Our First Few Weeks in Switzerland

Well, we made it! We're here in Switzerland and things are going well for us. The weather is beautiful (though I can only say that because I like the rain as much as the sunshine) and the smells of the forest and the farms help me to feel right at home. I love hearing the tinkling bells of the cows and sheep, and I have a beautiful church just around the corner that chimes the time away for me. Andi is in his third week with his internship as an electrical engineer and he is loving it. I really think it's the perfect occupation for him.

We finished building our dressers yesterday, so I've finally been able to organize and am just about finished getting our things put away. Of course, most of our belongings will remain in boxes since we will (hopefully) be moving to our own place very soon. We are living with Andi's parents right now and are very grateful for their kindness, but I don't think any married couple should ever feel comfortable living at either parents' house. All we are really waiting on is my finding a job (no pressure, right?). I've found that that's much easier said that done. I've got several ideas for what I could do, but I'm beginning to feel like that's as far as I can get. My greatest handicap is that I can't speak German well enough yet and so I have to avoid any job that would require me to speak the native language here. Needless to say, that limits my prospects significantly.

My German is rapidly improving here (or so I keep telling myself) and I can understand everyone fairly easily. I've begun studying German each day and when I babysit Andi's nieces and nephew, they always give me a lesson and a few pointers. They teach me more than anyone else, actually. My brain seems to be separating High German and Swiss German fairly well. For a person who has to see how a word is written in order to remember it though, an unwritten language takes a little extra effort--and imagination!

The ward here is incredible. It is very solid and many of it's members are young couples and American families. All of my closest friends speak English and the American families all want to take me in to make sure that I adjust well to being here. I feel right at home in this ward. My first Sunday here, Andi got called to be the first counselor in the Elder's Quorum, and this last Sunday I got the best calling I could ever have asked for! Unfortunately, I told Mom and Dad that I want to tell them about it over the phone, so I'll have to wait until after I talk to them on Saturday to let you all know what it is. I can hardly wait to tell you! (Sorry for the cliff-hanger.)

Tomorrow is my last day doing the paper route that I've been doing for the last two weeks for Andi's mom while she went to Austria. Andi's sister just had her baby there. I've enjoyed the route, but running around for two hours in the dark was a little bit of a challenge. (Yes, I'm still afraid of the dark.) I learned that spiders love to put up webs all around mailboxes at night and that I should always run with my mouth closed. I don't know how nutritious spiderwebs are, but I didn't feel that great after eating a few. I also found after changing the route a little that certain houses I used to deliver to in the dark had extra surprises waiting for me when I delivered to them after the sun had risen. For example, I learned that one particular house has a large German Shepherd in their yard without a fence or chain. He didn't look like he appreciated my being there, but I had never been attacked before I knew he was there...

So today I think I'll try to make bread. I've never had much success with it in the past, but maybe the Swiss climate and altitude will favor my baking skills. I'll put pictures up of our car and house soon. It's raining today (to put it mildly), but I might be able to do it on Saturday. The thunder storm we had last night was actually the loudest I've ever been in, and I know for a fact that it lasted all night, right up until Andi and I opened the door to do newspapers. It has really been a beautiful day.

I miss you all and hope you are doing well. We will update our blog at least once every two weeks from now on. We look forward to also hearing how each of you are doing. Have a great weekend!