Officially Settling In

I would like to think that I am officially settling in to life in Switzerland. Everything is much more normal than it was before. Not many things shock me anymore, which on one hand means I am very accustomed to Swiss life, but is also sad because I have reached a different point in my exchange. I blend in easily with the Swiss culture now, because I have had over 3 months to observe it all. Hence, I would say the “observing” stage of my exchange has passed and I am now in the put-your-headphones-in-and-look-like-you-have-somewhere-important-to-be stage. Which is what everyone looks like in the train station. Stressed and serious, perfectly paired with fantastic outfit. Minimum walking speed is 10km/h in the train station. 

I have also gotten used to the routines in my family. Saturday’s are usually farm days (which is where I am currently headed from luzern, where I had breakfast with my Canadian friend Erin), Sundays are usually family breakfast, on Monday the cleaning lady comes, and on Tuesday and Friday are housekeeper Vreni comes to make us lunch and help around the house. It’s an easy routine that I have gotten used to. Mondays our rooms need to be spotless so the cleaning lady can properly clean them, and Tuesdays and Fridays we need to have our laundry ready for Vreni, and we need to tell her if we will not be home for lunch. Vreni is so kind. She asked if I wanted her to knit me leg warmers because she noticed most of my rise up when I am biking. We sometimes have a language barrier because she mostly only speaks Swiss German, but I have adapted to her mixed dialect. 

Sunsets from the farm

Personally not a pleasant sight for me, but these cows are usually free range.

Farm days are interesting! Last week we moved hundreds of chicks to the chicken huts outside by putting 70 in one cage at once in complete darkness. This is not an easy task... the hardest part is that you can’t scare them too much or else they pile into a corner and the chicks on the bottom unfortunately don’t make it. Luckily no chick was harmed last week. Today we are insulating the new warehouse that was built. **today we insulated the warehouse** I got up in the scaffolding, cut some insulation, shoved it in there (but not too hard of course, that ruins the purpose), and did it all without putting it in my mouth to see if it tastes just a BIT like cotton candy. Can’t say I didn’t think about it, but the fact that I was told it was made of shredded glass was a major turn off. 

Finished product of a day's work.

The chicks are kept in a warm environment and slowly adapted to cooler weather over 3 weeks, so that they can safely be transported to the huts.

Seriously though, the  things I do here are very unlike my life in Canada, for many reasons. For example, picture the Kaylee you all know and love (hopefully), walking through trails in the Swiss alps, intricately cleaning a mushroom with a Swiss Army knife. While walking (and somehow not dying). My mom and Marc can’t even watch me cut vegetables without having a heart attack (my way makes more sense and is more efficient). I also drove a HUGE tractor today! What a thrill driving 20km/h. Natalie McDougall cover your ears. 

Nails could use some work, but ideally my readers will look past that.

There are some things I haven't gotten used to, however. Like the extremely dangerous "drive at your own risk" type roads. Not the mention, my 18 year old brother who just got his learner's permit drives us through these roads. The other day I came across the straightest road I have ever seen in Switzerland, so of course I took a picture. I also am not quite used to biking to school rain or shine. It has caused me many issues clothing wise in the past. Sometimes not even a rain coat and rain pants is enough to keep me dry on my way to school but I am no quitter. I am getting much more used to the language, but it can be exhausting to have to translate everything I hear and say.

Me, biking and not quitting.

I finally felt safe while my brother drove down this road.

On the subject of German, I passed my mandatory A2 exam with a 98%, which I am very happy about. The language is still going very well. I can interact with almost anyone and talk about most things. Of course, sometimes there are words I don’t know in a sentence that someone says to me, but I usually ask, or I can still get the idea without asking. I can also understand Swiss German most times if I know the context. Otherwise, I have no clue what’s going on. My friends only speak Swiss German among each other, which is fine by me, because the more I hear it, the more I learn. One problem with that, however, is that I sometimes mix up the two dialects when I speak myself. My brain is having a hard time sorting it all out I suppose. Understandably.

I also recently attended country fair, where I presented Canada to future exchange students from Switzerland, and try to convince them that Canada is wayyyyy better than America. The big decision is always America or Canada. “In America they have school sports, do you have that in canada too??” “I know it’s cold in Canada but... HOW cold” “how do the gun laws compare?” ... you know the typical questions. Luckily there were three of us there, one from Alberta, one from the east coast, and... me (from Ontario 3 hours north of Toronto, as I explain to everyone). It was very interesting to see all the exchange students represent their countries. The Mexicans brought fantastic guacamole, the Argentinians brought traditional crushed tea, the Japanese brought a table full of traditional games and foods, and truthfully I would not go to Norway based off the food they were serving, I hope they had some better selling points. The Canadian table had maple cookies (you know the ones) and I brought maple candies, which were a hit. I had to  cut some people off and close their tab.

Earlier this month I had a visit with my uncle Bob and his girlfriend Heidi at her home! (Quick 3 hour train ride) I will be back on the 30th of November to return his suitcase, which I had borrowed to transport the care package I received from my loving Mom and Grandma! It was so nice to receive clothes that smelled like home, but made them hard to wear. 

All in all things have been very good. I’ve made a lot of progress in more ways than just the language! 

Funny moment: I got stuck in an elevator with 30 people!! We had to call the police to help us!! Bad idea in retrospect, but a great story to tell.