New staff.

Our new head manager, Bristol, started work today. I took her to Engstligen yesterday, since we both had a free day and I felt she should get some skiing in before the season ends. She's lived in CH before, in a nearby valley, but she's unfamiliar with some of our pistes. She was telemarking and she said she was still learning, so I took Sydney's snowboard up. We got a late start on purpose, since it's cheaper later and we figured we might get tired early. We decided to start on an easy run, but they had closed it for grooming after the morning's snowfall. It was a perfect day: fresh snow right before we got there, then sunshine all afternoon. We had to start on an ungroomed red run, but at least it made for a lot of laughter. We practiced a bit in the late morning, then hit the harder runs after lunch. We stopped to talk a bit too much, but I think Bristol was tired from not having skied in a while. It was great to get to know her, too. She told me about the movie nights they hold up the valley, where you can cycle there in the afternoon, then flop down on the lakeside beach facing the screen & speakers floating in the water. I'll have to give that a shot at some point. I also need to remember to go to Dutch's concert--she just joined a music group in town, and I've been meaning to go to a yodeling night or concert in town for a while now. Oh, and don't worry, I did not attempt this jump.

We also got a new chef today. Pax is temporary as well, and will only stay for a few days. He's a professional and will help us get our act together until we get our real chef in June. It's amusing when we go to town, because "chef" means "boss" in Swiss-German, so we can't tell if the Adelbodners are asking about Bristol or Pax. We're a major source of gossip for the town lately, since we've been having so many staffing changes and what we do has an impact on their businesses.

I've just been doing spring cleaning all day, which isn't so bad. We put up the trampoline for summer, and we'll clean out the sheds, pitch the tents to check for missing pieces, and prepare for a lot of new staff in a couple of weeks. I cleaned the staff house top to bottom today, so we'll be all set as long as we don't eat, shower, or breathe for a fortnight.

In which I stuff and roast myself.

Finn, Canuk, and I hit the Engstligen pistes again yesterday. Finn went home early, but Canuk and I stayed through lunch. It was bright and sunny, and we did realize that we’d forgotten our sun screen, but we kept skiing. We had a great time flying down all the runs and slicing through old tracks. We took videos all day—I have discovered that I do not have a talent for filming and skiing simultaneously.

We went snowtubing before Canuk went back home to pack up. My first run down was extremely fast, and I spun in rapid circles.
I laughed till it hurt. My second run wasn’t as great, but Canuk’s was, and it was a fitting end to a wonderful ski season for her. I stayed on to get my money’s worth from my day pass, getting home after about six hours out there.


I could feel the burn developing on the bus ride home, but I didn’t get the chance to ice it till I got back to the Chalet. Finn and company had put up the trampoline in my absence, and everyone was so worn out from working and bouncing that they were laying about in the sunshine. I covered up and joined them, as I was tired from skiing all day and then carrying my gear up the hill. The Guild gave us a parting gift, and we spent it by going out to dinner together. Finn, SAussie, Canuk, Sloan, Bowie, Brazil, Dutch, and I headed into town and ordered Swiss food. I finally got my Rösti, complete with Alpkäse and Spiegelei, but no Speck (a cake of hashbrowns with melted local cheese and a fried egg on top, ordered without bacon). It was utterly delicious. I had a couple deciliters of Fendant with it, then ice cream for dessert. I tried the pear and the Ovomalt flavors, and they came in a huge sundae bowl with sliced strawberry, melon, a fig, and a cookie. We had money left over, so we went for coffees a few doors down. We capped the night off with a good bounce as soon as we got home.

I was all pink from the neck up by the time we got inside again, and Canuk had developed a blatant goggle and helmet burn. I’m hoping lotion will help keep it from hurting. It doesn’t hurt yet, though it’s blistering a tiny bit. Dutch got a similar burn when out walking on the Silleren Schneewanderweg last week, and she recovered well, so I have hope. I didn’t go out again today, though I really wanted to. Instead, I stayed in and tried to get some work done. Our internet’s out again, though, so I could only do so much. I had asked the new center manager if she’d go skiing with me this afternoon, but we lingered at lunch and missed our bus. Instead, I did a bit of the Staff Challenge and watched a video with the other junior staff members about this place in the early 1930s. Those women out hiking and skiing in their thick skirts impressed me with their hardiness.

