IrishOboe

One must always keep a sense of humor about when dealing with foreign languages.  Some offenses are more egregious than others, and this one was harmless, but I got a good chuckle out of it.  After submiting a question with an online form to my Swiss insurance company that specializes in health insurance for foreigners the next screen pleasantly informed me:

As proof that I'm busy doing all sorts of things and therefore cannot post, I'll take a moment to announce that today the fruit of some of my labor has been plucked.  I am now the proud owner of a Swiss driver's license!  It will be valid as soon as I pay the modest fee of 140 Francs . . .

As expected, my US license was returned to me undamanged but for the sticker "Not Valid in CH."  Basel, have great fear, Janet is now free on the roads.

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May 1^st is a holiday and it was also Ascension Day, which is a holiday, but since they fell on the same day, we only got one day.  It was a pleasant day, so I’m not complaining.  Stephan organized a hike to the castle Dorneck where we met up with a few more folks from church and enjoyed a barbeque before the rain hit.  It was lovely to go hiking again and we caught a glimpse of Swiss culture to boot.  Traditionally, the men of the town march around the local borders and fire guns to symbolize their readiness to defend their land.  Hopefully the video is small enough to upload so you can enjoy it.

2008-05-01_DorneckHike_firing.mpg

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Puzzle #1: What event does this picture reveal?

Puzzle #2: When did this happen?

[Stephan's pictures added later] 

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Obviously I haven’t had a class canceled in a while as it’s been super long since I’ve gotten a chance to write.  Life has been by no means any less exciting, despite a drop in frequency of performances.  Still, I’ll make you wait for it as I try to catch up chronologically.  [Haha, I didn't wait] The good or bad thing about writing about events much later is that I tend to write much less because all the details aren’t as fresh in my mind.  Here goes . . .

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I won't have time for an update for a while, but to keep yourself entertained you can check out the five star hotel I'll be staying in.  Don't ask me why there's never enough money for poor musicians and then they put us up in a five star hotel, but I bet you're not refusing your refund check either.  Interesting things of note lately have beeing watching elephans fight (or play?) at the zoo.  There's a place where you can peek in from the outside and the Stephetc. club and I caught the action on the way home from Bible study.  I also got to see a helecopter lift cargo to a nearby roof.  It was quite a shock to be sitting in class and then see a construction cone drop from the sky.  Hat's off to the teacher and the students: we all stopped to watch.

I had some classes canceled again today, so I figured I should continue the trend of catching up with updates since soon I’ll be having more adventures (likes a trip to Italy) that will prevent me from writing and provide lots of material for future posts.

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I woke up this morning to find that my morning classes had been canceled.  I decided to celebrate by writing an update before prepping piano lessons and getting some practice in – which otherwise wouldn’t have happened today!

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. . . the dog was oddly suspended in the air, in the arms of Sarah S.  In fact, the room was full of people and I suddenly saw stars.  Okay, so it was just camera flashes, but I certainly was struck dumb.  This was to be no intimate dinner affair, but a surprised birthday party!  I was completely taken by surprise and I think was in shock for a good deal of the party.  I just sat on the couch while everyone scurried around making preparations.  The meal of grilled meat and salad was one of the best ones I’ve had in a while (church folks make some mean salads) and there was plenty of tasty dessert to go around.

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Yeeps.  It’s been a month since a real update.  And what a month it has been!  Full of concerts.  Full of fun.

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I'm behind with the blog and have lots of interesting adventures to write about, but I was encouraged not to let that get in the way of announcing that yesterday I ate at McDonald's for the first time in Switzerland.  2.50 for a cheeseburger with pickles and ketchup.  If I'd gotten a menu meal it would have been 11.30.  That with the falling dollar, and you have quite an expensive meal!

After months of scheduling problems, the moment for our double date with Valda and Richard to the Italian part of Switzerland finally arrived.  As an interesting side note, it happened to fall on a date exactly three months since Stephan and I started dating – but who’s counting?

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When it rains it pours.  There is much adventure to write about: performances, parties, activities, dates.  I've been kept so busy running from thing to thing I haven't had a moment to write about them.  Now my body is making take a moment by being sick and I've spend most of my Monday in bed.  I can tell it is doing me some good, and hopefully I can go to class tomorrow.  This is just an update to let you know that no news is good news and I cannot wait to tell about the lovely adventures I've been having.  You can read about some of them in Steph's blog (see link at right) but for now you'll have to be patient.  Thanks for your prayers.  Love, Janet

I’ve been too focused on my studies and my dwindling bank account to bother with much exploration, but I had two day passes for the public transportation systems in northwest Switzerland so Friday after a solid practice session I met with Stephanie and we hopped on the next train to somewhere.

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Let it be known that once again I called about Swiss taxes and once again I was told I do not need to do anything.  Last time that turned out to be false and I had to file though I didn’t have to pay.  Hopefully my German is better and I understood the lady correctly.  I do not have to pay and it doesn’t matter that I get a school stipend.  I don’t have to do anything.  If only I could rest easy and believe what she says.  I have her name just in case . . .