1st of August

1st of August is Switzerland’s national day, the birthday of Switzerland.
To celebrate this national event I accompanied my host family to their huge big family barbecue dinner and firework evening.

We drove 500 meters up the hill and arrived at the old Meire Family home. Nearly all of the Meire family were there, and every single one lives in the same village, my village Laupersdorf. It is just wonderful to see a while family all so close to each other.

The location of this even was just perfect as the house was up on a hill so one had a total view of the whole of Laupersdorf.



We sat on pic-nic benches and ate our sausages, bread, salad and cheese.




After a while I went and talked to the Older generation…the grandparents. They were so much fun to talk to and I got along really well with my new found Old friends. I love talking to old people; they are so witty and funny. It was great to have to really push my self and my German skills by talking to everyone and I was so proud that I succeeded.



The night started to get dark and fireworks started to be set off by individual parties in the village. In Switzerland one is able to set of fireworks with out a licence and fireworks and fireworks are so cheep that every party comes equipped with fireworks and rockets.








As lovely as the small fireworks are….. they were nothing compared to the huge display that appeared from behind the hill. This display was just out of this world.



I loved looking at the fireworks. A huge bonfire was lit and people’s spirits were high….how ever I was suddenly not feeling so well. I am not sure what It was…maybe I ate a bit to much bread and cheese because I was feeling right off colour. I was all dizzy and really it was just not pleasant. However some of my new ‘older’ friends got me a tea and I sat down.

But things kept getting worse so I ended up lying on the couch inside the house.
The celebrations continued and I was so annoyed that I was unwell as the 1st of august is such a special day. However I still enjoyed the time I had had and the people I had met were so lovely. So really all was not too bad.