Katie and Marianne here:
So, we apologize, we know it's been awhile since we updated, but we are very busy girls! (and maybe if someone left us a comment every once and awhile *hint* *hint*) After Paris we spent the weekend at the Kormann's, met some new friends, and overall had a pretty good time. Upon our arrival back in Engelberg, it was tres cold. But this time it was good news, because we got the day off of work to go climbing.
So Ronny, Esther, and us took off down the mountain to tackle the ropes of the climbing park. Of course, first we got suited up in our cute little outfits :) (wedgie city!) Anyways, after taking on the practise park, we moved on to bigger and better things. Ronny appointed himself the official photographer (with Katie's camera) which no one really minded since it meant we got to be in all the pictures! We decided (since we are so experienced) to skip levels two and three and move straight onto four. After completion, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves, not being afraid all that much.. until we saw, level four is "moderate". So off to level five, SLIGHTLY more challenging, but still, we were feeling pretty good. Then... came level six. At the end of level six there is a pully system that you have to use to get down. What you have to do is hook yourself on, then jump (from a 20m platform) backwards! And the worst part is that the rope only gives resistance after it feels 20kg, so when you pull on it, it doesn't feel like it will hold you at all! But we all lived to tell the tale, so it worked for us.
Wednesday we were back to work, in the back ice cream shop. Nothing really interesting was going on, it was busy, but not too busy, warm, but not hot... and then, all the tourists started screaming, and running for their lives! "Achtung! Achtung!" A loud thundering could be heard over head and we looked to see a huge boulder coming down the mountain! Marianne felt a scream crawl up her throat and she began to run for her life!!!! Okay, well not really. Katie on the other hand just sat and watched as the children ran so that they would not be squished in it's path. (Katie's reflexes apparently aren't so good) Thankfully, no one got hurt. (And by the way, this isn't a common occurance..)
The rest of the week was just filled with work, dishes, and more work, and more dishes. We went up to Rugghubel and did more dishes (by hand!) and then on Sunday we had the race of our lives booking it down the mountain with hot mountain man Martin. Poor Marianne had legs half the size of his, and had to carry on a conversation while leading the way. Katie just stuck it out in the back, trying to keep up.
Monday we left for Frankfurt! When we arrived at our hotel the man at the front desk gave us a map and, of course, circled for us where we could find the shopping! So thats what we did. (We realized we could probably spend the rest of our lives in H&M) Tuesday morning was frightening to say the least. As we walked out of our hotel room, we started to turn the corner to walk down the street, but we heard screaming. We looked, and there were girls, being chased, by a drunk homeless man! The very same drunk homeless man we had walked by the night before! So of course, Marianne's quick instincts kicked in (and Katie's followed, a little after) and we booked it across the street away from the homeless man. (The girls got away okay too) We walked to the zoo and spent some time enjoying animals in captivity and then decided on more shopping! (We found 3 different H&M's on one street, heaven?) In the evening we met up with David, though neither of us were actually friends with him, but we thought it would be sweet to be wtih someone from home, and it was! We shopped a little more, found David a backpack, dressed him up in purple ( like an Indian he would say) and then all headed back to our hotel. It was nice to get to talk about people from home and speak english! Plus, we made a new friend.
Wednesday we trained our way back to Engelberg and hung out there for the night. This morning we came back up to Brunni, where we are working for the day, and then heading up higher to Rugghubel tomorrow (but we really only have to work on Sunday, nice!) After that we will be done work, which suprisingly, is a little sad. But we're very much looking forward to sleeping in and going to the beach :)
Hope ya'll are doing good!
Donnerstag, 31. Juli 2008
Freitag, 18. Juli 2008
Paris!
Katie and Marianne here:
So today has been a lazy day, but it's probably because we are just SO worn out from our excursion to..ehm.. Paris!
