i just looked back on the posts i have written for this very famous and fabulous celebration of Spring’s coming. i was very surprised to note that even though i have lived here for more than 10 years and have been blogging for the last 8 years, i have only written 2 little posts about it. (Read here and here) i guess it’s cos we don’t really take part in it.
This year, again, Fasnacht falls during school term so the kids get to wear their costumes to school on March 4th. Every year the date changes because Fasnacht follows the Church calendar even though it is not a Christian celebration. It usually happens during the few days before Ash Wednesday. It’s tradition lay in the idea of scaring away winter and welcoming Spring. It is also a time of feasting before the time of Lent fasting. There are other regions of Switzerland which celebrate it on a different week, such as Basel which just ended their Fasnacht celebrations yesterday. Zürich is another region which doesn’t have this Spring celebration till some time in April – they call it Sechseläuten. They also burn the Böögg which is said to predict how warm and long a summer we would have.
Tobias decided that this year he wanted to go to the big parade. We usually don’t go cos it’s so crowded (mummy doesn’t like) and loud (boy usually doesn’t like). We went and it was actually quite fun.
Here are some pictures (i had to pick just a few from the 161 i took):
Tobias went as Robin Hood this year. He had wanted to go as Legolas but he decided too late for me to make the costume so we bought this one at the last-minute. It’s cute, isn’t it?Left: On the bus we saw a blue monster, a green monster and a red tomato 😉 Right: Kids wanting impatiently for the parade to start.This poor gal got dunked into confetti – not once but TWICE!Some of our favourites… i so love the giant hats and the pin-cushion kids 🙂No one was left out – babies and wheelchairs – all are welcomed!More favourites – the Marios were really very good and those kids as planes were so cute. That helicopter actually did go up and down.SHOT OF THE DAY – we got shot by a confetti cannon, right in the face!The last group was the cleaning ladies with real soap suds/bubbles.However, the cleaning ladies didn’t do a very good job – hahhaa…We met Tobias’ friend on the bus home. His family comes from Basel and this is the costume they will wear at that Fasnacht parade. They take the kids out of school every year, just to enjoy the fun in their home city – that’s how important this celebration is to them 🙂
i was going to scan my actual certificate but came across this Lego Graduation Cap and Diploma which is so very appropriate to my course of study as well as topic of my post. Please click on picture to visit the website of the creator of this wearable Lego Graduation Cap and Diploma. He has lots of interesting Lego creations!
Yes i did – i finished the first module of a certificate course in childcare in German! Now i can go find work in a playgroup. Well, actually i have to go find myself an internship position so i can do the second module. BUT i DID IT!
It has taken me 10 months. However, it was a fun-filled and knowledge-gaining 10 months! i so loved being back in the classroom, even if it is only one Saturday a month. It was difficult at times to understand some parts (this is where re-reading the notes with a dictionary when i’m home helps) and of course i didn’t express myself quite as clearly as i would have liked to (but i think i did get the points across).
i also enjoyed the company of women from many different nationalities, most of whom have been here for quite some time already. They are all so nice and it has been wonderful getting to know them. They make a really supportive and relaxing group to study with. And it looks like we will all be going onto the same second module class 🙂
This course is specially setup for women with foreign background in Switzerland. They have intentionally created the syllabus with non-German speakers in mind and taken into account our differences in cultural references. Our state (Kantonal) government have been very supportive and sponsored about 80% of the course fees and will also do so for the second module as long as we can prove we are residents of this state (Solothurn).
So if you or any ladies you know are living in Switzerland and are interested in this course, here’s the link to the Eltern Schule Anders website. They have courses in several different places. (The government sponsorship is only for our state and residents of our state i think).
The day we visited the Läderach Chocolate Factory started as cloudy but turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. We took the train to Bilten, a little village in Kanton Glarus. It was a short walk from the Bilten train station to the factory which is one of the first buildings in a light industrial area. Ah… the smell of the chocolate upon entering the factory was amazing!!
Left: Outside the chocolate factory, Right: Beautiful view from the train.
It costs an adult CHF6/. to enter the factory/museum itself. Children up to 12 years old do not pay. Everyone is given a little white porcelain spoon with which you can taste all the chocolate you want :p You are also given a CHF 5/. voucher for chocolate purchases for every paying adult.
