One Month In!

 Well, as of today I have been in Switzerland for almost 5 weeks (and away from home for 6 weeks)! Wow! My time with the Rothenbuhler family has ended and I am now with my second host family the Trauffer-Greub family in Hofstetten.

A lot has happened in the past 5 weeks: I arrived in Switzerland, figured out the train to get to Bern, met my coordinator (Christian), spent a day in Bern, met the other incoming IFYE’s and some of the IFYE Swiss organization and learned about them and their country/where they have traveled. I have been up the Titlis mountain and to a glass factory. I have experience a high school graduation and I have been to a tractor pull/party. I have experience life on a pig farm including shipping pigs, cleaning pens and moving pigs as well as how to cut/collect hay and make small hay bales on a steep hill. I have been to a town festival in Landiswil, a cottage on the lake in Estavayer-le-lac (which is in the French part of Switzerland), floated down the Aare river in a "gummy" boat with 2013 Swiss delegate Christa! I have been to a workshop where Alphorns are made (by hand! and I got to play an Alphorn!), to the Kambly cookie factory store, and to the Doctor. I have been up the Stockhorn mountain, to IKEA and to the Emmental Show Dairy (where they make the “Swiss Cheese” with the holes in it!). I have been to Bern, twice, which included a city tour and a trip up the famous Zytglogge clock tower. Plus, I have been to various local stores and town when we go shopping or to visit someone.

I have tried Raclette, Revella, Fondue, Ostrich sausage, lamb, many different kinds of cheese, Zopf bread, Spaetzle pasta, gelato, bircher muesli, and juice made from cheese water.

The View from the top of the Stockhorn

Both Mountains have a spectacular view! I went up Titlis on the IFYE Incoming weekend, we took the cable car ⅔ of the way up then walked part way down and rode on scooters the rest of the way! I went to the top of the Stockhorn with Franzi and Fritz on Sunday July 19th. We took the cable car to the very top then walked half way down. I never knew it was so difficult to walk down a mountain! But, it is all just gravel/rock/dirt paths and it can be very steep! Walking down the mountain there is times that you are literally just walking through a cattle pasture!

View from Estavayer

From Saturday, July 11 - Tuesday, July 14 I was in Estavayer-le-lac at Franzi’s parents house. It was beautiful! It is on Lac de Neuchatel which is the largest lake in Switzerland (there are bigger lakes but they are partially in other countries). Estavayer is a very small town, so small that it really isn`t even a town but because of its medieval heritage it is called a medieval town. During my stay here I spent a lot of time on the lake; swimming, tanning, and stand up paddle boarding; but I also spent time touring the city and getting to know Franzi`s parents. Franzi`s mom was a ski instructor and speaks some english and her dad was a teacher and doesn't really speak english. The funny coincidence is that her dad was who I ended up socializing with the most; this made for some fun times as I tried to guess what her was trying to explain to me or show me. But, we made out ok. He taught me a few Swiss games, asked me how I slept, made sure I had enough to eat and made sure I saw interesting things and had time to take pictures when we were by the lake and out on the boat.

The Castle in Estavayer

On Wednesday, July 15th I had an amazing day out with Christa (2013 Swiss delegate) and her friend Martina. We took a "gummy" goat down the Aare River. We started in Thun and floated to Munsingen (where Martina lives) the river has a very strong current and a few places it has some small rapids so you end up a little wet! There were so many people doing the same thing as us! I was told that it is even crazier on the weekend! To end our wonderful day out Christa treated me to a lovely dinner at a little grill restaurant with a beautiful view!

 One of the coolest things so far would have to be finding out how Alphorns are made and getting to play one. On Saturday, July 19th Franzi and I met up with 2 other delegates and their families (Sophia from South Korea and Eliisa from Estonia) to find out how Alphorns are made! The wood that the Alphorn is made of is very specific, from the type of wood to where it is grown and when it is cut! At the end of our lesson we all got to try playing the Alphorn then the Alphorn maker played a song on the Alphorn for us!

