3 months and then some

Nothing too exciting has been happening... hence my lack of updating this blog. I continue to enjoy my time here and am learning a lot, either for the people here or from just spending a lot more time understanding current events and reading a lot more. I am also slowly learning a bit of German, although my reading of it is much better than my actual speaking skills. I have a hard time understanding what people say unless they talk very slow and simplistically.

Hm, so what has been happening. Well this week is halloween, which our little village actually celebrates (very uncommon in europe but i am thrilled about it). I am putting together a little halloween party for the kids and a couple of their friends before they go trick or treating on Wednesday. I am working on my costume today, nothing elaborate... just a jellyfish. I was going to do porcupine until I got some funky purple tights and wanted to incorporate them somehow. I talked Stephanie into going into Bern with me Wednesday night after the kids are done with their thing, so I think that will be a lot of fun...weehee.

I spent last Saturday in Bern, finding some more interesting stuff like a soap store with bar shampoo and I found some nutritional yeast. Yesterday I spent the day in Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland. It is an hour by train from Bern so not too far. It was very enjoyable. It is much more international so there was a lot of English conversations around me, and everyone at the stores speak english. There was even a whole english bookstore. There is a nice river running through the center of the old city, and in general the city was very clean. Quite cute.

In one week and one day my mother will arrive and we will soon embark on a journey to Italy. Yippiee. I think November will go by quite quickly. My mom will be here most of it, there is Thanksgiving, and MY birthday. For my birthday me and the neighbor man are having a joint party (his birthday is the 24th mine the 29th) and on my birthday I will go out with stephanie, and then the weekend after visit Alec (friend from college) in Germany.

Time to enjoy an empty house (the family went on a picnic)... one of my many pleasures. Loud music and free roaming in the kitchen :-)