A lot of things have been happening recently. On Thursday we got to move into Stockli the staff house which was very exciting. There are two bedrooms and baths as well as a kitchen and tv room on the bottom floor and two baths and about 4 bedrooms on the top floor. Most people have roommates and there is one triple and there are three single rooms. I am rooming with Emi from Japan on the bottom floor.
So the highlight of Thursday was moving my stuff into Stockli and doing laundry. But Thursday was also special because one American, from Pennsylvania who goes to Texas A &M and has Italian heritage, made dinner for the staff. There is a staff challenge which includes preparing a dinner from your country by yourself as one of the criteria. Emily made homemade ravoli filled with cheese, garlic bread, and a meatball sauce. Then dessert was fresh cannoli. It was a meal to remember and we listened to Italian music. Also that night Emily hosted an 'Aggie' night for evening program which covered a great deal of information about Texas A&M. Apparently Texas A&M does not have cheerleaders at football games but instead 'yell leaders.' Emily taught us severall yells and other A&M propaganda. It was enlightening but not exactly my favorite evening program.
Then Friday was our final staff program training day. All 10 of the summer volunteers plus the program director and assistant program director went hiking to the top of Bunderspitz a mountain behind the chalet that separates Adelboden from Kandersteg. We left at 10 am and got to the cheese makers hut at 12 pm and as we arrived at the hut, the hut owner played the Alpine horn. I trully felt at that moment that I was in the Swiss Alps. After that we started our ascent of Bunderspitz. We were in different groups because one girl had injured her leg and had to take her time on the hike. I was in the first group and we finally reached the top around 2:45 pm and ate a late lunch at that time. Then the top of Bunderspitz started becoming very cold so we put on all the clothes we had brought. Soon we left the summit and arrived in time for dinner at 6:30 pm. Saturday was my day off and I began the day making french toast with Vanessa from California for the other summer staffers. It was great having a different breakfast because my usual breakfast here is either muesli (dried oats with raisins, sugars, apricots, and some nuts mixed with plain yogurt and allowed to soak overnight), toast with cheese or jam, or cereal (cornflakes or oats).
Then in the afternoon I went hiking with 3 other Americans (one from Chicago, Vanessa, and the other from West Virginia) to the woodcarvers. I bought a woogle to put on my neckerchief which I wear daily. We also on our hike managed to find the flat/apartment where some of the senior staff from Our Chalet (they work at the chalet for more that 3 months) live. They invited us in for tea which was great considering it was beginning to rain. Finally we went back for dinner.
Also that evening we (summer staffers) found out our assignments for next week. This week marks the actual beginning of summer for the chalet with the first groups of girls for summer program. Since this week will not be busy because there are only about 16 guests, the program director assigned the summer staffers who needed more practice on program this week. Thus I will be on guest services giving tours, doing laundry, cooking meals, and cleaning. I have Wednesday and Thursday off this week. Today I went on a long run for about an hour along the river and it was very nice. Then in the afternoon I hiked by myself to the top of Tschentenalp and went down on a discovery trail (roundtrip the hike lasted about 4.5-5 hours). It rained a little but it was still enjoyable.
Tonight we had guests at dinner from Colorado and they mentioned that they had been skiing last week. The mother, daughter who just graduated from high school, and the son who is in college are all ski instructors at Copper Mountain (is apparently owned by Intrawest who owns Snowshoe). The father is a geologist. They will be at the chalet for two days and they are hiking Bunderspitz tomorrow and invited staff to join them. Too bad all staff are working tomorrow so that is not a possiblity. Oh and I learned how to play Texas Holdem (sp) tonight from Emily. Well hope all is well in the U.S.
love, alicia
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