Category: Switzerland

About Switzerland and our travels in and around it.

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Schlaf im Stroh… Sleep in Straw…

We had 3 weeks of Autumn School Holidays in October… and we had fun 😉
Our biggest adventure was Schlaf Im Stroh – we slept in straw on a farm 😀

There are farms here in Switzerland which have turned their upstairs barn space into little sleeping areas, filled with straw and you can book a night or two or three or more for a sleepover. They do groups too. There are some farms which have more child-friendly things to do than others. But overall i think they are all quite good. They are also organised – as you would expect from the Swiss – check out this official website.

We stayed at the Erlebnishof Hatti. So it turned out that we were the only guests for the night that we chose – it was a Sunday night, apparently most people come either during the weekdays or else from Friday to Sunday morning. Very few actually stay Sunday night till Monday morning.

The one downside to this whole adventure was that Walter could only stay with us for the night and then he had to go back to work very early the next morning and didn't get to stay for the morning's activities.

There is soooo much to share from this adventure…

We arrived on the farm about 5.30pm on Sunday evening and were welcomed by the farmer's wife and told to make ourselves at home and that the farmer would be back from the fields in about half hour and we can help out around the farm.

We started small… playing with the many many bunnies they have…

Here's what the farm looks like:

There was also a lovely view:

Then we got to work helping the farmer. Here Tobias is pouring out feed for the sheep.

Then we helped to herd the goats back to their stalls – actually these animals are really quite smart, the moment you open the gate to the field, they start running up the hill to their stalls cos they know what awaits… Food! 😉

Here Walter & Tobias are laying out bread for the horses in their stall… i did not know they would eat stale bread and the farmer says it makes it more interesting for them if we spread it around a bit.

We then watched the farmer feed the pigs – i never knew how violent pigs can be when it comes to getting their share of food. i also did not know that they liked soured milk.

Then came the part where i was slightly afraid… i have always been slightly afraid of birds/fowls with sharp beaks… i have always worried about being pecked by those very pointed beaks! Not as scary as i imagined. Unless you are food, they are really not interested in you. So we went to feed the chickens.

The farmer also showed us where they laid the eggs – they had these big boxes where they put a whole lot of what looked like wheat kernels to me. The chickens lay them in there, hiding them among the kernels. It was really very fun reaching in and searching for the eggs. It was even more exciting when the eggs are freshly laid and they still feel warm. We got to feed chickens & pick eggs both that evening and the next morning. That evening all the chickens were rushing to the feed we threw out for them so none of them were sitting on their eggs. But in the morning there were a couple who weren't interested in the feed. Tobias went up to one of them and said in Swiss German, 'We are not going to hurt you. Please may we have your egg.' Then he reached in slowly and took the topmost egg. Soooo cute!

Tobias also got first hand experience at milking the sheep. This farmer did not keep cows but he had sheep so he produced… well, the sheep produced the milk and the farmer collected it. Here Tobias was putting feed to keep the sheep happy while being milked.

Then he was allowed to help prepare the pumps.

The farmer even let him try his hand at attaching the pump to the sheep's udders.

By then it was quite late. And we still haven't had our dinner. So we said good night to the farmer and went to have our packed dinner which we brought with us. Father and son had a game of table soccer before bedtime.

This is where we slept.

OOooh, before i forget, the farmer was so very nice and gave us 3 boxes of eggs to take home – 18 fresh farm eggs!!

It was a cold night and we all wished we had brought more to wear to sleep but we survived – next time we know. 

i heard the farmer get up and start his day at about 5.30am in the morning – Wow! being a farmer sure means long days – 5.30am till at least 8.30pm if not longer. But we were visitors so we stayed in bed. Tobias was a little sad that he missed the morning milking as that is when they milked the goats as well.

But he got to do something even better. He brushed down a horse.

It was a cold and rainy day. It had started raining the night before and kept on raining that whole Monday – it was light rain but it just didn't stop.

Then he got to ride on the horse. We rode (well he rode and myself and the farm assistant walked beside him) to the farm down the road which had Lamas and Alpacas. Very cute.

Then back to the farm again.

Just before we left the farmer let Tobias ride with him in the little sewage truck (it did not smell cos it's all contained) as he needed to drive it out to clean the sewage from the outdoor toilets they had installed.

Then it was byebye.

