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Taking the Tractor Home From Alphorn Practice

30 Aug

Taking The Tractor Home

Monday nights are Alphorn night for me.  The last couple of weeks I have been meeting up with a Swiss Farmer and a Guy that runs a Coffee Business to hang out and make some noise with our alphorns in a parking garage.  Thinking about it, it is really seems like something total odd, almost like a dream.

One of the guys I play with was nice enough to meet me at the bus stop with is car today because it was raining.  So as we were driving the two minutes from the bus station to his place he started to tell me that our other friend drove his tractor.  At first I thought my German was failing me so I asked him if the other guy had a car. “No,”  he said, “That is why he drove the tractor.”  Sure enough as we pulled up to the apartment complex there was a nice green John Deere parked out front.

We played for about an hour and a half and when it was time to go, my friend with the John Deere asked if I wanted to ride back to the bus stop.  Sure, why not I thought.  I think he as a bit nervous at first to have an American hanging off the back of his tractor with an Alphorn.  But I assured my friend that I knew how to handle myself.

I explained to him that my grandfather back in the states had a farm, and as a kid I used to ride out in the fields or into the forest to collect wood.  I had spent plenty of time on tractors and know how to handle them.

I managed to snap a photo over my friends shoulder with my phone as we were driving down the street.  It was really cool how the feeling of being on the back of the tractor brought me back to a place I hadn’t been emotionally in a long time.  I started to remember the summers I had spent in Michigan on my Grandparents farm.  The afternoons with Grandpa, working in the field cutting down trees for the winter heating, or riding out to clear ditches or mend a fence.  Those were really special times for me.  I didn’t spend nearly enough time at the farm, but I will never forget those experiences.

So slowing coming back to reality, my friend pulled over at the bus stop and I hoped off.  Sitting there at the station was a young guy, probably in his twenties.  He looked both amused and confused by what he was seeing.  He said to me “Nice ride?”  I replied in German “Yeah, special unscheduled bus service.”   With both laughed and sat down to wait.

 
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Posted in Daily Life

 

Globish, Hand Shoes and Other Compound Words

29 Aug

When learning German one of the fun things you come across are strange sounding compound words.  One of my favorites that has graced the pages of my blog before is Handshuhe which translates directly to Hand Shoe (a.k.a.  Glove).

The other day I was speaking English, as I often do and came across an English compound word that I am sure has the same kind of strange sound to non-native speakers.  Headphones.   If you think about this the word headphones is not really descriptive as its pure components. Headphones are made up of  neither a head nor a phone.

For all those non-native speakers, or speakers of Globish, I would like to suggest a more descriptive and accurate word.  Earspeakers.

If you aren’t familiar with Globish maybe you are familiar with Esperanto.  Globish is the new Esperanto.  Here is a short video to give you some amusing background on the world’s next global language.

So what are your favorite foreign words?  Leave a comment.

 
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Posted in Language

 

Aletsch Glacier Between Chazlecher & Silbersand

28 Aug
Aletsch Glacier Pond

Small Pond Along the Aletsch Glacier

The weather has not been so great today so I spent some time going through photos from our Aletsch Glacier trip.  There are still plenty to go through.

During one of the longer hikes we made it down close to the glacier itself.  Somewhere on the trail between Chazlecher and Silbersand we spotted a small pond between some rocks below and decided to hike down to check it out.

This is photo is what we stumbled upon.  I was a great little spot to climb around the rocks and take in the view.

 
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Posted in Photography, Swiss Day Trips

 

Hornussen in Fraunfeld

25 Aug

Hitting The Nouss From The Block

Last weekend we made a trip to the Eidgenössisches Schwing- und Älperfest with the main intent of taking in some Hornussen.  From the looks of it the sport is some sort of combination of golf and baseball without the base running.

In a nutshell a guy hits what looks like a black golf ball with a fishing pole with a block of wood on the end of  it off a metal tee.  The other team in the field has to hit the golfball out of the air with what look like shovels.  They team in the field are allowed to even throw the shovels.  If the golfball lands in the playing field without being knocked out of the air points are scored.

