Here We Go...

Oh boy. This is going to be quite a long blog, I assure you. I haven't written in a couple of weeks, and they were perhaps two of the most important weeks since I've been here. I'll be as brief as possible, but there's just a lot to tell...


Okay. So I spent all of last week in Zermatt. Zermatt is the city that sits at the base of the Matterhorn, and has view of the mountain seen on most Swiss postcards. It was absolutely incredible. I left on Saturday afternoon and took the train for a little over 3 hours. It was a great trip, because we passed through lots of little villages, and there were plenty of green rolling hills to be seen. I also stopped in Bern to switch trains and caught a little glimpse of downtown, which is rather cute. So I am very much looking forward to a day trip there one weekend or something. After 3 train rides, I was greeted in Zermatt by the family, who had already been there for a week while I was finishing my French class. We walked to the apartment where we were staying (as there are no cars allowed in the city, and we were only a couple of minutes away), and got all settled in. We stayed in a great location, because it was right downtown and not far from the trails and lifts. That evening, we went to the Migros (a Swiss grocery store), where I sampled some cheese, and used one of the 3 German phrases that I know to tell the man thank you (or rather, "danke"...). We were in German territory, so I figured it would be a good time to test it out. I think I'll stick to French though...

The next day morning (Sunday), we took the train up to the Gornegrat, which is one of the higher peaks that offers a stunning view of the Matterhorn. It was a beautiful train ride, so I was taking pictures and videos pretty much the entire time! We got to the top, and I could not put the camera away, because there were so many gorgeous views. It was a perfectly cloudless day. We hiked down a little ways, and had a picnic by one of the lakes. Again, I took tons of pictures of the Matterhorn's reflection in the water. Stunning! We took the train back down the hill, and headed to the apartment for a wonderful little sieste. The boys napped (as did I for a while), and then I headed out to do a little exploring. I walked around downtown and wandered through all of the little shops. It was very cute, and rather Swiss.

Monday was another gorgeous and cloudless day, and we went on another little downhill hike. We took the gondola up the mountain, and walked back down. It was more of a woodsy hike, with some views of the mountains through the trees. We stopped at this cute little park on the mountain where the boys played. I cannot believe how many parks there are here in Switzerland! It's wonderful! We got back down, and I saw this little wool shop in town. While the boys were napping, I wandered my way back to it and got lots of pretty yarn. I am excited to make lots and lots of hats while I am here, and I've got quite a stash of yarn to get me started!


The next day (Tuesday) was my 18th Birthday! I thought it would be really tough without family and friends to celebrate with, but it turned out to be a fantastic birthday. Of course, it was sad to be away from everyone, but I had a great time nonetheless. We took the train up to another cute playground up on the mountain. Once again, there were beautiful views of the mountain, and plenty of trees and wild flowers to be found. We came back down and had a wonderful lunch, good rest, a quick chat with my parents and headed out to another playground. We met up with some friends of Cedric and Marie's who also have 2 little boys. There was some serious energy at that park! But it was a rather scenic area and a nice warm evening. My birthday dinner was absolutely spectacular! We ate at an Italian restaurant downtown that was cozy and very cute. I had the most delicious pizza that was cooked in the fire. It had cheese, tomatoes, more cheese, arugula, prosciutto, and oh yeah... more cheese. You could say it was a little bit better than Dominoes or Pizza Hut... After we ate, Cedric and Marie brought out several gifts for me and made me guess what was in them. I am a horrible guesser, and even worse at it in French. It took me quite a long time, but after several hints, I was able to decipher what they were. When I finally finished that, I turned around to see a scrumptious cake coming towards us, and the family started singing Happy Birthday to me in French. It was wonderful! The cake was chocolate with ice cream inside, and a marshmellow layer on the outside. Fantastic! I went home to open up the gifts and cards from my parents. I got a little teary, but held it together pretty well....


So the next day brought a hike UP the hill. It was certainly more physically demanding than the other days, since I had to push a stroller some of the way, but it was a much needed workout. We made our way up a trail through a little Alpine village and to a lake. It was pretty hot and muggy for a ways, so I was sweating like crazy the entire time. But it was a good hike, and we had a picnic once we were done. While we were on vacation, I spent a little bit of time alone with the boys so they could adjust to staying with me, since I started taking care of them on my own this week. It was a little tough for them at first, but it was a good adjustment period. Thursday was another gorgeous hike. We hiked through the forest, and it reminded me a lot of hiking back home. It was really green and woodsy. But of course, I would be caught off guard every time we rounded a corner to see the gorgeous Matterhorn through the trees.

Friday mid-day, we headed back home. The family had driven up to Zermatt (although they had to park in another little village because there are no cars allowed in the city of Zermatt...), so I rode back with them. It was a beautiful car ride, and we rode on this rather bizarre train thing that carried cars through a tunnel as a kind of shortcut. It was wacky, but another unique experience! It felt nice to come back to Neuchatel, even though Zermatt was unbelievabley gorgeous. I settled back into my room and got plenty of reset over the weekend.

Church on Sunday was fabulous! For the first time, I think I actually understood a good bit of the message, and we sang several songs that I recognized that had been translated into French. It is becoming increasingly easier to understand French, although it is still very difficult for me to speak it. But I start new French classes next week, so hopefully things will get better from there... I have also been watching the Olympics here, and the coverage is in French, so that's good practice and lots of fun.

So this week was my first week of work. I stuck with Marie all day Monday to figure out the boys' routine, and had them all to myself all day Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Simeon cried a bit everyday when Marie left, but other than that, the boys were wonderful! We went to the park, the children's library, and walked around a lot downtown and by the lake. So far, so good!

On Tuesday night, I went to a small group for English speakers that I found through a lady at my church. It was absolutely wonderful! And I somehow got myself into a choir group in the church that will do a couple of performances in May. I'm not sure how I let that happen... But I'm sure it will be fun and another good way to meet people.

Well, a great and eventful past couple of weeks! I am settling in more and more as time goes on, and hoping the French will start coming a little more easily...