Tobias loved it soooo much that he has asked to go back again but this time for two nights instead of just one!
We certainly will be going back – anyone like to join us?
syc

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Exciting New Adventure… 1st Grade… or Primary 1…

…or as they say here in German, 1. Klasse, said as “Ersten Klasse”, or direct translation – 1st Class…

Tobias started 1st grade about 3 weeks ago & he loves it!!
Here he is at his desk on the 1st day of school, 16th August 2011, Tuesday:


His teacher is a real nice lady, very smiley & seems to truly love teaching the kids.
Here they are at storytime with her:


Tobias is enjoying the much larger variety of ‘subjects’ as compared to what he got at Kindergarten, which was a lot of crafts (he’s not a very crafty boy). He has German (of cos), Math (which he loves), Science & Brain Teasers (i think this may be just a general knowledge of the world around us type thing & the teasers are just for fun & a little something more challenging for the kids to do). There is also Music, Gym, Workshop & Religion, which are all in different classrooms. So there is a fair bit of coming & going which suits Tobias just fine as he is such an energtic boy 🙂

There are a couple of firsts for our little village school – this is the 1st year they are having a mixed 1st & 2nd grade class. At the Parents’ Evening last week, they explained that practically the 2 grades are really together for one whole day in the week – other than that, they have different classes, e.g. 1st grade goes for Music while 2nd grade stays to do German. Of cos break time is together & some mornings they do start the day together. i think it’s great that they have such classes – it helps for the 1st graders to have someone to follow when doing things or when they don’t understand. i’m also hoping that it may be possible for Tobias to do some 2nd grade work if he gets a little bored, like in Math, i think he will enjoy the 2nd grade work more cos he is already at that level. Just to let you see the difference, 1st graders are expected to learn to count to 20 (forwards & backwards), while 2nd graders up to 100 – & Tobias can already count to 100. But we’ll see…

This being Switzerland, they are very organised, even with homework – there are fixed days on which your child will come home with homework – for us it’s Monday, Tuesday & Thursdays. They also tell you how long your child is expected to spend on homework each time – 1st graders no more than 15 or 20mins after which they recommend that the child stop working & should the homework not be completed by then (which should be never as the work is very easy), the parent should include a note in the homework folder to indicate that the child worked on the homework for 20mins & still could not finish. & that would be accepted. Notes from parents are also accepted if you have a special family event (e.g. Grandfather’s Big Birthday Bash) & can’t finish or do your homework.

So very different from Singapore…

& that’s not even talking about the homework situation in Singapore today but even when i was in school, i remember coming home with hours of homework from about Pri 3 onwards – here Pri 3 level students are expected to do 1hour of homework only.

Here’s Tobias concentrating really hard on his homework:


This one happens to be a drawing assignment – just to draw a nice picture for a classmate whose birthday is coming up. All the other times so far, he’s come home with either Math or German homework in a workbook.

Here he is with the half finished drawing & the finished one:


Oh, the 2nd ‘firsts’ for our school is the giving out of actual grades or marks for the lower primary classes. It’s so new to them that they still haven’t quite worked out how it would function. What we found out last week was that it is really for the teachers to be able to keep better track of each child’s progress & to know if there are any areas where special attention might be needed. But it looks like we, the parents, won’t see any of this till maybe January. They want to have it all worked out 1st & they really don’t want it to give added pressure to the kids so they want to make sure that the way marks are given will reflect that.

Once again, so very different from Singapore…

& i think it’s good… young children are like little sponges & should be encouraged to learn & learn & not perform… getting good marks can take over & make a child more worried about the marks than about actually learning & enjoying the learning experience which will make them into life-long learners.

So here’s to having fun in school & life-long learning 😉
syc

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The Winter Snow welcomes us back!!

We landed safely on Saturday morning 6.30am at Zurich airport, Switzerland. It was -1 & raining.
Later that morning, it started snowing heavily & kept on through the night & this morning (Sunday) we were greeted with at least 30cm of snow, if not more. The drive to church was terrible, there were jams as everyone had to slow down to about 40/50km, even on the highways! & there was a section of the highway which was not cleared yet – so it was a rather bumpy & icy ride. Then we got behind 2 snow-plows, which kept the speed at a steady 40km/hr. Then one of the plows got a flat & had to pull over. Nearer church the roads became clear. But it took us twice as long to get to church today, almost 2hrs instead of the usual 50mins!! sigh! Tobi got quite restless during the journey & towards the end kept asking to be carried! Also in part he had gotten used to being carried in taxis while we were in Singapore (no car seats in taxis).
Here are some pictures of the large amounts of snow.

Now let’s backtrack a little to the flight home:
Tobi bumped his head hard as he ran into someone’s trolley just before we were to go to the plane. So that was his major thingy before we left Singapore.
We had a delayed start as there was too much traffic on the runway & we waited an hour on the plane before we took off. During that time, the engines were off so the air-con was limited & it got really hot. The good thing was Tobi wasn’t bothered by the heat – he was so tired he just went to sleep. It was a midnight flight. Thank God he slept for a little more than half the flight – although he kept tossing around – at least he was sleeping & i could at least get some sleep too – even though it was interrupted sleep, still better than not getting any. Then i kept him entertained with food, Hi-5 video on the in-flight system, drawing, books & more food. He slept again an hour before landing – which i’m most grateful for.

Now need to get some sleep as Walt leaves early tomorrow morning for a business trip.
syc