Switzerland

Switzerland was surprisingly great. We stayed in a chateau/chalet outside of Delemont, in a little village up the hill called Vellerat. The altitude, the mist over the valley, the cows, all reminded me of rural Ach'ara -- what it might look like 200 years from now (with paved roads and modern buildings & cars). We were served 7 kinds of cheese each day at breakfast, with some mystery dried meats. Early in the week, I saw some meat labelled cheval/caballero (horse) in the store, and then there was something very similar looking on the table the next day. I believe I confirmed it was beef, but who knows, really!

Our hosts' house sat atop their restaurant, called the Coq d'Or (Golden Rooster), where we were fed Schnitzel in our first evening. Schnitzel, with thin French fries, a mustardy (but not too mustardy) salad, and a sorbet cake with crumbled bits of berry meringue between the layers. We worked with the high school students every day from 9-4 (just 7 of us) while the rest of the group relaxed. It was rewarding and fun working with the kids, although the day that we taught all day and immediately went into a never ending Balkan dance that got us home at 11, only to get up early the next day to teach more, was a little wearing. Fortunately, the kids picked up the songs really fast, so by the end of the week, we had a morning off.   Almost every morning, there was some kind of media presence -- two TV crews, a newspaper, and a radio station. I was interviewed by the radio station, but who knows if we'll ever hear it. It would be cool to see the TV clips. 

The two being interviewed at the moment are both bilingual -- they did most of the translating for our workshops. 

There were two cats who visited the school every day at lunch and often snuck into the music building: 

The kids were really into their instruments -- in fact, it was often difficult to get them to put them down after our Balkan songs and resume singing. Several of them were very into improvisation, so during Eleno Kjerko (a Macedonian song in 7/8), Julien had a solo on his electric guitar that was not at all Balkan, but was at least quite amusing! 

The students were very interested in our songs, particularly the American gospel songs. They were also pretty geeked when Megan pulled out some US dollars out of her wallet. Everyone wanted to exchange francs for dollars, which was kind of perfect, since her bank card had just gotten eaten by the ATM earlier that day. 

This was our view as we left Vellerat for the long drive to Annecy, France. 

What a beautiful place! I would definitely come back. I'll always have something to remember Switzerland by (at least for the next few years), since I bought a pair of Josef Seibel shoes to replace my Keens which started holding water when we were in England. "Nice shoes!" "Thanks - I got 'em in Swiiiiiiitzerland!" 

Wales

We had a lovely time in Wales. We spent time in Abergele, Penmanmawr, Conwy, and Wrexham. This is the neighborhood where we performed -- this must be Penmanmawr.  

That night, four of us stayed in Conwy (pronounced Conway), about 20 min. away from the rest of the group. Lucky for us, it was a walled city with a castle! It was pretty thrilling to drive through at night! 

It was also great to realize that my decision to stay back from the hike to Mt. Snowden was perfect, since I'd have a day in the walled city. 

After a long shower, and 3 loads of laundry put in and hung dry, I wandered into the town along the footpath by myself.  I had a message from Kimaya and Nicki that they had been dropped off there in the morning (also not hiking), so I knew I might run into my letter-writing-knitting buddies at some point.  It wasn't long before we were up to no good in the visitor center (the only place where I heard an actual Welsh accent). 

We spent a good chunk of time down by the harbor writing postcards and eating fish and chips. Kimaya muttered warnings under her breath to the tourists about not feeding the seagulls -- "don't do it! they'll eat you alive!" 

We ate our fill of chips, and heard familiar fiddle tunes from our friend Lysander down the way. We danced a jig and left some chips in his violin case. It seemed like the perfect payment. Afterwards, we caught up with Adam and climbed the city walls! 

The sky was threatening rain (apparently the weather can vary from minute to minute and mile to mile), but we managed to stay dry the whole time. These were the views from the top! 

On the way back, I had a lovely meeting with three black cats, who were very friendly and curious. The one on the right had 3 legs and a white heart on each paw. 

It was really nice to have a day off with absolutely no plan, and a host who could accommodate us! She made us cottage pie (which I learned is what the US calls shepherds' pie).  Shepherds' pie is actually made with lamb. Someone should tell North America. We were also served steamed broccoli, which was an unexpected (but very welcome) surprise. We've been eating a lot of sandwiches, and potluck foods (quiche! Chips! Cheese!) so it was great to be served homemade food that included real vegetables. 

I also observed in Wales that the Welsh are crazy about their tea. Every concert we did in Wales involved a hearty tea break for up to a half an hour, with long queues for everyone to get their "proper" tea. It was a miracle we even started the second half at all on some nights. It was also amusing to see signs in Welsh and English, which made it feel much more like a foreign country, even though almost everyone we met was English and had moved there.  Our host schooled us on letters like 'ff', which is just /f/ and 'f' which is /v/, and 'w', which is a vowel that sounds like /oo/, and 'dd', which is /TH/, of all things. 

I would definitely go back to northern Wales. It would be great to see more of it at some point. Someday!