3

I woke up at 11:30 today, I'm making progress. It was hard for me to fall asleep though last night.

It's 3pm now and we haven't done much yet today, I think Lise's still sleeping. We've done the important things to do with pets; fed the inside and outside fish, fed the turtle, watered the plants. Let the cat inside. And outside again. And half inside but then she leaves. Haven't see since.

I had some chocolate, yogurt, nectarines, Lyoner sausage, and an apple for breakfast. The boys cooked a giant pot of spaghetti that I think will last them the entire day. So far they (and mostly as well myself up until recently)haven't done much yet except watch YouTube. But I kinda ran out of interesting things to watch, and got a bit bored with that. So now I'm writing this and listening to some Louden Swain, and hiding inside from the 34 degree heat outside. I've worn a nice long light skirt today, I thought it was appropriate for the weather. It shows off my nice giant bruise slowly spending on my right knee.

I think that very briefly I will go on a walk down to the river and along it. I was just reading about the area in the house book that comes with the house swap, and it seems like a really nice thing to do. Possibly also later I would like to go swimming, but it would be good to scout it out a bit first as in the house book they said there were some unpredictable potentially dangerous spots along it. But what also sounds cool is that if you hop in the river upstream, you can float back to the house in a reasonable amount of time. It's quite a fast flowing current.

I think we also need some more groceries so maybe I'll walk and do that too.

Alright Lise is awake now, so I think her and I will walk to the grocery store by taking a slightly alternate roof along the river.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

We went for a walk by the river. You can access the river by a little path that goes between our yard and the neighbours' yard, which brings you to the main path right next to the water. We turned left and started along the gravel path. It's still really hot, so there were lots of people swimming. The opposite shore had more beach-like areas. I say beach-like because it was just a small patch of sand with a couple big boulders. But there were quite a lot of people using it.

Farther along on our side, we found several water access points that were quite nice; some areas were shaded while others provided easy water access. It seemed like there were less people on our side of the river, I wonder why. There were also enclosures on our left with goats and sheep grazing on the steep slopes.

We passed a tunnel on the side of the river that the house book talked about: apparently on the other end you can walk a bit more then get to a ferry across the river to a nice garden restaurant. I think I want to try going there sometime.

We don't really look like tourists here, especially me with my summer skirt and flip flops, so people kept on talking in German a bit to us. A lot of people said tchüss ("shoose ") to us, which Lise said means hi. I haven't had the confidence yet to say it back. I'm also scared that I'll pronounce it too well and they'll say something else in German and then I'll be lost. I think the key is to say it back but mess it up a bit. Then they know I'm polite but I don't speak German. At one point an older lady said tchüss to Lise and then some other things, and she just kinda smiled and chuckled a bit with her. Honestly I probably would have done the same thing. No idea what she said. I was using my iPad at the time though, so my guess is that it was something along the lines of "kids these days and their technology, amirite?".

On the way home we passed by the grocery store again and loaded up on more food. We got a bunch of meat this time, I think we're going to try a barbecue. We also got more fruit, as well as one loaf of nice artisan bread for the gluten-eaters in our house. I managed to avoid getting more chocolate; this is probably a good thing.

There's about an hour now until we skype with Mathilde and her family at 7pm to hash out the details of our visit with them coming up. After that I think we might try to go swim in the river a bit, but it's starting to get a bit later In the day so I don't know if that will really end up happening. Tomorrow for sure though, especially if it's as hot as today outside.

 

 
 
 
   I'm just sitting at the side of the river right now. It's 8pm. Lise and I just finished the skype call with Aline and we headed down here to join Jeff and the boys. Julias and Tobin just finished wading here, Julias just found a snake in his towel.

The call went well, we planned a bit what we would do the two days we're there and checked in a bit.

It's starting to cool down a bit, but it's still humid. It's really nice down here by the river. Not a lot to report since last check in, we just had some food and were relaxing. We're basically just relaxing now. I'm relaxed. That's about it.

