Ipsach, Switzerland

It was sad to leave Donna and her beautiful home but I was extremely excited to see my dear exchange student sister, Brigit, again after 17 years!  She lived with my family for a little while when I was 14 years old.  I had so many wonderful memories with her and she always held a very special place in my heart. Unfortunately, we lost touch over the years but were able to reconnect a few years ago on Facebook. It was so nice to write each other again and see pictures of our families.  When we planned on traveling through Europe, visiting Brigit was high on our must-do list.  The timing of our visit worked out perfectly because Brigit and Wolfgang had vacation when we visited so we had a lot of time together!  It was also her son Rayan's birthday so they were having a party for him and we got to join in.

Brigit and Wolfgang came to the train station to pick us.  It was so good to see her again. She looked the same. I don't know how she does it but she has hardly changed since the last time I saw her. Her husband, Wolfgang, is very kind and fun to be with.  He doesn't speak much English but Steve talked with him anyway.  At one point Steve asked him if the body of water he saw was the ocean or a lake (Steve doesn't know much geography ;-) ) Wolfgang told him it was the See so Steve automatically thought he was by the ocean.  Wolfgang knew he didn't have the right English word and Brigit explained the word See means Lake in German not Ocean.  We all had a little chuckle.  When we got to their home we met their son Rayan.  He is so cute!  Right away Steve and Rayan bonded; the language barrier did not stop their communication.  Before no time, I looked over and saw them playing board games.  Rayan was teaching Steve how to play and Steve caught on quick.  He took no mercy on Rayan and won both rounds of first game and lost one of the other. Poor kid! It was his birthday for crying out loud.  Let the boy win!

Steve and Rayan playing games

 While the boys were playing Brigit and I started catching up.  She asked me how my parents were doing and if my mom was retarded. . . . This was a strange question because she knows my mom.  Then she told me her mom was retarded and I knew there was a communication error somewhere. Turns out she meant to ask if my mom was retired!  LOL.  We both had a good laugh about that :). She is so cute.  She is also a good sport because I asked her if I could share that story on our blog and she agreed.  I love it that she can laugh at these little things and not take them personally.  If we hadn't already broken the ice this definitely shattered it and it was as if we were never apart.

After we settled in we all went to Lake Biel for a quick dip before Rayan's party.  They had a late summer so the water was still pretty frigid. Brigit warned Steve to get in slowly, but you all know Steve. Once he is told not to do something he cannot not do it. Lol. He jumped in and got right out.  He said there was no way to get used to the water by walking in slowly, so he jumped.  Poor thing could have died! He said it was like jumping into ice water.  Hahaha In the mean time Wolfgang and Rayan played Rock Paper Scissors Lake and the looser of each round had to go down a step deeper into the water.  It was fun to watch. Wolfgang lost a lot.  After a "refreshing" swim, Brigit laid out and I watched while staying cosy and dry.  I am nobodies fool. :) While I was sun bathing, Steve and Rayan played with Rayan's new boomerang.  The wind came up and blew the boomerang into a bunch of high reeds.  Steve went in to find it but had no luck.  Instead of finding the boomerang, he found the Duck Flee. . . Or should I say, the Duck Flee found him.  

What is a duck flee you ask?  We didn't know either until Steve started scratching a bug bite that only got bigger and redder as the days went on.  No cream we had or Brigit had would work to take away the intense burn and itch. We started to get really concerned until we finally went to the pharmacy and they informed us on what it was and gave us medicine. Point of this story. . . Don't go crawling around in reeds unless you want some fun side effects.  

Steve scared to get in the water

I can't tell if this is a happy smile or a smile you have while being tortured but trying to hide it  :)

I would like to introduce the effects of the duck flea.  Yuck!  Poor Steve!  :(

 Later in the evening we had a lovely party in Brigit's back yard.  We had the opportunity to meet her parents, brothers and friends.  They were all so nice and embracing to these two strange Americans. We enjoyed their friends a lot and even made plans to meet up with a few of them during the week. Anita suggested getting together one of the days we were there.  After talking a bit with Andrea and Daniel we found out they would be in Italy at the same time so we made plans to meet in Florence. We really liked them a lot and looked forward to seeing them again soon.  Everyone was having such a good time we didn't realize how late it had gotten.  We all said our goodbyes and headed off to bed.

Did I mention they have turtles?

