30/6/10

This morning I woke up and made a packed lunch out on the veranda. I was very excited because there was tuna!!! Last program, they did not serve tuna and I never got a tuna sandwich. I then enjoyed breakfast in Stockli and took my coffee to morning meeting. Kate and I were off to the adventure park and the climbing wall for the day! It was a beautiful and sunny day and the adventure park was tons of fun. I zipped back and forth across the zip wire and did the high ropes coarse. I challenged myself at the end on the wood planks to not hold on the rope and see if I can balance. I can only manage to cross about 7 planks until I have to hold on the rope. Due to the large group of people, I sadly did not get to jump off the bridge since there was not enough time. But no worries there is always next time. We made it safely back to the chalet and although the weather was forecasted to rain and thunderstorm, it did not! That was very exciting. I was off evening program for the night, so I hung out and relaxed in my bed. I recently found out that Momma Mac (Kappa Delta house mother) passed away so please keep her and her family in your prayers. She will be truly missed. Tomorrow I am off to go WHITEWATER RAFTING!!!! I am very excited. I will post some photos of that tomorrow!

29/6/10

Good day everyone! Today was On-Site activities day! And I was in charge of the orienteering activity, which is my favorite activity. We began the morning at the program morning meeting and discussed the logistics and plan of the day. After meeting we had the opening ceremony which officially marked the event as open. It is very exciting to be on program again...and time flies because it is almost July!!! It was a sunny day so we had a BBQ lunch for the first time OUTDOORS! Wahoo! After enjoying Bratwurst, apples and toblerone chocolate, we continued the activities until 5:30pm. I even made a WAGGGS poster for one of my staff challenges! We then had international night as the evening program and had a SWAPs session afterward. I have now acquired many Australian badges and bookmarks. We even had an evening thunderstorm well thunder actually and some rain! I was very excited to hear thunder!! It was a good day and I am looking forward to the rest of program!

28/6/10

Today, I only worked a half day. I did manage to watch 4 episodes of The Unit. And we ate lunch outside again! Kate, Susan and I were working the ‘meet and greets’ so I had the chance to walk up the hill THREE times today! We have guests from Denmark, Australia, Texas, Virginia and New Jersey! And there are guests from Houston!! It was very exciting and after dinner we gave the guests a tour! It was fun and honestly that was the extent of my day. I am very tired and this is why my post is so short! Program starts tomorrow and I will be on the orienteering section again!!! I am very excited. 

27/6/10

It was a normal day at the chalet. We had no tours, I helped out during the later breakfast shift, and I cleaned the bathrooms in Spycher. We ate lunch outside again since the weather has been sunny and beautiful. For this event, it is the guests last night at the chalet so evening program was campfire. After dinner cleanup, I enjoyed my dessert, peaches and cream, while I talked to Christoph about his trip back home to Germany. He went to go see a movie at a ‘Space Cinema’ where the movie is projected outdoors on a giant dome shaped object. It was pretty cool, he also told me about a cinema opening next week in the next valley. It is a unique cinema because they project movies on a lake that is crystal clear. He may take some of us to go see a movie, although it would be in German, it would still be fun. After dinner I enjoyed watching The Unit in bed and I had time to skype some friends as well. I am working a half day tomorrow, it is arrival day and my roommates and I are in charge of ‘meet and greets.’ Yay, I get to walk up the chalet hill 3 or more times tomorrow. The photo is an alpenrose!

26/6/10

This morning I woke up at 4:45am. The volunteers were off to see the cows make their annual trek up the mountain for summer time. They start hiking up the mountain at 4am, and there were 350 total cows that went up the mountain. Many cows wear enormous cowbells, so the amount of noise is unreal. After we got back around 6:30am, I relaxed and waited till breakfast time. I had the late breakfast shift so I had a few hours until I had to be in the kitchen. I was able to enjoy my own breakfast and coffee in bed, it was very relaxing. After breakfast, I was in charge of cleaning bathrooms in Main Chalet. It was a fairly easy task and after I was finished I helped another vollie mop, since she was still vacuuming. We had lunch outside since it was such a pleasant day. After lunch time, it was definitely time for my nap and I woke up just in time for dinner preparation. During dinner cleanup, the crew managed to break 2 glass dessert bowls. Gravity won that battle. After dinner, I changed clothes then joined in the evening program water fight! It was freezing cold water, I got soaked but it was a lot of fun! I felt like a kid again. After I dried off, I was ready for bed. Today was a lovely, somewhat relaxing day at the chalet. 

