Speaking in Switzerland

The typical babble of a class with no teacher in the room was impossible to understand. I was partially thinking about what they might be saying in Swiss-German and partially about what was going to happen in the next few minutes. Rabbit and I were soon to stand up and talk about what life is like on a sailboat in front of the Swiss class. The twenty teenagers all spoke relatively fluent English and could certainly understand me. The English teacher came in and explained that all she knew about us was that we had lived on a sailboat for the past two and half years. Rabbit and I walked to the front of the class where there was a world map and a projection of this blog. We started out by explaining the start of our trip (selling our cars and a lot of other stuff and then flying to France), where we had gone, and what the boat looked like, showing pictures all along the way.  After that, we invited questions. The first was: Why did you come to Switzerland and why are you standing in front of this class talking about your trip around the world? You are probably wondering the same thing.

In January 2014, we were in the BVI when we met another family, the Bergers, who were sailing around the Caribbean for a year.

 This is the sailboat they were chartering.

 This is the youngest Berger, Florentin, and Jack riding in the back of  pick-up truck on the way to a beach in the BVI.

They then came and visited us in Norway a few months ago. On our way back from Rome, we wanted to stop and stay with them for a few days. While with them in Grabs, we enjoyed good food, fun activities, and great company. On two different nights, they shared Swiss raclette and cheese fondue–both of which were culinary highlights.

 Here you can see (from left to right) Julian, the oldest Berger sibling, Rolf, Janet, and Jack, all waiting impatiently for the picture to be over so they can get started.

We hiked, played ping pong, and made candles.

 Here we stopped for hot tea on one hike up to lunch at a hut.

 Another hike led to a tower hanging over the "Grand Canyon of Switzerland," a large valley with steep sides and a river at the bottom. The few hundred foot drop kept me away from the rail!

 Jack shows his candles to the camera. They were made using a bit of string dipped in hot wax, cooled, dipped again, cooled, dipped again, and so forth. We mixed colors, taking two hours to finish.

In addition to adding Switzerland to the list of countries we have visited, we went to Liechtenstein for ice-skating and to Austria for dinner one night. To top it off, we spent the entire time with our favorite Swiss family.

 Here Jack gets a ride on a little ice sled from Florentin. Although blurry, this is the best ice-skating picture we have.

Now, we are looking forward to the next time we see the Berger Family and fortunately, Florentin is already scheming to make it happen. On the second to last day, Florentin offered to take Rabbit and me to school with him, which was a great idea. We visited three different classes during the day.  After the first two, I got over my stage fright and mastered the art of speaking slowly and clearly. Afterwards, I realized that I had enjoyed speaking to a group of that size.-Porter