Happy Thanksgiving

Of course, Thanksgiving is an American holiday... no turkey or cranberry sauce for me! I'm off on a hike today and leaving tonight for Venice. Will be back Saturday night.

My Mom is coming to KISC!

My Mom decided to spend Christmas in Europe with me! She will be arriving on December 12 and flying back with me on December 30.

Our travel plan is to leave from Kandersteg on December 15 and head to Krakow, Poland. We'll pass through Vienna so we will probably stop there for a day. Then we go to Prague for a couple of days and onto Frankfurt, Germany. Lastly we'll spend three days in Paris before heading home. If there is time, we will spend a day in Luxembourg on the way from Germany to France.

More Pictures!

There are seven new photo albums on my website.

• A new set of photos of the International Night from Tati.
• More Scenery Photos including fog, sunrise and night time pictures
• Staff Night with our mystery theater thing
• Movie Night when we saw the new James Bond film
• My recent trip to Kaspar's House near Geneva
• The Caving Trip with Kaspar
• Sightseeing in Aarau
  

Aarau was Fantastic!

Me and a group of 5 other staff members headed to the city of Aarau where Kaspar lives. We had a fantastic time!

We went caving under the Catholic Scout center. The cave stretches all across the city.

We also did some sightseeing around the city. We played with a donkey, viewed some interesting architecture and climbed a set of looooong steps to get a view of the city.

The trip ended with an authentic Suisse dinner called Raclette and some hanging out.

Everything was just FANTASTIC!

KISC in the AM

This is what it looked like as the snow keeps coming down this morning. (Click on the picture to enlarge.) It's also very, very windy which makes everything "creak"!

Check the webcam to see current conditions. I'm off to the train station. TTYL.

Snow is Back

The snow came on Wednesday and quickly turned to rain. We had freezing fog early this morning that just turned into wet later.
It's snowing again! This is the picture from the webcam at 10:30 PM our time.

Work... Play... Work... Play... 2 Days Off!

Wednesday I was in Catering. Cleaned four fridges, mopped the floors, cooked a spaghetti meal and made soup.

Thursday was Kander-Lodge. I drew lines on the floor to mark off the wall that will be closing in the bathrooms. Moved wood, swept floors... I got to drive "Leeza" the truck to move some propane tanks. That was fun. It was a good idea to get my international license before coming to KISC because it is required to drive over here. The camp itself is bisected by a Swiss road so even driving around camp I need a license.

Friday (today) I was in House. Cleaned the United States room in the old chalet, fed the cat, filled the wood burner again.

Tomorrow starts my two days off. At 9:14 I'm headed to Kaspars' house near Geneva. We just added caving to our plans! Will write about it and show some pictures when I return.

I am finalizing the plans for Venice leaving on Thursday night and returning on Saturday night. Added a hike with Alex next Thursday. Then going to France for some Christmas shopping and sightseeing with Tati and Irakqui.

Ate my last Reeses'

Thanks to the kindness of my family, me and the staff have been munching on Reeses' Big Cups for a couple of months. I am sad to report that I just at the last one. I'll be leaving in a month... but if anyone wants to send more, my favorite is the big cup with nuts :-)

It's Sssnnnooooooooowwwing!!!

Tomorrow will be clear but after that it'll be snowing till Sunday at least. Can't wait to get on the mountain and do some snowboarding!

It seems like the weather here mimics the weather in Pittsburgh. Everytime it's been raining, snowing, or clear and sunny in Pgh, it's been the same here. Except the 5 ft visibility fog, and we haven't had any lightning storms. I like lightning...

New Things & What's Next

I was working in "house" today. This included feeding the cat, and helping Chris' mom sew new curtains -- two things I never did before. I also cleaned the yellow kitchen. That's the kitchen next to the old chalet that guests who don't want food service use to cook their own meals. It's called the yellow kitchen because it has a yellow door. I also loaded the wood burner stove which supplies heat and hot water to the entire building.

I have Saturday and Sunday off this weekend. I was invited to Kaspar's house on Saturday for a party. Kaspar lives about 2 hours away near Geneva so I'll get to see more of the countryside. I heard it might snow this weekend so it should be a pretty drive.

The following weekend I'm planning to head to Venice. Alex is going to join me. We'll leave on Wednesday night and return Saturday night. Can't wait to take a water taxi!

A little help from my Friends...

Worked in Kander-Lodge on Friday & Saturday. Tearing down walls. I loved it!

I worked on "Grounds" yesterday. Raking leaves all day in the cold. It may not sound like much fun, but I worked with Alex and Kaspar which made it very enjoyable.

Good lesson here -- even difficult jobs under hard conditions can be made easier with the help of friends. It's all about attitude.

Thought for the Day

Today was my last turn to be on duty and give a "thought for the day". I chose two. The first was from Sir Robert Baden Powell from the home page of my website:

"The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others."

