Cleared to work again!

The doctor said I can start working again tomorrow. Light duty for the rest of the week. All the photo albums are now up on my website: http://kandersteg.mrobertmarks.com.


By the way... check out some of the views from the live webcams at this website http://www.kandersteg.ch/english/impression/webcams.html Very impressive!

Roller coaster...

Well... the blog has been all about being sick lately. After a couple of very bad days, I am finally able to eat and swallow again. Sunday I felt great by comparison. On Saturday, death would have felt like a blessing... this was the worst I've ever felt in my life.

I see the doctor today at 10:30. I hope to be cleared to work this week! Fresh air on the walk back to KISC and some Ibuprofin and I'll be good as new!

With the help of my Dad, I was finally able to upload a few picture albums to my website. You can check them out at http://kandersteg.mrobertmarks.com.

Getting better...

Saw the doc again today - looks like two more weeks of rest and I'll be back to normal.

Pictures will be loaded on the website later tonight.

I forgot to mention that I gave the "Thought for the Day" on Saturday. Here's what I said:
"If cows knew how good they tasted, would they eat themselves?" At least they thought it was funny!

Not so good today...

My throat feels like there are knife blades in it swallowing anything hurts extremely bad. It seems just like strep to me... I see the doctor again next Monday but maybe I can see him tomorrow.

Another beautiful day in Switzerland!

The weather here is getting chilly -- around 13°C (55°F for you Americans) and cloudy. I'm feeling better and life is good! The doctor gave me some throat drips and said I should be OK in a week.

I'm already making plans to visit Italy with Alex and another staff member. There is so much to do and see over here.

I was finally able to send some pictures. They should be posted on my website by Thursday.

My new friends are "interesting"!

Check out this picture of us posted on the KISC website! This was during D-Day!

Actually... these are the greatest guys! This is the day we painted our faces with the flags of our countries and invaded the village.

To see more D-Day pictures, click here.

Camp Work

Everyone has a chance to do everything while at Kandersteg. The last couple of days were spent chopping wood and cleaning brick. After thousands of visitors during the summer, Kandersteg has a couple of months to clean-up, repair and prepare for next season. We will make the most of the good weather before the snow arrives in mid to late October.

Today I am feeling worse than before and have stayed in bed. Will see the doctor tomorrow and should finally get some cough medicine.

My kingdom for some ranch dressing!

There isn't a bottle of ranch dressing to be found within all of Switzerland. They haven't even heard of ranch dressing!

Somebody send me a bottle please. And some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Even though I'm in the land of awesome chocolate, they don't carry any of the "cheap and tasteless" American stuff.

No TIme

Too busy today to post anything. Sorry. But I did add a picture. Check out my earlier post from 16 September with my face painted with the American flag!

Graduation Today!

Staff training is over and now I am officially a "Pinkie"!!

Still coughing a lot. Going to the doctor on Sunday. More info & pictures will be posted this weekend.

Movie Night

Last night (Thursday) was just relaxing watching a movie.

I'm not feeling well and might go see a doctor today. My parents arranged for medical insurance that covers everything that could happen to me over here. It has a maximum limit of $1,000,000 -- sure hope I don't need that much!

It's a big weekend here with dignitaries flying in for the dedication of a rebuilt Kander Lodge. Pictures of the construction can be seen here.

Wednesday News..,

Today was another Great Day at KISC!

My package from home arrived with the battery charger for my camera and the power supply for my computer -- along with some other goodies from Mom & Dad.

Tonight we went to one of the local hotels for a game night: bowling, pool, ping pong and just a lot of fun.

Should have some pictures to share by Friday.

Finally, a chance to share some more news...

Went zip lining (100 feet) and giants (or Jacobs) laddering last night. More pictures of the zip line are here.

Today was D Day when the staff invaded town (village). We walked around learning the places and people. I was on the green team along with Alex Groat my friend from the UK. You can see a map of the village here. More pictures of D-Day are here.

We also had several scavenger hunts all at once. We had a photo hunt "take a picture of something:... red, yellow, hot, big, a swing, a cow, a pinkie not working, flags (US, UK, Sri Lanka, Swiss, German...), a sign, someone under 10, and it went on..."

We also had a staff version too: "who has ghost mouse in their room, who blew up the camp car when on a trip to Germany, who has a Danash boyfriend, who has 2 kids, who was picked up by Rega, who decided to go back to work just 2 days after their vacation started" This was a great way to learn about other staff members!

Then there was a scavenger hunt that made us explore the town: several stores and the bank and post were given envelopes with clues and tasks in them, each on contained a meal pass to a piece of the lunch, and had pictures of food items too. One task was to build a trolley out of cardboard (like a shopping cart) but ours didn't have wheels, we put cardboard skis on it and called it an alpine sled trolley.

One of our tasks was to paint our countries’ flag on our face.

Lunch was at the ice skating rink. When we ice skated, it was like a game, multiple choice questions about world scouting, they used the hockey paint circle to represent choice a, b and c.

We took over the kitchen to make dinner. Some of the best food I ever tasted was tonight! Calle (Carl from sweden) called it California pasta. It started with a cream of mushroom soup. Bowtie pasta, chicken and onions with a white cream sauce on top, then cheese baked on top of that. I don't know what the desert was, but it was amazing!

FYI
We have at least 13 different countries represented on staff: UK, Finland, Ireland, Sweden, Thailand, Brazil, Denmark, South Korea, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Togo and (of course) US.

This place is the greatest!

I've already had the best time of my life here and it's only getting better!! Staff training is keeping me busy. I hope to have time to write more by this weekend.

I am here!

After a nice British Airways flight to Geneva and an awesome train ride....

I am at Kandersteg!

Bodiam Castle Today (and packing to leave)

Today we are off to see a nearby castle. Bodiam Castle is in East Sussex. You can see pictures of our castle visit here.

We leave for Kandersteg at 8:45 tomorrow morning (Sunday) to start our assignment! Can't wait.

England is absolutely fantastic!!

I was too busy to write or anything yesterday!

We went to Gilwell Park and to Speakers Corner at Hyde Park.

Gilwell Park was small and a bit disappointing, but they had some nice historic items. They wouldn't let me buy Wood Badge beads without proof of completing the course. More pictures of Gilwell are here.

Statue at the entrance to Gilwell

Speakers Corner was somewhat quiet. I mostly met people who tried to convert me to Catholicism. I'm already Catholic.

I've been going to the pub every night. The pub is much more than a place to drink beer, it's the social hub of the neighborhood, a place to meet friends and family and enjoy life!

There have been several going away parties for my fellow staff mate and tour guide Alex. Last night was the Explorers party. I was told I needed to look "posh" and dressed in a suit and tie. Click here for more pictures of Alex's friends.

We've eaten at Alex's every night. His mom is a fantastic cook!

More sightseeing in the UK

Today we are off to see a a Roman Villa. The villa is called Bignor.

Tonight I'm going with Alex to a Beaver Scout (or Cub Scout?) meeting.

More later.

London is awesome!

I arrived in London Heathrow on Tuesday, September 9 around 8:30 AM. A fellow staffer, Alex Groat met me and his hosting me at his house until we both leave for Switzerland this weekend. We have to be at Kandersteg by 7:00 PM on Sunday.

Me, Alex & his Dad

We toured London earlier today. The sights we visited were Tower Bridge, The Eye, the Tower of London, Big Ben and the Tate Modern (museum).

You can see more pictures of my London Adventures on my website.