I was sad to have missed out on my last chance on the pistes today, since I don’t have another day off until after Engstligen closes, but I ended up getting tomorrow off as well. I pointed out that I had one fewer day off in May than the other junior staff members, so Dutch said I might as well take one of the next few days. We don’t have guests for another few days anyway, and I was hoping to get one last day on the slopes. I’ll slather on loads of sun screen and hope for a more overcast day.

Chocolate + natural splendor = CH.

I’d been looking forward to today all week. It was Interlaken day, which meant natural splendor, friendships, and all the Handgemacht Schweizer Schokolade we could eat. We took the Guild to Schuh Chocolatier immediately. While the first half went in with Finn and Brazil, the other half treated SAussie, Canuk, and me to coffee & tea for being patient. We admired the fancy marble WC and drooled in the shop while we waited. They have truffles with cream, nougat, cherry, pistachio, vanilla, chocolate mousse, lime-orange, caramel, mocha, marzipan, almond, hazelnut, and pineapple crème, as well as whole almonds, hazelnuts, chocolate nibs, and walnuts, plus those with Baileys, vodka, kirsch liquor, grappa, champagne, Grand Marnier, Cointreau, and latte macchiato inside. These mostly came in Dunkel and Milch, but there were a few Weiss chocolates. My favorite through the glass was the Swiss Töpfli, which contained praline chocolate and waffle in traditional Swiss fashion, and had edelweiss and Swiss flags patterned on top. The official Schuh truffle was 70% Granadan cacao solids. They also had pavé, which were cubes covered in cacao powder and looked to be the melt-in-your-mouth sort. These truffles all looked extremely fancy, but they were priced beyond my range, even for chocolate. Besides, our chocolate show was coming right up....

We got a video narration by one of the chocolatiers, in addition to the explanation on the film itself. She went through the chocolate-making process and showed us the secret of how the Swiss get their chocolate so smooth. The chocolatier then made four truffles in front of us, as well as a bunch of pavé. She finished up by molding a tri-colored chocolate cow, showing us how to paint the mold and how to get the walls and base the proper thickness. Finally, she turned us loose to look at the giant chocolate sculptures in the showroom, ask questions, and eat all the chocolate discs we could from three-tiered displays. They had the truffles she made available for snacking, but I let the Guilders try those and filled up on dark, milk, and white discs, plus the trays of pavé and a few nibs. The milk chocolate was a bit sweet for me, so I mostly ate the dark bits. SAussie said Canuk and I were banned from the chocolate shop during the next trip for eating so much, but I think she’ll relent.

Our next stop was Lauterbrunnen Valley. Inside one of the cliff faces is Trümmelbach falls, the sole escape for the melting snow from the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. The twelve or so falls run through caves in the Cliffside outside Lauterbrunnen, which is a small town deep in a sheer valley. The ride through the valley let us see the layers of rock in the cliffs—they were shockingly straight lines, then suddenly pitched and whorled over themselves. Many smaller waterfalls came down the cliffs all along the valley, setting us up for Trümmelbachfalle. We got a lift up a steep funicular inside the cliff, then climbed up through a series of caves. There’s a bit of light coming through the top of the caves, but they’ve lit up some of the falls as well. I wish I could post a video of all of them, top to bottom, but the separate pieces will have to do. It was incredible. These falls drain about 20,000 liters per second through the cliff, and the falls are all thin and swift.

We spent the afternoon strolling through Interlaken. The town itself isn’t very exciting, apart from the chocolatier, but the walk along the Aare river was pleasant and we could watch the paragliders landing in Höhematte (the high meadow). This park used to be the monastery farmland, but now it’s a calm public space. They’re starting to set up for the Euro Cup soccer tournament that will consume Switzerland and Austria for May and June, but that won’t pick up for a while, apart from the fussball merchandise in all the shops. I wanted to swing through Unterseen, the old town, but the others wanted ice creams instead. I’ll be back in Interlaken in May, so I can explore more and go on a hike at that point. There are also a few castles on Lakes Thun and Brienz that I’d like to visit.

We just got back from a closing night campfire with all staff and all the Guilders. They sang while we sipped hot cider and whispered. Our cooks leave us the day after tomorrow, to be replaced by a temporary fellow from London, so we gave them their presents during the campfire. The Guilders handed us a little packet as a reward for taking such good care of them. Word is it’s quite a bit of money, enough for us all to go out together.