Life on a pig farm has been very interesting; I have learned how to clean the pig pens, ship pigs, move pigs and how they do hay. One day I helped to transfer 8 pens of little piglets from the nursery to the bigger pens. This included Franzi and I going into the nursery pens and catching the piglets and lifting them into a little feed cart so they could be transferred to the bigger pens. This was very funny because I really haven't worked with pigs before! They all squeal and run frantically away, and when you finally catch them and pick them up they squirm and fret until you put them down. But, once they are in the cart they all sit their calm while they get moved to the other barn. This was really funny, I definitely wasn't very much help in the beginning and I am sure that my mom and my Grandma and Grandpa Reibeling would have been laugh at me if the could've seen me trying to catch pigs! Doing hay up the steep hill was very interesting too. The hay is raked into rows going up and down the hill then it is collected using a special truck/cart, it goes straight up the hill then straight down the hill then is is full and it gets taken to the barn to be unloaded. The hay is is unloaded loose onto a wagon, from there it goes up an auger and into the mow.

The view from the Zytglogge Clock Tower, Bern

I have had a great first 4 weeks in Switzerland and it is hard to believe that the first third of my exchange is over!

Fritz, Myself, and Franzi

To the Rothenbuhler family: you have been so great to me and I appreciate everything that you have done for me and shown me! It was so great getting to know you and your family! Thank you for taking me in and making me a part of your family! I look forward to keeping in touch and seeing some of you in Canada one day!

View from the Stockhorn

Next up: I am with the Trauffer-Greub family for the next 3 week where I have 2 little brothers! I will be spending August first with them which is Switzerland`s birthday and the weekend after that I go on an IFYE Hiking trip!

Salue! (Greetings from Switzerland!)

To finish off my time in Scotland Aunt Patsy and I spent the day in Blairgowrie. We walked along the River Ericht, had lunch at her favourite place downtown, and wandered some of the charity shops. Along the river there is a spot called Cargill's Leap, it was a narrow gorge in the river where kids used to "leap" across the river. This resulted in some youth falling to their demise when they didn't make the leap to the other side. Now, it is no longer a narrow gorge as the city took the liberty of blasting it so that kids could no longer attempt to leap across the river.

After a busy week in Scotland it was time to say goodbye and head to the Edinburgh Airport to catch my flight to Switzerland! My flight was over all uneventful. First, I flew from Edinburgh to Copenhagen where I had a 2 hour layover then off to Zurich. By the evening I had safely arrived in Zurich and had to catch the train to Bern where I would meet my coordinator Christian. When I arrived in Bern and got off the train I went up to the streets but could not find the spot where I was to meet Christian, that was a little stressful! But, a kind gentleman helped me out and directed me back into the train station to the lower level where I was meant to be. Here I wandered nervously hoping to be claimed. Luckily Christian picked me out easily and we were off!

We aren't capable
of taking nice pictures :S

Christian and his wife Isabelle live next to his parents farm that he works on and intends to take over in a few years. On the farm they have about 30 dairy cows as well as potatoes, cherries, apples, and pears that they sell at their small roadside stand. Isabelle works in an Elementary School as a Psychomotor Therapist. What she does sounds similar to one of my clinic classes in school so that was pretty cool. 

On Thursday Chris put me on a train to Bern to meet his sister Stephanie (who I had never met) to show me around the city. Again I found myself crossing my fingers that I would again be claimed at the train station! After an anxious 15 minutes of waiting she found me and we were off to explore the city. We saw the parliament buildings, the famous clock tower (Zytglogge), ate gelato, wandered downtown, and had a drink at an outdoor tiki bar that was on the roof of the train station! Did you know that Bern was named after the first animal the founder met on the hunt there, a bear, so locals actually pronounce it Bearn opposed to Burn like us? They also normally have bears at BearPark, but I did not get to see them because the park is under construction. 

