5/28/11

I got up at 8:15 this morning, even before my alarm!  When I came downstairs, Cony was making dough for the Zopf, the Swiss bread for Sundays.  It looked so good and I can't wait to try it tomorrow.

I was able to Skype and Gmail video chat with some family and friends last night, and then Hiram again this morning.  Hiram and Cony were able to meet each other and that made me happy.  After I was done talking with Hiram, I made Nadja a lucky bracelet for the games tomorrow.  Once she got to the farm, we had to attach it with some elastic so that she is able to take it off when working at the hospital.  Then we left for the Devils' baseball game.

During the first game, Vanessa, another one of my teammates, showed me how the Swiss keep score in the scorebook.  It is basically the same, but there are a few differences.  For example, whenever the runners advance on base, you have to write how they advanced next to them.  It is hard to explain, but "x" is for the action and then the number batter who did that action comes after.  I got the hang of it after a few batters and some explanation.

The Devils did not win the first game, but I am not sure what happened the second game because Nadja took me to a grocery store.  It was not like American ones because it was inside of a sort of little mall.  There was one building with about four different stores inside, one being Coop, the grocery store.  It was nice.

After the game, Nadja and I came back to the farm and made chocolate croissants!  They are for tomorrow, but we were able to each have one and they were so good.  She told me that we did not even make them with the Swiss chocolate, just a name brand.  I can't wait to have authentic Swiss chocolate!

I helped Nadja get some things ready for the restaurant, like cutting peaches for the Bowle drink that I tried the other night.  After that, I went on my second bike ride and was happy that I know which direction is which.  It makes it really easy to get back to the farm.  I rode through Lommis, where Tiin and his parents both live.  I was even able to find Tiin's parents' house, where Claire, the girl who came to play for the Devils in '09 and '10, stayed.  Tiin showed their house and his house to me the other day, but I couldn't remember which one was Tiin's.  Hopefully I will next time I ride around.

After my bike ride, I took a short walk so that I could get a few more pictures and just look around the farm a little more.  Then I sat down at the restaurant and learned, from two lovely customers who knew a little bit of English, how to count up to one thousand...I'm not sure if I remember all of them, but hopefully I will know them soon.  I also pronounce the "ch" sound in German wrong, but they say that a lot of Americans do.  Maybe I will get better at that too.  After the two of them paid and left, I saw a man, Silvan, I met the other day walk up with two friends, Daniel and Catherine, to eat.  The three of them speak fairly good English, not as good as Nadja but good enough to have conversations with, and they had a heck of a time trying to explain to me what the sign above the entrance to the inside part of the restaurant said.  It is a play on words and one of those words contains the word for a female goat, which from what I gathered is somewhat comparable to the word for a female dog, but the meaning of it might not be as harsh as the American profane word.  It is hard to explain because it was even hard to fully comprehend haha

I have learned quite a few German words and I hope to learn many more, and the correct ways to use them.  Tomorrow I have a doubleheader starting at 11am, so Gute Nacht!