Finn, Dutch, Canuk, and I stayed on a bit, circling around the embers. Canuk and I sang each other’s national anthems for the curious Europeans, and they sang us theirs. The Dutch one’s hilarious. It was written as a joke by the Spanish, or something like that, and they just kept it as an anthem, all nineteen verses. We compared songs, but the only ones we really had in common were various versions of Frère Jacques and the Do Re Mi song from the Sound of Music. They’ve both been translated into all sorts of languages. We all knew a fair number of English songs, too, but we gave up after a bit and headed for the kitchen. Leftover fondue, you know.

Fondue, funding, and storytelling.

Work was easy today. I finished up an orienteering project I’d been working on for weeks, then did a bit of tidying. The Guild spent the day in Adelboden, on that sleigh ride I arranged, or wandering the hills around here. A few went on the hike out to Bonderfalle, but reported back that it was still snowy enough deep in the crevice of that valley that they couldn’t safely make it to the foot of the falls. Some Guilders pitched in on our work, and others told us stories about their adventures and marveled aloud that we should be able to travel on our own at such a tender age.

Brazil and I held a Swiss Night for evening program. We had a few volunteers act out the story of Wilhelm Tell. They did a splendid job, bringing the whole room to laughter. I missed half of it while melting up a batch of rich chocolate fondue, but I could still hear the goings-on through the hatch. We split them into nine teams for the quiz on Switzerland. Staff members had been slipping answers into their spiels on the bus all week, and the Guild did well. We awarded them fondue with cookies, apples, and bananas. I had planned for ten groups and Brazil had created nine, so we had our own plate of treats for dipping into the leftover sauce. At the end of the night, they presented Sydney with a check. The Guild raises money for one of the four centers each year, then visits it and donates the funds. We’re going to use ours as a scholarship to help pay for flights for staff members from developing countries, so that they, too, can work here.

Out & about.

I was on program today, and we headed off to Meringien, a town on the other side of the Thunnersee and Brienzersee from me, in the heart of Switzerland. As you might have guessed by the name, it’s the birthplace of the meringue. Canuk, Brazil, and I were on Meringien duty, with SAussie and Finn taking another group into Bern for the day. The three of us checked out every Bakerei in town before heading off to wander the town. We looked at a small church, notable for its impressive flower garden and religious woodcarvings, then walked by the Spital for me and the Schule for Brazil, who is a teacher back home. We found a locked gate in the face of the cliff that lines the back of the village, and we walked along a little trail until we could see one of the waterfalls. Next was a bigger church with a lovely graveyard. I had decided to sample the water in every Swiss public fountain I came to, and the one in the graveyard and the mossy one across the street were no exception. Canuk and Brazil are convinced I will die of this practice, no matter how safe the water is reputed to be. Since I was as good as dead already, Canuk dared me to slide down the banister in the biggest church in town, then filmed me to ensure everyone would know I’m destined for hell. (It was a good banister, sturdy, long, and smooth.)

In addition to the meringues, Meringien is supposed to be where Moriarty finally got Sherlock Holmes, at the Reichenbach falls. They had a Holmes museum, hotel, tour, and statue, but aside from a quick rest on the detective’s bronze knee, he couldn’t pull us away from the bakeries. (The rocking horse and giant chess set could for a few minutes, though.) We got back to the main street at just the wrong time, though: much of Switzerland closes down every day from noon to 1400, as well as Sundays and all afternoon on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We ate our sandwiches at the train station, but that didn’t kill enough time, so we walked by the stream coming off the waterfall and looked at the tower on the edge of town. We arrived back at our bakery of choice, only to notice that the sign said they were closed from 1200-1330, not 1200-1300, as we’d though on our last glance. Brazil went off to look at another school, and Canuk and I hiked to the foot of the waterfall, then back into town along the top of its old rampart. The wall looked like it was designed to keep people in rather than out, and the rocks were slippery.

We all made it back to the bakery at 1330 exactly, then bought a large box of meringues to bring back for the rest of the staff. The proper way to eat one is in double crème, and the proprietress of the meringue shops look awfully disappointed if you don’t want the crème with yours. I also bought what turned out to be a slightly soft chocolate biscotti sort of thing, with a thin raspberry filling.
We met back up with the tour bus at 1400 and were shuttled up into Grindelwald, a touristy village in the nearby Alps.

