Wow! Where to start? I've had an interesting week since I last blogged. From school choir, to lunch time horrors, to my first Swiss Rotary function, to opened mail before it got to me, to puppy printed birthday cards, to German physics assignments to getting written up by the train conductor, to a Swiss birthday party, to an inbound orientation...
Pull up a chair, good luck and I hope you can get through all of it...
Monday was the start of a busy - and interesting - week. I finally crawled out of bed at 5:30 after hitting snooze a few times, got ready for school and headed for the bus. The train was crowded and because it was a 'Regio' train, it stops at every station... Can you say funnnn?!
Because my language class in Basel ended last week, I am now at school all day and Monday was my first full day. I felt so grown up - like I had graduated from preschool. I survived the first four classes of the day - my old usual - and then it was off to Choir. And everybody that knows me, knows that I am completely tone deaf and couldn't sing a harmony to save my life. I usually get the "Hey Madi! Who sings this song? ... Yaa, so let's keep it that way." I kept shaking my head and telling the girls in my class that I couldn't sing as we walked to the auditorium for class. They told me that that's what everyone says, and I told them to wait a few minutes to find out the truth... They laughed, I laughed, and my stomach was doing flips. We walked into the auditorium and there were 40 new faces grinning at me. The teacher stopped me as I followed my class to the seats and introduced himself in English and told me he had heard from the guidance counsellor that I was not one for singing. He then proceed to tell me that he would be the one to change that. I gave him a "good luck" smile and sat down beside Aline. The 40 new faces were still staring at me and still had big grins. The bell rang signalling the start of class and the teacher began. He was talking in German - obviously - so I didn't really understand what he was saying until I recognized a few words. He told the class that I was a new exchange student and that I would be in the class from now on. He then turned to me and asked me to stand up and introduce myself...cue awkwardness here. I stood up, looked at the class smiled and then proceeded to introduce myself in English. It's a good thing everyone understands English, or it could have made an awkward moment even more awkward than it already was. I really regret introducing myself in English because I know I can do it German - and have many times before - but in a moment like that my brain freezes and I can only think and speak in English. After my introduction, the class began for real and I was mesmerized by the voices I was hearing. I didn't want to ruin the beautiful singing by opening my mouth, so I decided to pull a Britney Spears and began to lip sync. WIN. The songs were in German and Italian, so it's not like I could have sang them if I wanted to, but hey, this way everyone at least thought I could.
After Choir it was finally lunch time and I was starving. My class scattered off in every direction and I stood there confused. Then one girl in my class grabbed my arm and asked if I wanted to go with her and few others to the store down the road to buy something for lunch. I said yes, began to follow her when a girl from Choir stopped me. She introduced herself and asked me where I was from and if I was with Rotary. We began talking and the group of kids from my class disappeared into the hall. It turns out she was an exchange student last year to Australia (and you could tell...complete with an Aussie accent and some Aussie slang). We talked for 10 minutes and exchanged information and she offered to show me around town some time. I swear exchange students are just one big family; it's great and I love it. When we finished talking, the kids in my class were long gone, so I walked back to the Mensa to buy food from there. I noticed a few girls from class sitting at a table, so I walked over, smiled and sat down. I was starving and my stomach was growling, but there was a problem - I didn't know how the Mensa worked at lunch and I wasn't about to go at it alone. There was a big line up, so I sat tight and noticed the girls from my class pulling out their wallets. I waited until they got up and followed them like a puppy dog - I felt so pathetic, but I didn't know what else to do. I quickly lost them in the hustle and bustle of the Mensa and there I was, not only pathetic, but alone and pathetic. Atta girl, way to go. I decided to follow the line and see where I ended up. It turns out I was in the hot food line and took what the cafeteria lady put on my plate - chicken nuggets and fries. I paid for my food and walked back to the table to find that a few boys from my class had joined the table and were in a full on rice fight - definitely very entertaining. I ate my food while laughing at them, but everything was a-okay.
After school, I had my first Rotary function. It was very interesting and really fun to meet all of the men in my hosting club - there are no women. Because it was an extra function though and not a meeting, the wives of some of the Rotarians were also in attendance. The evening started at 6PM with a tour of a museum of old gas pumps and old cars. I knew people collected old cars, but I never would have thought that people also collected old gas pumps... Nonetheless, it was quite interesting even though I didn't understand half of what the tour guide said. Lucky for me though, there were banners with information written in German, French and English. After the tour of the museum everyone got in their cars and we drove up the road about 5 minutes to a little restaurant. The restaurant was closed to the public, but was open for us, which makes me think that a Rotarian or friend of a Rotarian owns the restaurant. Like all dinners here in Switzerland, this one lasted several hours. It was a 4 course meal and we didn't leave until almost 11:30. I was so tired because I had had such an early morning and I knew how early I had to get up the next day, so I think that made it feel even longer. It was quite an entertaining night though. I was only spoken to in German, so it was fun (and funny) to try to piece together sentences to respond back to people. There was the odd time someone would start speaking to me in English, and I'm not going to lie, it was very much appreciated - even if it was a 'mistake' on their part. The last course of the meal was ice cream that came in a flute glass with a mint leaf on top but the most interesting part about that dish was the presentation on the plate....
