The weather has been beautiful this week so we have been able to do some fun things outside. On Saturday we went with the Mascaros and the Jacksons to a little campground in Austria. From what we have seen camping is not near as private as in the states. Everyone just sets up camp all in the same place. Elisa and I both went swimming in the chilly water. I even went wading before I had changed all my clothes, because two of the kids tripped at the same time and were having trouble keeping their heads above water. The river was really nice and we had a campfire and even smores! Everyone kept passing us so inquisitively as we roasted our marshmallows. One lady finally stopped and asked if we were roasting “Käse” (cheese). We were able to treat her and her two grandkids to their very first marshmallows. The kids caught some trout at a little man-made trout fed pond. Matt cooked it up over the fire and it was delicious! It was a great time together.
Sunday afternoon we met up with some families from the ward and we went up to the hills over Zürich. Everyone had brought their dinner to roast over a fire. Chad and I didn’t know that was what we were doing but were amused as everyone creatively tried to cook their different things. The Baumanns showed us how to make snake bread. They had brought some dough and we wrapped a long thin piece of it around the end of a stick and then “baked” it over the fire. It was super tasty and fun to see the Swiss traditions. We also came home with 144 photos. Most were taken by Sienna. We kept the 3 photos that were in focus on people’s faces.
I had a bummer of a week as far as school goes. I am all ready to take my mid-term and I was under the impression that the CES director in our ward was already certified to be a proctor. When I tried to sign up to take the test, unfortunately that was not the case. So we have been trying to figure out a way to have the certification done in English by someone who only speaks German. Right now it appears it will be at least a couple of weeks before I can take my test. I did get my scores back for all of my assignments from the first half of the course and I received high marks on all of them. The professor of my course also asked if he could use one of my diagrams for another class. It was really nice to finally get some feedback on the work I have been doing.
Chad and I have had a great week. Monday night we went to the Dietlikon Schwimmbad (swimming pool) and Chad worked away trying to perfect his water-treading skills and I did some laps. I really want to learn the egg-beater. Right now when we go swimming I just can’t keep up with Elisa. Then we went outside and sat in a giant hot tub. It was really relaxing and beat our regular “stay at home and go to bed early” routine.
Wednesday night I had a soccer practice and Chad had one Thursday night to prep for the multi-stake soccer tournament this last Saturday. Chad loves soccer so I reluctantly agreed to participate as well. I kept warning everyone that I am not good. I have no technique, I do not know the rules and the last time I played was when the soccer ball was half my size. I was so nervous Wednesday night when we practiced but I wasn’t a complete idiot on the field. Though the highlight of the night had to be that I must have swallowed or inhaled at very least a half a dozen little gnats. Every so often someone would spontaneously start hacking. Very humorous.
We played Saturday from 12:40 to 6:15. After Wednesday’s practice I hadn’t stretched and was paying for it still 3 days later. We had a really great time. Our women’s team got 7th place out of 9. Sadly, I am pretty proud of that. Chad played in the semi-finals against the winning men’s team. Everyone kept saying to me, “Chad’s good!”, “He’s really agile!”, or “Wow! He’s fast!” I was one proud soccer wife. A lot of our American and Swiss friends were there to play or watch which made it a really fun afternoon. I am even convinced that I would like to play weekly with the girls. Miracles do happen. Yeah, that’s for sure. 🙂
We finished Saturday night very sleepily with our building’s Hausfest. The food was great and we met some really nice people. We keep being surprised at how great our place is. Besides the re-routed flight path right over us the atmosphere here is really great and so friendly. It was a true coming-of-age experience too. My favorite thing to eat that night was the pickled beet salad. I must be a real adult now.
Friday night we headed down to Zug for a farewell BBQ for the Barlow family. It’s too bad families have to come and go so frequently. We are really going to miss having them here. They are really down-to-earth and good, fun people. We met the nice new family who will be moving into their place, but the Barlows certainly cannot be replaced. Good luck Familia Barlow!
