Things we'll miss and others not so much

The Turkish burrito. One of the cheapest things we can find to eat here in Switzerland. We got some pictures of us having one of our last if not our last, kebap. We decided we are going to open a Turkish kebap shop in Arizona and a Mexican taco shop in Switzerland. We will be rich! Maybe not. But we will miss these little burritos wrap things and the mystery meat that goes in them. Even though they are cheap here, we do miss the wonderful prices of home cooked burritos... free. We are not going to miss the over priced food and everything for that matter.

One thing that I am going to miss dearly are the best ice cream bars I have ever experienced: Magnum! They have several flavors but we get the chocolate covered with almond pieces in it. Mmm! The ice cream is so creamy, the chocolate is so creamy, the almonds are so creamy.. wait not really. The almonds are the perfect crunch to it though. It's bigger and thicker than any other ice cream bar I have had on a stick. I will miss them dearly. If I ever find out they are in America, I will be in Magnum heaven! The wrappers they are in are lined with gold. I always sing, "I have a golden ticket!" when we eat them. Yummy! Brett's face describes all that needs to be said about them.

Something that will not be missed is something that I still find interesting every time I do the laundry. This is one of the wealthiest countries. It is full of millionaires, some of the top amounts of millionaires in the world even! The thing is though that they still do their laundry by hang drying! Yup, no dryers here. I must say it has been a lot better than Africa's hang drying though. There I would get my clothes back dirtier than before they were washed. Here, the problem is that it rains, a lot. So how do you dry clothes when it's raining all the time! I really don't understand why they don't have dryers, they just don't. It's been an interesting process. The first time we did laundry Ruth actually took it for us and did it while we were at work. It was garments. Somehow they came back that evening dried and folded. I was embarrassed and amazed at the same time. She had to be hiding a dryer somewhere or she just hung out our underwear outside for the day. Awesome! It's been fun though, but something that I won't miss very much.

We will miss the yummy cheese though. Yum! I do love the cheese here, specifically Gruyere cheese. Brett has had bread and cheese every day here for lunch. It's the fastest thing to grab on the way out the door. Brett is not going to miss having this every day though. Something else is that we won't miss the stinky cheese smell either. Brett had some nasty moldy old cheese in his back pack the other day and we just found it. He's been complaining for some time about how his back pack stank. Well we found it. Nastiest smell!! And every time we get a new piece of cheese out of the package to cut for lunch or something else, it puts meaning to the phrase "cutting the cheese". It doesn't smell too good when you literally cut cheese here. In a weird way I will miss that cheese smell though.
All together though, there will be many things missed and appreciated from this country when we return home.

Kühen = Cows

Oh the Swiss Cows! We have gotten our pictures with them, now we can return home fulfilled. We actually were both licked by them as well so even better. Actually it was pretty disgusting, their tongues are huge. The cows here are everywhere. You look at a beautiful hill, there will be cows on it. You look at a beautiful mountain, there will be cows on it. You look at a beautiful field, there will be cows on it. Not only can you see and smell them like at home, but you can hear them! They truly know the meaning of the "More Cowbell!" line. You can hear cowbells everywhere you go. Brett says there is a tradition here that each year, on the cows' birthdays they get a bigger cowbell to wear. They actually celebrate the cows' birthdays here! No wonder the milk chocolate is so delicious here. The cows are really happy here. I have been saying the whole time we've been here that we need a picture with cows, and we got it finally! Just happened to grab the camera to capture some of these beauties in action. We are just glad that we could be in the presence of such royalty here in Switzerland! A new meaning for HOLY COW!

La Pizzeria

We went to a pizza place this weekend! It was so fun! We had our first night at a restaurant! While we were waiting for the food to come out we researched about the tip that we needed to give. We found out that too much is an insult here as well. They already include your tip in the bill here and extra tips aren't really as common as America. Good thing we had my phone to check that out before we paid anyone a nice tip. Funny how things can have different meanings in different cultures. We had two pizzas, they were rather small. A Hawaiian pizza and a regular pepperoni. It was yummy. We had a great time eating outside enjoying our really fancy cups with water in them. It was fancy water too though came from a glass bottle. Tasted pretty good too! It was so fun having a date night alone with my love! As much as we loved this place, we miss Little Caesar's $5 pizza I think a little more.

It was great because we were able to walk to the pizzeria and back home. The weather was perfect, a little sunny with a perfect cool breeze. Not too hot not too cold... the perfect date. On the way home we caught some great pictures of the trains, the hills, and the city. We had a great time enjoying just being together, for once without others. As soon as we got home it started raining. Switzerland shone down on us this great day!