The trip started out a little on the boring side. We left Tuesday morning, and then spent the next 8+ hours on a train. It actually took us longer to get to Paris (or almost as long) as it did for us to get to Switzerland! But of course, it was all worth it in the end. So once we arrived, it was time for us to find our hostel (or "budget hotel"). We decided to purchase a handy dandy map book of Paris, funny thing was, Katie found the page we needed before we bought it, so she had a nice little time trying to explain to the French speaking teller why she couldn't take her finger out of the book to pay for it.
Lucky for us our hostel ended up being only a 10 minute walk from the train station! (now thats not a coincedence!) The street looked a little sketchy at first, but we realized that's just how it is in Paris. Oh, and one other thing we noticed, Paris stinks! Literally, it actually smells really bad. Sort of like human shit. (pardon my french, haha!) Anyways, we found our Hotel Liberty, then walked awhile more, did a bit of grocery shopping for supper, and headed back to the Hotel. At this point we were still so scared of being alone in a huge city in a foreign country where we couldn't speak the language that we decided to hide away in our hotel room for the night.
The room was surprisingly alright, aside from a semi-funky smell (oh and a little bit of hair under the sheets). But other than that it was nice! (Not even being sarcastic, it really wasn't that bad) Our bathroom was itty bitty, but it was (for the most part) clean and stocked. The bed wasn't too uncomfortable and we felt very safe the whole time in there. It definitely could have been worse.
Wednesday was our exploring day, and our only full day in Paris. We woke up in the morning and headed downstairs for our FREE breakfast of bread, hot chocolate, and orange juice. Then soon after we ventured out into the big city to find, yes, the shopping mall! (It was actually funny because the night before we had asked our friendly hotel man if we were within walking distance of the Eiffel Tower, and he said "No, no, I would not reccommend going on foot." So we asked, " Well how long would it take about?" "Oh around an hour.." Me and Marianne had to give a little chuckle, when you live in the country an hours walk seems like a breeze!) So we took our map, with our route highlighted, courtesy of our friendly hotel man, and we found the mall, shopped, and walked back to the hotel to drop of our purchases. After a short break, we decided to go back out and search out the Eiffel.
Along the way we came across the Louvre Museum (where the Mona Lisa is in) but instead of appreciating the art, standing and ooing and awing for hours, we decided to touch it! (Outside that is) So we opened our camera bags and posed with the naked women of the gardens, while other tourists watched in disgust at our immaturity (okay, not really, they knew they wanted to too) After we got sick of naked women, we moved on to scouting out the hotties in the area, and taking creeper photos.
Marianne- Ok, you stand there and I'll pretend I'm taking a picture of you!!
*Katie moves into position and they get the shot*
Marianne and Katie- Yesssss.....
Next was the Eiffel. We could see it in the distance, so we figured all we had to do was walk in that direction. Our plan worked, and within an hour, there it was! Unfortunately, neither of us are very patient people, and the lines to even WALK just to the second floor were a good 37 miles long. We didn't feel like waiting, so instead, we took pictures.
Our plan had been to go on a night bike tour of the city with this company called Fat Tire Bike Tours, and we had nothing to do, so we decided to go check out their headquarters. We were not pleased with what we discovered. The company is American owned, and run, and sadly, you can tell! They were very rude, wouldn't even greet us when we got there, and the guy who did talk to us was... strange. "Excuse me, Manitoba girls," with a sick little tone of voice, yuck. He wasn't even cute. So we decided to scrap that and buy cookies and pringles. We picniced in front of the Eiffel Tower on the Champs de Mars.
Then we decided we needed a new plan! So we scouted out our options, and decided instead, on a night BUS tour. In the meantime (we had like 4 hours to kill before it started) we decided to chase around the gypsies and take more pictures. We actually got approached by a gypsy and Marianne almost fell for it, but Katie came to her rescue and saved her from the evil gypsy. (After that the same gypsy approached us like 3 more times.. she must be on drugs) We even got some sweet pictures of them!
