Four Weeks in Goldingen

Samy, Ivan, Werni, Hanni, Walter

Well, I have spent the past 4 weeks with the Riget family in Goldingen. Goldingen is in the St. Gallen canton and is the only place that I have/will stay that is outside of the Bern canton! So, I was pretty excited to finally stay in a new region. My host Family consisted of Hanni (mom), Werni (Dad), 3 brother Walter (23), Sammy (25), and Ivan (27) who live at home. Plus a sister Michaela (29) and her kids Lars (9), Sascha (7) and Mia (3). Werni and Walter work on the farm; they have about a dozen pigs, beef cows that are in the mountains, and a wood business (they make firewood as well as benches, water troughs, flower boxes, etc). Hanni works part time at a bakery and part time doing inventory for the Coop (a grocery store). Samy is a driver for a bakery company and Ivan builds houses, I think... So to sum it all up, its a pretty busy house hold!

The Austrian Side of the Alps

Zopf

I arrived on Sunday, August 16 at the train station in Rapperswil where Hanni and Lars picked me up. At the house I met the rest of the boys. We spent the afternoon playing games and getting to know each other.
During my 4 weeks in Goldingen I went to an Alp, saw the Riget workshop/yard, went shopping, went to Rapperswil, attended a Swiss competition, I went to a forestry show, saw the Santis, the Urnerborden Alp, and Tellsplatte. I discovered a pub in Uznach called the Canadian, we went to the Kreuz Alp, picked up a truck in Austria, I made Spatzli and Zopf and I went to work with Samy. I spent a weekend in Zurich, we went to the Einsiedeln Abbey, to the Dinosaur museum in Aathal and to a place that makes cow bells.

We actually went to Urnerborden Alp twice. Hanni and her family vacationed here when she was young and many members of her family still vacation here! The first time we went was to pick up her sister, she had spent 2 weeks there on vacation. We picked her up and went to the cheese store and restaurant in the town. But, it wasn't a very clear day so Hanni took me to the Alp again on a better day so that we could enjoy the view. The second time we were to the Alp the cows had

The View from Tellsplatte

come down the mountain and were in the village for a few weeks before they continue home to the base of the mountain for the fall/winter. This was really cool because there is just cows walking around everywhere! Some families fence their cows in and other let the cows roam around the area (including across the road) and they fence in things they want to keep the cows away from, like your car and house! Again we went to the cheese store and the restaurant, then we went over the mountain and came down the other side. On the was home we stopped at Tellsplattte which is a pretty little place along the lake. Here they have bells set up that can play a tune on the hour.

The View from of the Lake of Zurich
from Rapperswil

Rapperswil is a village near Goldingen that is on the lake of Zurich so it is
a bit of a tourist city. It is a very nice little place. There is a Castle and Montissori as well as a zoo and 2 rose gardens. The zoo is cool, it is small but that makes it nice because it is easy to see everything in a few hours.

The Swiss competition was really neat. The Riget's business was a sponsor for the event and donated a prize so we were invited to the event for a lunch with the other sponsors. The event reminded me a bit of a track meet; it was mostly youth but the events were very different! There was a gymnastics routine, a competition where you lift a rock above your head then put it down and repeat, a version of high jump where you run straight at a bar and jump over it into a sand pit (as you go the bar gets higher and further away), sprinting, wrestling and Schwingen (Swiss Wrestling). How they awarded the prizes was really neat; there were prizes within each category and you got to pick a prize in order of your placing. There were a lot of prizes in each category and a wide range of prizes! There was money, animals, furniture, decor, large and small appliances.
Then Saturday night after the competition they had live music that we attended.

In Luzern there is an annual forestry show; so, I got to go to it with Werni, Walter and Ivan. It was really cool, it was half outdoors and half inside. It reminded me of our Canadian Dairy Expo but forestry! There were some really neat machines; ones that split an entire log at once! The Riget's also have a machine like this; it is really cool. There is an arm attached to the machine so you can pick up a log and put it onto the conveyor where it is cut to any length between 1/2 to 1 meter then it is split (all at once!) and lands on a conveyor and someone at the end stacks it in a round form. Once the form is full it is tied and the rounds are stacked in the shop.

The Santis is possible my favourite mountain. From the top of the Santis you can see 4 different countries! From one side over the Lake Bordensee you can see Germany, east of that you can see to Liechtenstein and to the mountains of Austria. Plus to the south you can see all of Switzerland to France and Italy! It is a beautiful view.

One night I was searching for something to do and I came across a pub called the Canadian! This pub was in Uznach which isn't far from our house, plus there is a bus that goes from Goldingen to Uznach! So, off I went to find some Canadian friends. Unfortunately, I only met one Canadian, to owner, briefly. But, I made some other friends in the pub so it was a good night, I even went back a second time! The pub was decorated with stuff from Canadian sports teams, moose, Canadian signs and license plates so it was pretty cool.

