Once again I have been caught up in the stream of life and and have floated off into the fullest weeks of this year.

In the last few weeks everything has been happening at once. I am getting ready to leave Switzerland so have been having all of the 'lasts' of everything, so the last Rotex/Rotary meeting, which was fun except also had a strange feel as i knew that once i left the hall where the meeting had been held i would never see 80% of the exchange Students again.

I also had my last official day of school, however this was not too sad as I will be going back to visit my class in my last week in Switzerland to say good bye.



My class were also really sweet.......well actually 4 girls from my class Iren, Hanna, Rahel and Melanie. These girls are just such beautiful kind people and have all bee really good friends of mine all year. and they were so sweet and gave me the most beautiful album of photos of my time in the class in 2007. It is the best gift i ever could have received.

Talking about nice gifts Kay-Lea also must have spent hours and hours making me an amazing book of our times together in Switzerland....she did such an amazing job and each page looks like a piece of art work.


so I had my last days of school......which was beautiful with all the frost covering the trees making them look like lace works of thousands of feathery snow flakes.





I also had a few days before hand the Christmas party from my class.....

this was so much fun and i really had so much fun with my class......it is sort of an irritating feeling the fact that now i am really getting along well with my class and in 3 weeks i have to leave. It almost feels unfair.....but i do know that the special few will keep in contact. Talking about my class again I also got them all to write on my Swiss flag, so now i have all of the exchange student writing, and messages on the red and my class are all on the white cross......it looks amazing.

My final 'last to tell you about is my German Exam. I took part in a German course for a good 2 moths or so and then a few days ago i did the German B1 certificate. So if i passed it i will then be certified that i have a business level German. How great will that be if I get it.


So once all of my lasts were over i did a first with my host dad and another exchange student form Ecuador ,Emilia. We went to the Ski chalet of my host grandparents and we went for a ski weekend. This was so amazing.....the weekend before Christmas I was up in the mountains in the snow.....just unheard of really.


With my host dad one of his friends Fred and Emilia we drove the 2 hours drive to the chalet.


That night we all went out for dinner and then went out and enjoyed the night life. This was so much fun. My host Dad and Fred are really fun going, funny as people....and they made sure that Emilia and i had a good time.

the next day was ski day.





My host dad took Emilia and i to the easy slopes to start of with so he could see how good we were, and help perfect our skiing styles...or in my case give me a totally new one that actually works.....so after a bit of a hard slog for 1 hour (a hard slog being the fact that i had to get my body to do what it was meant to do and not what it wanted to do) we then went and had a bite to eat on the slopes.





After having a few good old snow photos it was off to go and tackle the challenge of the BIG slopes

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we went up and up and up in the cable car and once we arrived at the top, even before skiing, the view was worth the ride up............it was amazing...i felt like i was on cloud nine and going up.






Then it was time to go down the hill and the only way down is with skis.....so off we went. It was amazing.....just breath taking. I was zooming, crashing (only 2.....so that's good for me really) and just taking in the view.


after a while of zooming and after one of my crashes...which resulted in my finding of 50 Franks that was sitting there on the slopes......i final arrived at the end of the run.

except it was not the end of the run i was meant to be on....in fact i was somewhere in the village and there was no more snow for me to ski on......so i realised that somehow i had taken the wrong turn and was now a bit lost. However using the knowledge that my host dad had passed down to me. ...'all buses arrive at the sport center'(were i was meant to be) I took a bus and arrived at the sport center.....then after a bit of a wait i saw Marc and Emilia coming down the slopes....and all ended well.


that night after dinner and a few board games...all of which i was totally useless at.
we went back out into the night life. except this time Emilia was completely dead, so we didn't stay out to long...but the time we did stay out was good fun....so quality over quantity....


the next day after a bit of a sleep in we went for a snow walk. this idea did not really appeal to Emilia but despite that fact she joined us on what turned out to be a stunning walk and a lot of fun.


while on our walk i saw the perfect hill to do a sausage rolly polly down. I stated this fact o my host dad who said...OK then do one.

seeing the look in his eye that said.......there is no way this girl will do that..she's all talk...i promptly fell into the Snow and rolled down the hill.......ah aha so much fun.



then however i was stuck With the challenge of getting back up to the path in the snow......and so after 5 minutes of exhausting snow walking i arrived back on the track.

we then arrived at our destination.........a cafe......



so after having a drink with a view ,it was time to walk back down...or in my case skid back down....yes i decided walking was to much of an effort so i skidded and slid down the hill....good fun.

it was then time to go home pack up our stuff and go home. so we said bye bye to the mountains and headed off home.



so now I will advise readers to all get up stretch their legs and go get a cup of coffee................ as Christmas and all of it's festivities are just about to come up.

ok so now you are refreshed........

once we arrived back for skiing tit was Christmas tree time. So the Christmas tree had already been decorated in our absence by Luca and Wilma, and the only task that was left was the lighting of the candles....and i don't mean lighting of candles that happen to be just floating around the house....i actually mean the lighting of candles that happen to be ON the Christmas tree.

WOW it was really so beautiful.




the next day was the 24th of December ad here in Switzerland is the Holy night and the night that gifts and family diners take place. In the day I went to a castle with my host dad and here we saw an amazing frosty view of Balsthal...just stunning




So that evening we all went to the Grandparents house with our gifts. We then had a mouthwatering dinner..............soooooooooooooooooooo good. this dinner of excellence consisted of prawns in a sauce as starters, for main meat and green veggies (mum you will be proud) and then it was a break between dessert and the meal...and in the time the Christ kind, or baby Jesus comes and puts the gifts under the tree.

the door is then opened and the family enters. Luca then reads from the bible and then Jan (my older host brother ...one says this name not like Jan but more like yan) plays the guitar and the family sings along.



we all sang along to the Christmas carols......i had to sing silent night in English for them all.....and Luca the bugger filmed me (as my host mum has been filming my time with the family so when i go home i have a DVD if memories) ...i was not pleased about this, being filmed singing fact ...but i guess that's what you get when you have brothers....... or at least a brother called Luca anyway.


it was then gift time. I gave out all of my gifts...which were mostly Australian inspired, apart from the small English influence in the 'sound of music CD 'for my Host mum and the 'Little Brittan Live' DVD for my boys.

