I am ashamed to say that I was a bit prejudiced towards Switzerland and their Swiss German. As in every language, you associate a certain kind of people with a dialect. Swiss German is just another German dialect and they just cannot get Standard German right - I thought. Understanding the people of this village with 50 inhabitants was hard in the beginning, but I quickly learned to love their quirky way of talking, different vocabulary and melody. I have appreciation for every dialect and for me it is part of my identity, so this is what I learned: Swiss German is Swiss German. It has the word "German" in it, which not necessarily means that it's comparable to Standard German.
I imagined Switzerland a snobbish place, wealthy and arrogant. Wealthy indeed, but I found the most open minded and beautifully crazy people in the middle of nowhere. And the nature is just breathtaking! Berlin can be quite dirty, but here everyone was so careful not to disturb the ecosystem and taking garbage home as much as you can. After work I spent my time mostly outside in Magic Wood - a boulder area just 10 minutes away from where I stayed.
Princess Mononoke feeling
Walking up and down the mountains at 7AM and taking in this breathtaking view
My two hosts took me everywhere and introduced me to Bouldering. Heard of it before, but have never done it. My utmost respect for this sport. It takes body control, strength and courage to climb these big rocks. We were a lot in Magic Wood, which basically consisted of huge rocks in the middle of the forest. Magical, magical! The weekend we made a short trip to Italy, where we climbed a 60m wall. Sitting on the edge 1000m above Lake Como seeing the sunset, how perfect can a weekend be!
What I got:
I found a new sport I like, got my shoes, got my chalk back. A good cheese, delicious bread, lunch can be so simple, but delicious. Being a child of Northeast Germany, which is flat and flat and flat again, I was amazed that we had to deliver stuff to be taken by a helicopter to the construction site up on the mountain. The helicopter! And most of it, I met people going their way, doing their thing, being happy, making me happy and I went back to Berlin full of energy.
What I gave:
I cooked a lot. Not up to my usual standard, but it was still eatable. I blame the different air ;)
What I lost:
A pair of socks...
My workplace
No comments:
Post a Comment