Daniel and I just watched the movie “Fireproof”. It is really cool, awesome even. It is meant to strengthen marriages, relationships.  I think it does that! Ya’ll out there should watch it.  I reckon I would like a copy of the 40-day love dare book and try it out, except I have kinda ruined it by posting that I might try it out.

This song from the movie has inspired me:

While I’m Waiting by John Waller:
I’m waiting
I’m waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I’m waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Takeing every step in obedience
While I’m waiting
I will serve You
While I’m waiting
I will worship
While I’m waiting
I will not faint
I’ll be running the race
Even while I wait

I’m waiting
I’m waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I’m waiting on You, Lord
Though it’s not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
I will serve you while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting on You, Lord

Both Toby and Noah came along. Noah sat on Aunty Missie’s lap and loved singing and hearing himself talk into the headset.

I have to say that ‘driving’ a plane is a lot harder than I thought. Simon trusted me to steer for a bit and I kept climbing higher and higher. I guess that is better than going lower and lower! I am now in awe of all pilots. You are very clever, Simon.

I miss you.

Not long before I left my beautiful Switzerland behind to return to New Zealand, my ‘Mami Treff’ friends organised a weekend away at Zentrum Ländli on Aegerisee.  This is a wellness resort run by Protestant nuns (who knew Protestant nuns existed? not me!).  It was so cool with great service, a beautiful setting, rooms with cool loft bedrooms and freaky staircases, loads of fresh snow around - the last I will see for a long time

5 of us (we missed you Simone!) travelled by train, the long way! - can you believe that we were so busy talking that we hopped on the wrong train then missed our stop?  Ok, I know, that is very believable when there are five women involved.  We all left our children in the capable hands of our wonderful husbands and ran away for some much deserved self indulgence.  We didnt just indulge in beautiful meals and relaxing in the wellness centre, but we also spent lots of time talking, singing, playing games, praying and encouraging each other (and a crazy hike through deep snow!).  It was amazing. 

Thank you girls for a beautifully wonderful and refreshing weekend.  Love you all heaps and missing you.  You are always in my thoughts!

I’ve been frequenting Flumserberg; a resort about 2 hours from where I’m staying. It’s pretty accessible; just hop out of the train into the gondola and up the mountain. The end of the season draws near, but there is still plenty of snow due to the particularly cold and snowy winter we’ve had here in Switzerland.

Here are some photos I took today. I tried to write fairly interesting and descriptive descriptions, so don’t be scared to look a bit closer:

Also, I have to mention that my lovely wife sent me my favourite sweets from NZ: Pascall Eskimos. She is awesome and I miss her and she really needs to post on this blog!!

I know I still owe you some posts, too.

I’m sure Michelle will blog about her trip, and I’ve got a couple of posts lined up (Geneva Auto Salon, and more) so there will still be plenty more to read about here.

Meanwhile, I’m enjoying our sunny balcony - something we’ve not really been able to do until recently.

The plan is that I will return home end of March with the boys and Daniel will finish work and sort out the remaining paperwork(!) and head home a month later, just before our one-year return plane tickets expire.  I kind of wish we weren’t bound by these tickets, then we would stay for another summer.  Ah well.  This is life and I am getting very excited now to see all our friends and family again…  Even if it means sitting through another winter (a wet and windy one instead of a dry, snowy one).  There is nothing a mid-winter escape to Rarotonga or Fiji can’t cure though!

The past couple of weeks have been crazy, getting the house sorted, sending a number of registered mail letters informing Spielgruppe, health insurance, cablecom etc. of our leaving.  And then getting sick has made it the most stressful time.  I think Switzerland has been the most relaxing time of my life… until now.

Daniel and I have been doing a lot of reflecting and trying to decide what things we want to bring back, things we want to do differently in NZ, what is really important in life, other goals and dreams we want to fulfill.