Canuk and I immediately set out for the gorge, as we’d missed a good one in Meringien, but we accidentally chose the long way and couldn’t go the last fifteen minutes if we wanted to make it back to the bus on time. We’d come down a long way into the valley as it was and hiked uphill very quickly to make it back. We did get to see some better scenery than in town: old churches and houses, Swiss villagers out for a stroll, a receding glacier, and the gorge from a lot closer than in town. We could not see the top of the Eiger, Monch, or Jungfrau, unfortunately, due to the clouds. We’ll be back in Interlaken (between the aforementioned lakes) in a couple of days, so perhaps we’ll see the famous peaks then. There’s a train right through the Eiger that takes you to a saddle high on Jungfrau, but it’s hardly worth the exorbitant fee even on a clear day.

The highlight of Grindelwald turned out to be its playground. (Sorry this is sideways.)


I enjoyed the views over the lakes as we rode home, and the tunnel between Frutigen and Adelboden was closed for repairs, so we got to go a different way than usual. I smiled at the sheep grazing slowly uphill, their fleece recently shorn so that they finally don’t look like their spindly legs shouldn’t be able to support them. It’s spring in the Alps, at long last, even if spring is schizophrenic and can’t choose between thick snow, bright sunshine, or misty rain.

Cheese, Grommit!

The group went to Ballenberg yesterday, which is an outdoor museum of Swiss history. They’ve got traditional chalets set up for touring, plus different types of farming, cheese-making, woodcarving, paper cutting, weaving, and all sorts of other crafts. The museum is laid out sort of like Switzerland itself, with Geneva and French CH info in the west, Lugano and Italian CH in the south, and Appenzell in the east, etc. I’m not sure I’ll make it there myself, but it sounded neat. I think I’m getting enough information about Swiss culture by living in a traditional mountain farming town and traveling all over the country.

I cleaned up the barbecue, stocked the T-Bar, and had a bit of time off. It was a fairly light day of work. When they all returned in the evening, I helped with dinner and hosted the evening program, which was a movie about Adelboden in Swiss-German. It’s tough enough to understand German, much less Swiss-German, much less Adelboden (or any little village) Swiss-German, but I learned quite a bit about the area. I’ll try to bring home a copy of the DVD. I liked the portions about soldiers hanging out in town during the war, all the skiing over time, and how the farmers supplement their incomes by working the ski lifts in the winter. It makes sense, but it’s got to be a tough life.

They went off on the usual hike to Engstligen today, so I heard all kinds of stories about snowstorms, slipping down the hills, and building snowmen this evening. One more guest came today, so I showed her around. I just got back from hosting a Swiss wine & cheese night. We had white, rosé, and red Swiss wines, of which the white was best, plus a whole room full of cheese platters:

• Frühstückskäse, from Adelboden [breakfast cheese]
  
• Raclette, from Adelboden; creamy and fruity [usually used to make the meal of the same name]
  
• Appenzeller, from Canton Appenzell [very pungent]
  
• Gruyère, from Gruyères; nutty and the main ingredient in fondue
  
• Emmentaler, from the Emme Valley in Canton Bern [This is what much of the world calls “Swiss cheese,” with the holes and all.]
  
• Alpkäse, from near Adelboden [Alp cheese tastes different depending on the time of year, which farmer made it, which flowers and herbs the cows ate, and any number of variables, but they’re all strong cheeses.]
  
• Rotschmierkäse, traditionally made in monasteries [red mold washed rind cheese]
  
• Mutschli, a softer and aromatic mountain cheese
  
• Hüttenkäse, made locally and with herbs [cottage cheese]
  
• Sbrinz, from the Berner Oberland; hard and grainy

Plus two foreign cheeses: (They were made in CH, though, so it was okay.)

• Brie, from France
  
• Gorgonzola, from northern Italy, near Milan

Luzern, day two. [unfinished]

[notes]

• Bus:(1hr: CHF 2.80) Lucerne (8:11- 8:25) --> (8:30ish) Kriens, Linde-Pilatus (25min)
• Gondola to Mt.Pilatus: CHF 64 (1/2: 32)
Aeriel panorama gondola:(8:30-16:45) Kriens --> Krienseregg --> Framkmuntegg (30min)
Aerial cablejavascript:void(0)
Publish Postway: (9:00- 17:15) Framkmuntegg --> Pilatus Klum (18min)
• Hike on Mt. Pilatus
• Gondola back down (bus or walk to Lucern)
• Town, Brewery, Picasso & Klee & impressionists
• Train home, arriving at midnight

Zug zug!

I have decided that the Germans call a train a Zug because it's onomatopoetic. Zug zug zug zug.

