Hey Everyone!

It has been a while! But I have been busy...So fortunately for you, two friday posts this time! Yay!

1. Last week I was lucky enough to be picked to go along with the white water rafting group! Every week on program one vollie gets to accompany whichever guests signed up to go white water rafting. It is during the Interlaken day, so we go see the chocolate show in the morning and then we quickly have lunch and then one group goes to see waterfalls, the other to rafting! I have been rafting once before in NC. It was with Girl Scouts of course! Now my water trips with Girl Scouts have sometimes left me wanting. For example when I was in sixth grade I went on a tubing trip down the James River in Virginia. Rather than the water doing all the work, I specifically remember having to paddle my way down the James. Not enjoyable. Though there were a few rapids we went down which was fun. Then the rafting trip I was talking about before in NC, was good, except a college student group of about 100 people accompanied us. Their boats kept getting stuck on rocks and we were almost always waiting on getting them unstuck, enjoyable but not as exciting. This rafting trip though, was perfect! Our guide seemed British, but I later found out he was born and raised, and owned his own rafting company in Uganda. In my boat there were a few swiss German guys there for a bachelor party, an English girl of 12 and her father. The rapids were great, the water was really cold. We got to practice rescuing each other out of the water. This was the first of the many adventures this girl and her father were about to do that week, the others include, but are not limited to, 1. sky diving 2. bungee jumping 3. paragliding 4. canyoning 6. ice climbing. I checked later that day, yep no age restrictions on any of this in Switzerland. No big deal. When we got back to the rafting place all the girls and leaders were telling my what a fabulous time they had and how great their guides had been. We got cheese and bread and a free drink when we got back. Really great I'll post a link to the place we use here in case y'all are ever in Switzerland.
http://alpinraft.ch/

2. That week I also got another chance at the adventure park! I did not do the pendulum swing like last time, but I have gotten pretty good at abseiling down from the bridge! This time because it was not raining we got to rock climb on real rock. I have to say after doing it both ways, I much prefer the real rock. This time after the girls had climbed for a bit I got Betsy (another vollie) to belay while I climbed. Rock climbing is an activity I could really see myself trying to do more of when I get home. Maybe get a pair of rock climbing shoes, they really help, and see what North Carolina has to offer! I have been to hanging rock to climb before (yep with Girl Scouts!). Which was a lot of fun. So I guess I will have to look into it more.

3. This week I got to climb up Bunderspitz! Again! Except this time instead of going during the day, I got to hike up there at night! There was only a girl from Northern Ireland and a mother and daughter from Washington. We normally take up to 18 girls up bunderspitz, but this time the interest was really low. That's okay though, it was better with a smaller group! We started the hike at 7:30 pm and stopped at a cheese hut at about 9:30 there we met a very cool atmosphere. There were several other hiking groups there having drinks. We settled in above were the cows stay, yes it smelled. Then we went back downstairs to have hot chocolate. Then to bed! For four hours... cause we got back up at two. When got up at two you cannot imagine the stars. They were so pretty it was incredible. After working at the Planetarium for so long my fascination with stars, planets, and space has really grown. So it was really great to see the stars so bright. Then we made our way up to the top of the peak, hiking until 6:00 am. Then we settled down to watch the sunrise right there. I ate toblerone mountains on a mountain. The sunrise was beautiful coming up a lot quicker than I imagined. Once we had our full of the sun we headed down to arrive back at the Chalet at 10:30.

4. This week I have been really working on my staff challenge! So I went swimming in a lake. A glacier lake! It was very cold, but also refreshing. I swam for a good while then got a cappuccino, then hiked to another lake, only entered up to my stomach couldn't take it so I didn't swim in that one. Oh well next time. Then I also before going up bundersptiz went to the local swimming pool in Adelboden. This pool is really really nice. It is also really really freeee! It had a trampoline that you jumped of into the water, as an alternative to a diving board. Which I was all over, I love diving boards! Then we just sat out by the pool, I read David Sedaris. It started to rain. So we had to go!

5. I had one more day off before my week of guest services. So me and Betsy went to a valley that was only open to the public around 1913. This was because it was really hard to get to the valley and the three towns until they started to build the rail way through the valley in 1903. The best part about this is that most of the houses and buildings look so different than the rest of Switzerland. They look older and more rudimentary. Another great aspect of this valley was that they have a festival and tradition that have to do with wooden masks. Now they put on a festival to scare non-locals once a year in February. It's great! I will put up some pictures and links below!!!!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%B6tschental







6. Like I said this week I am on guest services! Pros: This American life podcast listening time, quite cleaning, afternoon breaks, giving tours. Cons: People, cooking, cleaning up after cooking, and getting up to fix breakfast. Like anything both pros and cons. It is teaching me a lot about how I think working in the hotel business would be. So that is cool.