Meet Easy and Chill :)

Sisters :)

 The next morning we woke up and had a big breakfast together out on the patio.  Rayan enjoyed teaching Steve how to count in German.  In fact almost every meal was a German lesson.  Steve learned some German and Rayan learned some English.  After a while we even started substituting numbers with our own names.  It was ridiculous but so much fun! eins, zwei, Jennifer, vier, fünf, sechs, Steven, acht, neun, Wolfgang.... :)

There are so many nice places to see in Switzerland so they decided to take us out for a hike and be surrounded by this countries natural beauty. We walked along a river under a canopy of peaceful green trees.  When we reached the top we had a picnic lunch and Rayan got to try his hand at opening a coconut. It was fun to watch him try to open it with a rock.  I remember so clearly being in my back yard trying to open a coconut with a hammer when I was about his age.  Good times :). After all that work, neither Rayan or Wolfgang were impressed with this tasty snack.  Lol. It can be more hassle than it is worth.  (I feel that way with pomegranates sometimes)  After we finished our hike we stopped off at a nice restaurant on the lake and Brigit treated us to an ice cream. Yummmmm. The rest of our night was really relaxed.  We spent the evening catching up on lost time and looking through Brigit's photo album of her time in the US.  It was fun to reminisce about old times while creating new memories together.  :).  We also looked at her wedding scrapbook. She was a radiant bride and he was very dashing.  They are a nice couple. I am glad they found each other.

does anyone else see the giant head/face? Nature is so cool!

I love this picture!  They are such a happy and loving family.

Steve put his feet in the water

boys will be boys

The gummy bear bond.  We put them on our foreheads to see if Rayan would notice.

He noticed :)

love this photo of us

Rayan trying to open the coconut as Wolfgang bravely holds the nut steady.

picnic view

Does anyone know the name of this fruit in English?  It was really good.  It looks like a tomato but the leaf part is wrapped around it like a tomatillo.

The next day we all headed to Brigit's home town and went to a public swimming pool and waterside. On the way there, Steve and Rayan held their breath while going through tunnels and crossing over bridges to see who could beat whom.  They were so cute together!  Once we were inside the park, the two of them took off for the water right away while the rest of us sun bathed for a while. It was so relaxing! When I finally decided to join the others I found Steve and Wolfgang playing chess (Steve won). After they finished I heard all about Rayan "forcing" Steve to jump off the highest diving platform. There were 4 levels; the spring board was the base level and there were three higher levels. I don't remember the heights but he jumped off the highest board into the scary waters below.  He is such a hunk ;-). Wolfgang had never jumped off a diving platform and did his first jump off the second level platform. I didn't have the nerve to dive off any, so I headed over to the water slide.  :). I hadn't been on a water slide in ages! In fact, I think the last time I went to Raging Waters was probably in elementary school.  I was excited and nervous to go down this slide, but I did it! :). Half of the slide was completely dark.  It was painted black inside so I am not of exaggerating. I wasn't sure if I liked that but I guess I did because I kept going back for more. (Next summer we are going to go to Raging Waters) After we had had enough sun and we were all water logged, we left the pool and Brigit showed us around town.  It was really cute.  She took us into this one building were we could see the view of the city.  It reminded us of the rooftops in Marry Poppins.  We were tempted to start dancing and singing "Step in Time", but spared the theatrics.  We got to see where she and Wolfgang met and where they got engaged. It was a sweet story.  :).

For the record, this is a smiley face with a nose :)

This is the model of Brigit's home town

Entering in through the proper gate

The local church

Doesn't this town look like something you would find in a storybook?  So cute!

Swiss clock :)

Over the rooftops
Over the rooftops, step in time
Over the rooftops, step in time
Never need a reason, never need a rhyme
Step in time

 The pictures above were on the bathroom doors and I thought they were really cute.

The two musketeers

cute little garden and restaurant

Geronimo!!!

There was a little bird sanctuary on the way back to the car with all these pretty birds

mama bird :)

I know this looks like a rabbit but it really is this big bird and it's egg

View of the town on the way out

Another ridiculous add :)

The next day, Brigit had a class she needed to attend so her friend Anita took us for an outing.  We met her at Rayan's party.  She lived in the States for several years and has now settled down in Switzerland.  She is a joyful, caring, and giving soul. We had a very nice time with her.  She and her boyfriend Francis took us to a black lake in the hills. We had a light hike and found a nice spot to settle around the lake. This area was very peaceful and quite.  The lake was surrounded by trees and the ground was spongy not hard.  It was very different. After putting our stuff down, Anita jumped right in and Steve and I put our feet in.  It was refreshing and not quite as cold as the lake we went to on the first day.  Unfortunately, there wasn't your typical beach leading into the lake so Anita had to try to climb out.  Steve went over to help her by giving her his hand and Francis pushed Steve in so he could have a swim too.  We were all (including Steve) laughing so hard. Steve tried to convince me to join him but I was satisfied just putting my feet in.  I am a bit if a chicken. After Steve and Anita were done swimming we had a lovely picnic.  She had traditional sausages for us to try, pasta salad, veggies and home made carrot cake. :).  We had a good time visiting, laughing and getting to know each other better.  We even had a family of ducks join us for lunch.  They kept us quite entertained.  After a while we packed up and walked around the other side of the lake and back to the car to head home.  Along the ride home we stopped and got a dish of ice cream :). We all ordered a bowl of ice cream but Anita decided to get a chocolate milk.  When we were all about finished with our ice cream, Anita noticed her chocolate milk glass must have been served empty because she looked down and it was gone.  She decided not to complain or make a big deal out of it this time--she was going to let it slide. Lol. It was so nice of Anita to take us out for the day.  We weren't sure if we were going to see her again so it was a sad when she dropped us home but we exchanged email so we will continue to keep in touch with her.  :)