Sloan, Brazil, Bowie, and I all went to Luzern together for the past two days. We first took a train to Stansstad, home of the Fürigen Fortress. This barrack is built into the mountain, as are a good many of the 15,000 Swiss fortifications scattered throughout the Alps. They've got cannons and gus that can shoot six miles out over the surrounding countryside, should Switzerland ever be invaded. There's a place underground for every one of Switzerland's seven million residents, and they can hold out for over two weeks. They have a system in place to destroy the tunnels, bridges, and access roads into the country, then wait in the mountain strongholds till the conflict is over. The bread lasts two years, and the rooms are all sealable and thus gas-proof. Switzerland built a network of these fortersses during WWII, in case of Nazi invasion. They refit them during the Cold War, in case of nuclear war. The Fürigen Fortress is one of the bigger ones open to visitors: it could hold 100 people for three weeks. I'd like to see one of the airstrips or hospitals cut into the middle of a mountain, but I think they're closed.

I have yet to see some of the cannons hidden in barns, but most houses around have bomb shelters and the residents of those that don't have an agreement or rental contract with one nearby. Anyway. We shot photos at a tower, then boarded an SVG boat for a cruise across Vierwaldstättersee to Luzern (see above photos). Touring the city, we saw churches, cathedrals, the town hall and its tower, lots of cheery squares, the building Goethe stayed in during his visit, and a whole lot of shops in the pedestrian old town. One of my favorite buildings was this restaurant, which has a huge Mardi Gras mural all across the front. In Luzern, they go all out for Karneval. As in the mural, the rooster crows early on Karneval, and the townspeople leap up to frighten winter away. The masked high & mighties throw oranges down to the revelers, as the fruit is rare in winter and thus marks the beginning of spring.

Of course, we also walked across Luzern's famous bridges, starting with the Kapellbrücke. It was built in the 14th centuray at an angle across the river, both to serve as a lakeside defence and to directly connect St. Peter's Chapel with the town fortifications. At every reinforcement in the ceiling of the bridge, there's a painting commemorating Luzern or Swiss historical events. The squat little tower in the middle was built a century before the bridge, for use as a water tower. In later incarnations, it was used for imprisonment, torture, and archival storage. We walked along the Reuss (pronounced "royce") River on the other side, admiring the old houses and restaurants and the stylish castle on the hill.

Halfway between the Kapellbrücke and the other wooden bridge stands the city's water control system, the Nadelwehr, or water spike dam. The drainage from the lake eventually feeds into the Rhine, but the volume fluctuates quite a bit over the year. Luzern adds or removes "spikes" in the dam to control the level of the Vierwaldstättersee, just as they have since about 1850.

I prefered the next bridge to the famous tower bridge. It's the Spreuerbrücke, or Chaff Bridge, named for the water-powered mill that used to provide Luzern its grain. It's an older bridge, built in 1408, and the artwork is from the 17th century. The paintings along this bridge all feature a skeleton, and are called the "Dance of Death" series for the way they show death gleefully coming to everyone, regardless of station. The channels are all that remain of the mill, though they've got a turbine on display from the 1889 power station and they still generate hydroelectric power in a plant hidden under the water.

Our city tour continued with a stroll by the old apothecary in Weinmarkt square. Its medieval Latin inscription, Amor medicabilis nvllis herbis is still visible, and translates roughly to "medicine cannot cure love." You can still see a lot of old paintings on buildings all across town, including many religious ones and others telling stories about Luzern.

We'd had enough of wandering the streets after visiting Hirschenplatz ("Deer Square"), so we headed over to the Löwendenkmal, a giant (20 x 30 feet) sculpture carved into the sheer wall at the edge of town. The crying lion represents the brave Swiss Guards who died during the 1792 massacre at Tuileries Palace in Paris when the French revoluted. It's got another Latin inscription, Helvetiorum fidei ac virtuti, or "To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss." The surrounding garden was empty when we arrived, lending the area extra poignancy points, but swamped with Asian tourists a few minutes later. We circled up to the glacial rock display before heading off in search of an access point for the remains of the city fortifications.

After a good 45 minutes of walking, we still couldn't find a way up. All roads, it seems, lead around Luzern. We got about this close before my camera died, victim to my not charging it after the Lausanne trip. I've borrowed pictures from fthe others for the rest of Luzern. We share a lot of photos around. I really must snag more before I leave. At any rate, we did finally make it onto the wall. We climbed three towers, including the clock tower, before heading off along the lake to our hostel.