Left: Attempting to eat the fake cocoa bean pod, Right: Reading interesting chocolate facts.
The museum is very small but interesting. They show you how the drying of the cocoa beans are done. There are several informative billboards to read in German and English, displays of some of the old chocolate making equipment to look at and a very well-done video explaining the whole process from cocoa bean arriving at the factory to the chocolate powder which is used by the confectioners to make the delicious chocolate creations.
What they used to make those mouth-watering chocolate balls.Left: Inside the factory, Right: Tasting yummy chocolate.
The factory only shows you the process up until the chocolate powder. The actual creation of the yummy pieces of wonderful-looking chocolate which are made by hand, every piece, is not shown.
Left: The difference between milk, white and dark chocolate, Right: the one chocolate fact which my boy loved is the one which states that chocolate enhances brain activity cos of the caffeine content, therefore justifying its consumption 😉
It didn’t take us long at all to finish the tour, about an hour if you read everything and taste everything. i would recommend going with the idea of buying amazing handmade chocolate and taking the factory tour as a bonus.
Shopping for chocolate and our spoils.
We had a lazy day at home after that calorie-loaded outing and then headed to Connyland the day after.
The highlights at Connyland are the animal shows. We went specifically to see the dolphins as this was the last season the dolphins will be there. i don’t exactly know why, i suspect it might have something to do with the facilities the dolphins are kept in. i’m not saying they are bad, from what i saw the dolphins were very happy and loving their trainers. Maybe animal rights groups were calling for the dolphins to be moved?
The amazing dolphins and their trainers!
Anyhow, the dolphin show was fantastic! We LOVED it! It was fun and really showed off what the dolphins can do. They stressed at the beginning and at the end of the show how important clean seas/oceans are for the survival of the dolphins. They also stressed that all the tricks the dolphins do are what they already do naturally, they just trained the dolphins to do them on cue.
(Note for visitors who are not German-speaking – all the shows are conducted in German but are entertaining enough even if you don’t understand the words.)
Some of the rides and activities we did try.
The park itself is not big when you compare it to places like Europa Park or Disney Land. A full day is enough to cover the whole place. There are a good number of rides, catering to both older and younger children. The rides are placed quite closed together but still within safe distance i think.
We didn’t do all the rides. We skipped the rides for younger kids and just did ones we thought were interesting for us. Tobias’ favourite ride was the bumper cars – he went on 4 times! The second favourite was the cable chair ride. It is a single person chairlift high above the flamingo lake.
There were 2 water rides (log ride and voodoo island) we went on, both of which we got splashed upon but it was fine. The voodoo island ride is fun if your fellow-passengers in the next float are game to shoot at you and get shot back.
Tobias climbed about at the Space-center to blow off some energy. The long slide on a mat was a little disappointing, as was the Dino-Attack ride. There were also remote control boats to play with, near one of the eating places.
Some of the rides we decided not to go on.
The Jungle Adventure was actually like a big indoor playground with trampolines, a maze, slides and climbing structures. The big thing in Jungle Adventure was the rope-park-like huge structure in the middle of the whole place. You wear a harness and get hooked up to line which slides around the whole structure above your head, keeping you safe as you negotiate the obstacle/rope course. This is a very popular attraction and we waited for 20 minutes and decided to come back later. We went half an hour before closing time and had the place to ourselves. So be warned. For the other rides there was only a very short wait or no wait at all. Maybe it’s because we went at the end of the season?
The sea-lion show was great! It was entertaining and funny, and engaging for the audience too. The 2 females were in a talent contest to win the affections of the big male, Oscar. i liked how sporting the trainers were to also join in the dancing and bum-shaking with the sea-lions.
The very funny sea-lions and their sporting trainers.
The last show we caught was the parrot show. It was entertaining but the parrots weren’t very cooperative that day so it was a little draggy as she tried to get them to work with her. The trainer also spoke rather fast and was a little unclear but i think that had to do with the poor sound system in that tent rather than the trainer herself.
The slightly stubborn but very cute parrots and their trainer.
Oh, we gave the comedy show a miss this time but maybe next time. It was a super day out and we will likely head back to Connyland at another time.
So that’s the end of our holiday travels for autumn 2013. Till the next holiday – hehehee 😉
trippingdifferently 