I received 2 Cd's that Luca had burnt me; filled with German and Swiss German music.

A beautiful broach from Jan, a book from the host grandparents, a a Little pottery dish from Sandra (Marc's sister) and from my host parents...a set of juggling balls...as i am so useless at had eye co-ordination ...and so they have said if i wish to come back to see them again i have to be able to juggle.....so sadly it my be a while before i come back as my juggling skills really are limited.



I also received a pair of toe sox...as all my socks have holes ad they feel it important that i go home with to least one pair of OK socks.............. and then a really Swiss gift....a freeze that goes around the top of a bedroom wall.....so i now have 4 meters of Swiss landscape to decorate my room with.


we then had the worlds best chocolate mouse for dessert and some fruit salad.
After a bit of juggling practice and so on it was time to go home.


I then unsuccessfully attempted 4 times to ring home....and then finally at 1.30am i got a hold of them and then chatted until about 2.30am.

the next day which is our Christmas day in Australia was the birthday of my Host Grandpa. So we went to the grandparents house to wish him a very happy 82nd birthday.


after staying there for a while we then went with my host grandma to see the nativity at a church in solothurn. this was a very old nativity and was very beautiful.

that evening we then made sauce for us to have with our meat fondue that night.
at about 6.30 the host grandparents,and Sandra and her boyfriend arrived for dinner.
After a really nice dinner the host grandparents left and went home, we then settled down and watched good old happy potter and then all went to bed.

Christmas was then over. And now i am looking forward to heading off to Holland in the next few days with my host family , to visit the family from my host mum.


ps. there are more Christmas photos to come......I just have to get them from my Host parents camera first.

Sami klaus

On the 6th of December is Sami Klaus day, or also know s Saint Nicholas day.
It is the Remembrance day of Sait Nicholas who died on the 6th of December in year 343.

However this is no sombre event and unlike our Santa clause who we never see, who comes on the 24th of December and comes down the chimney, Sammi Klaus in Switzerland will visit each child’s house on the 6th dressed up in his bishop gear (so a gold hat and a red cape) accompanied by Schmutzli (a man dressed all in Black), who used to threaten the children when they were not good and put them in his sack , or whip them with a broom thing made out of twigs called a rutter.

Sammi klaus will also reads from his gold book and tell the child what he has seen that the child has done well and things that the child should do to improve their behaviour. The child must then recite to Sammi Klaus a small poem or story and then Sammi klaus will present the child with a some nuts, mandarins and chocolate.

In My Village the Sammi Klauses ,yes there are about 37 Santas who split up and make sure that one of them visits each child’s house. …..are then individually chased from house to house by small boys with cow bells. Then once all of the Sammi Klauses have visited all of the children’s houses they are then all chased together by the boys with the cow bells through the village 2 times and down the main road where the festivities of whip cracking and hot wine drinking are taking place.

So once I found at that here is Switzerland Santa Clause is totally different from ours, and the celebrations are most defiantly not the same, I mentioned this to my host family. who then organized for me to go with my host Mum to the neighbours house (as they have small children who Sammi Klaus would be visiting) and have the whole Swiss Santa experience.

So I learnt my poem.....and this was not so easy as it was in Swiss German....but with help from my host brother who corrected my pronunciation I was able to say my poem off by heart, and make sound slightly ok.....well I think they could at least understand what I was trying to say.

The big day finally came and another exchange student from my school Emilia, who's host mum works with my host mum was also coming to the neighbours that evening.

So in the morning I went to school, and in the afternoon with Kay-lea I went to the Solothurn Sammi Klaus Markets. Here I saw a Santa and a Schmutzli....and even their donkey!!!!

I then met Emilia and we went to Balsthal. We then went to the Markets in Blasthal...where my host dad was working on a stall and he gave us some hot chestnuts.....so good.

it was then back home so we could meet my host Mum and go to the neighbours house.

The Neighbours were so lovely. they had a small daughter and a son, however the son was not at home as he was out with his cow bell chasing Santa.

Table at the house was set up so nicely with nuts and fruit and chocolate...and the atmosphere was a cheerful, fun going one.




After playing with the little girl, and waiting on Santa....he finally arrived.

I was so excited and also a bit nervous...I really was not sure why I was nervous and it was so odd to be so as I know it was just a man dressed up as Santa....However the whole atmosphere made the whole thing seem so real and I just felt so swept up in the whole Sammi Klaus spirit.


So after being told that I am a good kid, I like to sing the sound of music, I fall of my bikes and that I have not been bad up to date....I said my little Swiss rhyme.....and all went well.

after receiving my bag of treats from Santa which also had a little Swiss German to German dictionary inside (the best gift I could get) it was then time for a few photos with Santa.

After we all had been spoken to by Santa (well Emilia, the little girl and I )




It was time for Santa and Schmutzli to go....well not until a photo was taken of course.

It was then off to the village in the rain for us to see the Santa running festivities and drink hot Swiss wine.

people paraded through he street with bells, kids whacked wisps and the Santa’s ran through the street (just an amazing site to see.....I have never seen so may Santas in my life).



I drank my wine and listened to all the Santas say a rhyme style thing.

after all of that the day was over. it was back home ...to chat for a bit with Emilia and her Host parents...
and then it was off to bed after a wonderful day.