7. So new developments for the year! I was talking to my roommate here, Alison, about how cool it would be to visit Our Chalet in the winter! All the snow the skiing! It would be a winter wonderland! So we started to look at programs for which we could attend. Then I skype with my friend Arlee, who has grown close with a girl from Manchester while at camp. Arlee says "I want to come visit you and Manchester in England". So I am like "I might go back to Our Chalet in the winter" Arlee "OMGIWANNAGOTOO!!" and I am like "OMGYESSSS!" so now I am scheduled to fly home from Zurich coming full circle this year!
http://www.ourchalet.ch/en/events/20828

8. This week I did the amazing! I finished a book! I started the book because the movie that the book is based off looks amazing, and I really want to see it. So to help with the impatience I decided to read the book and now it was AMAZING. The main character just had a great voice. There are a few things I would like the movie to do differently, the main girl was kinda whiny and annoying in the book so I  hope she is a more likable character in the movie and the ending was really open. But the main character, I don't know how they will do him justice. I think it will come all down to the acting and writing. It always does. I am really hopeful though because the guys who wrote 500 days of Summer also wrote this movie!! And the clips and trailers I have watched seem pretty good, links to both below!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wceaLzbtuDY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItJr9dtRon4

9. Today I went with Alison, and then last minute, one of the vollies friends who is visiting her while she is at Our Chalet had nothing to do, so he came along... Scootering!!!!!!!!! I know what you are thinking what do I mean by this. Well we took a gondola up a mountain, longest gondola ride evvverrr, and then at the top of this mountain we rented scooters and then we rode them all the way down! Multiple times!! It was so much fun, we rode into town and got ice cream and then kept taking the gondola up. Unfortunately I forgot my camera because the views were unbelievable. But there were a view photos captured and I will put those up here!




10. If you have been keeping up with my blog you know that I really miss watching movies. So me and Betsy have decided that we are going to an international film festival in Locano Switzerland, which is in the Italian part of Switzerland. Here is the movie we are going to see!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP562PeToBQ

Helllloooo!

1. So during the summer Our Chalet has a ton of guests, generally young girls, who come to visit during the summer holidays. Most of these girls do a week of program at the Chalet, activities including two town days: Thun and Interlocken, two hikes: Elsigenalp and woodcarver, one on site day, one day at the adventure park, and one free day! This is a normal week of program for these girls, not including all the night program we do, which includes a night hike to the peak of an alp! However, we also have mini breaks in between big program groups. These are called Education First (EF) groups. These are a bit different to the groups we see during the week because EF is a tour company that not only works with girl scouts/guides, but also school and church groups. The EF tour that we often host has the girls coming from London then Paris and then to Our Chalet as a last stop. These girls have usually had about two weeks of traveling when they get to us and they are often very tired. They stay for 1 1/2 days and two nights. It is crazy how different the two groups dynamics are.

2. Now to say a bit more about Swiss food! We have a traditional dish about 2 times every week, one for EF and once for the program group. It is called Rosti:

I have never had it the traditional Swiss way because here at the Chalet to make it quick and easy we bake the dish rather than frying it. So I believe it would be better getting it out, but it is still pretty good at the Chalet. Another really Swiss dish is called Alpine Macaroni


If you can tell, what makes it Alpine rather than normal Macaroni is the: caramelized onion, potato, meat, and apple sauce (that you pour on top), that accompany the macaroni and cheese. The other big dish that I am sure you have heard of is Fondue which literally means "melted' in Swiss German. They do cheese fondue, chocolate fondue, etc.

3. One of the night programs we offer is international night. This is the night after the guest's first full day at Our Chalet. On this night each unit/troop/group puts on a bit of a show to tell about where they come from. This week we had a few groups from Canada, the USA, one from Scotland, and one from Northern Ireland. This time around we learned/watched a dance from almost every group. Whether it was line dancing from the Michigan girls, or traditional Irish Clogging from the Irish girls we could all stand up and participate. My personal favorite was the dance the Scottish showed us. It was a partnered dance and it was crazy! Here is a video of that dance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgMcMI0Qmok

4. Have learned a lot of new dances, but also a lot of new campfire songs! Here are my top 5 new fav songs!

• Auntie Monica: (Here it is sung--- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clu3TX3ZajE and here is the dance that goes with it! This video is quite long, but pretty funny... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY2V94zwZ8g
• Campfires Burning: This is a song you sing when you are trying to start a fire, or at the beginning of campfire, and it is so catchy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNTSjgXfMk8 
• Land of the Sliver Birch: this I think is a predominantly Canadian song, it is wonderful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlE9uB_23kw
• Vem Kan Segla? This is a Swedish folk song that one leader who has family in Sweden saw in the Our Chalet book, recognized and sang for us. So crazy though because I recognized the tune! We would sing it in English at a camp that I worked at last year at the closing ceremony as the girls were sending wish boats out into the lake, it is gorgeous in both languages! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTeMmJ_F9LE
• and of course, the Our Chalet song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xoCHpcNy6Q