This is the black lake.  I don't remember the real name of it.  It was over cast and we were sure it might rain on us but it never did.  The cloud cover did help make the water look darker.

How cute, we match!!! Not done on purpose.  I am pretty sure he copied me and you have to believe that because he isn't the one writing the blog, I am. Muahahahaha

Steve right after he got pushed in

this is what my skin looked like in the water.  It turned my skin amber! I guess it is due to the type of dirt in the lake

Our cute little begging ducks who joined us for lunch.

Francis with duck feathers stuck up his nose.  lol

view from the other side of the lake

look how much it cleared up during our stay.  Tut Tut; it doesn't look like rain.

Francsis, Anita, Jennifer, and Steve

That evening I made Avagolemono soup for dinner.  I am not sure how this soup came up in conversation earlier in the week but Steve told them it was really good. I think Brigit was getting over a cold and Steve told her that we make this soup when one of us gets a cold and it helps wipe it out quickly.  Since it is an easy soup to make and it peeked Brigit's interest we decided to have it for dinner this night.  What Brigit neglected to tell me was that Wolfgang is not a fan of lemon but he was nice and choked it down anyway. lol Good man. :). He liked it so much he had a bowl of spaghetti to wash it down with when he was done.  The rest of us enjoyed it and it was nice to be able to serve them by making them dinner.  

Brigit had class again the next morning so she dropped us of in Berne so we could explore the capital of Switzerland.  Berne is the city of the brown bears.  We had a nice walk into the old part of the city.  The view from the hill above this town was really pretty and we were excited to go explore.  We stopped in the tourist office, got a map and a suggested route, watched the bears for a while and then went on our way.  Everything was just opening up so we went down the main road to check things out before returning back to the beginning to to see all the important landmarks. We started at town hall, checked out St. Paul's church, went to see Albert Einstein's house, watched the main clock tower perform, passed by the prison tower (but it was under construction) and then went to the house of parliament. In front of the parliament building was a large chess board where the the retarded. . . I mean retired men gathered to compete. Steve loves chess so he stopped and watched one game for about an hour while I took a nap.  After lunch we went to the Cathedral of Bern Das Berner Münster.  There was a garden next door where we could look over the city and the Aare river. It was nice and refreshing as we walked down, along the river, through the older part of the city and back around to the beginning again.  I stopped for a while and put my feet in the river to cool off because I was over heating. It was a hot day and the water was nice and cold. Before Brigit picked us up we watched the bears play some more.  They were so cute. :)  That evening Brigit made us all pizza for dinner and gave Rayan the sweat shirt she had made him in her sewing class over the last two days.  She is very creative!  

Berne

The brown bear and the city's mascot

Popye is really big here and must be very American

Town Hall

St. Peter's church

Einstein's house

 

Clock Tower

House of Parliament

Let the games begin!

view from my nap :)

This is a cherry tart.  I kept seeing people with these and I had to track them down.  I asked someone where they got it and headed off to sample this Divine treat :)

LOL  Totally random! AND if you look closely you will see one of the feet has painted toe nails  LOL

Das Berner Münster

The view as we walked down from the church to the river.

Steve found Donald :)

The  Aare River.

Aw!  They are giving each other a bear hug ;-)

Bear kisses?

When there isn't time to go to the beach, why not jump in the pool?

