Hey guys!

So it has officially been about a week of me here in Switzerland! The time as flown as they say. At Our Chalet we have mainly been learning about guest services, however I have learned so much about Swiss culture, the background of Our Chalet, and the other guides in my group!  Here are my Friday five!

1. Before I went on this trip a lot of people have asked me what Our Chalet was. It was a hard question to answer because there are only 3 other places in the world like it. It is a girl guide and girl scout world center where anyone can come and stay. There are both day and evening programs which is what I will be helping with! Here are some links that might help:
The Our Chalet website: http://www.ourchalet.ch/en/home
The WAGGGS (world association of girl guides and girl scouts) website: http://www.wagggsworld.org/en/home
The other 3 places are the 3 other world centers Our Cabana, Sangam and Pax Lodge.

 First before this gets confusing let me explain that America has both boy scouts and girl scouts, however around the world there are girl guides (which are like girl scouts) and then scouts which is a co-ed program, and more like boy scouts.

So the history of Our Chalet is actually pretty interesting. In 1929 WAGGGS committee met in The Netherlands and decided that a world center should be built for Girl Guides and Scouts. Helen Storrow, an American Girl Scout, said she would donate the money for the construction and the first five years of operation of the center, on the condition that it was built is Switzerland. So she must have been super rich. The Committee agreed and appointed a Swiss Guide, Ida Von Herrenshwand, commonly referred to as Falk, to help Storrow find a spot for the Chalet.
Here are the places they looked at:
Grindelwald: (haha harry potter reference kinda)



but did not like the way the Chalet smelled like Cheese....

Kandersteg:








But the Scouts Center was already there (look up more pictures though, this town is amazing)

Storrow wanted to build the Chalet in Aeschi



But Falk wanted a more adventures site, higher altitude with better access to hiking and skiing etc.

So when the World Committee met again in 1930 in the UK, Falk told Lord Baden-Powell (creator of scouts) that she wanted to find a more adventures spot for girl guides. So Falk returned to Switzerland and found a hill near the town of Adelboden. Falk instantly fell in love with the place. Our Chalet was built and then opened in 1932, the first World Center of WAGGGS.


2. Okay that first post was a little long apologies. But I now want to talk about Recycling. They LOVE recycling in Switzerland. The main reason being that for every bag or bin you throw away here you are taxed a certain amount. For example if you were to fill up a glad normal sized white trash bag and throw it away it would be 25 Swiss Francs or about 27 dollars. Our Chalet has its own big garbage bin at the end of the drive way and is charged every time the bin is filled. Therefore Our Chalet tries to recycle everything. Used tissue? Paper recycling. Broken glass? Glass recycling. Aluminum foil? Metal Recycling. The only thing they don't recycle well is plastic. They only recycle PET bottles, but all other plastics go into the trash. Now, especially the American Vollies, were asking what prevents the Swiss from just throwing away their trash into public bins with out paying. They have certain trash bags with tax numbers on it to make sure they know whose trash it is. Okay yeah, but what if they use any old trash bag and throw it way in the public bins? Michael, the grounds maintenance guy explained, oh the Swiss just trust each other. You can tell this type of system would go so well in the US.....

3. We went on our first hike this week. It was called the magic tree house hike because of this really old tree vollies are supposed to climb up. The tree was great and everything, but  on the way to the tree we passed by several houses. Outside the house there are several signs with cartoon characters and children's names. For example I saw one that was a painting of Flounder (from Ariel) and then Emily written on it. They hang outside the houses right after the children are born and then stay there till the kids move out. Also we passed a house with a lot of cowbells hanging on the side. Our guide told us that these cowbells can go up to as much as 1500 dollars. This farmer looked like he had bout 15... Our guide said it was to show off the farmers wealth. Then we heard noises from the back of the house. Turns out the front is the house and the back is a barn. It is to keep the cows warm in the winter we were told. Ummm still don't think I would enjoy a barn at the back of my house....



4. On my day off yesterday me and four other vollies took a trip to Frutigen by bike. It was a long trip by bike, about two hours. Which I am pretty sure is the longest I have ever been on a bike... But it was great views. We were told the road was down hill the entire way, which was super not true. There was this one hill that felt strait up for like, forever. Now when your pushing a bike up a steep hill it is not the most fantastic thing. However, the down hill was terrifying, the last part you shot down and yeah there were fences, little barb fences made for keeping cattle off the road, not girls on bikes flying off the side of the mountain. So these fences along the path were really no comfort. I was on my brakes the entire way, unless I was pushing the bike up a hill. We parked our bikes in town (no bike locks of course) and then walked around for a bit. We took the bus back!

5. Finally we (the Our Chalet summer vollies) are kinda official because we are on the website!!! Check me and the other Vollies out!

http://www.ourchalet.ch/en/people/Staff

Have a great weekend everyone!!!