25/6/10-Basel

I woke up to the chatter of people eating breakfast at the restaurant below the hotel. Oh how Adelboden is such a quiet village high in the mountains, I sometimes miss the constant movement, the loudness and the semi-polluted air of the city.  Moushira went to go meet her friend from Egypt, so I got to sleep in until 10am. We had free continental breakfast at the hotel, which was nice. I then took a stroll down Rheingasse (a street) and later met Jenny and Moushira at the tram stop. In Basel there are trams to take you all around the city, and the most challenging part of Basel is crossing the street! (because of the trams) We were able to leave our bags in the reception area so we didn’t have to carry them around all day. We walked along the river until we got to the ferry stop. We took a mini boat that was attached to a cable/rope across the river. We then walked all the way up the steps to the courtyard of Münster. This is when we discovered we had not gone to Münster the previous day. It was a beautiful cathedral with rose-colored concrete and inside on the bottom level there were various tombs dating back to 916. We walked around Münsterplatz, sat in the open garden next to the fountain and then back to Mittlere Brücke. This was the oldest bridge in Basel built in 1226 for fortification reasons, as well as the most prominent. We had to cross the bridge if we wanted to walk to the hotel. We then walked for half an hour to find a place to eat. We ate at an American restaurant and enjoyed burgers and pommes frites (French fries). After our lunch stop we headed to the Kunstmuseum. It was a fine arts museum with collections from 1400-present day. It was three stories and the rooms and collections that never seemed to end. We saw contemporary and modern art, German expressionism, a special exhibit by Gabriel Orozco (from Mexico), religious art and American art. I saw paintings from Picasso, Van Gogh and Claude Monet. I enjoyed the two hour walk through the museum. But after walking for that long, It was time for a sit, so we enjoyed an iced coffee and ice cream drink in the café, it was very good. After our afternoon snack, we sat by the river and watched all the people swim, hang out and relax. It was nice to just sit in the sun. After that we were off the Summerblues concerts in Basel. They had 6 different venues and 2 street bands and all the music was free! I was so excited to listen and watch live music, it was exhilarating! It was one of my favorite parts of the entire Basel trip. After we enjoyed a few of the concerts we made our way back to the train station to check departure train times before we ate dinner. We ate dinner at a very good Italian restaurant called Da Roberto which was just a block over from the train station. The walls inside were elaborately decorated and the food was delicious! We boarded the 20:28 train to Bern/Spiez then to Frutigen. Jenny gave me a lift back to the chalet so I wouldn’t have to walk up the hill alone, yay! I made it back safe and sound, and all in all it was a great trip.

