Switzerland – Page 22 – trippingdifferently

October 14, 2012

Autumn Holiday Week 01…

So we have been on Autumn holidays – it’s 3 weeks of holidays 😉 i just thought i recap some highlights of Week 01.

We had a couple of restful days at home to start with. Then we went to Basel to meet a friend and to watch the latest kids’ movie, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted. We loved it!

i was expecting more of the same running away stuff and the same used jokes but this one had heart… the previous 2 had heart too but this one just did so much more in taking the audience along on the journey and much more emotional investment without loss of any of the most funny moments on-screen.

i thought the cinema would at least be a little filled up, it being the holidays but here we are again, all alone in the cinema (we were later joined by a mum and her 2 kids who sat behind us):

Camera 360 — Once again, the lone figure in a sea of red.

See here for the other empty cinema moment.

Oh, before we went for the movie, we met our friend and her little gal for a Sushi lunch; Tobias’ favourite all-time food! He broke his record and had 8 whole plates of Sushi all by himself! My Sushi Monster 😉

Then we enjoyed more home time and got started on our Christmas presents for grandparents. i’m not going to say what we are making as we would like to keep it a surprise 😉

On Saturday last week, we went to the Suisse Toy Fair in Bern. i think i mentioned it a couple of times before but never got round to posting about it. This year we all felt that the fair seemed a little smaller or maybe it was because this year was held in a few larger halls instead of the usual various smaller halls all over the BEA Expo.

Tobias enjoyed some time on a mini ATV (you have to pay for these rides, they are like amusement rides):

We saw the ProJuvenTute get their Guinness World Record for the largest 3D Lego model to be build. They had lots of people over the period of the toy fair come and build different 3D models out of Lego and fixed them all onto a huge Lego map of Switzerland. It was quite cool.

Of course the thing that one does at a Toy Fair is to try out the toys!

The highlight for Tobias was getting a photo with his favourite Skylander Character, Gill Grant:

The highlight for me was Creaktiv, the section with all the handicraft materials and stuff. i got stuck at the one stall for so long that husband and son came to find me after finishing at the remote-control section 😉

If you like toys or have kids, the Toy Fair is a great way to spend the day. Do take note, food and drinks are more expensive so if you are planning on staying longer than 4 hours (which i recommend), then remember to pack food and drinks, especially for the little ones.

There are quite a few rest areas (Ruhe Zone) with a whole bunch of Fat Boys (large bean bags) where people can just relax or wait for their family members or mothers can feed their babies.

That was Week 01. Will post about Week 02 soon.

syc

September 16, 2012

Taking a Breath Here…

The previous two weekends have been busy busy busy… so it was a nice change this weekend to have nothing going on and just be… well, almost… Tobias did have a birthday party to go to but that left mummy and daddy free to just do some shopping for self 😉

So what kept us busy the last two weekends? Here’s the scoop.

The weekend of September 1st: we attended Walter’s colleague’s wedding apero (that’s the reception for those not familiar with the Swiss term). It’s a rather casual thing, not a big dress-up do like in Asia. The only people who do dress-up is the bridal party. Everyone else comes in smart casual at the very most, it is also acceptable to come in jeans and t-shirt. The basic idea is to come and celebrate with the happy couple and wish them well.

i like that idea – no pressure to dress to the 9’s and simply enjoy the party and the company. It was nice since Walter’s firm did away with the company ski weekend, i haven’t been able to meet and know Walter’s colleagues better.

Plus point – we went without Tobias as he had a birthday party to attend that weekend (yes, this is birthday season for his class). So an afternoon of mummy and daddy time.

We came home and rested for a bit and then were off to a musical evening. We were invited by Tobias’ violin teacher to hear him play in an ensemble. They presented music from the 1800s. It was quite lovely. It was a short one hour and a bit event. There was coffee, tea and cakes if you so desired.

i love the fact that there are many of these little musical or artistic events are held in and around the little villages here. And there is no expensive entrance fees; just a small donation is asked for. This is truly bringing music and the arts to the community.

The weekend of September 8th: Well, there was our wedding anniversary (read about it here). That morning, i had a Day Away for Women seminar to attend. So that was a full Saturday.