 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

I just went for a little bit of a walk with Lise and Jeff while the boys went back home. We walked the opposite direction from this morning when I went. We found a footbridge down that way, as well as what looked to be a hydro power station. We also saw some neat houses by the side of the river. I think I'm definitely going swimming tomorrow. There's an idea that we'll try to leave early (9am) for a hike tomorrow, so swimming might be nice after that.

For the rest of the evening we'll just cook some food and relax some more and go to bed, I think. We're all still a bit jet lagged.

 

2

I just woke up, it's 5pm. I just had potatoes and with Swiss chard and beans from the garden that Lise picked, and cheese. We're just about to walk to a store to find some more food.

I might still have time to chronicle the house in the daylight that's left. I'm pretty sure I'll have time. The views are amazing!

I had a weird dream I might write about when I get back…

 

Ok, so my dream: I dreamt that me and a friend (not sure which- just a friend) were invited to babysit for this guy. So we walked down this long driveway in the middle of the woods, and eventually got to a place where it split into several different driveways. The guy lived in number one, so we followed that path. There was a gate and he met us there, then led us to where he lived which was a really old dangerous-looking wooden sailing ship that was mounted on wood and adapted to life on land. It was really dark in the clearing due to the tree cover, but I don't think it was night. The masts were still there but there were no sails. He lead us round to the backside where there was a ladder heading up through a hole cut into the hull of the ship. We went up the ladder and into the ship, somehow the floor was flat (I think we might have been on deck but somehow also inside. I'm not sure but there was definitely a roof). Inside was really small and dark and all wooden. There were barrels and bits of old rusty things around. I didn't wonder in the dream how the guy actually lived here, it didn't look lived in at all. We asked were the kids were (he said he had two young girls to look after) and he said to look to one end of the ship and wait. We looked at the front end of the ship at the little ledge that was sticking out, and the ghost of a little girl in a white dress with hair in pigtails appeared on the ledge. She was just sitting there, and she had green eyes. The guy said you could tell she was a ghost by the fact that her irises were slightly off centre- and they were, her green irises were slightly to the side of her pupils, just green rings floating in mid air. They were still partly overlapping the pupil though, like someone had tried to draw them but missed. Then another girl with blue off centre irises and a similar dress appeared on the ledge opposite the first ghost, at the end of the boat. Then the guy left and said he would be back in awhile and that he was glad there were people to look after the two ghosts because they have trouble on their own. Then I woke up.

So that dream was a bit disconcerting. I think I had another one (I did sleep for about 15 hours after all), something about acting out the script of an action movie but in real life, but I forget the details.

 Anyway, so in real life, I went to the grocery store. I wore my Canadian Improv Games orange shirt to really fit in. It's about a five minute walk from our house. This area is considered pretty rural, but it's European rural which means everything is still within walking distance.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It's very helpful to understand French, as most labels here are in German, French, and Italian (the three official languages of Switzerland). We had to find gluten free products for myself and Lise, so there was lots of label reading. The produce purchasing method is to put the stuff in a bag, put the bag on a weighing kiosk and punch in the code of the product, and then take the sticker label it prints out and put it on the bag. There are also plastic gloves for testing and picking up the fruit. This is the same system as in Spain.

We cheated the cart locking system by using a Canadian quarter instead of a euro or a Swiss franc like they wanted you to. It was a bit small but it still worked.

I'm reminded of all the small differences between North American and European grocery stores: eggs sold in groups of ten and unrefrigerated, tons of cheese selection, equal amounts of cereal or musli selections and only either chocolate or berries in your cereal, less milk and yogurt selection, less chip selection, less raw unprocessed meat selection, and carts that have four rotating wheels. There are really more similarities than differences though. There are still tired mothers and running children and little old ladies.

The cashier spoke English, which was helpful.