Attacking the Nousse With Flying Shovels

Each team has 18 players and when a team is at bat, each batter gets to hit two balls.  The sport is played in four quarters with 1 team taking a turn to bat in each of the quarters.  Each team essentially gets two chances at the tee.

There is a  nice video explaining the Swiss Farmers Game (Hournuussen) on Youtube in english.

Games can be 3 hours in length.  It is just as faced paced as American baseball.  Meaning unless you are a real fan I could see getting bored after about 15-30 minutes.

Its worth checking out if you are near a match, but for the uninitiated it might not be the best way to spend an afternoon.

 
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Posted in Daily Life, Swiss Day Trips

 

Frauenfeld Schwing- und Alperfest

20 Aug

This weekend marks the Frauenfeld Schwingfest. The event takes place every three years with the intent to crown the National Schwingen king.  I heard that this  year the Swiss Army has erected temporary seating for 60,000 spectators.   The popularity of the event means that tickets are already sold out.

Surrounding the Schwigen grounds a Alperfest will be held.  So even if you can’t get a ticket on eBay or Ricardo it still might be worth a weekend visit for some wurst and yodeling.

 
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Posted in Festivals, Swiss Day Trips

 

How To Make Ice Cubes In Switzerland

15 Aug

Eiswürfelbeutel (Ice Cube Making Bags)

The trouble with Switzerland.  The trouble with Switzerland for an American is ice cubes.  This is an epic party conversation starter at expat parties and social events.  For the American pallet anything less than ice cold Coke, or Gin & Tonics without a good pile of ‘rocks’ is just not going to cut it.

Ice is like the holy grail of a good party for me.  For years now I have been buying ice and absolutely insane costs from the local getranktmarkt (beverage shop) for our annual first of August party.  It was not uncommon for me to spend between 30 and 50 CHF on ice to fill my American sized cooler to ensure I had the beer and soft drinks at an acceptable temperature to satisfy an American thirst.

Yesterday, I was amazed to find a truly Swiss solution to my decidedly American problem.  And where did I find my solution?  Probably the last place I ever expected to find it.  At a Swiss Housewarming party.

As I was offered and G&T by the Swiss Party host I started the lament my ice cube issue.  She immediately turned to me with a stunned look telling me that she had so much ice that she would have to throw away.  “No, don’t do it!” I screamed, offering to take the cubes home with me in my pockets if I had to.

Then she showed me the trick.  Eiswürfelbeutel.  These ingenious little plastic bags solve the problem that every American has come across.  How the heck can I fit my American sized ice cube trays into these tiny freezers?

The Eiswürfelbeutel are essentially plastic ziplock bags that can be filled with water.  They are ’stitched’ with a quilt like square pattern so that it almost looks like bubble wrap when it is filled with water.  After the water freezes a quick tug on the side of the bag and the stitches break and you are left with a bag of ice.

You’ll still need to have some room in you freezer for the bags, but the fact that you can squish them in the freezer makes them much more convenient than the hard plastic trays I am familiar with from the U.S.

You can buy the bags at Migro in a hanging plastic bag packaging.  The cost is about 2 CHF for enough bags to make 220 cubes.  It is amazing that I am still learning about such things after more than 4 years in this country.  I can’t even imagine what my next discovery will be.

 
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Posted in Daily Life, Food, Shopping

 

Aletsch Glacier Added To the Travel Destinations Maps

13 Aug

Aletsch Glacier, Switzerland

Luckily the one day I headed to the top of Bettmerhorn with my panoramic photography gear during our vacation the weather cooperated.  I took this image along a hiking trail not too far from the Bettmerhorn lift station.  In this photograph you are seeing about 7 miles of the glacier.

This was such a beautiful view that I added Aletsch to my Swiss Travel Destinations interactive map.

I also ordered a professional print of a panoramic image for the first time.  I order this photograph from ezprints.com which is one of the few sights that will print panoramic images to custom lengths.  My final print turned out to be 12″x 33″  (30cm x 83cm).  I size looks really good, however I think I need to adjust the colors a bit or calibrate my monitor because the print looks a little bit too dark as compared to my monitor.

