Walk with the family.
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| Tamara, Peter/Svenja, Quentin, Finn |
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| Bernina Factory |
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| I LIVE HERE! :D |
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| Me, Peter/Svenja, Finn, Quentin |
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| Quentin trying to feed the cows |
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| The boys walking home (the rest of us took a longer way) |
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| Staying hydrated! :) |
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| Svenja and Leon, one of the neighbor boys. I'm pretty sure he has a crush on me... haha |
Friday (10/10/14)
Well guys, I've reached an important European milestone: I've been on the German autobahn! Gotta tell you... doesn't live up to the hype. For some reason I've always imagined the autobahn as this huge six or more lane freeway with tons of wide curves/turns and people driving like they're pro race-car drivers. My imagination was WAY off. Most of it is just a two-lane freeway (two lanes one way, two lanes the other way). One lane goes fast, the other lane goes faster. I think the fastest we ever went was 160 KPH (just under 100 MPH). I could do that at home! I HAVE done that at home...
*Side Note (mostly for my parents benefit): Don't freak out. I think I've actually hit 100 MPH like twice... sometimes I don't notice how heavy my foot has gotten on the pedal.
Anyhow... yep, took the autobahn to get to THE BALL! I met Corinne at the train station in Weinfelden at 10:00am and then we walked to Dustin and Larissa's apartment (we took their car). These people know how to road trip! It was such a blast! They had all kinds of yummy snacks and the best music assortment - mostly oldies, Disney, and musicals - for such a long drive (5 hours). Once we got to Irrsdorf we went to our hotels to check in (Larissa and Dustin stayed in one, Corinne and I stayed in another one because there were no more rooms available in the same place when Corinne was making reservations) and then we all went to Larissa and Dustin's hotel to change and get ready for the ball! It wasn't what I was expecting. When you hear the words "ball" and "Austria" combined into a sentence describing an event, there's a certain image that enters your mind. At least in my mind. I'm thinking a grand old ballroom and people dressed like they just popped out of the 1800's. Or at the very least, something like the ball scene from The Sound of Music. Fancy dresses, fancy suits (tuxedos)... This "ball" was held at a school. When Corinne said it was free if you registered beforehand, that should have been my first tip-off. It turned out to be a church event. Hahaha! *facepalm* It was still REALLY beautiful. The decorations were lovely and it was pretty fancy for a church event. It was catered (the only thing you had to pay for was the food/drinks - which was delicious), there was a live band for dancing, and there were even some performances. It was really well done. And I got to dance a couple of times towards the end of the night. Sandra's husband Oliver kindly danced a "Viennese" waltz with me, and later on another dude that the group knew asked me, after being bribed. (After one dance he said I looked "destroyed." Well aren't YOU the charmer.) I must admit throughout the night I got more and more agitated. Probably a combination of being in the car all day and the frustration of not understanding most of the conversation that was going on around me (AND this thing went until like 2am... OHMAHGOSH BE OVER! haha). I was definitely feeling like I didn't belong. It's an emotional tug-of-war. You can't expect everyone to always accommodate you and/or your language needs, but it's difficult at times to keep that frame of mind and not think people are being rude. I'm trying though! It's all a learning experience.
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| Rolling hills of Austria |
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| Larissa, Dustin, Corinne |
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| The ladies! |
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| The "Ballroom" |
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| Our table |
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| Dinner: Wiener Schnitzerl (Pute) mit Kartoffeln und Salat |
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| EFY group? Kids doing a line dance haha. |
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| Ballroom couple; danced the 5 standard dances. |
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| Candy Bar EVERYONE freaked out about. It's not a typical thing like the States, where everyone has one at their wedding reception; most of the candy wasn't even that good. |
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| Violinist |
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| Dancing (photo by Sandra) |
I had showered last night so when I woke up around 9:30am I simply threw some clothes on, cleaned up, and went downstairs for breakfast. Corinne was already there. I just had some awesome bread and jams and an egg (sunny-side up) after the owner offered it. Yum! After paying - for both of us, it was only €80 so we each paid €40, which is €16 cheaper than the first hotel she had tried to book us at; not bad! - we went outside and Larissa and Dustin came and picked us up around 10:00am and we headed back to Switzerland! I slept for most of this car ride; I was legitimately tired, but also most of the time I didn't feel included in the (German) conversation anyway and I was tired of trying. I'm sorry. Real life, real talk. It happens. I'm not perfect and it's not all rainbows and sunshine all the time.
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| The "hotel" where Corinne and I stayed: Kirchenwirt Irrsdorf, Familie Schinwald |
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| Cool looking church |
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| These mountains were way more majestic and grand than the pictures are showing.... |
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| Pretty sure that's a tunnel either for a train or cars... |
Sunday (10/12/14)
We had some American visitors in church today! From... UTAH! haha. They were businessmen who work at dōTERRA. It was a lot of fun chatting with them - everyone (not just me) really likes when people visit. One even bore his testimony during Sacrament meeting (fast Sunday) and Sandra ran up to translate it to German for the congregation. It was great.
After church Daisy invited me over for dinner, but her and another lady, Patricia, decided to have it at Patricia's place instead. So I went with Patricia and her two daughters with another lady in the ward who dropped us off at their apartment. Daisy never showed up (there was an emergency with a friend she had to help with) which was a little awkward. I felt like I'd self-invited myself to have dinner with someone who hadn't asked for company. But it was fine. Patricia and I chatted (Spanish) and I helped her make dinner while the two teenagers acted like... typical teenagers haha. I believe Patricia is Peruvian, but she has the air of a beautiful Spaniard - very regal and proud. It's extremely intimidating. She made an AWESOME tuna fish soup, and rice with veggies. Dessert was this weird healthy jello/custard-y stuff with cloves... it was.. very strong. I didn't like it at all. And I accidentally swallowed a clove because I was trying to just swallow the stuff without tasting it too long. Oops. While we were cooking, she also had me try some vegetable juice she churned out; it could have been worse, but I could only get down about half the cup. Bleh. After lunch we watched Mormon Messages videos and then I politely excused myself to leave. Patricia walked me part of the way to the train and once I recognized where I was I went the rest of the way on my own (after thanking her for everything of course!)
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