trippingdifferently

Yep, Grandpa Yoong, Walter’s dad is a blogger – check it out!

When we fixed up the computer at my in-laws’ place, we had no idea that my FIL will take to it so very well or even remotely envision him a blogger! The idea for fixing up a computer at their place was so that we could Skype with them & they could see their little “Happy Fruit” (Kai Si Gua) aka their grandson, Tobias. Now he’s on blogsphere writing about what he knows best – the government. He was a civil servant.

Let us know what u think of his blog.
syc

Tobias was recently invited to his 1st Swiss Birthday Party! Of cos we have been to many other birthday parties but none of those was from a Swiss Swiss family (meaning both parents are swiss). It was very exciting & interesting for us. Tobias talked about from the time we got the invitation till the day we actually went – which was Tuesday 22nd June 2008.

Here’s a little drawing Tobias made for the little birthday gal – Lena, who is his constant playmate at Daycare. She turned 3 on Tues. Oh by the way, my clever little boy drew these all by himself. The only help i gave him was to write the words out on a separate piece of paper & i showed him how to draw the 1st flower & he drew the other 3 all by himself – mummy is soooo proud – can you tell?! hahhahha ;p

The party took place in the forest near the little gal’s home which is only 1x village down from us. Here a look at the place where the party took place:

There are actually many such places all over the Swiss counrtyside – i remembered going to a friend’s 30th birthday also which was in a barn. It so great to be able to be in nature & use it & the Swiss really do take good care of the natural environment they have – such taking their own trash away when they leave – they are really into leaving the place exactly the way they found it – so nature is still there for others to enjoy 🙂

Lena’s mother was a teacher at the Daycare (she has since resigned – she has a new baby now) so games were easy for her to do & half the kids were from the Daycare so they all knew the games 🙂
Here’s a video of one of the games:

She did like at least 3x different games with just that 1x balloon which she gave to each child! It was brillant & all the kids were 4 & under & could follow very well!

Here’s Tobias being silly with one of his friends from the Daycare, Patrick:

i was the only parent, besides Lena’s Godparents, that was there for the party. All the other swiss parents simply dropped off their kids. i guess i’m still very asian that way – feels funny to just drop him off & leave. Asian parents have birthday parties for their kids but parents are always expected to stay – they are of cos invited to stay – it’s just not asian to have a kids birthday party without the parents around. i sometimes think Asian parents have kids parties as an excuse to enjoy themselves too – hahhahaha 😉
i also like being there so i can pick up some game ideas/party ideas for Tobias’ next birthday :p

Tobias had a blast at his 1st Swiss birthday party – he had an early night that day 😉

syc
(PS: mood has to do with the fact that i cleaned all the windows in the apt today – actually Tobias helped by spraying the window cleaner on & of cos Walter helped with the last few after he had his nap – he returned from a 3x day trip to Romania this afternoon – so it was a family effort! Ahhh… clean windows 🙂 )

i know i know – it’s a little late to blog about something that happened a month ago – but … things happened & plans to blog were put on hold – sigh! Not to mention the photos weren’t downloaded till recently – hehhehee 😉

So what is a Schwingen Fest? Well, it’s traditional Swiss Wrestling! i have heard much about it in the last couple of years & this year an opportunity presented itself for us to go. Us meaning Tobias & myself, along with our friends Samuel & LiPing & their little gals, Natalie & Nicole. Oh we met our friends Ha & her little gal, Slyvie there too.

How is this Schwingen played? Well, 2x men stand in a ring of sawdust & they try to floor the other guy – basic wrestling stuff – but the difference is that you would have to pin both shoulder blades of your opponent to the ground before being declared the winner. Not an easy task! It was interesting watching the different tactics used. We (meaning Walter & myself) enjoy watching Sumo Wrestling & this was a little bit like that – so i enjoyed it. (Oh forgot to say that my poor hubby was in the US for work in June so was unable to come with us – next time). We found out that there are annual events & then there is the super big event every 3 or 4 years – we just went to an annual one on the Schwarz See (Black Lake) in Fribourg this year.

Here’s a look at what Schwingen looks like:

Here’s what the winner of the whole event stands to get – there are things like bicycles, household stuff, huge cow bells, clocks etc:

In addition, there was also a just-for-fun Stone Throwing event on the sidelines:
Mens Stone Throwing

Womens Stone Throwing

It was a nice little trip put together by Network Relocation (relocation experts in Switzerland – they should pay me for advertising for them – hahhaa). We paid 1x price & got bussed to the event, had front row seats, had lunch provided for (so no need to eat just bread & sauages which is the normal fare at these events) & we got bussed back. It was an incredibly hot day that day – so the kids got to have ice cream. See all the lovely “ice-cream-faces” 😉

Actually it was rather boring for the kids. After the initial excitement of watching these men throw each other to the ground & trying to do the same to each other, the kids sort of wanted to leave. There was a beautiful lake but we had no swim things & were near the muddy section of the lake. So the kids ran around & drew on the little bits of paper i had & improvised a little slide from some wooden planks. But it was a nice outing as they had each other to play with & everyone enjoyed the day.

Oh & of cos there was Swiss Folk Music – what traditional Swiss event would be complete without one! They also had a Yodeling group singing while the wrestling was happening but we were too far to get a good picture – so here’s a picture of some Swiss Folk Musicians:

Here’s some pics of the lake:

syc – hoping to go to another traditional swiss event soon 😉
& promising more posts real soon – hopefully – hehhee