sooo... we found out wednesday that te school calls all us exchange students up on stage during the school's closing assembly... and we have to do something for ten minutes.  luckily, we will have to say goodbye to everyone, so that takes up some time, but for the rest of it we are going to get everyone singing 'das rote pferd' - a very popular dance not unlike the chicken dance... haha.  it plays at like ALL the parties you go to, esp those which are celebratory in nature (namely after football games and fastnacht and so... not so the 'dance' clubs.. but whatever.  everyone knows it and the dance)

lyrics:

Da hat das rote Pferd sich einfach umgekehrt
und hat mit seinem Schwanz die Fliege abgewehrt.
Die Fliege war nicht dumm, sie machte sum sum sum,
und flog mit viel gebrum um das rote Pferd herum.

La la lalalala...

and then you sing it like ten times... with different smart comments like 'ok, everyone sing...' and 'i want to see everyone dancing'

haha it  translates to...

there was a red horse who turned around and swatted a fly.  the fly wasn't dumb, it went 'zoom zoom zoom' and flew humming loudly around the red horse.

anyway... i'm off to tiscine for the weekend with pris and bruno..

sorry i haven't written in so long...

so i have just over a month left before i head back to the states.  this past weekend was the sendoff camp from afs... we (jesse, ju, erick and i) went down to schwanden, in kanton glarus, to join a camp there.  ju knew like almost everyone there - most of the others were brazilians.  it was a two and a half hour train ride, and it seemed to get hotter and more humid the longer we were in the trains.  by the time we got to the schwanden bahnhof, we were all hot and wanted to just relax in the lager.  i talked a bit with nicole, who is another american i haven't seen since we got here, and her friend vicki from russia.  after waiting for an afs rep for half an hour, discussing the parties that we could have gone to if the lager wasn't obligatorisch, and watching a parade of the schwanden police and firefighting units that went by... it only lasted about two minutes it was so small, but they had a band and old horsedrawn firewagons.  then we got bored, so someone called the cell number we had been given for questions.  we were informed we were supposed to follow the balloons... so 20 of us carrying dufflebags and sleepingbags and pillows took off through the tiny town, nestled between steep mountains that still had snow from abou halfway up... there were even a few glaciers that we saw, that were melting slowly down, creating small waterfalls, feeding into the glacier-blue river that was rushing through the center of the valley.  i say glacier blue because i can think of no other color to call it... it was clean and clear looking, but a vivid turquoisy blue, and the mist that sprayed up as we crossed a bridge was very refreshing.. that was after about ten minutes.  then we got to the end of the 'town', and started heading up through steep residential streets, then on to pastures with menacing cows wearing warning bells.

finally we got to the cabin, and all the leaders came out to greet us, painted up in swiss face paints (the eurocup is about to start, so).  we talked about what to expect as we head back home to our respective countries, and then we were assigned to groups, where we created sketches of swiss life - school, public services (restaurants, trains, parks, etc... we just did trains), family, and going out with friends.  we then put them on, and it was a lot of fun to see how well ppl had come to know the swiss way of life...the counselors were right behind me as the other groups presented, and inbetween their laughter, they were making comments about how true it all was.  my group did a sketch on trains... the appologizing for a miniscule delay, the way swiss ppl do NOT sit by ppl they don't know unless they absolutely HAVE to (i've seen ppl stand instead of sitting down next to a stranger... and if one person is seated in a cluster of four seats... they're all assumed to be filled.), and of course the problematic ticket choices. i got complimented afterwards on my accent while portraying the conductor.

we had risotto for dinner, and then at ten, after a 'reflection' period, we made schoggi bananen, the european smore.  as we were in the middle of nowhere, and it was too steep to hike in the dark, it was rather boring, but nicole had brought her portable dvd player, so a few of us watched 'life or something like it' before telling the others we were going to bed.  unfortunately, we were in dormatories, so all the girls were together... the brazilians celebrated their reunion by blasting brazilian funk downstairs, and they kept coming in and out, turning the light on and leaving the door open.  they finally let us go to bed at six.  at eightthirty, the counselors exploded into the room to announce that zopf, müesli, and yogurt were downstairs for breakfast when we wanted it.  i had two pieces of zopf, and about four cups of coffee. then we basically just talked to each other all day, before packing back up, eating lunch of noodles, and then cleaning the cabin.  we then hiked back down to the bahnhof, and took off.

so that was that.... i will try to write again before i come home, but as forgetful as i am, and as i'm heading back on the ninth of july, i'm not sure that will happen. so... if you don't hear from me before then, i'll be back in stl on the tenth. 

so on wednesday in school, we had a big spanish test... i think it went better  than i hoped... we'll have to see how the grades come out.  the next period, i had physics, where we had a short, fifteen minute test.  during physics, i was REALLY cold, and almost put on my winter coat, but didn't want ppl to look at me funny.  after physics, i'm supposed to have german.  however, i was still absolutely freezing, and i had developed a splitting headache, so i told a few classmates i was going home, and i stopped by he secretary's to say i was sick.

unfortunately, pris was working, so the earliest she could have been there to pick me up was 230, as she had the bern train.  so, that meant i was riding my bike. (i dunno why i didn't think of the trains... it would have only been a few franks and would have cut the distance in at least half, but.)  then, i didn't want to ride up the hills when my balance wasn't the best, so i decided to take the waldweg (forest way).  ok, but it took me double my normal time of 20 minutes to get home.  from there i walked upstairs and just dropped into bed... didn't wake up until 730 for dinner.

anyway.. so that's been the last few days... me sleeping and drinking tee.