Work.

I’m in the office all day today, since they need to give senior staff a few days off. The other junior staff cooked up a great Schnitzel barbecue for the Guild, and we finished it off with a Toblerone each. Before that, I did a bunch of paperwork, made some spreadsheets for the summer events, and labeled the new guestbooks. I also had to call the Dänzer family to arrange for a sleigh ride for some of the guests. The Dänzers speak Swiss-German, but I could find out about times and prices and number of riders possible and available days. I think it will work out. The Guilders are fantastic, but they drink a great deal of tea. It’s a struggle to keep the tea bags, milk, cups, and spoons stocked in the T-Bar and conference room. It’s tea before breakfast, tea at breakfast, tea after they get home from program, tea before dinner, tea before bed. I’m impressed with their bladder capacities.

I worked all day yesterday, too, since I wasn’t on program. The Guild went off to Thun (this is them on the bus), so I stocked things and cleaned the Chalet. I spent much of the day organizing the recycling, which I don’t mind. I feel like I’m saving the planet. When the women returned, Brazil and I held a successful bingo night in the dining hall. Eleven of them won prizes, and I learned all about bingo culture.

I’ll be on house again for the next two days, while the group goes out, but then I’ll get to go on some great programs. (This is Canuk and me actually on a program.) I really like the Guilders, and I’m looking forward to hearing more of their stories. A couple of them told me about their world travels while we hiked to the woodcarvers’ the other day, and a bunch have already offered their homes if we ever stop by England, Scotland, or Wales. They live all over the place, so we’re set if we do a UK tour. Sadly, I’m not likely to make it over there for a few years, at minimum.

Guilders and languages.

Trefoil week started this morning. The seventy women arrived last night, but we did our opening ceremony at eight, right before breakfast. The staff wear their national uniforms (I don’t have one) and we present the flags of all the countries the staff come from, plus the flag for our guests. I was Switzerland.

After breakfast, we split everyone into two groups. Canuk, Brazil, and I took half of them to the woodcarvers’, while Finn and SAussie took the rest into town. I bought a few things for my family and for my own amusement, but mostly I chatted with Karl, the woodcarver’s son. He taught me the Swiss-German for cow and rabbit, but I’ve forgotten them already. I will try to practice my Schweizer-Deutsch before I go there next, in a couple of weeks. I also intend to try my hand at Holzschnitzen (woodcarving) at some point. They use linden (chestnut?) for most things, but cherry for the simpler ones, since it’s harder to carve. Cholerenschlucht (Cholera Canyon) still isn’t open. I’m looking forward to the last bit of snow melting down there. I’d really like to check it out, and it would make for a better walk home.

This is what it looks like down in the Adelboden valley.

This is really how the locals live. They've got their axe and skis at the ready, just outside their little chalet. Panning left, you can see the fruits of their labor, lots of chopped wood, and the bells the cows will be wearing in short order.
            

We got a pair of Finnish chefs in for the week, thank goodness, so we don’t have to swap off cooking for eighty. They’re about sixty, but they’re lighthearted. Marjatta speaks no English, and Emma speaks a bit, enough that we usually don’t have to ask Finn to translate. They helped me learn to count to ten in Finnish last night, and we tried to teach Marjatta the same in English, but she just laughed. Finn says the “th” in three is far too difficult for Finns, and Dutch says it’s difficult for everyone. She taught us how to tell her we loved her. I’m going to be in trouble in Amsterdam, if I make it that far, when all I can say is “I love you.” SAussie is learning Dutch, since she’s dating a Netherlander, but I’ve my hands full with German. Luckily, if they speak extremely slowly, I can sort of get the gist of Dutch. Finnish is impossible.

Imbisse!

I will now interrupt my lack of posting to bring you a short guide to Schwizer Imbisse, or Swiss snacks.

First, of course, Toblerone. We can get this one at home. It's milk chocolate with honey, plus almond and nougat bits. It also comes in white and dark chocolate. It's shaped like a pyramidal tube. This shape is so strongly associated with Toblerone chocolate here that they have nicknamed the similarly-shaped tank barriers "Toblerones."

