Flag Parade

Yesterday the exchange students met in Lausanne for another flag parade! Rotary had a conference and so during it all the exchange students in their blazer walked to the front of the big conference room behind their flag, wearing their Rotary blazer.

I have come to a point where I realize I officially am in love with this country. I love Switzerland!! I also love Canada! I see both these countries as my home..

Here are some photos!

January 20th, 2011

January 20th, 2011 is the date that I will always remember and know as one of the toughest days of my exchange.

On Thursday night I received the unfortunate Skype call from my sister announcing the passing of my nanny (grandma), Jeanne O'Hearn. My nanny was an absolutely incredible woman, that definitely left her legacy in this world and in my heart.

Firstly, I want to thank everyone for the e-mails and messages. I have received many supportive messages, and all of you have been a huge help, thank you.

A friend of mine that has helped me through so much here recently, reminded me to remember the good times. So, that's what I did and I had quite a few stories to tell! One of my most favorite memories of my nanny, is when we were walking together and she was holding my hand. She told me my hands were cold, and I told her they always were.. she looked at me and said "Cold hands, warm heart."

As hard as times are right now, I know to just remember the good memories that I had with my nanny and the million games of crib we played together and the million laughs and moments that we shared.

I will never forget the way she would sit in her wheel chair and just look at me while holding my hand, or when we would go to her house for Christmas and the whole family would open all our presents in the basement, or sitting out by the pool at her house in Toronto on those hot summer days. Another memory that I will always have was when I drove to Peterborough the day before I left to Switzerland. I went down there alone, to go see my nanny. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I took my nanny outside. I parked her wheel chair on the front lawn of Fairhaven Nursing home and I sat in front of her in the beautiful green grass. I picked some flowers and gave them to her, we sat there together on this beautiful afternoon in the sunshine, surrounded by gardens, enjoying every moment. I will really miss her. However, she is with my grandpa now and she is joining her family that she hasn't seen for a while. She is onto her new adventure. And one day, I will be reunited with my nanny again, and we will have a rematch of crib.

I will have my family in my prayers on Thursday, January 27th as they attend my nanny's funeral. I'm sorry that I can't be there.

I miss you nanny. I love you nanny. Rest in peace.

My nanny's obituary:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thestar/obituary.aspx?n=jeanne-theresa-ohearn&pid=147978221&fhid=10828

O'HEARN, Jeanne Theresa (nee Wakley), R.N. - At Fairhaven, Peterborough on Thursday, January 20, 2011 in her 81st year. Beloved wife of the late James Thomas O'Hearn. Loving mother and will be sadly missed by Ann and her husband George Gillespie of Peterborough, Tom O'Hearn of Newmarket, Jay and his wife Lita of Tillsonburg and Sean and his wife Wendy of Whitby. Grandmother of Laura (Phil) Kimball, Jamie, Brent and Scott Gillespie; Ryan, Megan and Katie O'Hearn; Amy, Alex and Sarah O'Hearn; Shannon and Erin O'Hearn. Great-grandmother of Elliot Kimball. Sister of the late Richard Wakley, Doug Wakley, Marie Boyle and Jack Wakley. Jeanne was employed for over 25 years at Scarborough General Hospital as a Registered Nurse. Friends will be received at the COMSTOCK FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION CENTRE, 356 Rubidge Street, Peterborough on Thursday, January 27, 2011 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Funeral Mass to follow at 1:30 p.m. at the CATHEDRAL OF ST. PETER-IN-CHAINS, 411 Reid Street, Peterborough. Interment Little Lake Cemetery. The family invites everyone to return to the Heritage Room at the Comstock Funeral Home for a reception in memory of Jeanne. If desired, donations may be made in Jeanne's memory to the Fairhaven Foundation or Alzheimer Society. The family would like to send a heartfelt thank you to all the staff on the West View 4 of Fairhaven for the wonderful care they provided. Online condolences may be made at www.comstockfuneralhome.com 

18??

