thank

I'm sitting with my back to the fireplace, a warm cup of coffee steaming by my side and fluffy white snow falling silently outside. I am still not used to snow not making a sound as it falls.. It just kind of creeps up while you're asleep and gathers in little clumps on the ground, on the roof tops, on the branches of the trees..

It's funny how some days you can wake up feeling so positive and thankful and other days wake up so grumpy and irritated by everything. I suppose there is a chemical reason for that? I wonder what it is.. I feel positive and thankful today though :) 

This Sunday I head over to London for a week to hangout with my friend Rach! I'm really excited about that. Except for being a bit broke.. But I will have enough for food and I will have a place to stay.. I will have my camera and the company of a friend so it will be great!

Question: Why do animals sometimes act altruistically?

I'm halfway through listening to this Radiolab episode which asks the question: If natural selection is about ensuring your own survival, why do we see some animals sacrificing themselves for others? 

I haven't finished it yet.. It's interesting so far though. Taya and I were listening to it before and she was asking a lot of questions :) It was cool! We were also talking last night about the Big Bang and I was trying to explain why I believed the theory and why I think it doesn't have to mean that the Bible is wrong about where stuff came from. The funny thing about kids though is that they kind of get bored halfway through your explanation and just decide not to worry about it any more. Which was a relief for me because I don't know if I was making any sense.. 

Saas-Fee Wideo

Here is a wideo of the train trip to Saas-Fee.. I went on a fancy train called the Glacier Express with big windows! It was cool..

Youtube said that my video looked shaky and would I like them to fix it.. and I said yes... which is why it zooms all crazy! Kinda like the effect though..

Saas-fee

Here in ski village saas-fee!

Today was good Friday.. I find it absurd that I had a fun day in a ridiculously beautiful and awesome place on a such a day. Actually, I have found ordinary life strange and surprising almost everyday since coming to Switzerland.. The whole exercise of obtaining bread for the day, for instance, is exciting. "IM WALKING DOWN A MOUNTAIN IN THE ALPS TO THE SHOP! OH MY GOD THERE'S SOME SNOW! HOLY SHIT MAYBE I'LL BUY MILK! SOMEONE JUST SAID HELLO!!!!!!!!!" and etc.. Of course I am exaggerating but how it be if I lived everyday for the rest of my existence in constant delight over "ordinary" things? Some part of me thinks that would be to live more in touch with reality... Another part just thinks it would be tiring.

on my mind

Here are the things tumbling around in my mind.. Like a big load of sudsy washing in my brain-machine. 

Where is the cat? Is he ok? How do I pack snowboard boots? They're huge! I ate too much asparagus. How will I know when to switch from a train to a bus tomorrow? I need to borrow that phone from Nick. How much is it to send an sms here? I hope my Citybank letter arrives soon. What about visa? Will I get a fine? How much money will this weekend cost? What is it to live in the spirit? Are wrist tattoo's really a lesbian thing? I hope my washing dries before tomorrow morning. Will there be food on the train? Will the snow be any good at saas-fee? Will I get on with Kylies friends? I'm I going to get my period while snowboarding? Do I have pain killers? What will I do if I lose my painkillers? I mustn't forget to clean up my room before I go. Don't forget the garbage. I should have used less water when I stewed those apples. Am I keeping the place clean enough? Where is the cat? Is he ok? How do I pack........

And so on and so forth.. I realised I was doing it before and made me laugh.

snowboarding

Re: My day of snowboarding in Davos

1. Approaching strangers at the train station, looking for someone to share a 2-for-one deal with me.
2. Apologising in advance to the Italian skier on the lift with me if I took him out.
3. Falling off the t-bar. Walk / snowboard of shame back down to the bottom.
4. Falling off the t-bar again. Walk / snowboard of shame again.
5. Friendly German man rides the t-bar with me and gets me up safely. We have a disjointed conversation half english, half german. 
6. The run of DOOM which goes FOREVER but is still fun. 
7. Slushy snow in the afternoon.. 
8. A blissful kitkat moment.
9. Cold beer before the train home. 
10. Really, really sore ass. Egg on the knee.