The second was a poem. Author unknown:

The Dash

I read of a man who stood to speak

At the funeral of a friend

He referred to the dates on her tombstone

From the beginning to the end.

He noted that first came her date of birth

And spoke the following date with tears,

But he said what mattered most of all

Was the dash between those years.

(1934 - 1998)

For that dash represents all the time

That she spent alive on earth...

And now only those who loved her

Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;

the cars...the house...the cash,

What matters is how we live and love

And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard...

Are there things you'd like to change?

For you never know how much time is left,

That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough

To consider what's true and real,

And always try to understand

The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,

And show appreciation more,

And love the people in our lives

Like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,

And more often wear a smile...

Remembering that this special dash

Might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy's being read

With your life's actions to rehash...

Would you be proud of the things they say

About how you spent your dash?

New Addictions

In addition to trying fondue for the first time, I learned about a wicked hazelnut and chocolate spread called nutella. I am now keeping a snack bottle by my bed!

Along with the 15 pounds of chocolate, my Mom included a huge bag of Jelly Belly's. Over 50 flavors and I'm trying them all. The bag was supposed to be shared with the rest of the staff but right now I'm being selfish.

Another Day Off

Yesterday I worked at Kander-Lodge tearing down walls.

Today... I slept. A nice casual day of sleeping in... playing on the computer... and relaxing. Tomorrow is my last "duty day". Looking for a good and meaningful "thought for the day."

I'm downloading my files from an FTP server that my Dad setup in Pittsburgh. It's a little slow, but I can access all my music now.

We have snow on the ground again. I uploaded some pictures from my cell phone of the last snow in 29 October. Check them out here.

Working on making plans for Venice. Any ideas? I can't wait to see what Venice is like!

New Pictures Uploaded

Five new albums were just uploaded to my website (http://www.mrobertmarks.com). Hope you enjoy them!

Blog.... (finally) Up to Date!

Forgive me family and friends... it's been almost a month since my last blog. I took today off today to finish writing and updating the blog. I still have some pictures to load with the help of my Dad... but there's a lot to read now.

You can see all the blogs have Nov 11 as the blog date, so I added the date the blog should have been posted in the title. There are 26 new blogs below this one. Happy Reading!

The good news -- I am still having the time of my life! There's so much happening here I forget most of it. The time if flying by so quickly! There's only a month left on KISC staff and two weeks for sightseeing. I'll be sad to leave - but looking forward to coming home to family and friends.

HEY! Why don't you all come to visit me here for Christmas!!!

11 Nov -- KISC Webcam

The webcam on the KISC site is back up and operational. Check it out. Be sure to refresh your browser to update the picture.

10 Nov -- Quantum of Solace (Ein Quantum Trost)

Staff night out at the movies tonight! The new James Bond film opened in Europe before the US. For most films, it's usually the other way around, but there's a tradition of world premieres for Bond films in the UK with the royal family in attendance.

I made people laugh by dressing in a suit w/ a pink shirt and a pink tie.

The movie was very good although it ended too abruptly; like it was missing something. It’s not like the old James Bonds’, this one has an obvious sequel planned. The old ones could be watched separately with little or no hints to a previous bond film or preludes to a future one.

I’m not much of a fan of the new Bonds because of that, but his character was more easy to identify with since they don’t use all the special (unrealistic) gadgetry; it was guns, driving skills, fighting skills and cell phones.

Another disappointment – he doesn’t really seduce the women that much anymore. There was just one scene, but it wasn’t his classic clever remarks, it was “I cant seem to find the stationary, care to help me look?”

We drove to Bern for the movie. The theater was amazing and is part of a chain called Kitag. It is larger and better sound quality then our local theaters in Pittsburgh. There is a light curtain with a black backdrop in front of the screen, and a big lit up logo of the theater in front of the stage (just like a K-mart sign on the building, but sitting on the stage). Both lower into the stage at two separate speeds, the lights faster than the logo sign, and the black backdrop parts in the middle, returning to either side. They have a 15 minute intermission so you can get popcorn, drinks or go to the bathroom. My Dad says that's the way it used to be in US theaters...

6 Nov -- Staff Fun Times

Tonight was a "Murder Mystery" role play thing. These kind of evening events are very popular here in Switzerland. We were given a script that outlined who we were, what had happened and what our goals were. The rest was up to us...

I was the Barron who wanted to marry Mrs. Smith whose husband had died... or rather was murdered. But I couldn't have a bad image so I had to clear her name by hiring a detective to do it. My goal was to marry Mrs. Smith who was played by Helga.

Alex and Kaspar were the game masters. Jen was the detective. His goal was to help me and then get as much money as possible, from me and others. Awadi was the bartender.