View of the Santis from Kreuz Alp

A few years ago the Riget family had a restaurant on Kreuz alp, one day Hanni and Werni took myself and Lars up there so I could see the restaurant and they could visit their friends. The alp is not far from the Santis so I could see to where we had been a few days before! On the alp one farmer gave us a tour of his home and the barn, everything is very small and minimal because they only spent 6 weeks up there. Another family made us a Swiss food to try!
One day I got to go to work with Samy. Samy drives for a bakery company so we spent the morning delivering frozen baked goods to various stores and restaurants in the area. We started in Benken then headed to Zurich then around Oftringen, Zofingen, Langenthal, Schenkon then back to Zurich and the bakery in Benken. It was nice to spend the day with Samy and see what he does.

While at the house one day I was looking for things in the area to do and I discovered the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich and that they had a performance on Friday night! Being a previous high school band geek this was very exciting! We had no plans for that evening/weekend so I bought a ticket and made plans to spend the night in Zurich. The Orchestra was absolutely amazing! And the hall was gorgeous with beautiful acoustics! I was in love. The next day I went on a free walking tour of the old town of Zurich, and I toured the Frau Munster and the Gross Munster. During the tour I discovered that that evening there was a museum event happening in Zurich, for 25 CH you got evening (7pm to 2am) access to all museums and special buses running to the museums! So, I arranged with my host family to stay another night. It was a lot of fun. I went to a museum about the human body and evolution (Kulturama Museum Des Menschen), a museum about human diseases (Moulagenmuseum), the Swiss National Museum (Landesmuseum) and a museum about geology and natural gasses/fossil fuels (Focus Terra).

The Lady Fountain

On Sunday when I returned home from Zurich Hanni and Werni took Lars and I to the Einsiedeln Abbey, a montissaury and convent, where Hanni and Werni got married. The church is overwhelmingly beautiful. It is full of gold and colourful paintings. In front of the Abbey is the Lady Fountain which has 14 taps said to
equate to the 14 holly helpers, the water from the fountain is attributed to have a healing affect.

The final adventure that Hanni took me on was to a Dinosaur Museum, the Sauriermuseum, in Aathal! I don't think that I have ever been to a dinosaur museum before so it was pretty exciting. Most of the remains they have there are actually from a ranch in the USA but there have been remains found in Switzerland and lots of areas with foot prints!
To end my time with the Riget family we said our goodbyes in the morning then Hanni, Werni, Lars and I headed to Bargen for the BBQ with the Boss Family. The two families know each other through the IFYE program and previously exchanging IFYE's so they were happy to have the opportunity to catch up.
This concludes my 4 weeks in Goldingen! Now it is 2 weeks in Bargen and that is the end of my exchange! Time is flying now! I am already 5 days into my time in Bargen and we have lots planned for the next week!
Stay tuned, it wont be long before my exchange is over!
Adieu!

Adventure Awaits...

Well, I seem to be getting a little behind on my blog posting! I would love to tell you that I will make this short and sweet but that would simply be impossible! So, I will break it up into 2 posts; the first one will cover the end of my stay in Hoffstetten (from August 2nd to August 16th) and the second I will post early next week covering my past month spent in Goldingen!

My time in Hoffstetten was too short! My second week with the Trauffer family was more low key, we spent time at home, had a birthday party for Sylvan, socialized with the neighbours, went swimming in the Brienz lake, and moved boxes up two stories to Irene’s playgroup room so she could start getting ready for school! It was nice to have a low key week before embarking on the IFYE hiking trip.

The IFYE hiking trip was quite the challenge! But, it was great to spend some time with the other IFYE’s again and meet the late coming Irish IFYE. I wrote an article about it for the IFYE news:

This past weekend, August 15th and 16th, was the IFYE Hiking weekend. The 9 international delegates that are still in Switzerland (Canada, Estonia, Taiwan x3, South Korea, Costa Rica x2, and Ireland) met with 5 past IFYE’s to embark on a hiking adventure. The adventure got off to a rough start when half the crew had a little train mishap and ended up on the wrong half of the splitting train. But as per usual everything happens for a reason because one of the IFYE’s traveling on their own made the same mistake and they all ended up together! Luckily the group of IFYE’s at the starting point included a past IFYE who knew where they were going. So, once they figured out where everyone was the first group started on their way with the second group to follow when they arrived. We started our hiking trip at Zwischenfluh-Post at about 1000 meters elevation. The first day of the hike was all uphill; up winding roads, through pastures, and into the woods. This made for beautiful scenery but also some difficulties as some of the delegates had never really been hiking before. But, with a lot of encouragement and teamwork both groups met up at the lake Seebergsee at 1831 meters elevation. After a little break and some swimming we were off again! From the lake we climbed a steep 100 meters to get over the peak then it was all downhill to the hut at Obergestele (elevation 1803 meters) from there.

This is not the route that we followed
but it highlights our destinations!

