BloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooG!

Wow… after an awesome and hectic summer, i somehow managed to abandon by beloved little blog. Woops.

Im gunna start bloggin again soon… so keep checkin back here!!!!

Nyon.

Burtigny’s downtown is a place called Nyon, around 35 minutes away. On saturday a group of us went down for a day in the sun on the lakeshore, as well as a bit of culture.

We went into a museum, which was in an old castle, where there was a modern art exhibition on display. After looking at the paintings, i was left with two feelings. They were:

1) These pictures could have been drawn by a four year old

2) Nearly all of those pictures looked like puke.

Saturday night was volleyball and pizza, although not at the same time.

Have a lovely day!

Sam

Big Barbie!

Yes, yes, yes, i know what you’re thinking, it was a big BBQ, not a big doll.

Yes… terday, was cool. 

One of the guy’s son’s who lives here asked me if i wanted to go out to a youth group barbecue in the jura mountains. Ok… so, when you think of a barbecue, in the uk, it is usually sausages. or burgers. If it is very sophisticated, then possibly both. But, not in Switzerland!!! Here it was both of the above, and bacon, spare ribs, chicken, spicy chicken, big german sausages, salad, pasta, chips, prawns, fish just caught on the lake. That was cool. Then is was time for the world’s second largest watermelon. That is an exaggeration. It is second only to the one we got in china last year. Aside from watermelons, it was very fun! We also had a look at the remains of a 13th century monastery and lots of big trees.

That was cool. Recently we have also been playing lots of volleyball, which has been fun, and i am SLOWLY getting better!

Have a lovely day!

Sam.

 

Btw, if you like watermelons, check out the track watermelon man by Herbie Hancock!

Wallace and Grommit comes to Switzerland!

A slightly abstract title, but it works!

As part of my work experience here, I have been doing media development and research. Yesterday we were making stop motion films, which was fun, as I had to animate a ball of paper coming out of a waster paper bin   and landing on a table, being dragged around by a plastic cow and then unravelling its self, to display some design work!

Stop motion is where you take a picture, move the subject matter (a piece of paper in this case, but it could be a wallace and grommit plastercine model or lego men, for instance) then you take a picture of it, then move it a tiny bit again. When you have done that 20 times, you have 1 second of film!!!

The other problem with this, was that I needed to do the whole thing backwards!!! This was so as I didnt crumple the paper up!

If you’re interested in software or computers, then I was using istopmotion to make it. Its a great app, very cheap and a world of fun!!!

Have a lovely day!

Sam.

Work, Work, Work. …………………………………….Volleyball

Sorry, this will be another quick one!

Yesterday was mad.

1. Wash a car

2. Wash another car

3. Set up break

4. Clean up break

5. Clean toilets

6. Set up dinner

7. Eat dinner

8. Clean up from dinner

9. Take milk container back to farm

10. Volleyball.

11. sleep for a very long time!

Yesterday was workduties day… Fun Fun and more Fun!!!

Have a nice day!!!

This is not just washing up… This is industrial washing up!!!

I’ll get on to the washing up in a min, but first, photocopying.

Yes, photocopying is probably the world’s most boring task, except of course almost any kind of spot and listening to screamo music. I had to photocopy a 100 page book, and it printed badly, so i had to change the kind of paper and do it again!

Never mind! Its all a lesson in servanthood!

OOh, nearly forgot… dismantling a whopper of a wardrobe, in a small flat, taking it accross the road, and pushing it bit by bit up a ladder through an attic window. Not just any old person’s attic window though. They’re not that kind of people here. It was the other half of the university campus.

After lunch… cleaning toilets … which left me with only one question… IS THERE AN EASIER WAY TO DO THIS???

I’ll try it a different way today!

Now, continental health and safety laws – or the lack of them – allow me, a 15 year old, to work in an industrial kitchen! I therefore discovered the fun of a moving walk in pantry, two walk in freezers, the world’s biggest saucepan which needs a wheel to be turned over and emptied! and, wait for it, le pierce de resistence… a washing up GUN!!! Yes, you heard me! A washing up gun! Its easy… just line up zour pots, pans, plates, knives etc, and fire away!!! bang, and the dirt is gone. After that, zou can swuirt it rounf the kitchen and clean everzthing else… walls, floor, the chef etc. How fun!

Then I watched a film, then the vicar of dibley and then another sit com, which I cant remember the name of!

Have a nice day!!!

It’s Raining, It’s pouring, Sam was Snoring!!!!

zzzzzzzzz.