Then there was Mike, he was a drug dealer. Joakim was the painter who failed, so he was just trying to sell anything. He could only paint when he was high so he had to try to get some cocaine from the Mafia. Pio was trying to indirectly help his son (the fictional drug addict) by getting all the cocaine off the streets any way he could.

Tony was the cop. Tati was a trader, he could get and trade anything, his goal was to make as much money as possible too. A Ra had a ton of money, she was the real murderer of Mr. Smith and her goal was to avoid the cops and not get caught.

It was a fun way to spend an evening. Here are the pictures from Tati.

6 Nov -- Send More Chocolate!

24 hours later and I am already out of Reese's big cups and nearly 2/3rds of the way through 15 pounds of chocolate! No, I didn't eat it all myself. I am sharing with everyone here. I think I have some of my fellow staff members addicted to Reeses'!

5 Nov -- Happy Day!

I am ecstatic today. We have a new President! And two packages arrived! It doesn't get much better than this! What a perfect day.

One box was completely full of chocolates. Every kind of Hershey Kisses you can imagine - nuts, caramel, peanut butter, cherry, truffle. Plus a 4 lb bag of solid chocolate kisses and a bag of Kissables. Mom and Dad also sent a new DVD player, alarm clock, sunglasses, down booties (wonderful!), Jelly Bellies, more pictures, a new cell phone charger, and too many other goodies to remember. There wasn't an inch of empty space in the boxes. It was like Christmas a month early!

4 Nov -- Living the Dream, Dream, Dream...

The KISC website was moved to a new server, and the Autumn 2008 Staff was posted. Our theme was Living the Dream... with all of us showing how hard we work. Check out my fellow staff members. Here's my official staff picture.

3 Nov -- Packages from Home

Mail has been coming in all the time now. THANKS!!! And the packages from home have been awesome. My Aunt Linda and Uncle Ray sent me a package of Reeses' and Ranch Dressing. What an awesome surprise!! My Grandpa sent me jokes and money!

Danke!

2 Nov -- Being on Time

Today I learned the value of being on time. I worked in catering. I was late 20 seconds one time; and 1 minute another time. It didn't seem like a big deal to me -- but it was important to Beau who was my supervisor for the day. Being late and the reaction to it set a bad tone for the entire day... and made it very uncomfortable. I will work at being early from now on!

2 Nov -- Snow is Leaving / Morning is Beautiful

The snow is almost completely gone - except on the mountain tops. Every day is a new and wonderful experience. The sunrise this morning started out as a beautiful pink and then turned orange by the time I got my camera. Check it out:

1 Nov -- Kandersteg Committee & Board Meeting

The Committee of the Association and the Board of the Foundation came to KISC for their regular meeting. I got to check them in and prepare a meat fondue for them. I also got to join them for dinner! It was a great experience to meet these people who do so much for the Centre!

31 Oct -- All Hallows Eve (Halloween)

All Hallows Eve is the night before All Saints Day (November 1) and All Souls Day (November 2). For much of Europe this is a religious holiday.

In the last 5 or 6 years, the American traditions of Halloween and trick or treating have been finding their way into Swiss cities. This has caused a lot of discussion and many feel it disrespects the sacredness of these days.

For a couple of weeks prior to All Saints' Day, the graves are made beautiful in honor of the dead. Many in the town plant the traditional chrysanthemums. I wasn't able to experience any of the celebration, but I know there were tall witches around town and the schools had a special field trip.

We didn't get dressed up or anything, so here's some old Halloween pictures of me for fun:

29 & 30 Oct -- Avalanche

I saw an avalanche on both days. They were spectacular! Here's the pictures from my cell phone:

29 Oct -- SNOW!!!!!!!

Winter is here! It turned very cold and we now have a foot and a half of snow. YEAH! Click here for more snow scenes.

I got to play around on the tractor today and chip some wood.

I can't wait to snowboard. Here's what it looks like for ski slopes around Kandersteg:

27 & 28 Oct -- Kander-Lodge Work is Play

Everything we do at KISC is fun! Even when we are working is seems like playing. Kander-Lodge is one of the best assignments because we are building something and we can see the progress every day.

I cut 138 pieces of wood yesterday and ripped down walls. You can check out some of the work pictures on my website here.

26 Oct -- British Invasion!

I had to deal with 30 British kids in the shop tonight, and 2 check-ins. I had no clue what I was doing for check-ins but that's part of the FUN of working here. I get to learn so many new things!

It was total chaos. One of the brits stole some candy in the shop... I was getting phone calls that I needed help with, but I wasn't allowed to leave the shop w/ guests in it... How do you tell 30 people to leave a small space for under 5 min, then come back and reset everything?!

26 Oct -- Package Arrives!

I love mail... Mom and Dad stuffed so much in a little envelope. I have a new neckerchief, candy, cards, pictures, Skype phone, and a gift for Beau. THANKS!