Friends

We are heading into our final full week here! I can't believe it! I started to bring my camera absolutely everywhere and I'm taking pictures of the little things that we have missed. Like the Kempas! The great couple that we are living with currently. They are so generous and tell us all the things that we need to see and do in this country. They go bike riding together and walk every day together at almost 60 years old. They have a love for life and make sure that we know it. Ruth always makes sure the kitchen is stocked. We have dessert almost every night here. We are spoiled. Heinz serenades us every day with his guitar. He has a lot of guitars and plays a different one, seems like every night. We have loved getting to know these kind people. Right before we came here Heinz lost his job. They have still managed to help us have somewhere to stay and to give us dinner each night. We'll always have these great people as friends on the other side of the world.

We also took some pictures of Brett's walk to work. Work is at the Gappmeir's home. the Gappmeir's are very kind people as well. Markus is an Austrian who is married to a Swiss, Caroline. They lived in Utah and raised their family there for 6 years and 7 years ago moved to Switzerland. Markus is trying to get more success for his business here in Switzerland and is having a hard time. He had success in Utah and is struggling to reach out to the Swiss businesses. The first month Brett helped him with manuals of Markus' theory. Markus is in process managing and helps businesses do this. This month Brett has been trying to do more marketing work with him. It has been interesting and a new experience for both of us.

Mosquitoes

Well, haven't written very much for a while. Unfortunately Brett has been working Monday - Saturday this month. It's rather horrible. The last week and a 1/2 has been raining and doesn't permit too much sight seeing for me in the day. Two weeks left and we still haven't been to the Matterhorn. Don't worry I will go there even if I have to go alone. We have to start collecting the things we need to bring home as well! Time is going pretty fast.

Last night was a horrible sleeping night. Mosquitoes have come out. They are so annoying. A few weeks ago I had 6 bites in one night. They are a little bigger than they are at home and really loud. They are so annoying because I can hear them at night and where they are flying. For some reason they always attack me and like to fly near my ears! I was going crazy last night. I tried to just lye still and see if it would go away and it would just land right on my face. I kept trying to catch it when it came near my ears but did not work. I woke up at 4:15 this morning and didn't go back to bed until 7 when Brett left for work. I hate mosquitoes. No matter how deep I sleep, I can always be woken up by the wings of a mosquito. I hope they leave me alone tonight. Brett doesn't ever get bitten by the way just me.

Tonight we would like to go have a fire in the woods together and try to make some S'mores. We'll see how the weather is. We would really like to go to Italy our last week here. We have seen everything we need to see here in Switzerland :)

Authentic Foods

We finally had fondue here! It was so fun! Ruth and Heinz made it for us. Because the weather has been so rainy and cold they said it was fondue time. They actually made it a little different and added tomato sauce to it. It was a good flavor. It felt authentic. The fondue pot she has had little adelvice flowers printed on it. It was all rainy outside and we were warm around the fondue pot dipping bread, tomatoes, and zucchini. I really want a fondue pot! If I find one here that I love I will bring it home with me so I can have authentic fondue whenever I want! Ruth said that they used to traditionally do fondue over a candle! All else fails with the pot idea I know what I can afford... a candle for fondue.

We also had raclette which is a Swiss dish as well. It is like a grill that you put on the table, get your cheese tray, load it, stick it under the grill, and wait for the cheese to melt. Meanwhile you take your potatoes, your vegetables, whatever else you want and get them ready on your plate. On the actual grill you cook some bacon. It is very interactive and a fun way to eat dinner. It was so good too! The cheese just slips out of the trays and you pour it over your potatoes, vegetables, and meat. Then you load it up again and start all over. It was really fun doing this and so scrumptious.

Murten

The other day Ruth and Heinz wanted to get Brett off of work a little early and go do something because it was a nice day. So we went and picked Brett up and headed to Murten. Murten is a little town in Switzerland, but probably the oldest town in Switzerland. It is on the French speaking part. It dates back to medieval times. There is still a wall around the town just like in the Book of Mormon, to help protect the city. We were able to walk around the wall and see where they would look out. It was a neat little town. The wall is so thick that now-a-days people live in apartments in the walls. The houses there are very close together and when you're on the wall you can see all the cute chim-chimneys. Ruth told us that this city is the grounds where Switzerland had their last battle at. I think it was in 1800's some time. But since then Switzerland has never had war or battles on their country grounds. It was a long drive but a nice town to visit. 

Caroline and Markus also invited us and the Kempas over for a barbecue the other night. It was very windy actually and not really bbq weather at all but we were somewhat obliged to the invite. Caroline and Markus by the way don't really eat meat. So first thing on the grill: a whole fish. Second was little pieces of chicken that were actually pretty good. Third were the bratwursts. I don't think I have seen bratwursts in the States like the ones over here, or I don't really want to look for them. They are white and really long and big. They have a weird flavor and texture of a cheap hot dog or something. But we ate them. When they are grilled they are so much better than when they are boiled that is for dang sure. It's funny when you bite into them you hear a click sound firs and that's when you know you broke through the outer skin. It's funny. But we ate some grilled chicken and brats. It was a nice evening, most of dinner was in German though. Markus and Caroline were very nice and I could tell it made them happy to have friends over for dinner. As fun as it was, I miss American grilling.