You would think this would have been the easy part of the journey, but some of us (Canada) kept falling into holes! Once we arrived at the hut we quickly worked together to get dinner on the go with only a few minor setbacks, we had no running water for some reason and the fire for the stove was being difficult (apparently it just needed a little luck of the Irish). After dinner we had a great night getting to know new people, reconnecting with each other, talking about our experiences thus far, playing Wolverine, and finally a heated debate about the Swiss Agriculture system compared to the European Union. The second day of our trip had a bit of a slow start as we were a little sore and still tired. But, once we were up we made quick work of breakfast, clean up, and getting repacked. From the hut we hiked up to about 2000 meters elevation, almost to the peak, where we had a magnificent view of the landscape (we were actually above the clouds!). This part of the hike took us along some pretty interesting paths; along the edge of a cliff and over loose rock! But, it was well worth the view. Unfortunately, the weather decided not to agree with us today and we ended up a little wet, but we kept on going and just enjoyed that fact that it wasn’t blistering hot like the day before. After the peak of the mountain it was all downhill to Oberwil i.S train station at 836 meters elevation. This leisurely walk down was apparently a little too leisurely as we ended up hitching a ride down the last of the hill once we got to the road because we were cutting it a little close for time! Overall this was a very exhausting weekend but it was made great by the good company. I cannot say that I will ever forget that time in Switzerland that I hiked the Niederhore Mountain. Thank you IFYE Swiss for making this weekend possible!

The worst part about the weekend was that I had biked to the train station so after surviving that intense hiking weekend I had to bike home which is all uphill! But I made it, barely. After that I took a day of well deserved healing/rest and did nothing because boy was I sore!

On Tuesday I was still feeling the pain from my recovering muscles but we figured it would be good to get moving again, plus I only had a few more days in Brienz before moving to my next host! So we went for a walk at the Axalp. This is a beautiful spot. There was a storm here a few years ago that left a lot of broken trees. So, being in the area highly populated with wood carvers, some of the local wood carvers decided to take some time off work and turn the broken stumps into works of art. This quickly because a tradition. Every spring local wood carvers take a week off work and they go and carve in the forest! This has made for a beautiful unique nature trail. And, to top off the already scenic walk there is a lake at the end of it! And cows, there are always cows when you go walking in the mountains. But there weren’t just your normal beef or dairy cows, there were water buffalo and highland cows too! At the base of the Axalp there is a waterfall, Giessbach falls, and hotel, so we stopped off there for a little “cool down” walk. This summer has been very dry in Switzerland, Irene stated that she had never seen the lake at Axalp to low or the falls so small! To top off my Tuesday I went to a wood carving workshop where I got to carve and paint my own little cow! Here I met a family from Germany who have been vacationing in Brienz for almost 20 years! Then I biked into Brienz to enjoy an evening of traditional Swiss folk music. This included a Yodelling group, an accordion group, and a guy playing the Alphorn while another one did traditional flag throwing.  

On Wednesday I finally got around to actually seeing the little town of Brienz. Brienz is famous for its wood carving and a little romantic street that was once named the most beautiful street in Europe! This evening we decided that I should stop in Luzern on my way to my next host in Goldingen, but we quickly realized that this would only give me a few hours in Luzern. So, we decided I would leave half a day early and spend Friday night in Luzern so I could spend a day and a half exploring! This was a great idea, but it meant I had one less night to get my stuff in order before leaving!

Thursday I got up early and went off to explore Schynige Platte on my own while everyone else was at school/work. We planned my adventure so I could have lunch on the mountain then take the steam boat home from Interlaken! The mountain itself isn’t the the best one that I have been on, but it has a magnificent view of the Jungefrau and its surrounding mountains. Taking the steam boat across the Brienz river was pretty cool. I met a couple from Florida who were just here for 4 days to see this amazing hotel in some remote location which is where she got engaged at with her first husband. The lake of Brienz and the lake Thun are possible the most beautiful lakes that I have ever seen; they are a magnificent Turquoise colour!

To continue the tradition that I seem to have started, I made my host family pancakes and maple syrup for supper. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all, we finished 2 batches! The best part about making pancakes for my host families is that it is not only introducing them to maple syrup but the recipe is a family favourite from my late Grandma Steven!

Thursday night and Friday morning I once again packed my bags to head off on my next big adventure! After lunch with the Trauffer family for the last time we said our good-byes and I headed off to Goldingen, with a layover in Luzern.

My weekend in Luzern was awesome; unfortunately a little rainy but I didn’t let that stop me! I walked through the old town of Luzern, made friends at my hostel, discovered live music at an Irish pub, went on a city tour, attended the Museum of transportation, checked out the Panoramic Museum and saw the famous Lion Monument. The old town is your typical “old town” with pretty cobble stone streets and old houses, the old town wall and towers where the guards kept watch. Luzern is famous for their old chapel walking bridge that is filled with beautiful paintings, the water tower that is attached to it, and the dying Lion Monument that is carved into the natural rock as a memorial for the mercenary soldiers lost during the French Revolution. My favourite thing about Luzern was actually my time spent in the Irish pub; I met 3 Canadians and made friends with many Irishmen! This was probably the most at home I have felt because almost everyone was speaking English! During my time at the pub I even got to watch a rugby game; this was intense and dangerous because Ireland was playing and the pub was filled with Irishmen yelling at the TV!
After a great weekend I once again collected my things and boarded a train to my next destination where I would again cross my fingers and hope that they would easily recognize me!
Stay tuned as my next blog post will be up shortly!