25 Oct -- Daylight Savings Time

An extra hour of SLEEP today!

24 Oct -- Ripped & Bruised

Biking is one of my passions. But the bike got the better of me today! The first time was a flat tire - that really kicked by butt. Then the chain slipped off the other bike and I went over the handle bars. I haven't fallen off a bike in 12 years and it happened twice today!

21 Oct -- Another beautiful day in Switzerland

Even the most simple of days are fun here. I went to the post office to mail my absentee ballot, stopped by the bank. I took apart table, drilled 3 holes, smashed my hand a little. It was all good!

20 Oct -- My Country Cares about ME!

There's a lot of things to know about and to do before working at KISC. (This is part of the reason I plan to volunteer to help other Scouts when I return home). One of the "to do" items is to register with the State Department.

It was telling the State Department I was in Kandersteg that caused my absentee ballot to find me. It was an awesome surprise to see it arrive in the mail! I was able to participate in my first presidential election -- because my country cared enough to send me a ballot. How cool is that!

19 Oct -- Let them eat cake!

I got to bake TWO cakes tonight! One was apple crisp and one was carrot cake... if you lose the key to your room, your "punishment" is wearing an annoying piece of rock climbing gear and baking a cake within 48 hours. I didn't actually lose my key - but it was a good excuse to do some baking!

18 Oct -- Ski Bar

Went to the ski bar at the Hotel Victoria Ritter for a social night out... Chatting with staff is really great, but the smoke in the air always gives me a headache.

16 Oct -- On my way back from Bern

Bern was fantastic!!!

I walked around a lot checking out the city, the architecture, the sights & sounds... I went to the "Historisches Museum Bern" or for the French "Musee Historique de Berne" or for us Americans the History Museum or more commonly known as the Einstein Museum. The museum was great... I learned a lot about the history of Switzerland and some interesting stuff about Albert Einstein. Einstein became a Swiss citizen in 1901 and received much of his early schooling in Switzerland.

I also tried to open a bank account at Credit Suisse -- only to learn that I needed $1 Million before they would consider opening an account.

Here's what I wrote on the train ride back from Bern (before ADD took over again):
"Bern is awesome. It reminds me of Grove City outlets but a thousand times bigger. The history & Enistein musem really gave me an appreciation for this country and its past. Fun time!!"

16 Oct -- On my way to Bern

Today is my day off and I'm headed to the Capital of Switzerland. Here's what I wrote in my notebook on the train ride into Bern:

OK so I’m trying this writing stuff again. Last attempt didn’t go so well. ADD took over when the sun cam e up on the plane.

But anyway here I am, 11:34 AM 02 16/10/08, on the train headed for Bern.

I saw a cow give birth on the way to the station. It was cool; I congratulated the owners. Really – I was just walking down the street and watched the cow give birth. I saw the farmers wife clean out a wheelbarrow of cow shit and then filled it with hay to pick up the cow. I tried talking to the lady but she didn speak english and my German is still poor. I did walk to the house and explained to her husband about how the cow gave birth and told him Congratulations!

Baby was steaming when he (or she) came out.

Switzerland is spectacular!

I’m at the exchange so I’ll pause – had to change train at Spiez.

Cool made it on the 2nd train. There are 3 english speakers near me. I’m assuming from America. I didn’t notice an accent…

So. Right. Switz. Amazing! Beautiful! Definitely considering living here! It’s by far the most relaxed place I have ever been. The general population is very intelligent. But it might be a bit too relaxed for my taste. I do like a bit of insanity. Then again, the girls are cute.

I’m giong to try to start a Swiss bank account with Credit Suisse.

I’ll talk more later. I’m going to enjoy the view now....

15 Oct -- OOPS

Today I am very accident prone. I love working in Kander-Lodge but there are some risks involved in swinging a hammer. Small shards of metal found their way into my arm and thumb when the (brittle) hatchet I was using decided to explode. Ouch!

14 Oct -- Noche de Internationales

International Night. This is where each of the staff members set up a display of "stuff" from their home country. They can set-up food, maps, flags, drinks, brochures, you name it. Everyone dresses in the Scout uniform and has a chance to talk about the traditions in their country.

I had a table with the American flag, a binder with information about Scout programs in the United States and information about the local Greater Pittsburgh Council. I put out as many patches and trinkets as I could. I was wearing the Sea Scout dress uniform and I displayed the Venturing uniform and the new Boy Scout uniform.

I had a bag of Heinz pickle pins to give out that was very popular. When I said Heinz, everyone went "OHHHH - we love Heinz"

To see more pictures from International Night go to my web site here.

Happy 21 Alexis

Happy Birthday to my G F!

Sorry - I've been very busy. I'll be writing more in my log later today... cuz it's my day off!