Another common chocolate bar is Cailler Branche. This brand was the first to build a chocolate factory in Switzerland. Mr. Cailler figured out how to make chocolate bars, and I'm pretty sure that's when Switzerland became an independent country. As Wikipedia says, Mr. Cailler's son-in-law "had the idea of combining the chocolate with his neighbor Henri Nestlé's condensed milk to make milk chocolate. The Caillers eventually merged with the operation of Charles-Amédée Kohler (the inventor of hazelnut chocolate) to form the firm of Peter, Cailler, Kohler. They were acquired by Nestlé, which had become a manufacturing giant, in 1929." The traditional Cailler bar is about the size of one Twix stick. It's hazelnut milk chocolate with tiny hazelnut bits on the outside. A bit sweet for me, but not bad.

I've actually not had any Nestlé here yet, but I couldn't resist the Lindt & Sprüngli, which we just call Lindt back home. I've received two milk chocolate bars as presents. Wonderous.

Of course, these larger companies make all kinds of chocolate. You can get it with extra milk, chunks of raspberries, super dark, almonds, hazelnuts, nougat, milk or darke chocolate mousse, marzipan, peppermint, cookies, yogurt, cornflakes, rum raisins, you name it. The chocolate aisles are small miracles of opportunity.

I also tried a Lindt & Sprüngli with orange chunks in it. It was good, but it made me wish they'd done it with bits of ginger or something. Mmm. Once you've got chewy bits in the chocolate, you might as well get crazy with it.

I know Ritter Sport is actually German chocolate, but I also tried their coconut one. These bars are square and the filled ones have a layer in the middle, like an Andes mint. Coconut and chocolate went well with skiing, as did dark chocolate and Haselnuss, as did Dunkle Vollmilch, which is some kind of half milk-, half dark-chocolate hybrid (medium chocolate?), as did one with bananas in.

I received a small truffle as a gift as well. Its origins are unknown, but it does have chocolatier Philippe Suchard's surname on its wrapping. It looked like one of those chocolates with a cherry and liquor inside, but it turned out to be the same idea with a prune. Suchard is with Milka, another Swiss chocolate company. The Milka bars are very popular around here. They just tasted like ordinary milk chocolate to me, but the milk chcolate fans swear they're special.

Minor bars are common as well, although slightly more expensive. I got a mini one when I checked out of my last hostel, in Luzern. The regular bar is also about Twix-sized, but it forms a square cylinder instead of a round one. It's one of my current favorites, despite its milk chocolate base, because it has bigger chunks of hazelnut inside.

Kägi-Fret is basically the original Kit-Kat. It's another square-Twix shape, though a bit bigger, and you get two in a pack. They're crispier than Kit-Kat, and I like them better.

Appenzeller Bärli-Biber are sort of... hmm. They're like cinnamon-apple cookies with a thin marzipan filling, only not at all. They're a traditional Swiss hiking snack, and they're quite adequate for this purpose. They are slightly sweet and squishy for my taste, though, and sort of odd.

Balisto bars are kind of like granola bars, except they aren't as sweet and they come in more flavors. They're made of muesli, which is what I have for breakfast most days, and sometimes also as a snack. These things are great for hiking. You can get plain muesli, yogurt, berry, almond honey, coconut, and a few others. We have chocolate peanut here, so that's what I eat.

There are also Choc-Ovo bars, which I think I already described (compressed and vitaminy malt powder with a milk chocolate coating), and these cute little cookies that have shortbread on top and bottom with a thin jam filling. They look like flat Dairy Queen ice-cream sandwiches, only shortbread-colored, and one cookie has two eyes and a grin cut out of it. I think I heard someone refer to them as Naughty Boys, though I'll have to check on that. [Update: they're called Spitzbüb Coquin, and we also have mini Panettone now as well.]

I've made myself hungry, so I'll head off for a mini berry tart now. I intend to catch up in here soon, though we have a full house once again and I've got lots of hikes to go on.

Business as usual.

We took the group on a hike to Engstligenalp two days ago. It was as usual. We all have three days off now, while there are no guests, and then we have a full house for ten days. A group of Trefoil Guilders, all British women of about 65-85 years old, will be staying with us and going on a full program of activities. We’ll have ten days without a break, but at least we’ll get to go out traveling.

