Lovely swiss evening

Sitting at an outdoor table at the "Frohsinn", about 7:30pm, and its probably been the warmest day since we've arrived. Our Swiss intern Pascal arrived today from the cast. It is great to have him here! With our lack of german he will be a huge help. So the team is sitting outside waiting on the probably non-existant alumni meeting that is supposedly happening in 3 minutes. The only people who RSVP'd said no, but we need to be here anyways, just in case.

Today I had my first experience driving on an actual Swiss highway. Thanks to our handy Garmin I didn't have a heart attack and actually did pretty well. The reason I was on the highway was we went to pick Pascal up at the airport in Zurich. The only "incident" was near the airport (these swiss are crazy drivers!) I was in the left lane and a guy was RIGHT behind me and laying on the horn so I would move over. In my defense, I had to exit to the left...

We've spent the last week at a lovely new host family, in an old converted school house in the countryside. On saturday we had a BBQ in the their yard and we even roasted marshmallows :-)
On Saturday we are changing host families for the second (and hopefully last) time. We will go to the pastor's house of a nearbye town. He is married to a woman from Chile and they both speak Spanish, as well as English, so now I will be to talk to them in TWO languages. YEAH! After not having any language in common with our first host mom, this will be a refreshing change!

Switzerland/Suiza!

Here I am in Weinfelden, Switzerland, a small town of about 10,000 people located about 30 miles outside of Zurich and very near to Lake Konstanz. I'm working with a philipino girl named Lari and we are staying in an even smaller town (Marsteten, or something like that) of about 2,500 people I think. Our host mom is an older woman who hardly speaks any English and we have no internet at home. So...time to try a new approach to this whole blogging thing. Write the blog without internet and post it later (LOL...what a novel idea!).

I've been in Switzerland for a week now and things are going relatively good I think, but difficult...neither of us speak German, so basic communication is often times very complicated. Our team office is at a car dealership and they were generous enough to donate a car for us during our stay (we are VERY lucky...I think we are the only team who got a car in Europe). But, that means I have to drive! So, I am driving a tiny little Toyota "Starlet" (love the name!) and its probably the only automatic car in the whole town! I'm pretty nervous driving here, but its been getting better. Some Swiss people have roadrage though! And are NOT afraid to tailgate! grrr...

Tomorrow we have a German speaking intern starting with us, so we are very excited about that! Each week we will have a different intern. The interns were arranged by a local alumni and they will help us with translations, phone calls, etc. Their help will be much needed! Things go MUCH slower when you can't speak the language, so I am working on being patient! The positive side? After this Mexico will seem easy! :D

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Aquí estoy en Weinfelden, Suiza, un pueblo de unos 10,000 habitantes situado a unos 45 minutos de Zurich y muy cerca del lago "Konstanz". Estoy trabajando con una chica filipina se llama Lari y estamos viviendo en un pueblo todavía más pequeño se llama Marsteten (o algo así) que tiene unos 2,500 habitantes. Nuestra familia anfitriona es una mujer mayor que no habla ingles y no tenemos internet en casa. Entonces voy a intentar algo nuevo con el blog, escribir mientras no tengo internet y colgarlo luego (lo cual tenía que haber hecho antes jejejej a ver si escribo más a menudo).

Llevo una semana en Suiza y las cosas van bastante bien creo, pero muy dificíl...ninguna de las dos hablamos aleman, lo cual hace comunicar muy pero que muy dificil a veces. Nuestra oficina está en un concesionario de coches y han sido muy generosos en donar un coche que podemos utilizar mientras estamos aquí. (Tenemos mucha suerte...creo que somos el unico equipo con coche en europa). Pero claro, eso significa que tengo que conducir! Estoy conduciendo un toyota "starlet" muy pequenito, y quizas el unico coche automatico de la provincia. No me gusta mucho conducir pero estoy acostumbrandome más cada día. Pero los suizos son un poco agresivos conduciendo a veces! Y eso que estamos en el campo!

Mañana viene un chico de prácticas que habla alemán, que ilusión! Necesitamos un montón de ayuda, con llamadas y emails y hablando con la gente en general! Cuantas llamadas he recibido ya que ni siquiera pude entender el nombre de la persona. Las cosas van muy lentas cuando no puedes hablar el idioma, entonces estoy aprendiendo a ser muy (muy) paciente. Pero el lado bueno de todo esto? Que Mexico parecerá muy fácil! :D

Crunch time begins

Its been awhile since I've been able to write and as it may be awhile until I can again, I thought I'd at least try to post something now even if it has to be quick.

