9/6/10

Morning meeting was quite long today, as the program coordinator was in charge, Koka, and she is quite a hoot. We looked at the picture books from the 50^th anniversary of the chalet; it was a lot of fun to look at the guides singing, dancing, eating and having fun! And observing the fashion was also fun as well. Today I was entitled laundry queen. I was in charge of doing and keeping up with the laundry today. I enjoy doing the laundry as it gives one a sense of accomplishment and achievement. The Indian guides left today, and boy did they leave a mess behind as well. In between loads of laundry, I helped Kate sweep up the bedrooms and move beds out of the way so she could vacuum easier. I have never seen so many candy wrappers, Indian snacks, food, paper and hair in my life, it was quite a mess. After lunch I did manage to put towels and linen on all 50 beds in main chalet! I was excited about that bit. Then I was whirled into opening the shop for a few British ladies that came to the chalet. After the shop, it was time to say goodbye to Rosie, a spring volunteer. So a group of 8, including Rosie, went down to the bus stop to say goodbye. I was drug by Loise to come down to the bus stop, although I still had my cowboy boots on, oops. Then I had an afternoon break and afternoon tea! Marel made her famous gluten free chocolate cake; it was a good cake and very rich. After tea, I was doing laundry again, as I said I was laundry queen today. There were only 3 guests and staff for dinner so not much help was needed in the kitchen. We cleaned up for dinner and then myself and 3 other vollies performed the William Tell play for staff challenge. We dressed in costume and practiced after dinner. The play occurred during Swiss Night. And opening up during Swiss Night was Fritz on his Alpine horn, above is a picture! It was a good and relaxing evening. One picture is of us acting in the play and the other is a picture of the mountains taken at 9PM!!! Peace & Love.

8/6/10

Good-morning and welcome back to the work life. I was on the second half of breakfast duty. After morning meeting, myself, Susan and Loise were in charge of tours. We had a tour at 10am. It was my first tour and I was excited since the 40 people were from the USA. They were a nice group and they said that their girl scout troop has been saving money to come here for 9 years. They are traveling around Europe so they are not staying at the chalet. After the tour, we had a pinning ceremony where all the girls received the Chalet pin. It is a unique pin because you can only get it if you come here and you are only allowed to purchase one pin. After the ceremony, we opened the shop for the guests and they were able to purchase whatever they liked. I met a gentlemen and he said it was his first time to leave the USA and he has always wanted to come see the Swiss Alps, and he is 52. I am very lucky to have the opportunity to come here and live in the mountains for 3 months. I was very exhausted from my days off so after lunch I was able to take a 2 hour nap. It was lovely and I was out as quick as a light bulb. We had a very nice potato dish for dinner, and right now I can’t remember the name. We finished clean up by 8pm, which is a record! Normally, we never finish until after 8:30pm. Tonight’s evening programme was closing campfire for the Indian guides. They dressed up in their beautiful attire and we sang many songs, it was a great time.  The picture is my favorite flower here, the alpine buttercup.

7/6/10 - Lucerne

Lucerne day 2. I woke up in the morning and ate complimentary breakfast at the hotel =) Liz was busy in the morning so I decided to have a walk around the city. It was lightly sprinkling so I brought my rain jacket. I strolled through many watch shops, souvenir shops, chocolatiers and random shops. There was cobblestone roads and the architecture and atmosphere is just unexplainable. I took many pictures of the churches, paintings, statues, buildings, lights and bell towers. I even got a Swatch since Lucerne is the capital of watch making. I enjoyed being a tourist and sat at a bench for a while just people watching, this was of course after it stopped raining. Lucerne is a relatively small town inhabiting about 60,000 people but over one million tourists come each year. Many of the restaurants are along the river so I enjoyed some coffee as I sat next to the river. I caught an afternoon train back to Adelboden and safely made it back. I really enjoy train rides, I was reading in the Switzerland tour book that one of the best train rides across Switzerland is called Glacier Express, it takes about seven and a half hours to go from the Southwest to the East part of Switzerland. It is said that many of the views can only be seen by the train, but I will have to investigate more about the Glacier Express. Since the Indians are still here, one of the leaders offered to make an Indian dish for dinner. So tonight we had an Indian meal. It was an incredibly delicious meal, I am so full I want to go to sleep. 

6/6/10 - Lucerne & Mt. Pilatus

Today was such a lovely day in Lucerne. I woke up at the chalet, ate breakfast then caught the nine o’clock bus to Frutigen. Kate had the day off and was traveling to Zurich so we got to ride together until Bern, then we parted. I arrived in Lucerne around twelve o’clock and Liz was waiting at the train station. Lucerne is a very romantic town and one unique aspect is the Chapel Bridge built in 1333 primarily for defense mechanisms. It was a very pretty wooden bridge as Lucerne is situated on a Lake. Switzerland cities have a vast history and the buildings were built centuries ago. I have really learned to appreciate history while in Europe because everything is so ancient. We ate lunch at La Bonne Café, and I got a lovely pasta and salmon dish! Liz wanted to go on a mountain excursion, therefore we departed for Mount Pilatus. We rode the bus to Kriens. We accidentally got off at the wrong bus stop and had to ask where the cable car location was; we had not realized that it was a 5 minute walk up hill. But, none the less we found the cable cars and we were lifted up the mountain. It was very pretty on the way up and I love being surrounded by green. When we arrived at the top of Mt. Pilatus, we were in a cloud and it felt very eerie. We climbed to the top and took pictures as we heard rumbling thunder. Luckily it was not a thunderstorm and only light showers came with the thunder, and it stopped raining within 20 minutes. Oh how I miss the sound of thunder. We enjoyed some hot cocoa at the top and continued wandering. It was very lovely. Then, our journey down hill was on the world’s steepest cogwheel railway. It took 45 minutes to reach the bottom, but all the different sceneries and views were phenomenal, absolutely breathtaking. I really enjoy being in the mountains and absolutely love waking up everyday to see the beautiful Swiss Alps. After the railway brought us down, we road a train back to Lucerne. Mt. Pilatus is South of Lucerne. We then got back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. Liz and her roommate Courtney and I went to a lovely restaurant that was famous for its wine. It has over 650 styles of wine. After dinner, we met up with her study abroad friends to hang out at a pub. It was a good evening and after the pub it was time for bed.