2015 IFYE incoming Delegates

Friday, June 26 Christian and I headed to Lucerne for the IFYE Incoming Weekend. For this weekend we had a house on (or near, I am not sure) Pilatus Mountain, it had an amazing view! At the incoming weekend I met the other IFYE delegates; there was 3 from Tiwan, 1 from South Korea, 1 from Costa Rica, 1 from England, 1 from Norway, and 1 from Estonia. We learned about Switzerland, IFYE, and each other's countries. We also went up Titlis Mountain in Engelburg and did a tour of the only glass factory in Switzerland. On Sunday we had a BBQ where many host families came out to meet us. Here I met my last host family, the Boss family, and my first host family, the Rothenbuhler's.

IFYE stands for International Youth Farm Exchange (www.ifye.ch). It is a volunteer organization that is solely based on exchanges. It is not an organization of clubs like us, the Swiss equivalent to Junior Farmers is Landjugend (www.landjugend.ch) and they are not directly involved in the exchange and you do not have to be a member to go on an IFYE exchange.Not all of the other countries have a Junior Farmers like us either; a lot of the delegates came from 4H clubs. 

A little about my first hosts: the Rothenbuhler's. Frantzi (host mom) and Fritzi (host dad) have been taking in IFYE's for quite some time now. Currently one of their daughters, Linda, is on an IFYE exchange in South Korea and previously their second daughter, Sina, did and IFYE exchange to Costa Rica. Later this year their youngest daughter Jana will be doing a school/work exchange to New Zeland (not through IFYE). They have one more daughter (the oldest), Sabrina has not done an exchange. Sabrina (28) and her husband live in Gruenenmatt with their 2 daughters Ladina (5) and Alicia (2.5). Sabrina speaks English but her husband and children do not. This makes it very interesting because her kids ask me things in Swiss German but I don't understand so they must think I am crazy! But, we manage with some hand signals and pointing. Sina (25) lives in Burgdorf with her son Malik (1.5). Again, Sina speaks English but her son does not. Both Sabrina and Sina work 2-3 days per week so Franzi watches her grandkids a few days a week. Jana (19) speaks english very well. She is actually going to school for english in September when she goes to New Zeland! Jana is living at home and just graduated from her Commercial Apprenticeship program (which is basically the end of our high school). Franzi and Fritz own a 13 hectare farm in Thalgraben Valley (Lützelflüh). They have pigs and cows. They have about 80 sows and they keep the young pigs until they are about 23kgs then they get sold to another barn. The cows that they have do not belong to them; they are another farmers heifers and pregnant heifers, they stay here until just before they are ready to calve then they are sent to the owners dairy barn. On the farm they harvest hay, they bale the hay into small bales somewhat by hand! The hay is brought loose into the mow where they fork it into the baler, from there it is pushed onto a wagon and stacked by hand! Oh! And the house, barn, and mow are all attached! Then there are 2 more small pig barns behind the house/barn. The house to the left is actually 2 appartment and there is one more apartment beside the house, as well as a granny flat in the house! 

Over the past week and a half with the Rothenbuhler's I have observed life on the farm (a pig farm none the less!), I have done some cooking, house/farm work, shipped pigs, played with the kids, went shopping in the local stores, went to the pool and the river (did I mention it has been above 30C most of the time?!), experience the scenery, and went to a tractor pull and party in Zimmerwald (btw the party never ended; I'm thinking Canadian tractor pulls should adopt this!).

This weekend we will be heading to a cottage on the lake where I have been told they have a SUP board! And next week I am hoping to catch up with 2013 Swiss delegate Christa! Stay tuned for upcoming adventures! I will try and post more often so the next posts aren't so long! Tschuess! (That is how they say good-bye, I am trying very hard to say it right but I can't seem to get it yet. It sounds kind of like "shoes" with a soft T.)