touch since no one is updating their blogs... I know it's the holidays but really... I need to hear from you!
Vic and Joe... great talking to you today! Man, I needed you guys today!!! Thanks for being a listening ear! Miss y'all like crazy... wish I could be there for the party at my place!!!
Much love.

Arrival...

I booked my ticket home a few minutes ago! I'll be flying from London on Jan 22 at 1140 and arriving in Halifax the same day at 1425. Haven't booked a ticket to London yet though... still waiting to hear from Philip what his plans are. Hoping that we can buzz around London for a few days... he's thinking of coming home as well so we might fly home together too. It would be a change to have some company while I travel... although, it will be Philip... I'm sure I can survive! The ticket that I did find to London is the sweetest deal that I have ever found... even Jon would be proud, I think! I can fly from Switzerland to London for a mere CHF 9.95 plus taxes whixh comes to CHF 29.95!!! The Swiss franc pretty much equals our dollar... so I'm pretty excited about that, but I'll have to buy it soon or the price will go up 30 bucks.
Looking forward to seeing everyone... if you're not completely buried in snow that is!!!
Gut Nacht!... but I guess it's Guten Abend for you at the moment!! Ciao!

Insights...

So, I could never figure out why some people never had the desire to return to countries that they had visited. I have several friends with the 'been there, done that' mentatily and I always thought they were nuts... who wouldn't want to return to the amazing places that they had visited? I was so excited to return to Switzerland, and since this was the first time that I was able to return to a country previously visited, I was curious to see my reaction. I have since discovered that I may indeed be one of those with the 'been there, done that' mentality. I have enjoyed being able to return, since this place is somewhat familiar to me and I have been able to be fairly independant upon my return, but I find that the 'enchantment' that this place once had for me, is gone. I suppose that I have realized that it is just another place in the world, however beautiful it may be, with problems similar to ours and with people that have the same struggles. The Swiss are a peculiar people. They are, for the most part, extremely punctual... I can catch a train or bus at the exact minute that the schedule states. A far cry from the transit system in Peterborough! This, Bill pointed out once, can make life very stressful and regimented for the people here. Every minute is accounted for and productive. There are not many lazy people. Even the ones that don't work are busy doing something. And, therefore, a lack of spontinaity in activities or outtings to reduced stress. So far this type of stress I have yet to experience, probably because I have no boss to answer to. Or the one that I do answer to ie. Gina, is half Italian, so she does not conform to any of the norms that Swiss people possess.
And secretly, I absolutely love the fact that the trains and buses arrive right on time!
So, those are my thoughts for the day. However scattered they may seem. I think that I would return to Switzerland again if I found myself in the vicinity. If only to have a short visit with the few that I hold close to my heart here. But, alas, I wish to see more of the world... and not the same old thing over and over again. You can only see so many castles before they all start looking the same!

Coming home!

So here's the lowdown on moi. I'm really homesick (which is very strange since I have almost never been homsick in my life). Joseph says that I have become an Islander now, since I want to go back there so badly!
It has been a challenge being here. [Bear with me folks... for some of you this may be redundant]. The language barrier has been a struggle for sure and since I have not been able to take language courses, my language development has been extremely slow. As a results it has been nearly impossible to form deep friendships. I know, most of you are saying 'she's only been there for a month!' But I'm used to making friends quite quickly, so it has been lonely to say the least. I miss my kindred spirits back home! The other reason is that I have little to fill my days with. The really big house cleaning jobs are done, so now it's basically maintenance. I do some of the cooking, minus the typical meals, of course! So, in short, I feel that my usefullness has expired. The plan is to return some time mid-January... haven't booked the flight yet, hopefully that will happen this week. I'll keep you posted...

God Bless Us, Everyone!

Well, I just got in from walking the dog... and the bells annouced that Christmas Day is over for another year.
This one was memorable for me. Mainly because I spent it in a foreign country. Also because I did all the cooking... usually that is left to the matriarchs in the family, a position of which I have yet to attain. Europeans celebrate Christmas on its Eve so technically it was over for me yesterday. We had our dinner and opened presents all within 2 hours. This was also a new experience for me since that whole affair in our family usually takes the entire day, literally! Supper, I have to say, was fair. Not too bad for my first Christmas dinner, but more practise is definately needed! It didn't help that just as I was about to serve the meal in walks Ben... with a huge flat screen TV (the boys had ordered it and Ben thought it would be a great surprise to deliver it on Christmas), which absolutely had to be set up at that very moment! Needless to say, dinner was on the lukewarm side, but all found it enjoyable, present company excluded. (Although I did a good job on the gravy, which is an extremely rare occurance.) Let me compare it to someone who has experienced Heaven (perhaps Erin can relate since she has been know to eaten it several times!!!) and then returns to Earth only to be disappointed by it's beauty. That was dinner for me... since the matriarchs have made Christmas dinner absolute perfectionover the course of my life, it has spoiled it now for me because my meal could hardly compare to the divinity of a Christmas dinner around the table of my youth.
Where in the name of time did that come from?!?! Poetic, eh?!? Yeah, so that'll never happen again... or not for another couple of months at least! Haha... hope you enjoyed!
I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas, however it was celebrated!
Blessings to everyone!
P.S. The wacko picture, that you have been forced to gaze upon for the last few days, is some bizzare lamp from Ikea that Gina just loved! Yeah, Europeans have weird tastes! Stay tuned for more games...

