It’s been a while since we’ve written. Mostly it’s because we’ve been plagued with a nasty tummy bug, and coughs and colds for the past couple of weeks and we’re still not quite recovered. It’s kept us home, feeling sorry for ourselves, but thankfully we didn’t have much on so it wasn’t inconvenient.
A traditional winter procession with loud noise and lanterns to find Samiclaus…
On the 6th of December Samiclaus (or St Nikolaus) comes to visit kids in Switzerland. At school we made lanterns and learnt a song for Samiclaus.
Bens with his lantern and bag of treats from Samiclaus
Then, last night we met at my school at 6pm. The whole village came, probably 200 people including lots of kids. There was a bonfire and they were cooking hot punsch over the fire. We heard a really loud noise and we went to see what it was. It was a lot of dudes dressed in white with big as cow bells and whips (to make that sonic boom sound with).
This was fun! We visited a Christmas market in a castle close to Aarau. It is a foundation that helps people who need extra care and support by providing housing, apprenticeships, jobs. They had lots of candles, art work, wood work, paper art for sale. All made by the people who stay here. It was very creative and different to all the usual Christmas stuff for sale.
Today, at school, we made wreaths to put candles on for advent. People in the community can order them and the school makes a bit of money. There were parents and local people helping too. A local farmer brought lots of tree branches in his tractor trailer and we all had different jobs to do. I had the job of attaching leaves to a straw wreath.
It’s been exactly 3 months since we set foot in Europe. Time has gone very quickly! Though, when I think back, we’ve done a lot in our time here so far.
The weather has been much cooler lately, with most days not reaching over 3 degrees and overnight around -2. We’ve seen a bit of snow falling but it doesn’t hang around for long.
The chateau is a castle on lake Geneva (or Lac Leman). It’s in a village called Montreux in the southern and French speaking part of Switzerland. They think the castle dates back to before 1000.
In Basel, Switzerland they have this thing called the Herbstmesse. It’s kind of a mix between a market and a fair because there are amusement park rides along with hundreds of stalls selling stuff, like how cool is that! It’s spread over six squares in Basel and has been going for over 500 years! It takes place over two weeks in autumn.
Friday was an interesting day. First, I got to school, and had a normal morning, until after lunch. (For lunch we made and ate delicious omelettes for my Hauswertschaft class). Then my entire year hopped onto a train and headed to Luzern.
At Luzern, there was an expo of different professions called ZeBi. You could look at what they do, how they do it, and what you need to know to do it. There were a variety of jobs from the Swiss Army to electricians.
On the first Wednesday of November each year there is a carrot festival in Aarau. Canton Aargau is the carrot capital.
Carrots are my favourite vegetable and so I was looking forward to going. We caught the train because there are lots and lots of people coming (35,000).
My lovely Dad ‘popped’ into Switzerland on his way to a work meeting in Brussels. He happened to be here over Tobias’ birthday, which also happened to be a public holiday in our canton of Lucerne. Double bonus.
Dad stayed with us for a couple of days and we had the privilege of showing him around Altwis and the boy’s schools by bike.
Benjamin Willis
Daniel
Michelle
Noah Willis
Tobias Willis