I think the most exciting thing I've done lately is go up in my host dads plane! It is an old "Beechcraft Bonanza" and can seat 4 people. We only took it on a short trip so we didn't go up very high (maybe about 1500 feet)...and while Im so glad I went, lets say I don't really feel the need to go again! We took the plane to his friends house about 18 miles away and landed on his grass landing strip. What a beautiful ranch he has, its actually a guy from Galicia (Spain). The house is in an area called "the green swamp" and its protected so nobody will be able to build anything there again, just what is already there can stay. We saw baby alligators in a pond and I guess mama was there somewhere but luckily we didn't see her.

A couple days later at a Kiwanis meeting I actually got to hold an itty bitty baby alligator. A guy from "gatorland" was the speaker at the meeting and he actually brought the baby gator in his shirt! What a way to travel!

So, now crunch time is really here! The cast arrives 2 weeks from tomorrow, and there is still SO much to do! We still need 60+ host families! On the bright side, we found 10 or 12 today. And 2 more team members have joined us, one is a staff member who has been doing PR work for Up with People for a semester already (yeah!!! finally, someone who knows what they're doing!) and another is a second semester student who is our admissions intern. So I am thrilled to have them here and we can get down to business and have everything ready by the time the cast arrives...

A few pictures...

For those of you not on facebook, a few pictures from Florida! I really haven't been taking many because I've mostly been working, but these can give you an idea...

The lake by my house where I've been jogging and walking. The whole thing is 3 miles around. The buildings on the other side of the lake is the college where UWP will be performing.

 

 

 

The neighborhood where I live. Its filled with all these crazy trees covered with crazy moss...its looks so southern, I love it...

Our trip to Universal Studios last weekend.

Maybe Carlos cut-off my feet on purpose to hide my hideous white running shoes! Nothing like living out of a suitcase LOL

Loved this merry-go-round, I couldn't resist!

FLORIDA

It's been a little over a week and half since I got to Florida. I'm in Lakeland, Florida which is about an hour south of Orlando and 45 minutes east of Tampa. This is my first time in Florida and I think the biggest surprise has been that I actually feel like I'm in the South! Obviously I know Florida is in the south, but I never expected it to really FEEL like it. I tried grits for the first time (not a whole lot of flavor), have eaten fried cat fish a few times, drunk WAY too much sweet tea (but its so good!) and the other day stopped by "Pig Fest", an enormous fair that consisted only in barbecue pork (after walking around less than an hour and not even eating anything I still left smelling like bbq).

Yesterday Carlos (my co-worker) and I went to Orlando to Universal Studios! A girl at the radio station here gave us 2 free passes and a free parking pass that were all going to expire Jan. 31, so we had to go this weekend! We got lucky and it was a beautiful day. Poor Carlos, I am probably the worst person in the world to go to a theme park with because all the rides make me sick, but I did go on some. Disneyworld is probably more my speed–there are some CRAZY roller coasters at Universal Studios! But it was lots of fun anyways, since I never go to theme parks I like just walking around and seeing everything. The Harry Potter area was neat, but so crowded! People were standing in a huge line just to go in a SToRE.

I am staying in a little studio apartment that is connected to my host family's house, so that is really cool.  We are close to a lake that I have jogged around a couple times and tomorrow we are going to pick up passes to the college wellness center that they are giving us during our time here, so I am hoping to get more exercise!

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Ya llevo una semana y media en Florida. Nunca he estado en Florida y creo que lo que más me ha sorprendido ha sido que realmente siento que estoy en el sur. Evidentemente Florida está en el sur, pero nunca pensé que fuera así. Probé "grits" por primera vez (no tienen mucho sabor), he comido "catfish"(bagre?) frito, bebo demasiado té dulce y frio, y el otro fuí a "pig fest" (fiesta de cerdo) una fiesta ENORME dedicado exclusivamente a comer cerdo–despues de andar por allí menos que una hora y no comer nada a salir olía a cerdo.

Ayer Carlos (mi compañero de trabajo) y yo fuimos al Universal Studios. Un chica en la estación de radio nos dió dos entradas y parking gratis, pero iba a caducar el día 31, así que tuvimos que ir! Hizo un día estupendo. Pobre Carlos, debo ser la peor persona del mundo para ir a un parque tematico. No monto en casí nada por que me pongo mala en todos. (Creo que disney world sería mejor para mi). Pero monté en un par de cosas, y como no voy nunca a parques tematicos me gusta andar por alli y ver todo–la parte de Harry Potter me gustó mucho :D  ...pero fue una locura! la gente haciendo cola solo para entrar en una TIENDA.

