SWISS BLUES

Wow! I can hardly believe it has been a month since my last post. I greatly apologize for neglecting you and have set aside time this morning to update you.

First off, I must offer my setting: I am sitting in my living room, feet propped up on the coffee table (since the kids are not home to see it), the room is filled with sun, large glass doors are wide open, sun is streaming thru the windows, the smell of coffee wafting thru the air, the clippy clop of the horse just passed and gave way to the splashing of the creek beside our house (in between is the sound of cars revving by, but don't let that ruin this glorious imagery), and the church bells are clanging reminding me its time to catch up with friends....

My neglect is likely a sign that we are getting entrenched in our lives here in Switzerland. Where do I begin?

Swiss Blues: Not referring to sadness, but rather the Swiss Ski Pistes. I went skiing a couple times earlier this month and made great progress. On Friday 3 weeks ago, a friend invited me to join her HausFrau Ski Group for an outing to Hoch Y Brig mountain. This was a wonderful day. The weather couldn't be more perfect, bright shining sun, and perhaps 45 degrees. We met in the parking lot at school, piled our gear atop her little sporty BMW station wagon and set out immediatly after dropping off the kids at 8:30 am. We got to the mountain, met up with the other HausFraus, changed into our gear in the parking garage, got our lift passes and were on the slopes by 10am. Hoch Y Brig was amazing - I wish I had brought my camera, but I have learned that people here pack light when they go skiing. Literally, they just bring their ski necessities. snowpants, boots, helmets, skiis, coats, gloves, goggles. No need to bring anything else. Its all about hittin the slopes. In the US, I would have packed a weekend bad with extra ski pants, tissues, snacks, water bottles, etc. So HochYBrig was a site- it was sooooooo wide and vast, I could hardly take it all in in my brain. Oddly, it had no trees - so it looked like a white desert with rolling white hills. It really looked like a white Sahara - just spectacular. Above I have added 2 images from the website.

Since I was with die-hard skiier women, they were so anxious to start and pumped! I was a bit leary, and made it clear this Swiss skiing was still new to me. Someone brought a camera so we posed for a picture at the exit of the lift atop a Blue Piste (trail in US) - great shots I'm sure. If they had any doubt about my ski skills, or lack of, it was confirmed when I turned around to make my way toward the slope and accidentally began sliding out of control and smashed into an older man wearing the Swiss Ski Instructor uniform and fell onto the ground. He immediately turned to me and shouted some obviously excited words in German.....let's just assume he was expressing great concern for me and checking to see that I was alright. Thankfully, I couldn't see the HausFraus' faces as I am certain they were eyerolling and thinking that this was going to be a looooonnng day with the Newbie. We set off down the slopes and it went surprisingly very well.....in that I didn't fall or crash into anyone else. Of course, I was sweating and gritting my teeth, concentrating and trying to squash the negative thoughts in my head, "why did I think I could do this? why did I think I could keep up with them?" After I survived the first run and caught up with them, and was thinking that it was a good time for a coffee and snack break, they were elated and joyfully exclaimed," Wasn't that GREAT?! OMG this is SO FANTASTIC!!!" We stayed on that Piste for several more times, and I found myself getting better and better. I was still having to concentrate on not killing myself or anyone else, but by lunchtime I was fully comfortable and really having a great time. Another interesting sight I appreciated from the ski lift was th e off-piste skiing and snowboarding. It is acceptable to ski off-piste, off trail - its just a free for all - there are ski & snowboard tracks everywhere - apparently people here love to ski off trail in this powdery,off beaten areas. Alas, it was time for lunch. Lunch was lovely in the ski chalet - a buffet of a variety of hot meals, cold sandwiches, and snacks awaited. I ordered a meal of curried chicken, which by the way, using my newly acquired but still quite limited and timid German, I requested "mit gemuse, nicht reis, bitte" (with vegetables, not rice, please). The meal was $20 and the bottle of water $5.

We had a nice time chatting over lunch and it was nice to see their faces without their helmets and goggles on. There were 6 of us, including 5 Americans 1 of whom is from Queens NY, 1 from Minneapolis, 2 from Boston area. We exchanged info about various vacation spots, who is going where for Spring Break and for summer. After lunch, we hit the slopes again. Everyone told me that I was doing very well and keeping up with them fine. It boosted my confidence. This time the HausFraus decided to kick it up a notch and hit the Red Piste. I joined them and did fine. I was gritting my teeth again, a bit stressed, but did well and so enjoyed it. I am beginning to feel that "skiiers high" a bit where you so look forward to skiing.

As soon as I knew it, it was 2pm and time for us to start to head back to the school parking lot and pick up the kids at school. It had been a great day.