3rd Clue...

...and essentially the answer. Hopefully you can figure it out now!
Please note that no E.T.'s were harmed in the fabrication of this product.
Happy Christams Eve!

2nd Clue...

So, here a little more of the 'object in question'. I liked the ET convention guess, very creative!
Hint: Common household item, can be purchased at Nate and Celeste's favorite store.

Game time... 1st clue:

K... this is it folks. Thought it might time to play a little game, kinda like Shawn's 'Can you guess what Lukas drew in the snow?' game... but mine is a bit more futuristic.

Hint: Nate and Celste will get it right off the bat!

Good luck and may the best blogger win!

Hope everyone is satisfied!!!

Well, there it is folks! Hope you enjoy the pics... now there will be more to come... if I can remember how to do this tomorrow!
The pic of Nathan was purely accidental but I hope y'all get a kick out of it! I guess it'll be in honour of him and Shelbs... who started going out a few days ago!!!! Is that awesome or what?!
Signing off for now...

Welcome to Germany!!! This is the platz where we did a bit of shopping. It was very quaint and the coffee shop that we stopped at was divine! Erin talks about eating heaven... well I was there and having a delish apple fritter! 

This is a typical house... very old... the wood end of the building would have been the barn back in the day, might still be used for that now, not sure. 

So this was taken last Monday in Z�rich. One of Bill's fav spots because you get a cool view of Frau M�ntser (green spire) with Gross M�nster in the background (2 spires). Climbed the tower in the middle when I was here in Sept... doesn't look high but it was! 

Sooo...

Congratulations to Nathan Thorne for being the first pic on my blog!
Flave was helping me figure it out, and after Nathan was posted he took off to bed! So the pics that follow are all my doing... hope it works...!

hmmm...cake! 

Tonight...

So I went to Germany today. I told Carolyn last night that it was 1 1/2 hrs away... turns out I'm about a half hour from the German border! Another stamp in my passport... woohoo!! Wasn't too exciting... just did a little shopping in a quaint little square then on to the grocer store to stock up on cheap stuff!
Anyways the real reason I'm blogging today is that I'm pretty sure C&C is having their Christmas banquet tonight... and I want to know EVERY DETAIL!!!! I miss Swiss Chalet... ummm chicken! Have a good time guys... think of me!
Hello my boys, this is Oliver talking/typing Beverly is such a nice girl she urgently needs a boyfriend so come on boys!!!
Soory about that... Oli's kinda wacko... I think he had too much sleep today!!
Anyways... off to get a movie... ttl!

Now that's better!

Well, I went to Bill's church in Zürich today. It was great. I think this is where I will go from now on. Although it will cost $32 every Sunday, I think it will be worth it. It was kinda sad since it's Bill's second last Sunday and alot of ppl won't be there next week since it's Christmas so he had to say alot of goodbyes this week. Hard to believe that he'll be home for good in a week. Now I'll have to find a new Canadian friend...
Tomorrow I'm off to Germany for shopping! Things are alot cheaper there so I think that's where I'll do a bit of Christmas shopping. Let ya know how it goes!
Tschüs! Ciao!

Magical moments

WOW... so I just got back from Narnia... yeah it's a real place! Was it ever amazing! Loved every minute! Have to agree with Nathan Little though some of the CGI was a bit hokey an looked really fake. I thoguht Nathan was just been overly crititcal because he's a professional! But he has to admit that Aslan was gorgeous! He looked so real. It was cool because alot of the places in the movie looked just like how I had pictured them in my mind when reading the book. the lamp post, the Stone Table. Mercy and redemption magnificantly protrayed... wondered if anyone else got the message... probably very few. And in the end... WE WIN!
Now I'll have to watch King Kong to see if it's as good as Nate says it is!