24/6/10-Basel

Today I was off to Basel with Elaine and Moushira. Elaine and I planned to catch the 8:54am bus to Frutigen to begin our journey. But as we were attempting to tell Karen in the office where we were going, we got delayed. We managed to miss the bus by 3 minutes. Normally that would have been okay but Moushira was getting on the bus at the next stop and we had no way of telling her we missed it since I did not have her number. So, we waited for an hour at the bus stop to catch the next bus to Basel. We arrived in Basel around half twelve (12:30). We got some information at the tourist center and then hopped on the tram to our hotel. We stayed at a hotel that was located on the Rhine and our window was facing the river!!! Since we are staying in Basel, Moushira and I got a free mobility ticket so we were able to ride all the trams and buses for free! Elaine was only staying for the day. Basel is the 3^rd largest city in Switzerland and it is very diverse, cultural and quite busy! I love being in the city, although there was not a mountain of great height around to be seen. After we checked in and put our extra bags in our room, the adventure began. We walked around Marketplatz and ate lunch in the middle of a courtyard. The restaurant was very quaint, and I had a salmon entrée! We then wondered about and went into an open-air market that was in front of a museum. There was tents set up with booths of jewelry, African trinkets, bohemian attire, tapestries and random Swiss things. We then wandered over to a cathedral/church, we thought it was Munster but we discovered that was incorrect the following day. But the church was very pretty and I climbed 218 steps to the very top of the tower to have a look at the city. I took lots of photos. =) I was very tired when I finally climbed down, and I got a bit dizzy on the way down all the spiral steps. Our next stop was Dreiländereck or three countries corner. It was just north of the city where Switzerland, France and Germany meet and we took the tram and then walked along the river until the spot. It was very interesting, as the location coincided with the industrial port of Switzerland. It was hot in Basel, about 78F, but not as hot as Texas, thank goodness. So the three of us decided to accomplish an item on the staff challenge, submerge in a river/lake for 5 seconds. We went swimming in the Rhine River. The current was going fast so we did not go for long since the water was very cold. I did not bring a towel but managed to air dry just fine. Elaine went back to Adelboden after our swimming adventure. Moushira and I went back to the hotel to take showers and get ready for dinner. We went to an Asian restaurant and I was very excited to get vegetable noodles, yummy! We sat on the main dining/going out street because as we ate dinner we saw many young people dressed in nice clothes walking up and along the street. We even watched the world cup game at dinner. I enjoyed people watching. After dinner we wandered about the street and nightlife and then we were off to bed. As for the pictures,

23/6/10

Today was just another day on guest services, and my last day before my days off! I was on the late breakfast shift and we finished cleaning just in time for meeting. I drank coffee at morning meeting to give me an extra boost to continue cleaning. I vacuumed and mopped Spycher again, I tend to volunteer this since I know it best. After I finished, Renee and I counted and sorted all of the new linen that had come in the mail. Horray, Stockli has new GREEN linen!! We then washed it so we can use it soon. We had lunch outside because it was such a beautiful day! Finally the sun came out...again! Renee, Susan and I then decided to walk to town. The weather was great and they needed some things from Coop, so I went along for the stroll. On the way back we saw Christoph coming back from the Recycling Center so we got a ride back up the hill, yay =).  It was then picture time for the 'hall of fame' and the website. We took photo shoots all around the chalet. I took mine in the flowers with the snowy mountains in the background! We then prepared for dinner, we were a bit late for preparation so we were constantly on the go. I made 10 dishes of apricot/raisin bread and butter pudding, it was crazy. It took the entire time. We then washed up. Since it is a Wednesday, I volunteered to jump on the silver bins with Christoph. It is Thursdays trash day and it costs 25CHF to take out the trash, so we try to fit as much stuff in the bin as possible. We managed to fit 2 more large trash cans in the silver bins that was already full to begin with. I even earned staff challenge points! After that, Emma and I were going to town to socialize...since I have the day off Thursday and Friday. I am going to Basel with Moushira for 2 days, Elaine is coming for the day and Jenny is meeting us on Friday! Wahoo! Updates about Basel will be when I get back!!

22/6/10

The sun came out the sun came out!!! Even though the weather was still cold. This morning, Megan and I were in charge of a tour for 60 people. They were from North and South Carolina and were traveling to the chalet for a visit. They even received the chalet pins at the end. We opened the shop before lunch and an hour later we sold 2000 CHF worth of merchandise! Success. The guests bought lots of jackets since the weather was cold and we were their last stop on their vacation around Europe. After lunch and cleanup, we continued to do laundry and finish up the house duties. We had a break for almost 2 hours until dinner preparation. I talked with Moushira about planning our Basel trip, we leave Thursday at 8am, exciting! I am excited to visit the 3 countries corner since Basel rests in the northern region of Switzerland. There is a place to cross over to Germany and France as well! Dinner preparation was relaxing and Led Zeppelin played on Megan’s ipod!!! I was very thrilled. After dinner cleanup I ate girl scout cookies, popcorn and watched the Argentina futbol game with Agus (from Argentina) and the others.  More pictures of the pretty mountains to come tomorrow. =)

