Swiss Family Willis

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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Ding! Dong! The church bells rang as well as the sheep bells. This is the sound I heard this morning and the sound I will hear for 6 months, which is a good thing. Today was a great day, one of the first things we did was go to the best supermarket ever… Migros! It brought back so many memories such as a drink that my great-grandmother used to give me (Sirup), delicious paprika chips, and most of all, the chocolate! We bought a nut and honey flavour.

After shopping, we relaxed at home, ate a loaf of Swiss bread and cheese for lunch, had some downtime on our devices (I played heaps of Fortnite)

We then went to a castle (Schloss Halwyl). It’s especially old – from 1167. It even had a moat around it, how cool is that!

It was cool texting some of my friends in the morning and catching up with them. So far Switzerland is better than I remember.

We left Auckland at 11pm on Tuesday night. Thank you to those who came to see us off!

The first leg of our flight was with Air New Zealand to Shanghai Pudong on a 787-9 Dreamliner. Air NZ’s service was impeccable; professional, friendly, and without fault. The in-flight entertainment system is decades ahead of the old-school controller-on-a-rope system, still used by others (*cough* Swiss). The bigger windows of the 787-9 are great, and the electrochromic shades are magical.

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