Vive le ven,
vive le ven,
vive le ven d'hiver!
I listen to Coffee Break French/Spanish which are great to brush up on your second language. Helps if you have already a little background but they say it's for all levels. Anywho, even though my daily routine is somewhat like "Groundhog Day", I have been fortunate enough to explore Switzerland a bit more and take in some local festivities.
Two weeks ago, I rode to Bern with a few of my teammates (Arrianne, Liticia, Magali, and Aurelia who we met there because she lives in Bern.) It was another beautiful day in what they call and Indian Summer or a the beginning of fall that feels like summer. During our 1.5 hour drive, we make a pit stop for a bakery that sells the infamous gâteau au creme. I don't think the freshman 15 is anything compared to the post-graduate 50 I'm about to acquire. The landscape is much of the same, passing farm after farm, cow after cow. Conversations in the car lead to correct pronunciation of English words because so often I cannot understand if Liti is talking about ships or sheep. It is also funny to explain how when some people try and say "oh shit" it sounds more like "oh sheet". Silly bedding materials.
Our arrival comes around noon so our lunch just happens to be some of that pie from earlier. Life could be worse. You think I would take in the sights a bit more as we approach the downtown area, but the first thing I saw almost brought me to happy tears. My Seattlite senses were haywire as I gazed upon the most beautiful thing I had seen since I arrived in Europe....STARBUCKS. I'm pretty sure I made everyone jump as I cried out at this rare sighting of the green mermaid. Now, I know this goes along with all those stupid internet memes about white girls and their Starbucks but I couldn't help myself after living in the original birth place of this global chain for four years then being deprived of it for 2 months. Don't judge me.
Resisting my urges, we kept moving and explored the capital of Switzerland. I had know idea this was the case thinking Zurich would be capital. Really that was only city I knew of before I decided to move here. Kind of like how people who know nothing about Oregon think Portland must be the capital while Salem just sounds like something about burning witches at the stake. Oh and another thing, NO ONE in Switzerland knows what Oregon is. Typical conversation when I meet someone
Them: "Tu vien du?" (Where are you from?)
Me: "Je vien du Oregon" ( I have no idea how to say Oregon with a french accent so I sound incredibly American to them when I saw this.)
Them: *blank stare* "Ory-gone?"
Me: (my go-to explanation) "Above California"
Them: "ohhhh yes Cally-fornya!"
Honestly though if it were the other way around, I would have no idea what Neuchâtel is, let alone Couvet. I digress.
I was able to see the Switzerland equivalent of the White House which has an incredibly view of the city behind it. You can see part of the river that is one of the well known fixtures here in the capital.
Walking more throughout the streets, there were quotes printed in each of the languages that are spoken in Switzerland: French, Swiss-German, Italian, and Romanche which apparently is a mix of all three used in a small area of the country. How cool is that?! After a few more blocks, we made it to the main shopping area that is lined cafés and stores with doors that look to lead to cellars. Like so;
These are entrances to stores that are underground which completely blew my mind. They weren't open that day probably because nothing is open here on a Sunday but if I ever go back I would like to see more how these shops look.
Meeting up with Aurelia for some food and a beer, we rested our legs for a bit before conducting the rest of our touristy day. What I noticed as I had been walking and observing is the theme of bears in Bern. Finally I asked the Bern expert what the significance was. Aurelia let me know that it is the state animal and if I wanted we could go see the real bears. To this I smirked because I figured "haha yea we're gonna go see some 'real Bears', more like statues." Imagine the look on my face when we crossed a bridge and on the other side were just a couple in the flesh, living, breathing bears chilllin in an enclosure right by the river.
Apparently they use to live in a little hole called "the graben" which was a pathetic excuse of an enclosure. PETA would have a bitch fit seeing the bears like this in their new habitat which is only 3 years old but it's definitely better than the one that was made in the 1800's. Yea they have had bears living just outside of downtown Bern for a couple hundred years. Another side note: Bears and beers is another difficult word to pronounce for many people here which makes for a funny conversation when some asks "want to go get a couple of bears?" After some more exploring, we hiked up another stupid hill to an area that many other tourists were frequenting next to a garden. The view here was pretty spectacular,
That pumpkin spice latte was the best thing I had ever tasted in my life.