21/6/10

Today I woke up, ate breakfast and went to the kitchen to help with the second shift of breakfast. We had opening ceremony to welcome our new guests, so that is always a fun morning. After the ceremony we went straight to morning meeting. Megan and I volunteered to be in the kitchen, so we finished cleaning up the rest of breakfast and then helped Jenny prepare the BBQ lunch. I cut about 30 long French breads into 3 smaller bits and then sliced them open so they could be used as sandwiches. It took me about 45 minutes to complete that task. Then we prepared bratwurst, veggie patties, lettuce, tomato and cheese. BBQ lunch is normally an outdoor lunch, but this is the 3^rd time in a row it has been raining, so it was moved indoors. After lunch and lunch clean up we had a break until dinner. Susan and I continued our Unit marathon and watched a few more episodes. The tv show is quite addicting. We prepared chili, rice, salad and donuts for dinner. It was very good; I even got to have some of the veggie chili since there was extra. We had international night outdoors and I was able to watch it from my window. It was a good day despite the cold, frigid, wet weather. But by Wednesday, it should be sunny again.

20/6/10

I woke up this morning relatively early for my day off and I went to church with Renee. It was a high of 6 degrees and the forecast was snow so I layered myself and walked to town. As we arrived into the town of Adelboden, the church bells were already ringing and mass began at 9am. The entire mass was in Swiss German. It was a small, quaint little church with only about 20 attendees. After mass, the weather outside was much colder and we could see snow on top of the mountain. We also noticed that the trees were covered in snow, it was freezing! We walked back to the chalet and my plan for the day was to have a lazy day and relax. I even did a load of laundry in my spare time of watching a new TV series entitled The Unit. I watched about 5 episodes today. We had dinner with the new guests that have arrived and program event 3 official begins tomorrow, and I will be back to guest services. Since it is arrival day, there was no evening program. So I continued to watch episodes of The Unit. I have also discovered that my stomach does not like diary products here, so starting tomorrow I am limiting myself to lactose-free products. By Friday the weather should be warmer about 65F, which will be very nice!! In my photo is my flower pillow and my stuffed animal bear, who I spent most of the day with, haha. Ciao. 

19/6/10

As I woke up this morning, I glanced out the window to the pouring rain. Oh another rainy day at the Chalet.  Today’s forecast was a high of 48F. And tomorrow we MIGHT get snow. Megan and I were off to the adventure park for the day. Since it was raining, we first went to the indoor climbing wall in town. The girls seemed excited although the heat was not turned on in the building and it was freezing inside. I even got to try the hardest section of the wall that is slanted toward the ceiling. It was very fun! We then walked 30 minutes to the adventure park to eat lunch. It was not raining as hard and there were tarps and umbrellas covering the tables so we could eat. We also got to watch the group at the adventure park jump off the bridge. After lunch we started the adventure park. It was fun because there were a total of nine people so it went by quickly. And I got to do my favorite part again, dive off the bridge!! It was a fun day!! We stopped by the store at the bottom of the hill and a bought peach iced tea that was on sale, yes!! Tonight we had a Swiss dish, Bratwurst for dinner. And our evening program was campfire!!! It was a lot of fun. Tomorrow I have the day off and if it is cold and snowy, I plan to stay at the chalet.   