Have you ever seen a confident yet inexperienced person pick up a lit fire-twirling stick and have a go? For a second any natural ability they might have might make it seem like they know what they're doing.. But their reckless handling of it quickly makes it obvious that they don't. 

I suspect that describes me when I'm snowboarding.. I can't tell. Maybe I'm actually just really awesome at it. 

I HAD A GREAT DAY!

Krank

All of us got sick at some point or another this week. I actually lay in bed ALL DAY on Friday. I felt so gross but it was also just sort of nice being snuggled up all day. Anybody seen Firefly? I watched about a billion episodes while bedridden. I still don't know what I think about it. You know when something is kind of so ridiculous that it's kind of good?

Anyway, yesterday Abby and Georgia had more ski races so we all went to watch. I discovered that Nat's snowboots while very waterproof have BUGGER ALL GRIP. So I had a great time trying to walk across the steep ski-fields to where the race was. I secretly liked it though. Those girls were amazing! I mean all the kids were but I liked Abby and Georgia the best. Georgia came 1st in her age group! She was pretty happy about that. They were doing slalom.. So cool. I'd have no chance of doing it.

I was sitting at some little tables up on top of the mountain and taking in the views and enjoying the warm sun and just thinking.. "This is friggin ridiculous!" I feel really lucky to be here doing this stuff :) I like that it's work & play mixed in together. I think if it was all play I would go a bit crazy.

I had a bit of a moment earlier this week thinking about parents.. I was thinking "How can it be that I am inevitably going to be a part of stuffing up my kids - before they're even born! That hardly seems fair!" Because I'm sure not perfect, and even though I might be trying my best I'm going to make mistakes.. And the things I do - good and bad - are going to affect my kids for the rest of their life.

If you're looking for a worthwhile reason to make sure you're becoming the best person you can be, there it is.

Today I have been trying to figure out how to make the perfect rice.

Anyway here are some photos:

Me after 20 minutes of skiing

Taya can ride a unicycle quite well!!

Abby can go upside down quite well!

The general vibe of the race day in Davos

Me being cool

My arms have grown freakishly long since I left

IT'S SNOWING EVERYBODY

Sooo nice

Georgia being amazing at skiing

Another picture of me.. (sorry)

Milk

So the highlights of week 1 in Monstein include:

- Drinking off milk for three days. I thought it was just weird Swiss milk..
- Making a snowman called Roy
- Meeting someone who swears as much as I would like to - a local named Vasha. She also fed me YUMMY indian food.
- Trying locally brewed (like across the road) Monstein Bier.. I like it!
- Playing with the Gerbils
- Finally getting Rosetta Stone to work on my computer
- Eating lots of cheese
- Taking photo's and video's of the town
- Successfully interacting with someone in Deutsch (a 10 year old.. Still counts!)
- Getting smiled at by an attractive Swiss man. No idea who he was though..
- Going Skiing in Davos! Only falling down once!
- Going shopping with Nat in Davos. Having time to actually hang out with her a bit.
- Reading 'The Wise Woman' by George Macdonald with the girls every night.
- Being forced to really rely on God to help me not stress.
- The weekend off.

Lowlights include:
- Missing Trumpet a LOT.
- Feeling out of my depth.
- Feeling discouraged about my poor German language skills.

BUT these lowlights are but little droplets in an ocean of awesome highlights! So all is quite well :)

I've uploaded this video of me walking around Monstein and stuff. It's not really very interesting but it at least gives you a chance to see what the town looks like a bit. I just wish it wasn't quite so shaky.

I wish it would snow just a little bit more..

sleeping sitting up

I was on the plane when I wrote this --

I'm on the plane now. It only took me 10hours to find the powerpoint to plug the laptop in. I just woke up actually. They dimmed the lights at about 2am. I woke up from a dark and silent dream where the plane was shaking and the oxygen masks had just started dropping from the ceiling... Woke up in a fully lit cabin by an air hostess' gentle tap on the shoulder, mouthing words I couldn't hear. Ear plugs. Would I like breakfast? 10 second pause while I remember who and where I am. Yes please. I just slept for 8 hours! Sitting up! How did I even do that??