What a week it’s been! So many somewhat peculiar yet awesome things have happened in the last 7 days that I thought another blog post was necessary. Let’s begin with Friday…
Friday was GemStone Media’s spiritual retreat day (happens monthly where we all just take the day to be alone with the Lord). Usually when I do something like this, I head straight for the woods. I am, very much so, a “Naturalist” when it comes to connecting with God. Anyway, this time was different. I decided to take the bus down to Basel, Switzerland to spend a few hours in the Basler Münster (Cathedral) praying, journaling, and listening. It was a blessed time, indeed. BUT something very unexpected and rather hilarious (for an American, at least) occurred afterwards. I was sitting along the Rhine River, eating my lunch and watching the swans and mallards swim about when all of a sudden a man and a woman immerged out of the river! They were probably in their late 50s/early 60s. The man was wearing what Australian’s would affectionately call a “budgie smuggler” (speedo) and the woman was in a normal one-piece suit. They got out of the river and just started walking down the street in their swimsuits as if they were fully clothed, no big deal. No one else really seemed to notice much either, so apparently this is a normal occurrence… peculiar.
Friday night was pretty awesome as well, although not nearly as strange – the church I’ve been going to had their official public opening of their new coffee shop/bistro (Elemenz). They had lots of people walking through, live keyboard music, and special lights to add to the chill atmosphere. When I got there, I quickly realized pretty much everyone I’m friends with at the church was working at Elemenz. This meant I sat alone like a dork for a little bit, sipping my chai tea latte with espresso, until I made friends with a few other girls who were sitting at a table nearby. It’s very easy to meet people at this church (which is a very good thing for me!). After about three hours, I caught a ride back to Kandern with two other people I had met only a half hour previous. Not something I would typically do, but it all worked out.
Sunday was an eventful day as well… I went to church like usual but then spent the afternoon on a hike with about 10 young adults from the church. We drove the 50 km up to Feldberg (highest point in this region of the Schwarzwald – “Black Forest”). Once there, we took a gondola to the top and began our 2-3 hour hike back down to the car. It was all going really well until we stopped at a gasthaus along the trail for some supper (I had some kürbissuppe, yum). Because Daylight Savings officially ended here Oct. 30th, it got darker much earlier than expected, and we still had about 30-40 mins of the hike left... Well, I can now officially say that I’ve been hiking at night in the Black Forest… and we weren’t even entirely sure we were on the right path for part of the time. But alas, we made it back and all was well. Something that I really enjoyed throughout the whole afternoon was the fact that they spoke predominantly German the whole time, but it was done in such a way that still included me (hard to explain). This gave me a chance to soak up more of the language and participate every now and again with a few words off the top of my head. Sometimes it feels like I am so close to understanding this language - as if I could just listen a little more intently, the meanings to the words would suddenly be clear. So close, but not quite. I’ll keep trying.
Monday evening I went back down to Basel for the Herbstmesse Festival (autumn festival). Herbstmesse is like one gigantic version of the county fair. Seriously. There were tons of REALLY big rides, street vendors, and carnival games spread out in different parts of the city. It’s all very expensive though, but I did splurge for an authentic würst (bratwurst) on the street, some fresh and hot candied almonds, and one carnival ride (which, by itself, ran me $8.50 Swiss Franc…pretty much $10). It was all worth it though. I’ll post a few pics of the festival soon.
And one more story…. Tuesday was a national holiday here – All Saints Day – which meant no work. A few of us from the office jumped in a car and drove 2 hours south down to Gruyére and Cailler, Switzerland (I spent a lot of time with the Swiss this week it seems). It is so incredibly beautiful there with all of the fall colors and foothills to the Swiss Alps. We walked around a small medieval town for a while, bought some of the best cheese I have ever tasted (Gruyere Cheese, go figure), had a picnic with an incredible view, and then headed for the Cailler Chocolate Factory. Mmmm, Swiss chocolate. At the end of the tour, they lead you to a big room with samples of all of the chocolate they make laying out on platter, just waiting for you to taste them. And the best part? You can stay in the room as long as you want and eat as much chocolate as you can handle. Believe me, I definitely did my fair share of taste-testing!!
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