18/6/10

My day started off a bit chilly, I read the forecast and it predicted that the high today would be 13 degrees Celsius, which is about 55 degrees Fahrenheit. The program for today was a hike to Elsigbach. The hike took a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes, although normally it can be done in an hour and a half. But, as I have come to realize, hiking with guests takes a bit longer because many are not used to the hills and most leaders are out of shape. Walking slower than normal is not as enjoyable, but I still enjoyed the hike. It was not raining until we were practically done hiking =). We hiked to the very small village of Elsigbach and took the gondola up to Elsigenalp. We gave the guests three hours of free time. Renee and I enjoyed a quite and peaceful lunch right next to the lake. But after that we migrated to the restaurant to enjoy a warm cup of coffee. After we were chatting with the guests (they let me try their fries!!) we decided to hike to another lake about 30 minutes away. It was an uphill hike but the lake was quite beautiful, surrounded by rocky terrain and random pine trees all around. I really enjoyed the hike and all the scenery, although at times we were literally in a cloud and couldn’t see in front of us. After the hike to the lake, we met the guests and then we began our hike down the mountain. Normally, this hike would take 40-45 minutes, but a few leaders had ‘bad knees’ and it took an additional 30 minutes to hike downhill. Walking downhill at a slow pace is very strenuous to the knees and other parts of the body, so I am currently sore at the moment. Last time I went on this hike I was not as sore because we were going at a steady pace. I was the back marker with Renee, which is why we had to wait for the slower ones and walk so slow. But, we made it to the bus that was waiting for us at the bottom of the mountain. Elsigenalp is about 1800m, in case you were wondering. We road a very scary path in a coach bus down a windy road to the main road and the ride was frightening. I thought that the bus was not going to make some turns and the road was very narrow so I thought we were going to hit the guardrail at times. One leader closed her eyes the entire time because she did not want to look at what was going on.  But all in all, we made it back to the chalet! Evening program was games night and we had the guests recreate an Our Chalet Museum. Each station represented an exhibition, we had: an Our Chalet flag that was drawn, Falk’s (first guider in charge) snow shoes using twigs and string, a historic chalet mosaic using paper, a tea set from the first tea party in Baby Chalet (using playdoh) and an old girl guiding uniform using trash bags, party streamers and paper. We had each group display their exhibitions and we were the judges. The prize was Girl Scout cookies =). It was a very lovely game. 

17/6/10

Back to work on a foggy Thursday morning. Today was another town day for program, final destination Interlaken and Trummelbachfalle. I was the volunteer on the microphone in the bus to town, it was a lot of fun. I got to tell the guests facts about the area every now and then. We first went to Interlaken and visited the Chocolatier. I bought my first lot of chocolate bars! After the chocolate tour we boarded the bus and dropped of the whitewater rafters and then we were off to the waterfall. We ate lunch in the flowery fields. I did not go into the falls but set up the Picnic with Lesley. I enjoyed being outdoors for an hour or so. We had a birthday girl in the group so we prepared candles and a cake for her return from the falls. We had a nice picnic where we enjoyed tea, coffee, hot chocolate and cake. Next stop was Interlaken for free time, wandering and shopping. We let the guests do as they please so the staff headed to the churches in the east portion of the town. We went to a Roman Catholic church that had been remodeled in the 1960s, so it was historic on the outside and modern in the inside. I then walked around the town with Megan. I went to Coop (grocery store) because I needed Febreze for my dirty laundry and air freshner for the odor of our room since it at times has a funny odor. I also got a cow patterned mug with flowers since there is a lack of mugs in Stockli house! After our Coop visit we power walked back to the bus since it was raining and cold. We had an hour bus ride back to Chalet and I slept the entire time. We had sweet and sour chicken for dinner with plum crumble, my favorite dinner and my favorite dessert!! For evening program we played an outdoor WAGGGS game. After the game we played ‘ride that pony’ and had chocolate cake in Stockli. The cake was leftover from Sally’s birthday, yay! I enjoyed a cup of hot cocoa in my new mug! Goodnight all =)

16/6/10-Lugano!