 

And that's about all I did today, except come home and eat a bunch of the stuff we bought. It's now 9pm and just now starting to be a little cool outside (it was so hot today!). I'm writing this on a swinging bench on one of the three outside decks at our house, watching the sun set and people swimming in the river and Tobin jumping on the trampoline. I can hear the constant buzz and click of insects (although there are noticeably less flies and mosquitoes- not a single bite so far) as well as the distinctive European pattern of wood pigeon calls. I heard it first in England: coo-COO-coo, coo-coo, then noticed that in Victoria it's a very different pattern: COO, coo-coo. But here it's the European call pattern. I like it better. I've never heard it in Victoria.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

So about the house: the lowest level is a mini suite, with a small kitchen and bed and office space. It has a deck that leads right out into the backyard with a table and chairs under a covered area on the side. The backyard has a trampoline, an amazingly maintained flower and vegetable garden, a currently empty rabbit hutch (I thought it was a chicken coop, but Lise says its for rabbits), and a wood oven (I think). It's very pretty and has a view of the fast-flowing river about 300 metres away. All the houses are close together on the steep slope here, all similarly amazing with four floors and great gardens and lots of decks. The suite also has an entire wall of rocks in glass cases, each labelled. They must collect rocks.

The next floor up is the main big kitchen and living room area, as well as a pantry with a big bunker-style door and a bathroom. It's quite a nice kitchen, with finished matching drawers. The fridge and pantry pull-out just look like the drawers around them. The living room is on the other side of the stairs, and leads out to another deck on top of the one below it that goes around to face the backyard and has another table and chairs on the side. You can take a stone path from this deck through a flower garden down to the backyard. The swingy chair I'm sitting on is on the side of this deck between the table and the back part of the deck.

Up another floor are the bedrooms. There are three of them. Two for the two teenage girls who normally live here and one for the parents. There are so many plants in this house: in my room alone there are three orchids, a tower of various ferns and cacti and other leafy stuff, and a hanging plant that has vines that have been attached across the ceiling. The living room has three big orchid plants, a hanging plant, four plants in the kitchen, and a ladder that serves as a plant stand. Both girls' rooms, mine and my brothers', have slanty ceilings with skylights that open to a view of the river. The kids' room are also heavily adorned with horse memorabilia: they ride horses a lot. I think this family owns a horse too. There's a saddle at the top of the stairs. The parents' room has another small deck attached to it. The last floor at the top of the house has the garage and a small office room full of stuff.

There's an interesting glass coffee table in the living room. Outside it smells like a rainforest (and maybe buchart gardens) in the evening. The water here is full of minerals so it washes away the soap too quickly from your hands. The bathroom has no fan. There are lots of native Austrailan-themed painting on the walls (I think they might have made some of them).

I think that's about it for describing the house. Suffice to say it's really neat and well decorated. And it's in a cool neighbourhood.

The moon is starting to rise.

1: Family Europe trip

I'm currently sitting on the ferry to Vancouver. We left the house around 11am today, in a bit of a scramble as always; five minutes before we left, the sound of vacuuming was still omnipresent and I was wiping down the last of the Red Marvel from the bathtub. I managed to snap a couple pictures before we left, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to save this rare moment. That moment of course being the split second when our house was clean and the floors visible… All five of us agree that we would very much like to keep it this way. Or at least 3/4 this clean. Ok, maybe 2/3 as clean. But I hope we will manage to maintain it when we get back.
So far the beginning of this trip has been a bit rushed. I'm glad we have the buffer of the ferry between home and the airport, it's time to relax (and to write some words for this blog). I scraped my knee a bit on the way across the parking lot from the van to the foot passenger ticket place, injury count: 1. Thanks shoelaces. I love you too.
I've had the same song in my head since I woke up (and yesterday as well): Mama Said by Lukas Graham. I don't even own that song, I just played it from YouTube twice. And it's good, but I'm worried that having it stuck in my head for 48 hours will make it overplayed and I'll stop liking it…
My brothers are currently busy putting their feet on the seats facing them and saying "we're making a bridge, now get over it". My parents are discussing the postal system of England and how some houses just don't have numbers, instead just names like "Upper Goongillings" or in a village "near" another bigger one. Now Tobin is crawling under our legs, asking to be saved. As Jeff put it "he wants the drama of a near-rescue". We've successfully made someone move who was trying to read in book a couple seats over. So basically we're seeing what family dynamics emerge when there's no wifi.
Don't count on this much detail for the entire month-long trip. Likely there will be the most detail in my posts when nothing is happening, because I will be bored and have time to write. Then when we go and do a mountain coaster, I'll describe the entire outing in two sentences.