A rainy day yesterday. Grrrrr. Sadly, there isnt really much to tell you about, as i got up late, made pancakes, watched The Simpsons Movie and then Top Gear with some friends, ate more pancakes, wend outside and had some more Mali tea, watched a double bill of Bill bailey, which was wierd and random but fun! Ate dinner, which was very nice, and no, it wasnt pancakes. Then I finished watching Bill bailey, played about 20 matches of pool, and went to bed around half 11.

So, overall a very cultural experience. Not.

Here’s to a better day today!

Day 2… On yer bike…

After waking up at about 9.30, having brunch and realising that next to nothing happens here at the base at the weekend, I borrowed Thiery’s bike, adjusted the seat, and lowered it by about a foot, and headed off into the Swiss outback. Only one word could describe my journey: UPHILL!!!  I went through many a small village and then up through the hills, for about 20k. The inclines were very steep, but it was worth it for the views!

Eventually, when I got towards the top of a mountain, I realised that if I kept going, then I would see nothing but trees, trees and more trees. I had then travelled for about an hour seeing nothing but trees, a big incline and feeling very jealous of lots of semi pro cyclists on proper road bikes with no suspension. Cycling uphill had become a chore. zzzzzzzzzzzzz. I got very bored and so speeded back to Burtigny – downhill all the way!!! I should also point out that my cheap headphones broke, and so any speech or singing that came out of them was all garbled, so I could only really listen to instrumental tracks. The only one I could find was Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters, which was wierd, but fun too!

After getting back to the base, a guy called Samuel from Mali was outside swinging an old tomato tin full of charcoal in the air. This was a bit wierd, so I went to have a look…. He was making Mali tea the traditional way. I tried some, and it wasn’t just powerful stuff. It was like some kind of supernova explosion in your mouth, with the amount of caffine in it! It tasted like toothpaste, boiled up with a little bit of tea!

Many of you will know that I have a passion for Jazz music  – I listend to Louis Armstrong when I was about 1!!! It was then pure luck that my trip co-incided with the Montreux Jazz festival. It is one of the world’s most famous Jazz festivals too! I didn’t even know it was happening until a lady on the plane told me! There was lots of cool music, mostly Latin, Reggae, Salsa etc with some blues and rock and some good artists, Alicia Keys among others, but to my dissapointment, not a note of jazz in sight! Nevertheless, It was a great day, where I saw an awesome sunset and got to know the people really well!

We got back early at about 12.30am, but still we were tired!

I wonder what I will get up to today? Check back here in the next intrigueing installment of…… Sam’s Blog!!!

First full day… A very Suisse experiece!

After cleaning the base car, I headed off to the nearest train station, Gland. From there I went to Lausanne and then to a local train station, which I would tell you the name of, but it is very french and has slipped my mind! There I met a friend that I first met last year on the Next Wave sailing yacht. (is that how you spell yacht?) (Hi Elsie!) We had a very cool day – although it was very hot and sunny – and after meeting her fmily we walked up through her little village, saw an outlet of her mum’s cosmetics business and over a hill and back down to her house. It’s amazing how long you can talk by just recalling memories of last year!!!

In the evening we went by car up to a small, traditional but very nice fondue restaurant! Fondue is very basic but very tasty (and fattening) so you have to try it! Its fun too! we also had some smoked and dried beef and some mirngue and cream (not together of course!)

After that we took the car into some of the world’s most beautiful scenery: The Swiss Alps. We stopped at a lay-by overlooking a valley and saw an awesome rainbow! (photos to come!) I always thought that putting cow bells on cows was something that is either very old fashioned or can only be seen in the movies! I thought wrong. (excuse the cliché -another French word!- and poor english!) As we got out of the car, you could hear nothing apart from a little wind and a symphony of cow bells!

Then it was back on the public transport and into Lausanne, Gland, then Burtigny!

First Day!

WOW! what an awesomely beautiful place! If switzerland was a person it would be a supermodel!!!

After taking in some of the best scenery out of the plane window – it was an a320, but a different version – an a319 which is just as nice! so pretty happy! – and talking to a lady from the UN and a lady from Geneva, I touched down and went through the most awesomely fast passport check. It consisted of me showing the picture page of my passport to a man, where there was no queue, him nodding and me going into the baggage area. Got my bag, then headed to all the vaguely train like signs. I got a ticket and found the train which was leaving very quickly from the airport, changed at Nyon and got to Gland. Then found my rondezvous – i just had to use a cool french word – and we took a lovely drive up through the hills to where i am staying in Burtigny!
We had some cool volleyball games and then watched a film.

The base her is in a lovely place. I can remember TopGear’s quest to find the best driving scenery in the world. I can confirm that they were correct in that Switzerlamd is the best!!!

I wonder what i’ll get up to today!
check back tomorrow to find out!