Last nights hike was lovely. I went on a twilight hike to the waterfalls just around the valley, and it only took about an hour to get there. It was a very pleasant hike and it was not up a strenuous hill or anything, which was nice. I was back to the chalet by 10pm to enjoy a warm cup of hot cocoa. Today is my day off and Elaine, Christina and I decided to travel to Lugano for the day. Lugano is located in the southeast part of Switzerland and is known to be Italian-Swiss country with lush Mediterranean vegetation and vineyards. Lugano resides in the canton of Ticino and is highly influenced by the Italian culture, Italian/Romansh is the language spoken in the region. Our day began at 8am when we took the bus down to Frutigen to catch the train that will eventually take us to Lugano. But, since the Tour de Suisse was going through Frutigen (unknown at the time), the normal route was blocked and thus we had to take a detour along a very scary footpath or wanderweg (german word pronounced vanderveg). We arrived to the station with only 2 minutes to spare and since we had to purchase our tickets we therefore missed the first train we wanted to board. The next train left 45 minutes later, bummer. But, that was okay, the time gave us a chance to go to Coop (local grocery store) and buy lunch to go and snacks for later in the day, this ended up saving us money on purchasing food. The lady at the train station gave us a timetable so we would arrive in Lugano around 2. Originally, we were supposed to arrive in Lugano around 1:30pm. We arrived in Brig on time, but little did we know the next train we were scheduled to take was actually the Glacier Express and since you must have a reservation we did not board the 10:40am train to Andermatt, bummer again. So, we sat in Brig for another 40 minutes to wait for the regular train to Andermatt, hurray it came! We boarded the train and we were off for a 2 hour scenic route through a part of Switzerland I probably would never see =). We switched at a station I cannot remember the name or know how to spell it and we were off to Bellinzona and then to Lugano. The train ride through Ticino was my favorite part: the Spanish tile roofs, the hillside and mountainous vineyards, the lush green mountains, the monster bridges and dangerously steep tunnels was absolutely unexplainable. We switched trains in Bellinzona and boarded an Italian train. Even the way people dress was entirely different than anything I have seen in Switzerland, and I really liked it. The Italians would stare at us from time to time then proceed to carry on with their personal matters. Hurray, we arrived to Lugano around 3pm after a very long semi-complicated day of travel. The weather was not sunny and perfect, but rather eerie and gray and somewhat calming. It was not raining, yet, but since we purchased a travel day pass we got to ride the trams and buses around Lugano. Our first train was to the piazza or main square part of town. We were literally dropped off in the middle of town and there were cute little shops all around. We followed the cobblestone road around Lugano. I took pictures of all the buildings and architecture and anything that I fancied. I really wanted to visit Parco Civico, the main park of Lugano. I took a picture in front of the fountain and we eventually made it to Lake Lugano. It was now raining a little bit but the mountains, lake and city buildings facing the lake were still beautiful. I even saw a man swimming laps in the lake. We walked along the lake and eventually reached the beachy part of Lake Lugano, although it was too wet to actually do any beach activities. We finally arrived to Parco Civico and it was situated facing the lake. The plants, flowers and trees were very different from the Bernese Oberland as the climate is much warmer in South Switzerland. I even saw some palm trees! There was a casino, library and museum throughout the park. I saw people studying through the very large windows in the library. We then stopped for a hot drink and I bought some post cards along the way. We wandered around the town for an hour or so and then walked into a local church. The inside of the church was absolutely beautiful; I was purely amazed as to how beautiful, intricate and delicate it was inside. There were orchids, roses and other flowers but the detail was breath-taking. Next, we continued wandering until we got to the main square, which reminded me of something that Italy would look like. After that we walked uphill on Villa Catedral to the Cathedral. It was remodeled during the 15^th century! We walked along a little red stone road up an alley with shops and boutiques all along the way. When we got to the top we could see the view of the city and lake and it was quite beautiful. The red Spanish tile roofs and lake were very tranquil in my opinion, I really enjoyed the view and took a minute to soak in its’ beauty. We walked into the cathedral and again the inside was gorgeous and anciently decorated. The wood-work, paints and stained glass windows were unique, I have never seen a cathedral or church of such beauty. I really enjoyed the inside. It allows peace of mind and peace for the soul. I enjoyed taking a minute to relax, reflect and enjoy life. After the cathedral, we sat at a bench to take pictures, relax and people watch. The break was quite pleasant. The three of us then went to a pizzeria to get pizza and drinks to take on the train to go back to Adelboden. It took 7.5 hours to get to Lugano and it only took 5 hours to get back due to the fact that we didn’t miss any of our trains. We had pizza and wine on the train ride back, and the pizza was only 5 CHF! It was a nice train ride and I got to see the vineyards and the beautiful mountainous countryside. We saw a total of 5 lakes in one day, which is quite impressive. We basically had a train tour around Switzerland. Although we were on a train for most of the day, I still enjoyed the scenario and walking around Lugano. We arrived back around midnight, so it was a very long day. Goodnight!