On Sunday, we were invited to a 100-year party. Tobias’ schoolmate’s family of 5 added up their ages and it equalled 100. So it was an excuse to celebrate 😉 We went and had a good time, getting to know some of our Swiss neighbours better.

The family was able to rent an entire villa for the party! It is part of a cultural quartier in Bern and the big house is open for rental. There was a lovely playground and chalets on the other side of the compound as well.

The weather was simply beautiful – one last warm weekend before the autumn cold hits in full force.

That pretty much wraps up our busy weekend. Glad to have some normal and quiet this weekend.

Wishing you a good week ahead.

syc

August 31, 2012

Learning a New Language…

… How long does it take?

Well, i’m almost certain that if you ask ten different people, you will likely get various answers, including the well-known and well-used “It depends…”

Depends on what? Well, lots of things – age of learner, hours and frequency of lessons, whether the language is used daily, whether the learner is using a method suited to him etc…

Why am i talking about this? Well, because i read this article “How Long Does it Take to Learn a New Language?” by Dr. S.E. Eaton. It was an interesting read, a bit technical for a lay-person though, but still a good read.

Plus, we are coming up to finishing our 10th year here in Switzerland! Yes, 10 years in September! Amazing, huh? Time has just flown by. i can still remember myself on that very first train ride from Zürich airport to Solothurn, a place that has been home for the last 3560 days (minus vacations). i remember being all excited and taking everything in with the eyes of a newborn babe. Then getting hit hard with the language barrier.

i have always found language learning to be quite difficult, even when i was in school and we had to learn a second language. (For my non-singaporean readers) In Singapore, the language of instruction in schools is English. Everyone is also required to learn a second language, usually based on your race or these days the language chosen by your inter-racial parents. So being Chinese, i learnt Chinese, or Mandarin as it is properly known. i was never very good at it even though i have had 13 years of study in it; always scraping by with just the minimum passing grade.

However, i take comfort in what Dr. Eaton says in her article:

“Learning a second language for 95 hours per year for six years will not lead to functional bilingualism and fluency in the second language. Expectations must be realistic.” (Archibald et al., 2007, p. 3)

OK, so i had twice that but still it was not a language i spoke outside of my Chinese class so i never progressed to “expert” level. Of course, i can converse in it. But i, personally, judge expertise in a language to mean that one can discuss politics , environmental issues and religion with ease. i can talk about the weather, shopping, children/school issues and general small talk, but that’s about all.

i think my German is at about the same level as my Chinese, maybe even better, as i can read in German better than i can in Chinese. (If you ever tried to learn Chinese, you will understand that without constant practice and exposure, reading Chinese is very very difficult. There is no guessing through phonetically trying to sound out the word. You just have to know the word.)

So how many hours of lessons did it take me to arrive at being conversational in German?

Let’s see, i have had roughly 6 years or a little more of weekly German instruction. 2 hours a week. Minus holidays. That’s about 76 hours a year for 6 years… equals 456 hours, give or take some.

In Dr. Eaton’s article, she puts up a very simplified way of calculating the time needed to become an expert in a language . Apparently, research experts have decided on the “10,000 hours to be an expert” rule for language learning. So i take comfort in that i will need another 9544 hours of classes till expert level.

But of course, this does not take into account other factors, such as learning method, ability, immersion etc…

My German did not make any significant leap until Tobias went to Kindergarten and i got to interact with other parents and the teacher on an almost daily basis in German. Then it clicked, the hours of lessons in crazy German grammar made some sense and my vocabulary was built up. And i found speaking the language no longer embarrassed me. i finally got the hang of it after i really put myself out there and immersed myself in hearing and using the language.

So what’s the point of this whole post?

Well, i wanted to encourage those who are struggling to learn a new language… hang in there, keep practicing, keep making mistakes and you will get there. Be brave, speak that language you are trying to learn, it’s the only way to get there. It took me many years and many hours of lessons to get to conversational (i’m really slow at languages.) so it will happen for you too – just keep using the language.

Have a lovely weekend.

syc