...the Rotary wheel was made out of cinnamon and nutmeg and was on the corner of the plate. I thought it was really cool and had to take a picture. Ten tourist points for me!
Tuesday morning was definitely a rough one considering I had had almost no sleep. My alarm clock is my biggest enemy and I'm not sure it will ever get back on my good side. I went to every class at school, just like any other day and I understand more and more each day - well except for Physics... My physics teacher usually just lets me sit at the back of the classroom and do my own German work. On Tuesday though, he decided to give me some work - and not just any work, but the hardest work he could find. Ok, it probably isn't as hard as I make it out to be if you are a bilingual physicist. Regardless, it was hard. He handed me a text book, turned to a section, asked me to read it (I could use a translator) and answer the questions at the back of the section. I gave him the most confused look I think I've given anyone since I've been here and my class started to laugh because they knew there was no way I was going to be able to do that. I mean, I just graduated from 'German Kindergarten' last Friday... The other interesting thing about it is that he didn't give my class the assignment, so it was clearly to be busy work for me. I don't understand even Physics in English, and I don't understand German, so I have no idea how he expected me to be able to complete the assignment in the two day period he gave me. He continued to teach the class and I continued to sit there wanting to laugh at myself. I tried to translate the question but because they were physics question, half of the words were no where to be found in my Baron's German-English Pocket Dictionary. Gotta love having to roll with the punches...
After my physics fiasco, I came home to a package on my bed. I saw the address on the outside and I knew it was from home. I smiled to big and started to open it when I noticed it was already open.... The package had been cut open with a knife and then taped back together. I thought it was odd, but didn't think to much about it until I opened the package and saw that all of the cards my mom sent had also been sliced open and the money was strewn throughout the envelope. I asked my host mom about it and she said that it must have happened at customs but she isn't sure in which country. I emailed my mom just to make sure that I received the same amount of money that she had sent me and I had, so that was relieving. The package was full of cards from my family and family friends for my birthday which was the coming Thursday. There was even a card with paw prints from my dogs. When I read/saw that card I started to tear up and I could feel tears rolling down my cheeks. Lame, I know. But I miss my dogs so much so it was really cool to see that my mom put so much effort into giving me what I could have of them being half way around the world.
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| Food colouring puppy prints from "unwilling" participants |
Thursday was my birthday and I had to say goodbye to my childhood. I wasn't expecting anyone at school to know it was birthday, but when I got to school, I got a few big birthday hugs from a few girls in my class. I might be two and half or three years older than some of them, but it definitely made my day. After lunch we had Ethics of Religion class and we were sitting there, the teacher was teaching when all of the sudden my class started singing "Happy Birthday" to me. My face went red, my cheeks got hot and my smile reached from ear to ear. When they finished I was about to say thank you, but before I could get it out, they started singing again, but this time in German. I was so happy, and even though the day wasn't over yet, I could tell that it was going to be one of the best birthday's I had ever had. I sat through the rest of the day and met my friend Caroline at the bus stop after school because she was coming home with me for my birthday celebrations. When we got to my apartment, my host family and a few of their friends were sitting out on the balcony. They all came up to me and gave me huge hugs, and I wanted to cry (only a little bit) because I felt like I was finally home. I may not be in Canada, but I am definitely home. As they say, "Home is where the heart is", and my heart was definitely - in that moment - at home. My host dad told me to come with him and he gave me 18 beautiful red roses (both of my host parents are florists if I haven't already said that) and told me that because I didn't have a boyfriend, and it was birthday, I deserved to have some flowers. They are absolutely beautiful and sit on my nightstand, so they are the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I see when I go to bed at night. He also told me that he made a trip to the city and bought me Canadian beer. He said that because I couldn't be in Canada for my birthday, he was going to bring Canada to me and handed me a Molson Canadian. Have I told you that I love my family?! My other host families came as well as my host sister's boyfriend and few of our neighbours and people that I have met since I've been here. We sat around, ate food and enjoyed ourselves all night. My host families gave me a leather wallet with the Swiss emblem on the front and my host sister's boyfriend, Pascal, gave me a Swiss Army pocket kit. Everything Swiss and everything is alright!
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| Caroline and I |
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| Blowing out the candles...so many...so old. |
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| The beautiful cake my host mom made |
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| Can you tell I live in a party house? |
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| The end result? A "Canadian Indian" courtesy of Ernst |
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| My amazing fam |
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| My nightstand complete with 18 red roses and beautiful cards from home |
The weekend was the weekend.
On Friday after school I went and had my phone hooked up after almost 6 weeks of my having it. And although this may come as a surprise to many, I didn't miss having one but it is necessary so that I can keep in contact with my host parents. I met my host sister and some of her friends in Olten Friday night and on Saturday we lazied around the house most of the day. On Sunday I had an inbound orientation meeting and met some exchange students that I hadn't met yet and after the meeting we went and explored Luzern together.
All in all, it has been a great week here in Switzerland and I am loving every minute of it. So until next time,
xoxo,
Madi
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