The following Friday, I had been invited by Liticia to go to her work and enjoy a picnic with her and her students. She's a middle school teacher and teaches French, geography, and history. I was excited to see what might be different and similar between US and Swiss schools. Arriving a l'ecole, I met a few of the teachers and all the students were outside waiting for the day to begin. But before that could happen, all the kids must first shake hands with their teacher before the day is to begin. I thought that was kind of cool to start each day with initiating some sort of greeting with each student. I had seen this previously with a P.E teacher before one of my practices but I thought it was just his style. I guess they do that everywhere. When I'm a teachers, instead of handshakes, I'll just chest bump my first graders. Much more my style.
After introductions, we began our walk to the destination. Now picture my outfit for the day: nice jeans, converse, a flowy tank top, scarf and wrap sweater. Casual school attire right? Yea well I looked around and saw all the adults wearing hiking boots and fitness wear. Began to have same the feeling you get when you arrive to school thinking it's pajama day but everyone is wearing normal clothes. What I soon learned was our walk to the picnic included a 3 HOUR HIKE UPHILL AND THROUGH MUDDY FARMLAND. It's a good thing Liticia is cute because I almost strangled her for failing to mention the true nature of the day. Happy I did not bother wear my nice leather boats, I chatted with many of the students and teachers through broken French on my part, the kids' English they wanted to practice with me and many gestures. After many rest stops and a jaunt through a cow pasture, we made it to Bas des loges where the teacher instructed students to bring firewood to an area where he would make a campfire to cook sausages and other treats. After this they were free to eat and roam where they pleased in the nature.
Now this is when the cultural differences began to emerge. First, as the kids spread out, I was offered a shot of wine. Wait wait wait hold up. You can drink in front of students?! I'm from the wrong country. Not that they were getting wasted, but I had at least a full glass worth of wine during our lunch. Second, there was no supervision of the kids who traveled far away from the fire pit. I'm pretty sure I was on high alert for something to go wrong because I know they didn't trust my middle school classmates that much. Maybe I'm exaggerating but I didn't see some of those kids for the two and a half hours we ate and visited. Third, I saw at least three knives brought by the students. And only one of them looked like a pocket knife. One I swear looked more like a hunting knife than something used to whittle some wooden sticks. But no biggie, because we were exploring the great outdoors. My anxiety was quickly rising thinking of all the lawsuits that would ensue if we were in America right then. Fourth, my sense of time is at a much faster pace than everyone here. I became pretty restless as we came to the end of our time here while the other teachers seemed so at ease to spend the entire day here
More things I learned and ate:
-Saucisson de torrée is sausage wrapped in cabbage, then wrapped again in either tinfoil or damp newspaper. After wrapped and tied with string, it is placed under the fire and buried for 15 minutes. The result was incredibly delicious.
-this method is a traditional dish of the region area for the bucheron or lumberjacks back in the day.
-pain de bucheron is roasting pie dough on a stick then adding some sort of spread. Nutella FTW.
-it only took 45 min to walk back down but that was a sketchy adventure in itself.
Finally, the event I have been hearing about since I arrived here is the biggest party of the year in Neuchâtel; la fête des vedanges. This is supposedly a wine festival but there is a whole lot more going on than casual fermented grape juice. The streets of downtown are closed down for the weekend as stands, food, attractions, games and dancing fill the streets from Friday morning till Sunday evening. The ground is covered in confetti which I am told you find for weeks after the celebration ends. Kids run around screaming and laughing while spraying people with silly string and shaving cream. There are carnival rides avaialble, and the fair food includes crepes, ice cream and cuisine from all over the world. It is very jostling to see so many people in one area with drinks in hand because I'm so used to the "no open container rule" back in the states. Also, I am still not used to seeing a 16 year old drink a beer openly in public, let alone drunk as a skunk. I swear not all I do is drink alcohol here but I feel like it is very casual when you hang out with people to drink regardless if it's noon or midnight. All I know is I made it through Friday and Saturday but grandma Parker couldn't make it to Sunday. Sleeping on my teammates couch three days in a row just didn't seem as attractive by then. What I enjoyed most though was how friendly all the people are. Drinking or not, everyone is there to have a good time and I had blast meeting new people and trying to practice my limited French over loud music.
Until next time, here's a picture of the amazing view of the Creux du van just outside of Couvet.
Sincerely,
The no longer hungover American
P.S:I now have read at least 25 books. Wish I was this productive with my college readings.
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