Jerrie's Travels

January.

I KNOW.
i have not written.
i am sorry.

Well, lets start this off with a BANG.
To sum it up January went by way to fast. I cannot believe i am already in February.
As i look back at my Calender it was a very busy month. I switched host families, I said goodbye to Maryanne, As she finished up her year and headed back to australia, I bought a CUUUTE new pair of blue suede boots, I got sick, I went to Austria, I learned how to ski, I went EXTREME sledding, I fell down half a mountain, I went to Dachau, a famous concentrtaion Camp in Germany, I ate Poutine ... and much more.

so now lets jump right into a few of these events.
First lets start with my boots. They are pretty much the cutest boots of life. They go to my knees they are bluey grey and have the most comfortable heel in the world. While they are still quite high so that makes me very happy.
*note to self. Spray new boots.

Maryanne had her Going away party on January third. It was a casual night where there were quite a few swiss kids from school and some exchangees there, we had chili and REALLY good bread (bread is love) and had beer and we all just socialized, then the following weekend my host dad, his gf, Maryanne and I went out for the last dinner and that was pretty sad for me. Maryanne was the first person to welcome me to Switzerland, as far as helping me out and making sure everything was ok with me. There is a brand brand new Exchange girl here from Australia and i am hoping to kinda make her feel welcomed the same way Maryanne did for me.
From what i hear home has been pretty interesting for the exchange kids that just got there, saying to try and adapt back in is a bit more difficult then expected.

hmm what else did i do, Hung out with my Swiss friends, Its actually one of thems birthday party this weekend and we are going out to Celebrate so i am excited for that, Naturally Sarah is also coming along,
what would i do without that girl! like partners in Crime!

Hmm
CHANGING host families,
ugh that was hard. emotionally of course, but physically too. i HATE packing with ALL my life. That was the BIGGEST PAIN IN MY ASS. it took 2 days, plus katie and Sarah, once i got most of my stuff in my suitcase then it boiled down to cleaning, and that also sucked.
I am so greatful to my last host family, They are not a typical swiss family, and ALL my friends tell me how comfortable they felt when they were there, You really did feel like you were at your own home. you could cook when you wanted to, shower when you wanted to, they trusted you, they were extremely friendly, and they just made you feel like part of the family, I miss them so much, i actually saw them today when i met Narissa the Newbie, and it just like put me in a good mood and reminded me how good i had it with them. I saw my 2 younger host sisters too. They are both so cool I really do hope that Narissa takes advantage while she can. Because if rotary was going to have a competition on best host family, they would by far, hands down, win.
The actual switch was pretty hard too. I didnt want to cry so i held that back, but it was really hard. I think my host dad even noticed.
It's really hard, you just get comfortable and then you have to pack up and move, i am happy now that i am Here because i know that i do not have to pack again until i go home which! by the way people is
JUNE 30TH 4PM! in CALGARY
holla!

anyways i was only here with this family now for a week and then on Last friday i went to Dachau with my class and a few other classes to learn about the concentration camps and that was REALLY cool. but it was all in german of course and that is something i would have liked to have heard in English, It's crazy to think that something like that actually happened. You know it did but being there makes you extremely aware.
we went through everything right down to the gas rooms.
Where they were told to strip down because they were going to take special showers, and then killed,
then you move to the next room where they have the cremations, which each machine can cremate 3 to 4 people at a time
it was really just, i kinda whizzed through that all. It felt a bit too real for me at that point and i had to leave.
weird.

The following day i headed to Austria with my host dad his gf and her 2 kids and her sons best friends. which are all young kids, my host brother and his gf, and then it ended up being a lot of family friends that are couples. it really was couple fest 2009. I believe i was the only one there other then the 10 year olds that did not have a significant other. Oh well.
But we stayed at Gaschurn in Montafon, Austria and skiied at Silvretta Nova, i am not sure if that is all entirely correct but i am sure if you googled any of that together it would show you what i mean.
Anyways i was pretty nervours. But it turns out i am actually a pretty descent skier**
My host dad paid for my ?Half? host sister and I to have private ski lessons for 2 hours for 2 days, and that REALLY helped. His name was frank and he called me Cherry Cherry Lady, because a) people here just call me cherry, they cant really pronounce "J" and b) there is this song i guess by these 2 gay kinda german guys where they sing that.
so... i heard that ALL weekend.
The key to skiing is the "snowplough"
something that i have mastered. and hey! boy is that ever a work out, i kinda thought pff skiing thats like ya no.. sledding standing up no biggy, but to break you have to use your hole leg muscles and then when you are on flat land and you need to move forward you have to use the ski poles to pull you so my arms right now are completely dead.
so ok.
now i will tell you
how i fell down the Montafon Mountain.

It all started on a simple blue trail. Which are not to steep. and it was just me and my livia (half? host sister) and we decided that hey we just finished classes we can handle going alone. so we go. and to be honest it was going really well. and then they have this one part in the trail where you're SUPPOSE to keep going straight but you can also turn and that turns into a BLACK path... (meaning the steepest) so naturally us being dumb didnt notice, and turned and we were tackling it well i was IN THE ZONE.
and then i fell.
and it was all ok but as i was falling one of my skies popped of and flew down the mountain quite literally to the bottom so i kinda sat there like.
crap.
and then Livia came over and was checking it out sitting with me and as i tried to get up of course my other ski popped off and i was completely screwed as if followed the path of my other ski. so then Livia tries to, i duhno? scooch down the entire steep part of the mountain and i follow and we just start ROLLING and like i mean UNCONTROLLABLE rolling and she is in front of me crying and screaming, and i am like in my head literally i was thinking "well this sucks but theres nothing else to do... " so i started laughing like hysterically, and she was crying, we must have been QUITE the site.
eventually we stopped and livia flagged some people to help. my host dad helped me ski down the rest of the mountain. but i just sat there on the ski lift laughing because a) only something like that would happen to me b) i must have looked retarded and c) i made it out alive!

needless to say i was done with skiing for the day.
2 of the days were really foggy but it was a LOT of fun, and everyday after skiing we would go to the after ski parties and dance and have drinks and sing to these german songs that everyone knows, there are permanently embedded in my brain there is this one song i think they play seriously like 8 times a night. I didn't know it but now, i think i know the words and the actions better then anyone else out there.
then immediately after austria i was taken to the train station slept the night at Sarahs and then headed to Engelberg In Switzerland for a exchange kid weekend where we played these fun games, went skating and went extreme sledding, where Katie and I literally almost pissed our pants laughing. Infact i think katie even said she did pee a little. sheer ice.
so awesome.
uhmm i am going to hit publish now incase something happens so this all doesnt delete.






**did i mention i got my ASS kicked by 4 year olds? they would WHIZZ by me.

posted by Jerrie Ambrus @ 2:13 PM