Swiss Family Willis

On Wednesday we went to the Goldau Tierpark. It had animals roaming around and it has to be one of the greatest days of my life! Why? Because I made a new friend and she is a deer! The way we became friends was… I walked up to her and put my hand in front of her nose and then she was calm and let me pet her. Another thing she let me do was take selfies with her and she would even pose for them, like how cool is that.

There were some cool forest playgrounds too, animals I’ve never heard of before and ate my first pommes frites for lunch. Delicious!

On our way to the Goldau Tierpark (a really cool park set at the foot of mountains, in a forest where tame animals roam free) we passed by the Northern Mountain Range.

There were lots of trees up the sides of the mountains, and they were starting to change colour as autumn is approaching. I could only imagine the beautiful picture when the trees were half orange and half green. And then add the Zugersee (Lake Zug), and it becomes something you’d see in nature documentaries. It filled me with joy to recognise that I come from such a beautiful land.

Monday was Daniel’s first day back at work and my first day of study – a diploma in NLP (neurolinguistic programming).

Nice though, to be able to work and study from anywhere. At the Badi, on the balcony, in bed!

So we’ve had to get into a bit of a routine and it’s been good. Boys are spending a couple of hours each morning doing their German studies and a bit of schoolwork. The plan is that they’ll attend Swiss school after the Herbstferien from mid-October. The Swiss kids come home for lunch each day. Lunch is the main meal here, so I’ve been cooking lunch and it’s bread and cheese etc. for dinner. Its quite nice actually, leaves the evenings free for exploring, family time, swimming, biking, hiking…

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After the trip to the Knies Kinderzoo, we explored Rapperswil. It’s has a beautiful ‘Schlossberg’ and lots of fun activities around the lake (Zurich).

It reminds me of the verses we read this morning from Isaiah 26: We have a strong city! We are surrounded by the walls of Gods salvation…

Today we went to the kinderzoo and it was really fun. First we went to the entrance which wasn’t like a ordinary entrance, it had a concrete wall with holes in the shape of people and you had to walk through them to get to place where you get tickets.

So after all that we met the giraffes and zebras but then I saw a moose which wasn’t actually a moose, it was a water buffalo which is my 7th favourite animal (now). After that we met the elephants but something was quite interesting was that one of the elephants had a black eye.

(Ben really wanted to go here as his big brothers visited this place 10 years ago before he was born…)

Yesterday, we had a blast. After lunch, we travelled 20 minutes to a nearby town and swum at the Badi (pools) there.

The Badi wasn’t large, but it was fun nonetheless. There was the main pool, a kid’s pool with a small slide, and a kid’s splash zone. The main pool had two diving boards, an area with lanes, and a ‘Wibit’. And a river running through.

The kid’s splash zone had lots of sprinklers that turned on and off at regular intervals. There were many different types of sprinklers, such as water cannons and a tall tower that sprayed water and you could change what the water sprayed onto.

After the Badi, we drove home, and it was dinner time. For dinner, we walked to the nearest park where a live band was playing. We got some sausages and beer (which us children didn’t have) and listened to the music. After that, we went home and to sleep.

Today I went to my cousin’s baptism at church. He’s 8 months old. He’s probably the cutest baby I’ve ever seen ’cause of his laugh. So when we went to the baptism and sang some songs (in German) then we listened to the sermon (which was also in German), then we prayed for a long time…… then finally we baptised Arthur. When he was getting baptised he was staring at a dove (AKA the Holy Spirit) hanging from the roof. After that my mum got some special jobs (etc being Arthur’s god mother).

The church was amazing compared to a NZ church (at the end you can see a photo or a few of the church) even though it was really original for a German church. Then we went home, it was a fun day.

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We have the privilege of being a part of our 8-month old nephew / cousin Arthur’s baptism. As Gotti, I have some responsibilities too, one is praying for him at the service, though it will be in English as my German is not quite up to scratch… yet

We drove 3 hours from our home in Altwis, Switzerland to Isny Im Allgau, Germany. It’s a beautiful drive through countryside. We drove part of the way through Austria and popped into Liechtenstein too. Four countries in one day!

Here are a few photos of us meeting Arthur for the first time. He’s such a gorgeous, happy wee lad.

Ferdinand has taught our boys a bit of German. Ben is currently walking around the house saying ‘du bist kaput’. Haha. Will post again after the baptism.

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Jet Lag is still wreaking havoc with our bodies. I read it takes a day for 1-2 time zones crossed to adjust. That’s about five – ten days then!

So a quiet day at home was in order, outside it drizzled and the temperature a little cooler but very pleasant. The dry air is lovely. I used the washing machine in the cellar (next to the bomb shelter that every home / apartment seems to have). The washing took a few hours to dry and I hung it in the dark cellar!

My hair is a good barometer, haha. I washed it and went to blow dry it an hour later and it was already dry (and not frizzy!) Ngaire, you’d love it!

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