The very next day, a Saturday, the Boy Scouts were having a ski day at Flumserberg. I had volunteered to help chaperone. My big boy and I got up and out of the house around 8am and traveled like the natives. We wore our ski/snowboard boots, wore all of our equipment, carried our skiis across the street to the bus stop, boarded the bus to the train station, met up with the other scouts and leaders at the Thalwil train station and boarded the train to Flumserberg carrying and wearing all of our equipment....yes, that includes walking up & down stairs and steps in our ski boots. It took 1 1/2 hrs to get to Flums but we had a great time with the Scout friends on the train. As soon as we knew it, we were on the cable car headed up to the slopes. My big boy is still new to snowboarding so he wanted to stay on the bunny hill. The wonderful Scoutmaster encouraged him to try the Blue piste....just once....its easy. A did, and it was very tough and frustrating for him, but he managed it fairly well. I skiied near him, following him. At the bottom he asked me to, basically, go do my own thing. I think he was feeling hurried with me following him and he wanted to learn on his own. We agreed to stay on the same piste and meet up a the restaurant with the other scouts at 1pm. I was a bit worried, thinking about something happening to him, he'd be all alone, but I realized that we'd be on the same trail, passing each other continuously, so I agreed but kept my eye on him from afar. I really had a great day. It was freeing to be able to let him do his thing and allow myself to concentrate on my skiing.

We all met up for lunch at one of the restaurants. The leaders brought a large insulated bag of food for their family. They were both skiing, and I asked where they had kept their food. "Oh, we just put it down here in the snow, next to the picnic tables before we went on the lift. Noone touches anyone else's belongings here, so its safe." Hmmmm....interesting. In the US, it would have been stolen, or someone would have called the bomb squad about an unattended bag.

We ate lunch with a few other scouts. Two of whom are brothers and told us that their family is likely moving to the US Chicago area this summer. They were curious to know about America, since they are originally Australian, moved to England 9 yrs ago, and have been living in Switz for the past 5 yrs or so. They had heard great things about living in America and wanted us to confirm. Yes, movie tickets are ONLY $10 ($20 here in Switz), there are McDonalds and Starbucks on virtually every corner. We told them all about the Wisconsin Dells waterparks (Brilliant!), I tried to tell them how big the HS are, and how fun and challenging they are, how lovely Chicago is, but how brutal the winter is, etc. I think we sold them! They told me their mom is quite hesitant, so I told them I would contact her and give her the 411.

So, A finished up lunch and immediately engaged in the BS snowball fight. The boys had a blast and I wish I had my camera. The weather was incredibly warm, and there were people sitting outside the restaurant eating and drinking and hanging out in the gorgeous sunshine, while the boys froliched in the snow. Skiiers and snowboarders whizzed by us. It was truly a lovely time.

I chatted with some other parents including a set of parents from California. The dad is a college professor, here on sabatical for a year, and his wife is a teacher, homeschooling the children. They will head back over the summer.

We hit the slopes for a few more runs before A&I met up and headed home. When we arrived, we had a wonderful visit from an American friend living here in Switzerland. He's a good friend of J's and we had a great night eating, drinking, and talking. He's great fun and we're glad to have him & his family closeby.

Everyone here seems to LOVE the skiing but this year is considered a washout. The weather has been uncharacteristically warm and the ski slopes are suffering. Its so interesting to me to hear moms at school saying how they are so anxious to get in as much skiing as possible since this will be a short season. Every day their are women meeting in the school parking lot, fastening their ski equipment to the roof of a car and zipping out after drop off, obviously headed to the hills. I like skiing, and certainly am enjoying it more that I am becoming better at Swiss skiing, but I still don't CRAVE it the way others do. Its funny for me to be in a conversation when other moms are talking about what a bummer this gorgeous warm weather is....I just furrow my brows a bit, tuck in my lips, and fake a sign of concern, and agree with a sigh "such a shame...."

My dear daughter also had quite the Ski Experience this past month. The International School takes all the grade 3, 4 and 5 students on a 3 days ski trip designed to improve their ski & independence skills. They went to a beautiful mountain, Davos, near Kloisters. They left at 7am, were on the slopes by 10, and in small group lessons of 4-6 students with a private instructor for 6 hours per day with just a break for lunch and snacks...for 3 days straight.

I must confess when I heard the rigorous schedule I was a bit concerned for my daughter. Although she's had lessons, she is still new, it is still frustrating, and definitely not an activity that she loves. I wasn't sure how she would handle getting all of her equipment on and carried by herself, and how she would vent her frustration.....in addition to all the tween concerns of who am I rooming with, what's the food like, where do we get dressed, what is everyone wearing, do I bring a teddy bear or not, etc. I dropped her off at 6:30 am as required. She was nervous and anxious and I wish I could help comfort her more, but I had to let go and let her figure it all out. I was so excited for this opportunity for her but knew what a challenge it would be.

When she returned on the 3rd night, she was exhausted but happy. She did great. She felt that she greatly improved her ski skills. She roomed with some people she liked and didnt like much, but felt it all worked out. She hated the food, ate a lot of bread and butter. She managed all of her equipment like a pro. I was sooo proud of her. She always rises to the occaision and is so capable! It was good to have her home.