5/6/10

The start to my day was quite pleasant. Now that we are in staff housing, we are able to eat breakfast over here versus in the dining hall with all the 70-100 guests. I, along with three others, was on early morning breakfast duty. And all three of us have not done the early morning shift, so the morning was quite hectic. First, we couldn’t figure out how to turn on the bread maker, and then we had a minor coffee crisis as I used a filter that was too small for Christoph (aka the coffee maker). But after that breakfast went fine, we were constantly filling up milk, juice, yogurt, jam, coffee and hot water. And again we finished washing up before morning meeting, success! After morning meeting, I vacuumed and mopped Spycher, again. Although, this time it only took an hour! I had an hour break until lunch! I watched one of my favorite seasons, Arrested Development, with Kate, it was her first time watching the show, so we watched the pilot! Since it was such a lovely day, we ate lunch outdoors. After lunch clean up, we had a 3 and half hour break until dinner preparation. During break, I read my book outdoors while I was sunbathing, and took a cat nap because the weather was great. I even finished my book! I was quite excited. For dinner we made potatoes, along with other items, and I was very happy, as potatoes are one of my favorite veggies. =) This evening we had international night for evening program. The guides from India prepared 3 dances from different regions of their country. They brought their attire as well, above is a picture from one of the dances! There were other skits, songs and dances as well. But I was most amazed by the Indian dancing. Today was a good day. Tomorrow I get to see Liz in Lucerne, which I am very excited to see a friend in Switzerland!!! I will write again once I return =)

4/6/10

My day began in the kitchen and ended in the kitchen. Breakfast was served to about 65 guests and clean up was done before morning meeting, success! Then, Megan and I prepared squirrel house (a building up the hill, where I stayed my first few nights) for 14 guests that were arriving in the afternoon, and that was great fun. We had to dodge the electric fence (the cows were inside) up and down the hill as we transported linen and towels for the guests. I also had to vacuumed and mopped Spycher (again) before lunch time. Surprisingly, I finished all my tasks before noon. Yesterday it took me the entire time to vacuum and mop Spycher. I am already getting better. After lunch and clean up, I had a break for about 2 hours. I watched the end of Moulin Rouge and relaxed and read until it was time for dinner. We prepared chicken and veggie cabarona, pasta, green beans and peaches and cream for dessert. Although, while draining the 2-foot tall pot of pasta with Lesley, I burned my forearm in the process, but no worries I am fine as accidents do happen in the kitchen. During preparation Lesley actually scalded her finger by accidentally sticking it into a pot of boiling water, therefore she was not there for dinner cleanup. With 70 guests to wash up for, the 3 guest services vollies were busy. I was in charge of the cleaning of all the dishes before they went through Windy (the dishwasher, and yes we have names for everything in the kitchen). I cleaned over 200 cutlery pieces, 75 plates, dishes bowls etc. It was quite fun and I did not get my t-shirt as wet as I had the previous day. We temporarily got paused during cleaning to have an opening ceremony for the guests that have arrived for high adventure week. We finished clean up around 9:30pm and then it was shower time and reading time. It was a lovely day, the sun was shining and it was warmer than yesterday!

3/6/10

Last evening, Kate and I were assigned the task to move everyone’s bag from Spycher to Stockly, the staff house! Moving to the staff house was exciting, but moving a total of 12 girls’ luggage between 7:45-9am was not as exciting. Because we had moved so many times throughout the chalet, our bags seem to not close anymore. Therefore, instead of just 12 suitcases, we carried bags, backpacks, extra bags, trash bags, toiletry bags and other miscellaneous bags. We had to move all the bags to the staff house before morning meeting at 9:30 since we had guests arriving to stay in our rooms in the afternoon. After morning meeting, it was off to doing the daily morning chores and such. My task was vacuuming and mopping Spycher. I don’t mind doing some cleaning, because I get to be by myself for the most part and since it is an every day task while on guest services it is somewhat relaxing. We had lunch and then learned how to use the cash register in the shop. Horray, I finally had the chance to get some pins at the shop to add to my necker (my uniform scarf I wear). I purchased a centenary pin and a Swiss Scout pin. Luckily, I am on guest services so I had a 2-hour break so that I was able to unpack my suitcase and put everything where it belongs! It is a nice feeling having a place to put your things and knowing where everything is.  We cooked, ate dinner and cleaned the kitchen, and that was the conclusion to my day. I enjoyed a relaxing evening, hung out with the volunteers and drank a hot cup of cocoa =) And above is a picture of my side of the room, as I share it with 2 others!