Schwarzwald

Last Thursday, Tom and I ventured into Germany and went to the Black Forest (Schwarzwald in German). It was fun. We saw waterfalls, beautiful landscapes, a mountain-side full of sheep, and the biggest cuckoo clock in the world! We also enjoyed some black forest cake (apparently the Black Forest is also known for their cherries) and listening to pipe organ music in a beautiful cathedral.This is our very Alpine looking cottage. The slated ceiling made for an interesting layout inside.This was at the longest waterfall in Germany. The whole area reminded us of North Georgia - and this of Amicalola Falls.The Worlds Largest Cuckoo Clock!! I know you're as awed as we were :)

This is the cathedral where we heard the beautiful music - the picture doesn't do it justice!
The hillside of sheep! I thought this was so neat. We stopped and listened to them "talk" for about 10 minutes. There were hundreds of them!

Château de Chillon

Sunday we visited Château Chillon near Montreux - about 40 minutes from Fribourg. It was pretty neat. It's hard to imagine people building something like that 700 years ago. It was huge even by today's standards. I liked it because (as you can see from the picture) it was built for people my size - 5'2"! I didn't have to duck through any of the many doors and passage ways. Tom however (at 6'2") had to take care not to crack his head! I felt like the whole castle had been built with me in mind.

It took about 2 hours for us to walk through the whole castle. We saw the dungeon, great rooms, bathrooms, a chapel, ramparts, towers, the crypt, the keep and much more. The castle is built right on Lake Geneva, so all the rooms on the back side have an amazing view of the lake, the Alps and France in the distance. I protested against Tom bringing the tripod (I didn't want to look like a tourist) so our picture isn't the greatest. My protest was in vain, however, as everyone there was a tourist, so there was no hiding that fact, oh well :)

French Lessons!

It looks like Tom and I will start French lessons on Monday (cross your fingers) and go twice a week for 5 weeks. We're so ready to be able to talk to people here, so we're looking forward to it. They said it should bring us to a lower intermediate level in French - we'll see.

This Thursday is Ascension Day, so Tom has that off and Friday as well. We're taking our first trek out of the country to the Black Forest in Germany. It's 2-3 hours away. Tom's excited to be crossing the Swiss border :)

Stuff, Stuff, Stuff

Our shipment from Atlanta arrived on Thursday and it went pretty quickly. It took about three hours for them to bring everything in. Now we are again living in a sea of boxes, but it is really nice to be surrounded by familiar things. It makes the apartment feel like a real home. Tom was excited to see the Kraft Mac & Cheese, while I delighted in making Duncan Hines brownies last night. Ahh, the comforts of home. Maggie seems to like having our things as well; it means more places to hide! We also have a guest room now - with a bed and everthing, so just let us know if you're planning to visit :)

Roman Ruins

This past Sunday, Tom and I ventured to Avenches. It's about 10 miles from where we live and was the capital of the area when the Romans were in control. We visited the museum there and saw all sorts of neat artifacts and sculptures. The museum was right next to a huge amphitheater where they held gladiator fights!

We also found out that our stuff is coming tomorrow! I'm looking forward to being able to settle in as well as have our apartment not echo. It's pretty empty at the moment! Hopefully that will go well - we'll keep you posted!

Some Sad News

In case you haven't heard, there won't be anymore news about Velcro on here. Tom and I came home last week and found that my sweet kitty had died. We think he found some sort of poison. It's been a hard week, but things are slowly getting better. He was a good cat and we'll always have good memories of him. Maggie is doing ok, although she misses him as well. We'll see, maybe in time we'll get her a Swiss cat to keep her company. So, not a fun post, but I guess that's life.

Another Eventful Sunday - 05.02.07

We visited another church on Sunday – this time a French-speaking one. We sat in the back while two people translated for us. We also sang some French praise songs. I did much better at picking up the gist of things at this church so that was encouraging. Maybe I really will understand all this French someday!

After church, we had a picnic lunch out to Lake Gruyeres with the Burgess Family. Kacey played in the water and the men threw BIG rocks into the Lake. We then drove rather aimlessly through the mountains and came out on Lake Geneva and yet another castle. Coming down the mountain vineyard after vineyard covered the sloped ground. It must have been good wine country! That evening we ate at a very good Italian restaurant where Tom and I again discovered the inconviences of not understanding every word you read. We ordered the menu option that promised to feed two people. It included salad, pasta, entrée and dessert for a very reasonable price. The food came, we ate, and got very full. Dave, Lu and Kacey had to help us eat everything. At this point, we’re thinking, “wow, what a great deal!” Then we get the check. Somehow there was a miscommunication and we had ordered 2 of the meal that served 2 people and were charged accordingly. Not only was our bill double what we had expected, we had eaten enough food for 4 people!!

Me and Tom at Lake Gruyeres with some ruins in the background.

Swiss Bank Account - 04.26.07

We now officially have a Swiss Bank account! After all the media they get in action/spy movies, I never expected to have my very own Swiss bank account. We have a device that we enter our pin into and then it generates a number with which we log into our online account. It changes every time, so I guess there is something to all you hear about secure how secure they are over here.

I’ve also been getting mail! Thanks to everyone who has written. However, I discovered today that you have to go to the post office to mail anything (it isn’t like the states where you put the flag up on your box), so I’ve been doing that. Fortunately the post office (or La Poste) is only a 5 minute walk from our home.

The cats are doing great. They dispose of every poor bug that manages to get inside which is quite a few since we have no screens and no AC. Maggie goes berserk and you can hear her climbing the walls to get the fly she’s spotted.

