Playing with fire

Friday I went along with Geigers to a kid's circus in the neighboring village. I don't think they could do some of the things they did in the states with the kids, for example dipping their hands in gas or alcohol then lighting them on fire! It's better when people don't have to be so strict about those things. It was cute in any case.
Saturday I went to the flea market in Zurich for the second time around. Rebecca wanted to go so we went. I love the flea market there, if I didn't mention that before. It has nice things, unlike the ones in the US. I like Zurich aw well, although I'm not supossed to say that being from Basel. They kind of have this rivalry that started I suppose with football, but I'm not exactly sure. Some people there are minted though. I've seen more bentleys and ferraris there than I've ever seen in my life. In Zurich you can also rent bikes there for free. We wanted to do that, but you have to put down 20 bucks and an ID card. I'm half to blame for forgetting my swiss "foreigner id card" and I blame the rest on the dumb man that wouldn't accept my drivers license as an acceptable form of id. So that kind of sucked.
Monday was a rather pleasant working day for me. I ironed in the morning then spent the rest of the day with Simon, bike riding, playing computer, and dancing. It was just me and him for lunch as well and he wanted me to make "my pancakes" for him, that I had made Friday night. My parents brought a box of hungry jack pancake mix for me and syrup. Comfort food :) The kids really liked them as well. But Simon said the syrup is too sweet so instead he eats them with a pile of sugar on top. Really.
Today I cleaned. When I visited Schowalters, Nikki said she will never clean "like a German." I have to agree with that. Generalisations are not something I like to make, but I'm gonna go with it anyway. I cleaned things this entire year that I would never think to clean myself. For example, doors, the rim between the floor and the wall, and the indents on the buttons on the oven (with a toothpick!). I also think a lot of time and energy would be saved if they just took all the calcium out of the water. So much time is spent getting rid of it. I guess the vinegar lobby is strong in Germany and Switzerland. I dunno...
The weather has been pretty pathetic here. It's been cool, rainy, then a bit of sun and hotness, then windy. I'm not a fan. I'm trying to talk to my dad on Skype now and type this and I seem to be incapable of doing both.

Driving Around the Place

My parents visit came and went so fast. I really enjoyed it, although the beginning stated out a bit rough. The time at Geigers was fine. But Paris, although overall enjoyable had some rough patches. Jessica one month ago had also done some traveling with her parents. She said the first few days she was really moody with them. Then she got used to them. That was her, but I will just be too happy that I won't get like that. Somehow I did. Partly based on the circumstances of the horrible hotel and the ignorant people running it, the other was just me being critical. It just took some getting used to. Maybe part of the reason is, family is really the only people I can truely let all my frustration out in perhaps not always the most mature ways. So they got nine months of things I had pushed aside dumped out on them. Really my attitude only lasted a day and a half. Then I was fine. Our trip ended up being two nights in each place-Paris, Netherlands (staying with a friend my dad worked with in Burkina Faso, and his family), Zwickau, Germany(with my former host mom's brother), then back to Dorndorf for the weekend. From each of those places we made a day trips to Keukenhof(where all the tulips are), Dresden and Munich. I loved being back at Schowalters. I really love that family. It was good to have Nikki there as well to be with.

Sunday night we were back in Lupsingen. Monday was a holiday, Pentecost, so I had off. My parents and I drove to Vevey to visit friends of my moms from when she lived in Haiti. I remembered them since they visited us in Burkina. They live by lake Geneva. I didn't know it would be so pretty. We took the boat to a castle, toured that, then walked along the lake through Montreux. My parents stayed there a night, then went to Geneva for a night. I took the train home Monday and was back to work on Tuesday. I spent a couple hours every day last week on the latest project of collecting stones in the yard. Geigers are redoing? thier yard and now it's just dirt. They have to take a machine over it, so there can be too many rocks. I hate the job because it is seemingly endless. I could work in one spot for an hour and still not guarantee that there are no stones there. It's still not finished-I don't actually see an end to it, so I will be confronted with this job again. Hopefully not too much more of it.
I was happy when Friday came and had to catch a bus at 16:20 to get to the trainee spring retreat for the German and Swiss trainees. Unlike the majority of them, who spent half the day traveling. I was there in less than an hour. It was at some salvation army house, slightly isolated, that is used for these type of gatherings. It was good to see them all again. I did kind of like the fact that I didn't have to be so far from home. Saturday we spent most of the day in Basel, doing as it unfortunately turned out to be, a non-competitive scavenger hunt, as well as some shopping. Sunday we went to Debbie's church, then had our lunch there.
Jessica stayed overnight at Debbie's Sunday night for a meeting, then came over to Geigers before lunch. That made my work day very pleasant. She and I(i just realized writing this that out loud I would say "me and her", although I don't personally care) played with the kids most of the afternoon. I love it when we can be with the kids together. I'm glad she loved it here so much that she keeps finding ways to come back. At night, the neighbors, Rudy and Monica came over and visited. They're good friends with my host parents so I'm getting to know them pretty good. They're really nice people as well as their two daughters that are often around as well.
Jessica and I ended up staying up late talking as we always do. Surprisingly though I didn't feel that tired today although it's beginning to set in.
Elke's mom is here now till the end of June for a visit. Obviously a very extended one, which is normal for her. It makes things a little different around here. For example I do less dishes, but then I also am more likely to stay home when they both go shopping. Oh well. Anyways she's nice just like Elke, they are actually so much alike.
Anyways, I think my ramblings are done for the day.