 
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Posted in Photography, Swiss Day Trips, Travel

 

Grocery Shopping Like A Bachelor

11 Aug

I have been out of touch the last couple of weeks due to an extended summer vacation.  First we were in the mountains here in Switzerland for a while and then we returned to the U.S. for a week to visit family.

The trip back to the U.S. was the first I have made back to the States in the summer months.  Usually we are flying in for Christmas.  I had really forgotten how hot and humid it can get in the Chicago area in August.  Just unbearable really.

I arrived back in Switzerland this morning and the first thing I had to do was run to the store to get some food.  I did a quick lap around the store only hitting the essentials.  Some fruit, a couple of things for the grill and some dairy items.  That was about it.  Really bachelor style.  My wife is still in the States and will return in a couple of days so I’ll be living like a bachelor for a while.

Although my shopping wasn’t that well rounded it definately was better than the guy behind me in line. His selection was just a little odd.  On the belt at the check-out he had a single piece of sashimi wrapped in cellophane, and a powerade (Isostar) drink.  Now thats what I call bachelor shopping.

 
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Posted in Daily Life, Shopping

 

Aletsch Glacier Hiking

03 Aug

Aletsch Glacier, Switzerland

I often wondered why anyone would want to go look at a big piece of ice.  I had seen all the documentaries on TV about various Glaciers, and iceberg fields and yes they looked pretty and would be fun to photograph but I was a bit skeptical if if is something that would really produce a wonder and awe moment.

Last week I got to answer my own question first hand when we took a trip to hike near the Aletsch Glacier.  The Aletsch is the longest glacier in the Alps at around 14 miles long (23 km).    The scale of this massive sheet of ice is difficult to really capture in a photograph.  In the image I have posted you can see about half of the glacier, just about 7 miles of its length.

From this vantage point we saw a couple of helicopters flying over the glacier just about the surface.  They looked liked little tiny dots on the surface.  You’ll notice the 3 distinct dark moraine lines on the glaciers surface.  As the helicopter flew over these lines It was not even 1 quarter of the width of one of the dark moraine lines.  This think is just huge.

To get down the surface of the glacier it takes a bit of effort.  If you are not a regular hiker you’ll be out for the better part of the day if you are leaving from Bettmeralp, Riederalp, or Eggishorn, the closest lift areas.  On most days were were out for 5-6 hours.  Granted I love to take my camera and spend lots of time take breaks with it, but I don’t think I could have kept up any faster of a pace.

I am glad I went to see the glacier and can appreciate why people would want to visit and make this a summer destination.  If you are an outdoors type and haven’t made a visit yet, do it.  It is really something to see.

My tips, be sure you have proper shoes, hiking boots are a must if you want to do any hiking.  Bring water and some snacks as it will surely be a long day.  Hiking poles would be an advantage if you have them.  Finally, if you aren’t a hiker you can still get great views of the glacier from one of the several lift stations.  Each has its own panoramic view point.  If you only have time for one cable car ride up the mountain Eggishorn is the classic view of the glacier.  Although it can be crowded it is situated right at the bend in the glacier and you can view most of the entire extent of the ice field.

 
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Posted in Photography, Swiss Day Trips, Travel

 

Happy August First

01 Aug

Traditional Swiss Flag Throwing

Today is the Swiss National Holiday.  With the First of August celebration comes our annual First of August Party.  My wife and I have been cleaning all day to get the apartment and balcony in shape for the big party.

As usually the fireworks still start across the street over the castle at 10:00 pm.   Every year we add one new element to the party.  This will be the 5th year we have had the party.  Last year we invited all of our guests to bring a food or drink that was representative of their home culture.  That turned out to be a really good way to get people taking and trying different things.

This year in addition to the cultural pot luck I of course will be playing a short Alphorn piece or two.   I’m looking forward to it.  Now, just to get in some rest before the guests arrive.

 
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Posted in Festivals

 
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