Now sitting just outside of security at Vancouver airport. We've repacked our bags a bit so now we only have four big bags to check instead of five. Most of that is camping stuff so I'd say we're doing pretty well. There are two girls riding their rolling suitcases (scootcases- thanks Julias) down the small incline in front of us. It's very cute and makes me want to have a rolling suitcase to ride down the tiled floor as well… I filmed them surreptitiously. And they are now on my snapchat as well.

We actually managed to find some gluten free fast food here- Vietnamese food place. Lise and I got soup with rice noodles and beef and veggies, and it was very good! Five stars. Tobin got Wendy's. It's very nice travelling with a small group and no children under 9, the only blood sugar emergency so far was when Tobin's burger had onions and pickles on it and the crying was very close… But we made him have some Fruitopia and it was ok. We got him a new burger.

We're about a third of the way to London. I've just read about half of The Night Circus on my iPad. It's a wonderful book, I can't get enough of it. I had to stop because my eyes were getting tired. It makes me want to write, even though I'm sure I could never create a story as artfully woven together as the story of Le Cirque des Rêves. It's the kind of book you come away from with an increased awareness, something that settles at the back of your skull and turns you away from the new Hollywood releases on the screen and turns you toward the expanding waters of the Hudson Bay as they glow red in the shrouded sun over the horizon beneath you.
As much as I love comedy, there will always be a special place in my heart for the artfully dramatic or mysterious.
I've eaten my chocolate bar already; the one I was trying to make last for the entire flight. Local time in London: 5:56am. I'm starting to think about sleep.
That book makes me want to be productive and make art. I'm sure that being on a plane, an experience I don't often encounter, can provide some sort of unique opportunity that I'm just not picking up on… Maybe someone smarter than myself can figure it out. In any case I don't have a lemon so that game is out of the question.
Alright, I think I'll just rest my head on the side of my seat and stare fixedly out over the wing for a bit. Listen to music and muse upon my future and the ones I love…

London airport. It's freaking huge. Took us about an hour to get situated at our proper terminal, and even then we're just sitting on the floor next to a wall because there are no seats available. It's so busy. There are about 17 wifi networks present, none of which I can connect to. The official heathrow one is having issues. Probably because of network traffic, judging by the number of phones I see around me right now. So I'm content to be offline for awhile longer.
I just bought some Kettle chips at a store here, they are exactly the same but the packaging is different. Looks like they're trying to be more classy when they are on European shelves. Back on the west coast it's all about rusticness, but here it's about Windows 10-style blankness apparently.
I'm surprisingly not too tired. I slept maybe two or three hours on the plane, so I'm not completely sleep deprived. I mean, I totally am completely sleep deprived, but I have a tiny bit of sleep I can cling to.
I finished half of The Night Circus on the plane, and had time to watch the first three episodes of season two of Schitt's Creek. It's a CBC comedy show that I saw the first season of on Netflix (when we still had it) and I really like it. The people making it are a father-son duo who actually play a father-son duo on screen do that works out. If you listen to them in interviews, it seems like they're really down to earth. Basically they wanted to write a comedy show, so they did, and CBC picked it up and now it's a whole thing. I don't think their budget is super huge either which makes me happy because it's a really good show; a good example that you can do a lot with a little if you're clever enough.
Airports, especially sprawling city-sized ones, have the kfeeling of an alternate world in stasis. Any feeling of profoundness I had briefly on the plane has been washed away in a stream of loud Chinese, white fluorescents, fifteen-foot lipstick ads, and millions of grey-faced walking legs of people-shells.