15/6/10

My morning began by making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for my packed lunch. I then ate a pear for breakfast because on Thun town days we eat lunch quite early so I would rather be hungry for lunch. Today, I was on the Thun excursion. First, we boarded the coach bus at the bottom of the chalet driveway and we went to Frutigen to then start our departure to the Niesen Mountain. Niesen is known as the Swiss pyramid, as it is shaped mostly like a triangular pyramid. We took the funicular train up the mountain to the top of Niesen. The view from the top was drastically different from the previous time. We had managed to come above the cloud, since it was foggy at the base of the mountain, and we could only see some mountain peaks through the clouds. I thought it was beautiful and I posted a picture to share. I just wanted to fly off the mountain and lay and jump through the clouds. Although if I did, I would most likely plummet to my death so I made a smart decision and decided to stay on the mountain. =) haha. Our next stop was Spiez where we would catch a boat to ride across Lake Thun to the Oberhofen Castle. The last time I went to the castle I did not have time to explore the gardens and boy was I missing out! This was my favorite part of the whole day. The gardens were beautiful and they had many flowers and a view to the lake. I spent the entire time we had at the castle outside in the gardens. They were very beautiful and I have pictures to share as well. I bought postcards at the shop to add to my collection. About four o’clock the bus departed for the chalet and we were back around 5:30pm. I got back to Stockly (staff house) and I received a package from my mom, which I am very grateful, so thank you. Tonight’s evening program is a sunset hike, which begins at 8pm and could last from 1-3 hours depending on the group, and I may even have a chance to go to the cheesemakers hut, but I will tell you about the hike tomorrow on my DAY OFF! I am about to investigate to see if I want to travel tomorrow or hang around the Bernese Oberland (the canton I currently reside in). Bye for now.

14/6/10

Good morning Monday, as it does not feel like a Monday but rather just another day at the chalet. I was off to the Adventure Park and Climbing Wall. We had a very fun morning meeting, we seemed to be very awake as we could not stop laughing (it is funnier in person and more hard to explain in words). Kate and I hate a group from Kansas and a group from Ohio, it took us a little over an hour to get to the adventure park. As the guests called it long walk, we then harnessed up and got ready for the day. We started out at the practice set; this allows the girls to better understand how they can clip in the wire securely and safely. After all 13 people completed the task, we went to the low zip and the high zip course. We assisted the girls and once they completed the zips we had a go! I love letting go of my hands and spinning around before I get to the other side. Although, while I was braking, my arm did hit the wire so it got slightly burnt, but it did not hurt and I am okay so no worries. After zip line was the high-rope adventure, and I hung out on the middle platform to help the girls connect from the wooden blocks to the wire part of it. I did not bring my jacket to the top and I was freezing the entire time, since it was very windy at the top. After the high ropes course I got the chance to dive off the bridge again! It is my favorite part of the adventure park. Then we sat down and had a nice lunch by the river. Next stop we were off to the climbing wall. It is a real climbing wall and not the indoor one that many people are used too. It is actually the rock of the mountain. Many girls had a try, but some were more scared than others. I was at the bottom for most of the time as it is chalet policy that guests go first. I do enjoy climbing but I will be at the adventure park and climbing wall again this Saturday. It started to rain while we were at the climbing wall so many guests wanted to get ready to leave to go back to the Chalet. A plant today, a stinging nettle to be exact, stung me. It stung and itched quite bad and at first I thought a bee stung me. A leader then informed me that it was a plant. I did some research when I got back to the chalet and it is not a dangerous plant. After dinner, it was Swiss Night again and we had Fritz play his Alpenhorn and we had chocolate fondue as a surprise at the end!!