Here are just a few things we have learnt - not all are life changing but are important to us nonetheless!:

• Our need for family, church, God is as great here as anywhere.  Without the wonderful Vineyard Aarau, making friends would have been tricky.  And spending time with the boys has been so good for me as a mother - not working or too busy for once!
• There is more to hot drinks than black tea or coffee.  There are a million herbal tea varieties (and it is ok for guys to drink them and not risk losing their manliness).  Gluhwein, Apfel punsch are easy to make at home and so tasty!
• If you eat less at dinner time, somehow you feel better and don’t put on weight - even if you do have to eat 12 kilos of chocolate to keep up with the rest of the Swiss.  And, it is ok to be vegetarian, even for guys!  (there seems to be a theme here…)  Eat out more at good restaurants (no, that does not include McDonalds, Wendy, Burger King, KFC…)
• Drive less, bike & walk more.  This will be tricky in the land of the sucky public transport and dangerous drivers though.  We do have our heart set on getting a 1950/1960 VW beetle though, so a little bit of driving is definitely on the cards.
• Speaking of cards - play more games, board games (have you heard of the game ‘DOG’ - it rocks!).  Is it just me or do the Swiss spend less time in front of TV’s and computer games?
• Plan better - the Swiss are great at being organised.  I haven’t met a Swiss without a weekly planner…
• Decorate our home more with candles and seasonal stuff - all the beautiful easter decorations out at the moment blow me away.  So pretty and tasteful.  I love how the Swiss are so house proud.

Things that we will really miss:

• Earning good money - yip that has to be top of the list.  Swiss employers really look after their guys, in every way (well, Daniel definitely has had a perfectly wonderful employer).  And income tax is low.
• Trains - I don’t know how to tell the boys that Auckland has one train line and no fast trains.
• The friends and relatives.  It has been so good to meet new and old friends and get to know the grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins.
• The weather - the hot dry summers and cold snowy winters.

No doubt we will be back - one day.

Fasnacht is a pre-lenten festival held in parts of southern Germany, Switzerland and Austria.  I can`t figure out much more than that about the history of it. I have to say that Fasnacht is one of the strangest carnivals ever. Does anyone actually know where it came from and why people wear crazy and quite frankly, scary costumes?! All the websites I check out don’t seem to really know. They do say you have to be a Basler to understand the humour of it.  And their dialect too.  I guess I didn`t really understand.  Like, what was with the Santa Clause look-a-like riding a giraffe with a bunch of aviator head, tropical musicians?

And why do they throw fruit? An elderly man standing next to me wasn’t so lucky, I guess his reflexes weren’t so quick and got and orange thrown at his nose. There were oranges and bananas being thrown in every direction. Along with garlic and leeks?! I know, random! Of course, HUGE amounts of confetti everywhere.

Noah wasn`t too excited about all the noise and fuss.  Well, he fell asleep, so I guess that kind of gave an impression of boredom even though there were always about 5 different bands and flute groups playing around him. The noise was defeaning!  Have to give the musicians credit for being able to wear the heavy costumes, maneuver around town and play instruments (trying concentrating on the song you are playing while 3 other groups are playing something else right next to you!)

It was one of the weirdest events I have even attended, but I am still very impressed. It was pretty cool to be part of this festival, even if  just for an afternoon, and even though I didn`t get it. The costumes were incredible and must have taken lots of work and imagination. And the music was cool. Loved all the piccolo playing gnomes and colourful drummers. I love that people get into character and have no shame in wearing any costume and acting the part. Lots of the crowd were dressed up too, even wee one year olds.   Would love to the see the New Zealand crowd actually get dressed up for real. I have been to heaps of ‘costume parties’ where no one has bothered to get dressed up. SAD! Us New Zealanders have a lot to learn when it comes to tradition, costumes and throwing party parades!

A bit of interesting trivia - Did you know Green Eggs & Ham was written using only 50 words? Here is what Wikipedia says:

Green Eggs and Ham is one of Seuss’s “Beginner Books”, written in a very simple vocabulary for beginning readers. The vocabulary of the text consists of just fifty different words, of which 49 are monosyllabic (the one exception being “anywhere”)…

Bennett Cerf, Dr. Seuss’s publisher, wagered $50 that Seuss could not write a book using only fifty different words. The bet came after Seuss completed The Cat in the Hat, which used 225 words. - Wikipedia Article.