Canuk and I went snowboarding and skiing again today, of course, this time with Dutch. All the areas are closed except for Engstligen, which has only eight runs. It’s in a bowl high up on the mountain, so it keeps its snow a lot longer. I’m going to have to decide when to ski/snowboard/sled/cross-country ski for the last time. Engstligen closes on 4 May. I had intended to spend this whole break up on the pistes, but Bowie, Sloan, and Brazil have planned a trip to Luzern, and it would be fun to go with them. I wish they’d planned it for May, though, so I could get more skiing in. Life’s all about choices. Still, the pistes were fun today. It snowed a lot, and we could only see one pole at a time. The poles mark the edge of the groomed pistes, so you don’t really want to lose them, especially in a place like Engstligen. We could hear each other shouting, laughing, and skiing, but we lost track of each other visually about five meters away. Dutch got vertigo and left, but Canuk and I stayed till it cleared a bit, then skied the powder all afternoon. The faster black run goes directly next to the t-bar, so you can see how steep it is while you’re getting pulled uphill. It’s a rush going down. I had a great time. I’m definitely getting better at skiing. I don’t have to think about it anymore, and I can zip around without worrying about falling. I still get tired after six hours in the powder, but I’ll have another break at the end of Trefoil week. Those will be my last two days to ski.

We keep having internet problems around here. I’m not getting much time online, so I’m getting behind in the work I’m doing for school and for scholarships. I’m also not able to post to the blog as much as I’d like. I hope I will find time to catch up before my next break.

Staff challenge.

All I’ve done for two days is work. We had no guests for a while, due to a black-out week, and we’re nearly done with the spring cleaning. We have forty-odd people coming in for just tomorrow night, so we’ll need to prepare for them and then clean up after them as well. On the plus side, with just staff here, we have gotten a LOT done. We also have tea every day, and we’ve been getting creative with pastry dough.

Here are some spare pictures instead of a description of my work activities.

This is our Chalet cat. She's usually sweet, but she yowls something awful around dinner time and is good at interrupting your work for a quick pet.

Here's yet another couple pictures of some great mountains.


This is the staff having a snow picnic.

Here's the cable car at Engstligen falls. It's a bit of a tight squeeze going up with a lift full of skiers and gear, but it's a fun ride nonetheless.

This is what the locals do for fun in the winter, besides skiing, of course. Official timed sled races! One person steers and the other controls the speed, as far as I can tell.

Here's another fun winter activity I didn't take part in. It looks like fun, but I'll wait till I make it to Alaska.

This is your typical Swiss mother. The kidlets get their own mini sleeping bags and everyone goes out into the snow. I've also seen tots in backpacks during crosscountry ski trips or snowshow hikes.

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I decided to work on my Staff Challenge after work, since I didn’t have time to do anything exciting with my nights. One of our challenges is to climb the fire escapes. We have to do it as though we were fleeing a fire, though: out the window and down.

Other challenge activities include (bold if I’ve done them already):

• hiking at least three mountains (6000 meters total) [waiting for the snow to melt on the trails]
  
• camping overnight somewhere [waiting for warmer weather]
  
• staying submerged in a glacial lake or stream for five seconds [ditto]
  
• hiking to Kandersteg [ideally over the mountain pass]
  
• hiking to Dorf [Adelboden village] and back on your own at midnight
  
• cycling to Frutigen [will do soon.]
  
• skiing a red, blue, and black run
  
• tobogganing Tschenten or Silleren [I tried, but night sledding was closed on that occasion.]
  
• cross-country skiing Boden or Engstligen track
  
• explaining four Swiss hiking signs
  
• snowshoeing for two hours
  
• checking out the Adelboden night life
  
• climbing the fountain in town
  
• climbing the main chalet and Spycher fire escapes (one normal, one a rope ladder)
          
  
• sledging down Hohliebeweg (our road) at night
  
• climbing around a table without touching the ground
  
• sleeping in the attic of the main chalet, built in 1932 and reputedly gently haunted
  
• sleeping in the bomb shelter
  
• climbing through the old Swiss oven and writing a poem about it while inside
  
  
• writing a new Chalet song [Brazil did it, actually, but I learned and performed her version and they counted it.]
  
• cooking a traditional Swiss dish
  
• cooking a dish from your own country for the staff
  
• cooking dinner for everyone by yourself
  
• learning some Swiss-German
  
• watching a sunrise or sunset from the peak of Bonderspitz [waiting for the snow to melt on the trail]
  
• climbing into our commercial clothes dryer
  
  
• doing an extreme sport (canyoning, bungee jumping, paragliding, etc.)
  
• organizing a staff evening program
  
• traveling to somewhere in Switzerland

These are all worth one to five points, and we have to get eighty points to meet the challenge. I think I have about thirty points so far. I need to get going on these, and I need to get the ones I’ve done signed off. There are another twenty or so items on the list, some more boring than others.