Week 3

Tuesday (8/26/14) - Back to School! 

Tonight was my first night of German language school!
At first, I was a little frustrated because the instructor was speaking to us only in Deutsch, but I remembered teachers using similar methods during my high school Spanish classes (although, with Spanish I already understood what they were saying, so it was easy for me). "So this is what that feels like" I thought. Regardless, I started to grab on to what was going on rather quickly. I'm no stranger to language learning. It got to a point where I was actually craving a bit more of a challenge, and then I'd hit a wall haha. Walk before running, Rebecca. Good grief :P 

On the walk home from the bus stop, I found myself gazing up at the sky in awe and these words and thoughts came to me:

Thursday (8/28/14)
Today I went with Tamara and Svenja to the house Tamara owns from before she and Peter got married. It's been vacant and needed some cleaning - It's also for sale if you're interested ;)

Back view

OBSESSED with these circle windows. 

me w/ Svenja. so perplexed haha

I don't think there's such a thing as a "bad view" here...

Tamara's mom ended up coming over and insisted on doing the cleaning - cause this lady is freaking Super Woman (seriously, I found her and her secret identity!) So Tamara, Svenja, and I wandered next door to where her friends/ex-business partner are building a house. No, wait, not house... it's a mansion. Literally the fanciest house I have EVER been in, and it's still under construction! It's 3 stories, NOT including the underground EIGHT CAR garage. There's a huge swimming pool, 2 nurseries/kids rooms, a cigar/smoking parlor, 2 garages (the underground one and the "outside" one - what?!), plans for a gym/spa, separate attached quarters for a nanny or guests (complete with bedroom and kitchen)  an insane master bedroom... and there's an elevator. In the house. I can't even imagine how many millions of dollars it's gotta be worth. Craaaazy!

Sunday (8/31/14)

Shoutout to my bestie Laura and my niece Josie who both have birthdays today! :D HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAUTIFULS! I love you!

I didn't go to church today. But have no fear! My host family invited me to go out with them and I thought it was a good idea to be able to bond with the whole family together. Their original plans fell through because of poor weather (going up a mountain in a cable-car), but Tamara came up with a new plan that ended up being great! All of us, plus their friends (a couple and their son) took the ferry from our village down to Stein am Rhein, then hiked up to a castle and had lunch, hiked back down in the rain, and then had dessert and drinks at a restaurant in town while we waited for our ferry to get back.

On the ferryboat

Seen in Stein am Rhein

Our destination: Hohenklingen Castle a.k.a. Burg Hohenklingen

On the way up...

View from the top of the castle; totally worth the trek up!

Lunch: spaetzle and veggies

wandering the castle...

...

...

On the way back down; so many vineyards.

view of the castle from the town and the cafe (Cafe Badstube) where we had dessert

Cherry strudel (owner's recommendation) and hot chocolate

xoxo,

     Rebecca

Week 2

Ok. Once again, apologies for the lengthy absence. Let me play catch-up today (my day off so you better freaking read this! lol) and I will put forth a greater effort to be more consistent with my updates.

Monday (8/18/14)
The most exciting thing about today was going on a walk with Tamara and Svenja to a real Swiss cheese shop right here in our village. 
*FYI American "Swiss Cheese" is NOT Swiss... it's probably not even real cheese either... bleh. 

Yum #stinkycheese

haha! Not a stereotype.

Pasta. Don't mess around.

And yes, I did try a taste of like 3 of the 5 cheeses Tamara bought. 

Thursday (8/21/14)
Today I walked down to the lake (the section we live by is called the "Untersee") and read for awhile and of course took some pictures.

Friday (8/22/14)

Finally got to meet the boys today! Quentin and Finn. They're adorable, super sweet, and typical boys haha. Aaaand they don't speak English. So that's fun. haha. 

Saturday (8/23/14)

Well I decided to crash a seminary devotional/dance today, and it totally did not go as planned... I thought that MAYBE there might be other single adults there to chaperone or something, or listen to the devotional... not so my friends, not so. So I helped prepare some of the food and left, feeling absolutely downtrodden at having wasted my day preparing for this. So I decided to brave the trains and see if I could figure out how to get to Konstanz instead, so I could say I did SOMETHING. It really wasn't as bad/hard as I thought. I hopped back on the train heading home, but got off in Kreuzlingen then followed the crowd, then the signs, right up to the border! Easy-peasy! I didn't go far, because I was afraid if I wandered, I wouldn't be able to find my way back, so I went over and sat and read for awhile and watched some locals play street soccer, then I left. It seems small, but it felt like a huge accomplishment! :) 

Crossing the border!

Hotel Constantia

View from where I was sitting to read

Back on the Swiss side... Not a stereotype.

Sunday (8/24/14)
This Sunday was harder than the first. I was really tired, and I didn't have anyone translating for me, until Larissa came and helped me toward the end of Sacrament meeting (her and her husband are so sweet). I was excited to get home though, because I'd met a friend who said they would show me around Konstanz if I wanted. So back to Konstanz we went! It was fun to wander around the old city and explore, without fear of getting lost... or at least if I did, it was with someone else around haha. 

The church building I go to

Konstanz, Germany

I assumed this was the layout of the old city in Konstanz

We found a Lebanese? food place to eat at here - you can't see it, it's directly to my left.
It was exactly like Greek food (sliced lamb meat w/ tzatziki sauce and salad)

 

Back in Switzerland, before dropping me off, we stopped at the lake and watched the sunset.

There is SO much beauty here. 

xoxo,

     Rebecca