Now we're in Geneva. Local time: 7:16pm. Time in Victoria: 10:16am Monday. We left Sunday morning. So I guess we've been in transit for about 24 hours. I got some sleep I guess. We're holding it together, no major breakdowns yet.
It's kinda fun to hear French spoken around me again. I wonder what the prevalent language is in Bern (where our house swap is).
Lise and Jeff are on a hunt for groceries, as we were told by our house swappers that most of the stores in Switzerland are closed today, must be some holiday or something. So they're walking 500m a cross the airport (and joint train station apparently) to an open food store. Then we're hauling us and our four big checked bags to the car rental place.
Ok they're back. Off we go.

It's 9:23pm in Switzerland and we've figured out enough about how our really really fancy rental Mercedes works to program in the destination of Bern on the sat-nav. Tobin in leaning on my shoulder and trying to sleep. There's a lot of sweat. We just passed IKEA. I'm starting to feel my mental capacities failing due to lack of sleep, and I think the same is true for everyone else. Nothing of what we say is making sense anymore. Jeff is figuring out cruise control. Lise and I tried to figure out music from the iPod to play on the car but it's too hard. We keep hitting dead ends of German menus and the car manual is in German and Lise can't get enough meaning out of it. So I'll just look it up when we get to wifi.
We are going right through Yverdon-les-bains on our way to Bern, so that's cool. We can think of Cabin Pressure as we drive by.
I ripped the sky train ticket I kept from Vancouver apart and found a small circuit of metal inside it. So that's cool.
"Please keep right in 2km" thanks sat-nav.
Lise says our goal for tomorrow is find a grocery store and wash out the water of the turtle. Apparently there's a turtle we need to look after while we stay in Bern. And apparently it really likes snails from the garden.
Tobin is now fast asleep on my arm.
The moon is very pretty. The sky is pink.

It's 10:40pm in Switzerland. I've fallen asleep a couple times in the back of the car. We got some sort of a deal on this car, not sure the details but for some reason they needed to rent this swanky car to us or another group or else risk not renting to one of us, so we're paying about 600 dollars less than the posted price to rent this for two weeks.
Apparently we'll get there in twenty minutes. I don't know how we're going to unload, most of us are sleeping right now.
The way I could tell that I fell asleep was that I was listening to music, then suddenly realized I was halfway through a song but didn't remember the beginning, so I looked at the past couple songs and I didn't remember hearing any of them. So that's a good indicator.
39 hours mostly awake.

We're at the house. I killed a spider and fed the cat (they have a cat! It's small and black). This is definitely the German-speaking part of Switzerland, everything is in German. They didn't say the name of the cat, a bit disappointed. But still there's a cat so I'm still happy. The house is four floors, garage at the top. It's on a steep incline right next to a river. It's midnight right now but I would imagine the view is astounding. I'll take pictures tomorrow. There are also so many cool things (plants, decks, fish, garage, skylight windows, possible former bomb shelter, general construction) about this house but I don't have the mental capacity or the time to chronicle them right now. I'll devote tomorrow for pictures and descriptions of the house, I don't think I'll be doing much else. We drove over a really nice really old-looking covered bridge on the way here, one-way traffic only. I'm very much looking forward to exploring and seeing the rest of this house and gardens and the river tomorrow in the daylight.
I had some Lyoner sausage and nuts and gruyere cheese (same stuff we have back home only this time it's not import end-it's local) and some hazelnut chocolate that they left for us. Now I connect to wifi and post this and fall into bed.