13/6/10

Today is Loise’s birthday, she is a spring/summer volunteer from Swaziland! On program we had an on-site activities day. Marel, Susan and I were in charge of Orienteering. We had three different groups throughout the day. We taught them various orienteering games, theories and quizzes. Then, they had 45 minutes to complete the our chalet orienteering game. There were 12 different markers to obtain. The last time I played the game, I was not able to find the 12^th marker. So, during the first orienteering session, Marel, Susan and I went to go look for it. We hiked through the meadow, which was wet from the rain (my pants were soaking), up through the forest and looked for about 30 minutes until we were finally able to find it. Thank goodness. Then we had a BBQ lunch, which consisted of Bratwrust sausages and Veggie Patties, so it was Switzerland style. After lunch we had 2 more orienteering groups, and it rained during the first one and it was sunny for the second. The weather in Adelboden changes hourly. After dinner, the evening program was International Night. The guests are all from the USA, we have 8 groups from Texas =), and other groups from California, Kansas and Ohio. They all brought various dances, skits and songs to the event. The staff event performed a partner English dance and it is very exhausting. After international night, we traded SWAPs, and now I have Texas things to hang in my room. Tomorrow I am going to the Adventure Park and Climbing Wall! Wahoo!

12/6/10

Today was my day off and I had already pre-planned a ‘lazy day.’ I slept in and ate lunch by myself in the staff house. I then did some dishes, as we do not have a dishwasher here and have to wash everything by hand. I really don’t mind doing the dishes. Some of the other vollies were watching Harry Potter and reading in the music room. After lunch, I walked to the bottom of the hill with Emma to get out of the chalet bubble and get a peach tea. After wondering about for an hour, we started walking back up the hill. We got a lift back to the chalet from Christoph, since he was picking up people from the bottom of the hill. After my outdoor walk, I started watching The Breakfast Club before dinner. I do not watch movies often, but I wanted to watch one today. We have 60 guests now and program officially starts tomorrow, I am very excited. My former girl scout leader is one of the guests, so it is nice to have people from Texas! After dinner I got to skype my mom and my sister and watched part of another movie and went off to bed. The picture I posted is a picture of the nighttime mountain! 

11/6/10

Today I got to sleep in until morning meeting. It was nice to sleep in until 9am. Tomorrow I have the day off, so I will post photos then. I was assigned vacuuming and mopping Main chalet! I even got a lesson on how to use the brand new advanced washer and dryer!! After lunch, I started preparing for dinner since I wanted a stress-free dinner preparation. I cooked rice and chicken enchiladas with peaches and cream for dessert! They were very yummy.  I had a long break before it was time to prepare dinner, and I cooked the meal all by myself! I got 4 staff challenge points, 2 for making dinner by myself and 2 for preparing a dish from my home country. And while I was waiting to prepare dinner I got 2 more points, I took a photo of myself in the dryer and I climbed through the OVEN** and wrote a poem! It was great fun. Anyways, I did have helpers after dinner during clean up. It was a very relaxing and somewhat boring day as there were no guests here, since all the high adventure people departed this morning. But, tomorrow is the arrival day for event 2 and I am on program this event!!! I have the day off tomorrow since it is arrival day, but after that it is on-site day and then the hikes and adventures begin! I get to go to the adventure park and climbing wall twice! I am very excited about that!! Bye for now. I am off to town with the vollies for the night =) Oh Adelboden, how it is such a peaceful town.

10/6/10

Today I continued my job as laundry queen, but since I did the bulk of the dirty laundry yesterday I only had to do it for half of the day. At morning meeting, we decided we were going to make a green chili stew instead of cottage pie that was planned by the catering coordinator. It was her day off and we opted not to eat the leftovers =) After morning duties and lunch, we were of to town with Karen during our break. We went to Coop, the local grocery store, and then had a break at the coffee shop next door. It was nice, I ordered a strong café crème! After we got back, I made pico de gallo, as I am making enchiladas for the staff tomorrow, it is apart of my staff challenge to cook dinner by myself and make a dish from our home country! I am excited for a slight Mexican food binge since for the rest of the summer we will be having the same 8 dishes in a rotation, oh joy. Dinner was very lovely, it was nice to have soup for a change! And we had homemade chocolate chip cookies for desert. Yum, yum! It was a good day and I even watched a movie before I fell asleep…Elizabethtown to be exact. Cody sent me a package and I got it today, it included a small movie selection as well. =)