Winter Wonderland

So... first snowfall today. It was so pretty. Made things feel much more Christmasy around here. There's talk of getting a Chirstmas tree but not too sure when that will happen... hopefully next week sometime! Hard to believe that Christmas is a week away!
I started baking today as well. It was great! It was a bit of a challenge though since their measurements are all metric and I'm used to doing things the old fashioned American way! But it was great none the less. Snow falling softly outside, Christmas music in the background, and me in an apron!
I went for a short walk (short because I forgot my toque) to get some pics of my winter wonderland... would post them but there are still a few glitches with my new laptop... hopefully Oli will be along shortly to fix them.
Ok here he is... now I'll try to post something... bear with me folks!!! The pics are coming Jon!

New stuff

Hey there friends! Well, tonight I write to you from my very own computer!!! Gina and I have inherited Aldo's laptop. Oli set it up tonight for me and then Flave changed my blog settings to English!!! Before this they were all German and I had a hard time trying to figure things out. So now Jon's appetite for pics will soon be satiated... if I can figure out how to post them, that is!!! I'm so illiterate! The experimentation begins tomorrow...
Today, went to another friend of Gina's for lunch, during the course of which I met her two children. I sat beside Nick, who is 7... he expressed that he would like to learn English, so I offered my services...should be fun. Suzanne, his mother, said she would also like to learn. So starting sometime next week I'll become a teacher of sorts! The little girl's name is Fabienne... kinda like a female Fabio... thought Andrew K might get a kick out of that!
For now it is almost midnight and time for me to call Erin!

Time waits for no man...

(Can anyone tell me where that saying is from? Popped into my head the other day and I can't figure out who said it. Perhaps the wise and all knowing Professor Dan might have the slightest clue...)
...and I think I missed the bus! I've been a day behind all week. Don't you hate that feeling? I come to Thursday today and was thinking it was Wed. and then boom, it's gonna be the weekend tomorrow! It's also a nice feeling to think that the time here isn't dragging on.
So, I've been super lonely the last little while but the feeling lifted today. I have a sense of this being home (for the time being... not living here forever folks... no worries mom and dad!). In part I wonder if the loneliness stemmed from not having a 'real' job to do here. I just kinda putter around the house, sometimes tackling big jobs, like trying to organize and clean the kitchen... 5 hours and 3 black garbage bags later... I still haven't completely finished. I do general cleaning and make lunch and supper most days, too. I'm also a companion for Gina so I go with her to friends houses, and sit and stare at the walls for hours!!! It's alright though... I love checking out other ppls places and getting ideas for spaces, decorating ideas, etc. Also, you get to learn a bit of culture, so it's cool.
Friendly reminder to anyone who tries to call... I AM 6 HOURS AHEAD OF YOU!! Got a call the other night from a well meaning friend back in Ont and she called in the evening... which a normal thing to do, right? Well, it was 3am where I was so it was a little disturbing to say the least... esp. for Gina who answered the phone! Good times, good times!
Anyways, promised deep thoughts...
I've trying to follow along with C&C Sunday school's study in Ecclesiastes (Rich can you send this past week's notes and this Sun as well? Danke!). Pretty great contrasting wisdom and folly and the futility of life without God. Because it is TOTALLY pointless and far less enjoyable without God. Well, I've also been studying in I Sam. It's so fascinating because this book fits so well along side Ecc. Comparing first Eli to Samuel, then Saul to David and also Jonathan. I'm really getting into it! I'll share one passage in particular... in chap 15, Saul was commanded to completely destroy the Amalekites, and in true Israelite form, disobeys God's command, and saves the king (for some reason) and some of the best animals (for sacrifice... or so he says!). Now when he saves the animals, I can just see the dumb look he has on his face when Samuel confronts him, 'Duh, isn't this great, Sam? Now we can make some sacrifices for the victory!' Then, after Samuek rebukes him he has the audacity to say, 'But, Sammy, I did what God said!' (I took the liberty for scribbling IDIOT in the margin of my Bible at this point.) Later Saul offers a rather weak confession and I'm doubting it's sincerity, Samuel finishes the dirty work of utterly destroying the Amalekites (kills the king). It's a very cool read... check it out sometime. But as I contemplate what this means for me, I can't help but wonder how often I do the same thing. When I recieve instruction from the Lord, do I follow His Word whole heartedly and to the word, or do I simply do the parts that I want, that are easy, that are the most profitable for me? Am I as dumb as Saul, sometimes...
Praise the Lord for God's grace, eh?!

Buy, Sell, and where the heck is all my stuff!

Ummm.... so I actually have a few more minutes before we leave for supper and as you can see, I am as obsessed about my blog as Amanda is... I would be updating it all the time if I had the internet handy at home.
So... Carolyn... is Joe selling my stuff to support his habit (i.e. compulsive buying of Christmas lights... no more rumors Noel!)? He shouldn't be so short on cash, with that sweet deal on rent that he's got! Take an aspirin to avoid having a stoke... maybe Donald should have one too... since he might have one when the electric bill comes in!!!
Just to clear up the his-name's-not-Bill joke... that was Bill's idea, and only those of you who know Bill would understand the type of sick humour that he has... right Shawn?! Love the toilet pic by the way!
Well... I think I'll save the deep thoughts for tomorrow... guten abend!