Aquí estoy viviendo en un pequeño estudio conectado a la casa de mi familia anfitriona. Está muy bien, tengo cocina pequenita y todo.  Estamos cercas de un lago donde he ido a correr un par de veces y mañana nos van a dar pases para ir al gimnasio de la universidad que está aquí cerca, asi que voy a intentar hacer más ejercicio.

Welcome to the west!...Bienvenidos al oeste!

This Sunday (yesterday) was our first full day off since we arrived almost 2 weeks ago...so I think its fair to say it was well deserved! And we went to...the STOCK SHOW!!!! May I just say WOW. I have never seen anything like it. From the huge room that was like a cattle beauty parlor (I don't think barbers usually cut PEOPLES hair with such close attention) to cowboys everywhere to the most random booths you can imagine...it was all there. We just spent a couple hours there in the morning, which was perfect.

Today was spent in non-stop training sessions. Literally. We got about 5 minutes to grab our lunches so we could eat them during the presentation. It was a LONG day. But we got some very interesting info! Maybe not most importantly, but most interesting for purposes of my blog, I found out where I will be going in Europe! I will be in our last European city, which is in Switzerland, about 30 miles from Zurich. This is very exciting because I have never been to Switzerland!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Day after tomorrow its off to Florida! I will be going with Carlos, from Sacramento, and we will be setting up Lakeland, Florida. Both of us are new, so this will be a great learning experience. Luckily, we have a very long set-up (6 and a half weeks), so that will be a big help. Our host families are all set-up, and they already seem SUPER helpful, its amazing, so that is also fabulous.

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El domingo (ayer) fue nuestro primer día libre desde que hemos llegado. Hemos ido al...."STOCK SHOW" (feria de ganado). Ufff...nunca he visto nada parecido! Desde la salón llena de vacas que parecía una peluquería para ganado a los vaqueros por todas partes hasta los puestos más extraños que puedes imaginar...había de todo! Pasamos la mañana allí y fue como estar en otro mundo.

Hoy tuvimos clases y presentaciones SIN PARAR. Literalmente. Tuvimos 5 minutos para coger la comida para poder comerlo mientras seguimos hablando. Que día largo. Aunque hemos hablado de muchas cosas interesantes y importantes, creo que lo más interesante para poner aquí es que ya sé donde estaré en europa...después de florida iré a suiza! Estaré en una pequeña ciudad que está a unas 30 millas de Zurich. Que ilusión, nunca que estado en suiza!

Pero antes que nada, pasado mañana (miercoles) voy a florida! Que nervios! Voy con otro chico se llama Carlos, es de Sacramento, y estaremos en Lakeland, Florida. Los dos somos nuevos, vamos a aprender muchisimo! Nuestro anfitriona ya parece que nos va a ayudar muchísimo, y esto es genial. Otra cosa buena es que estaremos alli 6 semanas y media, que nos viene super bien siendo nuevos porque asi tenemos mucho tiempo para hacer todo.

Snow!

This first weekend in Denver was a busy one! This Saturday we got to sleep in and then the staff had safe driver training. Friday night I dreamt that it snowed (I really don't do ANyTHING in the snow--not drive, not jog, nothing)...luckily, we didn't wake up to snow until SUNDAY morning. And this was quite a bit of snow, much more than Ive seen in years! Unfortunately I forgot my camera on Sunday, but I did take this picture out of the van on Monday morning.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to getting to Florida! Seasons are just not my thing. Unless they're Spring or Summer.

Our days here consist of LOTS of training. It is ALOT of information in a very short time, but all very necessary because a week from tomorrow I fly out with my teammate, Carlos, to head to our first set-up, which will be in Florida! I am a bit nervous but VERY excited to get started...

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El primer fin de semana en Denver hemos estado muy liados. El sábado pudimos dormir un poco más, pero luego habia que ir a la clase de "Como conducir con cuidado" (o algo asi). El viernes por la noche soñé  con nieve....o mejor dicho, tuve una pesadilla! Yo no sé conducir en la nieve! Por suerte, fue el domingo por la mañana que me desperté con un montón de nieve...hace años que no veo tanto nieve...pero claro, los últimos 10 años los he pasado entre Madrid y Hawaii jejejeje...bueno, el domingo olvidé la cámara, pero saqué la foto de arriba desde la furgoneta el lunes por la mañana...
Que ganas tengo de ir a Florida ya!

Aquí pasamos los días en un montón de cursillos, intentando prepararnos para el trabajo que tenemos que hacer. Es muchísima información en muy poco tiempo, pero todo es muy necesario porque vamos la semana que viene a nuestros ciudades donde empezaremos a trabajar de verdad! Estoy un poco nerviosa pero muy emocionada para empezar....