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!"