5. When guests come to Our Chalet they are told they can try to earn the Our Chalet Challenge badge. They must complete a good amount of challenges to get said badge and the amount of times I have to give my signature is ridiculous. However, we as vollies can complete the staff challenge. With over 30 options and earning up to 80 points the staff challenge is no small matter. The challenge tasks range from having a tea party in baby chalet, to checking out the night life in Adelboden, to trying an extreme sport. They seem to be a list of things not to miss out on while on staff. I am trying to complete mine, but I only have 18 points so far... But don't worry everyone! I have a plan to do three tasks a week from now on! Hopefully I can earn whatever it is you earn when you complete the staff challenge!

Have a good weekend!!!

Hey guys! I got safely back from France a day or two ago! Here is my "Friday" five!

1. For the week before the 5th of July I was on my turn for guest services. I was told that guest services would be something of a break from program, which in some ways it was. However, it was not a break in that it felt like less work, if anything it was more exhausting! I was on site for most of the week cleaning building and preparing food. You are up at 7:00 am to get breakfast ready and done by 9:00 pm after washing up after dinner. The list of activities for the day seems to get longer each day so you never quite finish checking off your to do list. Even so the Chalet looks very clean after a long days of work and program starts to become more of a prize when you don't get to do it every week. Guest services has its purpose, but there was no denying that it was quite a long week.

2. This was the week of the Fourth! It was my first fourth of July out of the states. I like Fourth of July, but I didn't realize how much I would miss going to get food, then piling into the back of a pickup truck and watching fireworks! We decorated the dining hall with American flag colors and themes, put the American flag up on the flag pole, and popped a few fire crackers. The world center manager's husband also had an American folk sing along at a local bistro. The troop of girls from Georgia who attended the second event came and then several of the other vollies too. We sang this land is your land, country roads, and a few girl scout songs before I had to go back to help with dinner. Another vollie from Florida made apple crumble for desert, which was soooo good! All in all a good fourth, but I am looking forward to the next one in the states.

3. Finally my break days were there! After working for six days straight I was super ready for a break, and to be honest a get away from the Chalet. Lucky me, I was headed to France with another summer vollie Emma Walsh from Newfoundland, Canada! On the way we stopped in Basel which is a city in Switzerland that is super close to Germany and France. The Rhine River runs through it and the town center is great! It was a nice stop for the day. We went to the Basel art museum which was having a Picasso exhibit. We saw a lot of Picasso's pieces, I will put a few of the highlights up. We also saw some Monet's, Dali's, and Van Gogh's. Emma and I ate dinner at the Cathedral near the Rhine than went to catch a train into France! We ran through the station grabbed a train to Mullhouse and then had to wait there due to strikes going on. We grabbed a cappuccino (my new fav thing). Finally we caught a train to Belfort and we were in the city that the festival was in!!!!!!!!! Here are the Picasso's:









4. So we got to Belfort and just figured we would go follow others with sleeping bags/the signs in french with the Festival's name on them. We stood around waiting for a bus for a while and everyone just seemed confused. Everyone also seemed to be a bit intoxicated, due to France having zero laws about open containers. Finally we filed back into the train station to find a train with the festivals name, Eurockeennes, on the screen, a free train to the festival score! There was then a shuttle to the campsite, all of these were free! All the French use this one tent, it was all over the campsite, just a sea of them here:



They are supposed to be able to be put up in two seconds. Our tent that we borrowed from the Chalet stuck out like a sore thumb, haha. The campsite was beautiful, it was flat but was surrounded by mountains that looked just like the mountains back home rather than the alps. Emma and I went straight to bed because we were so tired and wanted to rest for the next day....

5. Finally the day had come! We got up planning on going back to Belfort to see the town before the festival opened at 4. But there was no way we could tell to get back to the town so we walked for a bit and found a local bakery had great croissant and coffee. We then walked to the super market and wandered around (so many shirtless/shoe less french boys....). We went and sat by the creek behind the super market and later when walking back from the creek we passed by the Phoenix tour bus! Finally we entered the festival!!! The first group we saw was from Ireland, their average age was 16! Then we got some Argentinian bbq and sat and watch Kenny James, a french rapper that I did not understand a word of! Finally, finally, we started to gather for Two Door Cinema Club. It was a bit of a mosh pit in the front, but the show was awesome. However, everyone was there to see Phoenix. The crowd knew every word and went crazy over the more popular songs like Listmania. Emma and I walked a way that night wishing for a repeat and humming our favorite songs. Pictures from this event I will have to post later because I need to borrow ones Emma took :))