This is the sweatshirt Brigit made for Rayan.  Isn't it cute?  I love the monkeys

After a glass of wine or two I think Rayan needs to be cut off.  lol (no alcohol was actually drank while making this photo...at least by the minor)

The next day Rayan went to a friends birthday party and Brigit, Wolfgang, Steve and I took a boat to St. Petersinsel island on Biel lake.  I love taking boats!  it is so nice to be surrounded by water and have the cool breeze in my hair.  When we got to the island we walked around a little bit until we found a spot where we could camp out for the day and go swimming.  The water had warmed up enough for us not to get hypothermia, so we all went for a little swim and just relaxed on the beach for the day.  They had packed sausages for lunch.  Wolfgang made a fire and we roasted the sausages on a stick.  It was so cool!  I haven't done something like that in the middle of the day before.  I wish we had marshmallows. :)  After we had had our fill of playing in the water and sunbathing, we walked to the old monastery that is now a hotel and restaurant, for a dish of ice cream before taking the boat back home.  Yes, we ate a lot of ice cream on this trip :).  Yummmmm. 

HUGE Disgusting bug!

couldn't have picked a more serene spot.  aaaahhhhhhhhh

The old Monastery

The view from our table as we ate our dessert.  I couldn't help but take a photo.  I hope you all enjoy the view like we did ;-)  I can't even look at this photo with a straight face

Strawberry heaven

Vanilla ice cream with a warm berry compote

Warn apple pie in a bowl.  Stewed apples and raisins over top of vanilla ice cream with caramelized nuts on top.

Brigit and Wolfgang enjoying the boat ride home

One of the little villages we past on our boat ride.  It is so beautiful here!

FINALLY we see the Ricola guy!!!!  We have been looking for him everywhere!

When we got back and Rayan came home he told us the best story.  This kid is so smart!  He and his friends went shopping and one of his friends bought a toy for around €4.  It turned out the boy was not satisfied with his toy but Rayan liked it and offered to buy it from him for a ridiculously low amount and the boy agreed.  After watching Rayan having fun with the Toy and seeing how cool it was, he changed his mind and wanted the toy back. He tried to take the toy back but the supervising parent made the boy honor his trade and Rayan kept the toy.  The icing on the cake was that the boy didn't want Rayan's money either so, in his fit of rage, he gave Rayan his money back! Rayan got the toy and didn't loose one cent!  He needs to be a negotiator when he is older. 

That night we got to see Anita again!  She was very sweet and offered to bring dinner over. We all spent the evening together, shared a nice bottle of wine, made more wonderful memories.  

It was now our last day with Brigit and her family.  We can not believe our time together had gone by so fast.  But we decided not to talk about it or think about it until tomorrow when we were actually saying goodbye.  For our last day together we went on another hike along the Verena stream and into the woods until we reached the St.Verena Chapel.  It was a very sweet and peaceful church that was built into the side of a cave.  Across from this chapel is a little cottage where a female hermit lives and takes care if the grounds.  We spent a good chunk of time here praying and reflecting.  Brigit translated a posted prayer for us so we would know what it said.  I posted the picture of the prayer below.  It is a beautiful prayer.  Rayan was very sweet and bought us a candle to light and a candle for him to light as we said our prayers.  Not only is this kid smart but he also has a good heart. When we were finished, we headed into Brigit's home town to get the best tasting strawberry ice cream ever! This was also where Brigit and Wolfgang had their first date. <3 Brigit also surprised me with a very sweet gift and sisterly tradition of getting matching earrings.  We buy one pair and each wear one.  This is something we did before she left the States and headed back to Switzerland. :). When we got home Wolfgang had a surprise for Steven.  The two of them went out for some man bonding and went go-carting. Boy does he know how to speak Steve's love language!  Needless to say they had a blast! We spent the rest of the evening eating lasagna, drinking wine and relishing our last night together. 

Sweet family

Exploring the caves

This looks like something straight out of a princes story book.  Doesn't it look like Snow White's cottage with the dwarfs or Sleeping Beauty's place with the good fairies?  It totally does.

This is where the female Hermit lives

This is the Chapel built inside the cave.

Inside the Chapel

I want to be a light to against the darkness of our world.  It is a hard life for those with pain and sorrow and for the people in need.  I want to light the path for the encouragement of our world during this time that many of us worry for your wonderful people who work for peace, justice and solidarity with our sisters and brethren in all religions, cultures and nations.
I want to light a path for a personalized message that expresses concerns, and today new start living in love.
Amen

Lighting the candles together in prayer

When we got up the next morning we could feel the little black cloud over our heads.  We really did not want to leave.  We had such a special time with this precious family we could not imagine being apart from them.  Our time together felt so natural, it was as if we were never apart before and always lived near them.  I tried to convince Brigit to let Rayan come stay with us in the US as she did so many years ago.  Wolfgang said he wants to come too!  Maybe one day they will come out to visit or maybe we can visit them again.   We don't know when God will have us reunite again but one thing is for sure, we will miss them very much and they will always hold a special place in our hearts. I know this is not where our story ends. :). 

Did I mention, we stole Rayan and are bringing him home with us?