"When you turn 18, you are considered an adult"

Well that's a scary line!! It's hard to imagine that I'm looked at as an adult now, it feels nice. I remember when I was little, 18-year-olds seemed like they were SO old.. Let me tell you, this is a birthday I'm always going to remember. Not because I turned 18, but because I turned 18 in Switzerland!!!

For my birthday, I did a few different things.. Most importantly, I celebrated it with people that mean a lot to me which made my birthday perfect.

My dad sent me Roses :)

My host family and Rotary Officer went out for dinner... I ate Ostrich meat! 

Went to Basel with a bunch of exchange students, aka my family in Switzerland. 

Also, on the same day as my birthday there is a big Basel tradition. In March, there is a very special celebration called Fasnacht.. which lasts about four days. The people dress up like Halloween in Canada, except to the extreme. The costumes are incredible, I have seen pictures. Then there are a bunch of marching bands that walk through the streets, in Basel. It doesn't stop for those entire four days! To give you an example of what it looks like, here is a video of the Fasnacht last year in Basel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S03z-1YzHdM

So it's a huge deal, I have heard about it many times throughout the last 5 months.. This event that took place on January 13th was the traditional Pre-Fasnacht called Vogel Gryff Festival. It got the people prepared for the upcoming celebration in March. It consists of 3 symbolic characters: the lion, bird and Tree man. They all dance from 8a.m until 11p.m with a marching band following them. They walked into different restaurants and danced in the streets. I went with my German Course, and prior to going we watched a documentary on it to understand it a bit more and realize how special it was. Sometimes when the kids would pick on the Tree man, he would hit them with the Christmas tree that he carries on his shoulder the entire day, and dances with it.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-3QwnqNNM0

That's a video of this special day a few years ago, if you speed to 1 and a half minutes into the video, you can see some of the dances.

So I was a little nervous of getting hit with the tree, and any person I shared this with just laughed at me and said that wasn't going to happen. So as I was busy taking pictures, I was looking around and taking a picture of the crowd. The Tree man was about to walk past me but I was a little distracted... I turned around and got hit in the face with the tree!! Here's a picture from my viewpoint as it happened. I got a pretty good laugh out of it.

Some other pictures of the day..

I am so excited for the actual Fasnacht! I love this city, I love the scenery, I love the traditions, I love the food and I love this country. And I am sad to announce that I'm already half way through my exchange, that's astonishing how fast time is going. Time needs to slow down, because I am having the time of my life!! 

I love Switzerland so much. 

New family !!!!!

Today, I changed families from the Leuenberger's to the Geiger's. 

I had an amazing 5 months in Buus, it was honestly an incredible time and I learned more than I thought I would this entire exchange. The people in Buus are magnificent and I had the time of my life. Every Wednesday I went to the Sport Hall which I have explained in previous posts, and it was hard to see it come to an end. However, I wasn't leaving Switzerland just changing families so I will continue to see everyone!

Last night, was the final night with my host family and we celebrated it by having a Swiss Evening "Schweizer Abend" I chose my favorite Swiss meal - ROCKLETTE!!, and my host grandparents came over and my host family was there. The table was decorated with Swiss napkins, cows, Swiss candles, etc. And to top it all off, we were listening to good ol' Swiss yodeling!! Great family, great times, great final night. 

This is what my host brother drew on the white board.. :) 

The final evening!

So I packed my life into 2 suitcases, again.. and went onto a new adventure!