I'm not dead...really!

Hey folks... so Amanda, I do have a good excuse for not blogging as often as I should be... I had no internet over the weekend! So am I excused now?... Thanks!
So Noah is NOT my son, for the record... just a little boy that came to visit with his father last week. Very cute kid but difficult to understand, since he refused to speak English with me. His granny is Brithish so he knows that language but too shy to speak it I guess. So I had a little fun with him and would speak to him in a British accent, that I was able to study in the early English morning I spent at Gatwick in London. Lovely darling... cherrio!
Noah's visit brings me to my next point... when ppl come to visit, whether from near or far... they stay the whole friggin day!!! So the first few of my days here were spent not working but chilling out with Swiss folks... who had no idea what I was saying and I had even lesser of a clue as to what was being said to me or about me!
At the moment I'm with Bill in Zürich... at the justice of the peace... just kidding folks!!! (His name's not Bill!) Take it how you like Noel! Have you ever listened to the song about the Rumor Weed???
Anyways... to get back to reality...Just hanging out for the day... went to King's Kurry... YUMMY! Walked around alot but it was great... bought a couple of things and now we're heading out for supper with a friend of Bill's.
Sent some letters out today... so watch your mail boxes folks!
Holy COW... Tim's engaged!!! Congrats!!! Yeah, pretty sure I'll be home for the wedding!!!
Hopefully I'll have the internet back up when I get home so I can post something tomoorow, to appease Amanda.
Lovies...

The Story of the Flight aka Untitled, continued

Yeah... so the rest of this story is rather short. I'm in London, write Philip, get on my plane, arrive in Switz. And that's pretty much it... except for the turbulance b/w London and Switz! Holy cow! Of course, I should have known, as soon as the pilot says that he thinks we'll have a pretty smooth flight... thanks for jinxing us 007!!! I thought I was gonna puke... doesn't help that I'd been awake for a crazy long time either.
Just felt I needed to choose one of Dan's witty titles...
I'll tell you about Noah soon... apparently he's my illegitimate (is this spelled right, spell checker?) child...

Untitled

Yeah, sorry about the lack of a title (yeah, Dan go ahead, I can take it), but the creative juices are not flowing very well today.
So I haven't been able to update y'all for a few days since Flavio's computer had a filter on it so it wouldn't let me into the blog site... but I'm back, baby! It was great to read all of your comments. And I'll state it again for the record... I will not be marrying Bill Yeo... no offence, eh Bill? We'll still go for curry for sure! For Shawn... I plan on staying in Switz for about 3 months... Olivia is cute!... she belongs to you right? It's like a full time job trying to keep track of all these babies!
Ok... some stories...
So Erin's a saint and takes me to the airport at 0530 in Ch'town. I fly to Montreal, hang out for 2 hours, then on to the T-dot, where I chill for another 4 hours. K, here comes the kicker... I get on my flight to London (which is 1st class... AND the seat beside me is empty! How do you spell awesome?... f-i-r-s-t- c-l-a-s-s!!! Did you know they give you this little leather bag with all kinds of toiletrie goodies in it? And all the wine you like? Anyways, still couldn't sleep cuz Joe- America behind me talks the whole night to his buddy). Sorry for the set back there... k, flight to London... just before take off they announce that we'll be flying to London VIA Montreal!!! So why the heck didn't I just fly to Montreal, at like, noon instead of flying all over the friggin country just to end up where I practically started from?!? We didn't actually leave Montreal til about 1730! I just about had a fit!!! I could have slept in... and Erin too!!! Sorry girl! So I think I'll book my own flight home instead of going with a travel agent and maybe it won't take 23 hours! London was fine... raining naturally... does it do anything but rain there? So the day before I leave I get a letter from Philip Hamming saying: write me! So I did just that... thought he would get a kick out of getting a letter from me with postage from London. A little frustrated in London since they don't tell you what gate you're leaving from til about 30-40 mins before your plane actually leaves... so you have this mass of ppl hanging out in this lounge area all cursing the tv monitors because it won't show the gate number. Anyways made it to my gate only to wait longer of a bus to take us to our plane!
Excuse me for a moment folks, a little boy named Noah... who will appear in another story has jumped upon my knee and is babbling in a foreign language and I think he wants to play...

I have arrived...

OK... this'll be short. After a wicked long trip on absolutely no sleep I am finally here... and totally ready for bed!! I'll tell you some stories later. Erin, you're by far the absolute best... dankeshun for the ride!!! Hope you got some shut eye!
First class is awesome!
Have a good time on Satuday without me C&C!
Peace.