The First Week

The flight was long, but the inflight service with Singapore Airlines was very good. We were met at Zurich Airport by Marianne and her father. We came straight to the Dagmersellen house, which has has four stories, including a basement and an attic. It is new and filled with modern appliances and will be a cosy place for us to live in for the year. Mark and Marianne, our exchangees, stayed here with us for four days to settle us in. They were wonderfully helpful and we enjoyed getting to know them.

The weather has been quite mild, with temperatures rarely going below zero. The girls have enjoyed 'smoking' into the cold air in the mornings, when there is frost on the grass. There has been no snow here in Dagmersellen but we can see the snow tipped mountains in the distance.

We are being very challenged by the language issue. Apart from trying out our limited German, we must also contend with the Swiss German that is mainly spoken here (another language entirely). Luckily Mark's German is quite able to get us by and he can understand and make himself understood. The girls are receiving German lessons at school, which will hopefully allow them to pick up the language soon.

Mark has had an eye-opening week at his new school. It's a little like being a first year teacher, stepping into an unknown whilst not fully grasping the language. Mark was a little surprised that the staff and students' command of English was over-estimated. He is also getting used to starting at 8am (or 7:15am on Wednesdays) and then finishing at 5pm. However, we do have two hours off for lunch each day when the whole town stops and comes home for a cooked main meal.

Terri-Lyn has begun taking her English Conversation class, which give English speaking adults an opportunity to practice and improve their English language skills. The class is held weekly and is a new experience for Terri-Lyn, who has never taught before. The first class went very well. Tonight the class will be treated to lamingtons, fairy bread, mini pavlovas and vegemite sandwiches. This is in honour of Australia Day, and our conversation topic for tonight is cultural festivals.

Luckily for the girls, their teachers all speak some English which has helped them to settle in. Some of the older students speak a little English as they start learning it in Year 7. The Dagmersellen school has gone out of its way to be helpful to the girls and our family. As the school is only a 5 minute walk away from the house it is easy for them to come home for lunch. Something different here is that when the girls aren't timetabled for classes they can come home.

The girls will head of to the school ski camp in a couple of weeks, which will be a challenge - being in an unusual environment and away from their family. We are confident that it will be a wonderful experience.

On Saturday we went into our local city, Lucerne. It is a lovely town, with so much history. We crossed the two old bridges which are famous in this city. We walked around the pedestrian-only streets and did some shopping. There are a number of places for us to see in Lucerne, and as it is only about a 25 minute drive away we will be able to visit often. At the moment it is coming up to the Fasnachts festival, which means lots of dressing-up, music and celebration. In Lucerne we were treated to a couple of bands playing lively, loud music. Many people in the crowds walked around dressed in colourful and crazy gear.

We are looking forward to visiting our relatives in Koln, Germany from next Thursday for 3 nights. It is also festival time there so we will have a great time.