I didn't know much about my family, so to be honest it was pretty nerve wracking as Gabi and I pulled into the drive way of my new house. However, I had no reason to be nervous.. they seem like an incredible family. My host parents names are Andre and Elke, and my host siblings are Simon (8), Tim (13) and Sarah (15). Sarah has Down Syndrome, and I was nervous since I haven't been around that too much throughout my life. I had no idea what to expect but once I arrived, I knew she was going to change my life forever. To be honest, one of my weak areas is patience. I have never been patient, which is strange because I grew up having a brother that's the most patient person I have ever met. I always idolized how calm and patient he is at any given circumstance, and I was never able to do it like him. It will take some time to get used to, but she truly is one of life's major joys. She's beautiful. Sarah helped me unpack my clothes and put them away, then she showed me everything around the house. These children are absolutely wonderful, and for the first time in my life: I'm the oldest sibling! This family is going to be amazing at teaching me the virtue of patience, and I just know I'm going to learn so much from here.

The tradition in Lupsingen after Christmas, is that everyone drags their Christmas tree through the village  and they all meet at one area beside the forest. They burn their trees together and drink wine.

Afterwards, my host father, his friend and I went for a walk through the forest. I was so pleased to find out they have so many running trails all around!! I love running and haven't done much of it so I'm very excited to start that again.

Here are some pictures of my new village, Lupsingen: 

I have an amazing feeling about this family, and I really look forward to all the new experiences, life lessons and adventures that it will bring.

Today is my official anniversary for .. FIVE MONTHS IN SWITZERLAND!!! Wow,  time is flying.. I am almost half way and it's scary to realize that. The change to this family seemed so far away, and I am already past it. It's crazy!!!!

The other day I was in Basel, and saw this sign in front of a juggler.. just wanted to share it with everyone.

Have a nice weekend!

Happy New Year!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
What an incredible previous week, I LOVE THIS LIFE.

For starters, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! It seems like the theme of my Christmas Presents was "Switzerland!"

Take a look :)

It was so nice of my family and Rotary to be so generous to me this Christmas, so thank you to everyone...

I have soooooo much Swiss stuff now, it's incredible! I love wearing it around, and I will proudly wear it in Canada, remembering this incredible year.

On the 23rd, I had one of the most memorable Christmas dinners in my life... A very special dinner that helped me get through the hard times of the holiday season. I admit, Christmas time is amazing but it's also tough, as I'm sure you can understand. On the 23rd, my closest exchange student friends got together and we had our Spaghetti Christmas dinner. I laughed so hard until I cried, many times. These people are amazing, I love being with them. It's such good energy, everyone is positive and simply wants to have fun. Laughter and smiles are constantly upon everyones faces when we're together, they are my family.

The 24th, 25th and 26th was filled with host-family moments and it was incredible. Sometimes it was difficult because people were involved in their own conversations which was in the dialect Swiss German, and since I only understand High German it was a little hard to be apart of the conversations. However, I realized something that was pretty special. For a few moments it was tough, then I took a deep breath and realized something: I may not understand what they're saying, I may not be involved in the great talks that happen during Christmas, but when I look around the room at the many people sitting together at the tables, I saw Christmas and that's what mattered. I could hear the laughter and see the smiles -- Thank you Christmas. 

On the 27th I went to the house in the Alps, unbelievably incredible. I've been there before but just for the weekend, this time it was for 4 days. 2 days of sledding in the Alps, 2 days of skiing.. I have officially been skiing in the Swiss Alps. WOO!! I loved it, it was very hard but I had an amazing time. Ana's host parents are amazing ski teachers, one day Ana's host mom Monika skied with us, and the next day Ana's host dad Martin skied with us. They were both a HUGE help and it was really nice of them to dedicate their time to instruct us, I had a LOT of fun. Every night we played board games, it was honestly a dream come true. First of all, I LOVE board games and my favorite landscapes are mountains, and I had both of those at the same time. It was the perfect 4 days, I wish the time didn't go by so fast. I love that place and it is my dream to own a place like that in the Alps one day, that would be unbelievable.

New Years was amazing, I met a lot of really cool people and I had a hilarious night. Ana's host brother had a little party at his house and everyone had to bring 3 gifts: something funny, something they don't want anymore and something nice. There was one of those gift games with a dice, it was so funny. Definitely a New Year's I'll always remember!! I had such a blast. 

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and made lots of long lasting memories!