Weekend Adventures - 04.23.07

What a weekend we had! Friday our housemates invited us to hang out with them at a local joint, so we went with them and spent 3 hours just hanging out and talking. They speak very good English, so communication wasn’t a problem. It was a lot of fun to get to know them a little better. Saturday we ventured to Ikea. It wasn’t all that exciting since all the furniture we have seen over here looks like Ikea, but the prices are a bit better than some of the stuff we have in town. We didn’t get anything, though. It’s hard to decide what we really need with an empty house. Sunday we ventured to a Swiss church that we had heard about through a contact at our church back in Atlanta. It’s an evangelical-free church in Düdingen which is about 10 mintues away on the German side. Everyone was very welcoming and spoke to us in English (which is good because our French is very limited and our German non-existant!) and even had someone translate the service for us. We were also privileged to enjoy the special music they had that week featuring the Alpenhorn! (Like from the Ricola commercials) I really felt as though I were in Switzerland then. After church we were invited to an English speaking Bible study in downtown Fribourg as well as to a family’s house for lunch. There were 5 of us (Tom and myself as well as one of Tom’s coworkers and his family) and we went to a Swiss family’s house for lunch! We were introduced to the Swiss Sunday culture as lunch took four hours. However, hardly anything is open on Sunday and you aren’t supposed to do any work (laundry, yard work, house cleaning, etc) so we were all free to take as much time as we liked. It was exciting to meet some Christians that are close to us and so willing to take care of us. The body of Christ is an amazing and wonderful thing! Since we would really like to attend a French speaking church, since that is our language of choice, they gave us some information on French speaking churches in the area. We plan to check them out, but if they don’t work out, I believe we have found a place we could call home. Even if it means learning some Swiss German!

After our eventful morning, we decided that there we still time in the day for the 5 of us to take a drive up into the mountains. So we took the little 5 seater pugeot through the Jung pass and saw some beautiful sights. One thing about Switzerland is that just about everywhere you go is simply breathtaking. We stopped at a creek to let two and a half year old Kacey get out and play. She really enjoyed it even though the water was pretty cold. After that we stopped in Thun for dinner and had some very good traditional Swiss food. We were beat when we got home but it was worth it. We want to take advantage of the time we have here!

The Burgess Family - Dave, Lu and little Kacey by the stream.

Official Residents - 04.17.07

We’re starting to settle in. Our mailbox now has our name on it – so we are official residents of Switzerland and can receive mail here! We also had our first dinner party last night. One of the other couples flew in yesterday, so we made a spaghetti dinner for them and the other guy who is over here from Tom’s work. It was slightly ghetto but fun. Dave, Lu, and their 2-year-old pulled the coffee table up to the table and used it for a bench and since we only have 4 place settings, the dish situation was a little haphazard.

It’s nice to be in this with some other people. Lu and I went grocery shopping together this morning and plan to go to the Swiss second-hand store sometime soon. It’s a good thing she can drive a stick-shift because I’m not good enough to be let loose in Fribourg yet, so she’s the designated driver. I’m hoping to get some practice in the weekend on our rental car.

Sleeping In - 04.15.07

We meant to visit a church this morning, but with the time change we slept through our alarm. Next week! We did take a short venture out to Romont (about 35km away). It’s a pretty little town on a rather large hill. We went on a walking tour of an old castle, church and ramparts. The castle had a vantage point with a 180 degree view of the mountains. It also has a stained glass museum and workshop which we hope to go back and visit. It’s amazing to think how long those structures have been there – some since the 1200s. We forgot the camera, so no pictures…

Day 2 in Switzerland - 04.14.07

We survived our trip over as well as our first day here! Things went pretty smoothly. We got to the Atlanta airport in plenty of time (this time) and got ourselves and the cats checked in and through security. We discovered that lots of people talk to you when you are carrying animals through the airport. I have never talked to that many strangers at the airport – ever. It was kinda fun though; we learned about everyone else’s cats and heard all about the pet food recall.

The plane trip was uneventful. We could tell that the cats weren’t very excited, but they didn’t really have a choice. Velcro managed to wiggle his way out of his carrier at one point and jumped up into my lap. Fortunately he just wanted to cuddle and not escape so we didn’t lose him. Once in Zürich we hauled our 300 lbs of luggage onto a train, into a cab, into a rental car and then, finally, into our new apartment!

Once here we crashed for a few hours and the cats explored – they seem to like it. We like it too, although things are a little sparse at the moment. Over here you bring your own light fixtures, so we have light in the bathroom, a single bulb hanging from a wire in the dining room and a few lights in the kitchen. There is also no carpet, and since we don’t have anything here yet, the whole place echoes. We have just what was rented for us: a bed, table & 3 chairs, dishes, loveseat and coffee table. It’s interesting, though, to see on how little you can survive.

Here's a picture of our new home. We're the next level down from the top floor.

A Sea of Boxes - 04.05.07

The movers came Tuesday and spent all day packing up our apartment, so we were living in box land for a night. We had so much stuff crammed into the kitchen that it took one guy 4 hours to pack everything in it. The next day it took three men 4.5 hours to get everything out of our place and into the truck. It was strange to see all of our Earthly possessions driven off by complete strangers. We should see it all again in 6-8 weeks. We’re now living out of suitcases at Tom’s parent’s house in Kennesaw until our flight on April 11^th.

Updates Coming

I know you all are looking for updates and they will come as soon as I can get extended access to a computer. I've been blogging in a word file and will upload them all soon. Thanks for taking interest in our adventures!