The pinning ceremony was very cool to be a part of. I learned that in Switzerland a raised flag means that there are people home. That is extremely appropriate for Our Chalet as I felt right at home my short stay there. The tour of Our Chalet was great and I also browsed the little shop there to buy some souvenirs.
After the official Our Chalet stuff, I ventured back into Adelboden to finish off the Adelboden scavenger hunt and be that much closer to earning the Our Chalet challenge. Adelboden is a beautiful town!!! There are a lot of cute little shops and restaurants there. Adelboden is a HUGE ski resort town in the winter. Every year the world championships are held there. I can't quite remember if the event is just slalom skiing or not. In the centre of the town there are two giant rocks with the footprints of every world champion skier who has one that particular competition. Austria has most footprints on the rocks. They must be good skiers haha.
I got back to the Chalet just in time to meet up with a group of Swiss leaders, who happen to be originally from Canada, USA, and the UK, and I joined their group on a hike to Bonderfalle and the Magic Tree. This group of leaders all have moved to Switzerland based on their husband's jobs. The lead a troop of Girl Scouts through the American Girl Scouts Overseas program. Very unique and awesome that there is an option such as that available! Bonderfälle is a set of waterfalls up high in the mountains. It was a nice hike to the base, then a bit of a challenge up the hill as it was raining and had rained for the past few days. The Magic Tree was awesome!!! It is a 500 year old tree that has become hollow, yet it is still alive! I continued the tradition/legend of stepping into the hollow portion and making a wish. It is supposed to come true!!!
I returned to Our Chalet in time for a yummy supper. I spent most of this evening drying off and planning my train trip to Basel to meet up with my mom's cousin Hellie.
June 2nd was a very busy day. I had planned to wake up early to tour more around Our Chalet on my own, but I fell back asleep and woke up just in time for breakfast. Oops! I did some SWAPing this morning with the summer volunteers that I have been lucky to get to know during my weekend at Our Chalet. I then packed up my bags, stripped my bed and continued working on the Our Chalet challenge. I COMPLETED IT!!! :D yay! The staff at reception as well as the program intern think that no one else has completed the challenge in such a short amount of time. Pretty exciting stuff!! I now have completed 2/4 world centre challenges!
On a side note, for any ladies involved in Girl Guides reading this, there is a pilot project happening in the fall for a fifth world centre in Africa! It will be a traveling world centre. It will travel between Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, and Kenya!!! How exciting is that?! I have no other details about this world centre, but I plan to google it when I get back home to Canada.
I traveled with a lovely retired Australian couple from the Chalet to the train station in Frutigen. I got to know them over my stay at Our Chalet and they were more than happy to see me off onto the next leg of my summer travels. I also got an invite to visit them in Queensland the next time I am in Australia.
(Me on the train watching the beautiful Swiss scenery)
I got off the train in Basel, Switzerland and met Hellie! We drove to Lörrach, Germany. It is a very nice and warm town. The sun was shining and we enjoyed some tea and cake on the balcony alongside her husband. It is nice to be with family!!! I thoroughly enjoyed catching up over some wine (something that did not happen the last time we saw each other in 2005 haha). We also talked a bit about our family, my Oma and Opa Willie. Apparently she liked the Nielens a lot as a child because of the cherry tree in their backyard and the French fry place they owned. She has also told me about several things to do including jogging, tennis and going into the downtown of the small village. I think Lörrach is about 42,000 people.
Finally contacted home via phone. Glad to hear my dad planted my sunflowers!!!! Thanks dad :)
I am sure my few days in Germany will be fantastic!!
Auf Wiedersehen!!!!
-Steph
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