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!

The View (from my room)

Here are some pictures that show my room and the views outside the window.

Straight Across


Looking Right



Looking Left

The bottom bunk near the door is mine

Here's a video walking down the hall and into my room -- then continuing to the window. You can hear the river in the background. The building across the river is Kander-Lodge.

Here is one of my friends who is also short term staff. Mathilde Wichmann is from Denmark:

Playing at KISC

Living here is incredibly fun!! There is so much to see and do!

I've been into town a few times -- it's about a 20-minute walk at my pace. It is so beautiful!! Towering mountains surround the village and the grassy fields are the purist greens I've ever seen. There are animals and livestock all around. When I was in the car with a long term staffer driving to the doctor we had to stop and wait because a local was herding his goats through the middle of town.

The entire village of Kandersteg shuts down between noon and 2:00 PM and they roll up the streets at 6:00 PM.

The people in town are extremely nice! Most speak English very well. When I try to speak German they look at me funny... but if they start a conversation with me, they usually speak in their own language as if I'm from here. Visitors from Sweden and Deutchland and all over speak to me like that too.

Behind the Centre stands a perfect small hill to hike up and snowboard down, but its private property... which means snowboarding at lunch in 2 hours is not possible because i have to go to the lifts.

Trains run by all the time, its cool to watch! But no one else shares my fascination with trains...

When I arrived it was a little chilly, but it's actually warmer now -- very nice and comfortable. I find it amusing that I can go outside w/ out a jacket and a lot of the others bundle up even if it's warm :)

We are allowed to choose which days we have off. I get 1 day per week, 4 days a month... and I can save them up and use them in consecutive days, up to 3 in a row. A few of us (Alex, A Ra, and myself for sure) plan on going to Italy in November. We will leave by 6 pm on a Wednesday, take off Thursday, Friday and Saturday, then return late Saturday night. We can then sleep in because we have an extra hour every Sunday morning with breakfast at 8:30 instead of 7:30.

Working at KISC

I finally have a little time to write and let you know more about what is going on here. The work day is not hard at all and most of the tasks are actually lot of fun.

I have been doing tons of laundry, cleaning bedrooms and bathrooms, sweeping floors, organizing different things, restocking paper towels, counting kitchen and dining items in the guest kitchens, and lots of vacuuming. I also fed a cat, cleaned a fountain, and checked people in and out of their rooms. That was all in "House" which is the new and old Chalets.

I've been splitting logs and moving them, cleaning white pop up tents, building new steps in a yard leading to the Directors' four dogs, cleaning the tiles and steps of mud that leads to the main offices. That was all in "Grounds" which is all about preparing for the winter.

I have ripped apart old walls and ceilings to recycle the wood, moved wood all over the place, sanded the varnish off some recycled wood and wire brushed chipped paint spots on blue painted steel I-beams. I also cleaned a few almost built rooms of wood, saw dust and scraps. That was at "Kander-Lodge" which is currently being rebuilt.

I washed pots and utensils, cleaned the overhead ventilation hood in the kitchen over the stoves and ovens, prepared the meat and cheese dishes for breakfast (its a European thing, meat and cheese sandwiches for breakfast) I even cooked a vegetarian meal! Beau, the head cook, said just go grab a bunch of veggies that I think vegetarians might like, cut them up and throw them in a pot with butter and unions, then we threw in an estimated amount of wine, a sort of fresh, non-preserved, real ingredients, dried gravy sauce, and then 1/2 a liter of 3.5% milk creamer. I received several compliments for the dish! I restocked food in the buffet line, cleaned tables (not the dishes off the tables, most of this place is self serve, so dish washing isn't as bad either), reset the glasses on tables, and made the place look nice. That was all part of "Catering" and working in the kitchen.

When we are "on duty" we give the thought for the day; mine was "if cows knew how good they tasted, would the eat themselves?" The verdict was yes. Being on duty is being in charge of calls and guests, answering questions and such, when everyone is eating or on the 2 hour lunch break.

My typical daily schedule runs like this:
6:30 wake up, shower
7:30 breakfast
8:00 thought for the day, a review of guest arrivals and departures, job assignments for the day, and general announcements
10:00 coffee break between ten and half ten
12:00 lunch and then a 2 hour break
14:00 back to work
16:00 coffee break between 4 and half 4
18:00 dinner

At the end of the day, I can do whatever I want from then on.

Learning about Beer

No matter what language - it's all beer to me!

• Swedish - öl
• High German - Bier
• Irish (old) -Beoir
• French - Bière
• Polish - Piwo
• Czech - Pivo
• Finnish - Olut, Kalja
• Czech - Mek-ju
• Spanish - Cerveza
• Italian - Birra

This is a highly educational trip to Europe! I am learning many new things about other countries and cultures. Warm beer makes me burp bubbles. In the language of my friend Alex from UK, as long as I don't get rat-arsed or become a potter or worse a pisshead everything is fine!The three beers most common around here are Heineken - which is Europes largest brewery with 31 breweries. The Swiss brewery is in Chur. The other two beers I like better than Heinken are from Switzerland - Gurten and Dunkle Perle.

Welcome Jemma to KISC

We have a new staff member at KISC. Jemma Louise Irwin from Belfast, Ireland. She'll be here for a month working as a helper.

I have been working in the house for the last 3 days. I found 13.75 Swiss francs (about 12 USD) between the beds while I was cleaning. I am going to donate the money to the staff night out.

Tonight we had dinner at the train station. I had a chicken and pasta dish that was fantastic! It cost 20 francs, but was worth it.

I'm feeling better every day. Throat is still sore and I still get tired. A quick recovery is good because there is so much to do here!

BTW - we are making plans for a 2 week adventure after Kandersteg. It looks like Venice might be on the list. Any suggestions from people who have been there and other places around Europe would be welcome!

Stuff...

I've been busy lately. Last Friday we went swimming. On Saturday we had SNOW! I made the first snowball at KISC and woke my roommate with it at 2 AM!

I enjoy working at Kander-Lodge. It's a lot of the work I love. But I am still in pain and it hurts when I lift things.

Construction at Kander-Lodge

Catering duty was good today. I was cleaning the kitchen and will be going back there tommorrow. It was like a comedy show when I got some cleaning chemical in my eyes. I hit my head on the edge of the fume hood, got dizzy and fell over.