Eventually the bus tour rolled around and we froze (it was an open top bus) as we watched the major attractions of Paris by night. We even got to see the Moulin Rouge! And yes, as we watched the windmill spin, we sang the song.. "How wonderful life is now that you're in the world.." Then came the scariest part of our Paris trip!! The bus tour was over and it was around 11:30, and time to get off the bus. Before we got off, Katie thought we should ask the bus man where we could find a taxi...
Katie- Where can we get a taxi from here?
Man- Where do you need to go?
Katie- Rue de Nancy...
Man- (confused look)
*Katie whips out the map and shows him*
Man- I can take you there..
*Marianne and Katie are thinking, sweet! The bus must go by there!*
Man-...I have a car..
Katie- (confused look)
Marianne- LET'S GO!!!!!
Katie- Where can we get a taxi?
Man- You mean you would rather pay a taxi then get a ride with me?
Marianne- LET'S GO!!!!!!
*Marianne and Katie book it off the bus and down the street*
So we eventually found a taxi (Marianne almost shit her pants because of her taxi phobia) and we got a ride back to our hotel for under 10 euros. It was a pretty sweet day to say the least. The next day we slept, ate our free breakfast again, got more groceries, and bummed around the train station for like 3 hours waiting for our train. By the time we got back to Engelberg we were pretty tired (past midnight) and cold from the rainy walk home. But everything was worth it, now we can say, we have been to Paris!
Bon nuit!
So today has been a lazy day, but it's probably because we are just SO worn out from our excursion to..ehm.. Paris!
The trip started out a little on the boring side. We left Tuesday morning, and then spent the next 8+ hours on a train. It actually took us longer to get to Paris (or almost as long) as it did for us to get to Switzerland! But of course, it was all worth it in the end. So once we arrived, it was time for us to find our hostel (or "budget hotel"). We decided to purchase a handy dandy map book of Paris, funny thing was, Katie found the page we needed before we bought it, so she had a nice little time trying to explain to the French speaking teller why she couldn't take her finger out of the book to pay for it.
Lucky for us our hostel ended up being only a 10 minute walk from the train station! (now thats not a coincedence!) The street looked a little sketchy at first, but we realized that's just how it is in Paris. Oh, and one other thing we noticed, Paris stinks! Literally, it actually smells really bad. Sort of like human shit. (pardon my french, haha!) Anyways, we found our Hotel Liberty, then walked awhile more, did a bit of grocery shopping for supper, and headed back to the Hotel. At this point we were still so scared of being alone in a huge city in a foreign country where we couldn't speak the language that we decided to hide away in our hotel room for the night.
The room was surprisingly alright, aside from a semi-funky smell (oh and a little bit of hair under the sheets). But other than that it was nice! (Not even being sarcastic, it really wasn't that bad) Our bathroom was itty bitty, but it was (for the most part) clean and stocked. The bed wasn't too uncomfortable and we felt very safe the whole time in there. It definitely could have been worse.
Wednesday was our exploring day, and our only full day in Paris. We woke up in the morning and headed downstairs for our FREE breakfast of bread, hot chocolate, and orange juice. Then soon after we ventured out into the big city to find, yes, the shopping mall! (It was actually funny because the night before we had asked our friendly hotel man if we were within walking distance of the Eiffel Tower, and he said "No, no, I would not reccommend going on foot." So we asked, " Well how long would it take about?" "Oh around an hour.." Me and Marianne had to give a little chuckle, when you live in the country an hours walk seems like a breeze!) So we took our map, with our route highlighted, courtesy of our friendly hotel man, and we found the mall, shopped, and walked back to the hotel to drop of our purchases. After a short break, we decided to go back out and search out the Eiffel.
Along the way we came across the Louvre Museum (where the Mona Lisa is in) but instead of appreciating the art, standing and ooing and awing for hours, we decided to touch it! (Outside that is) So we opened our camera bags and posed with the naked women of the gardens, while other tourists watched in disgust at our immaturity (okay, not really, they knew they wanted to too) After we got sick of naked women, we moved on to scouting out the hotties in the area, and taking creeper photos.
Marianne- Ok, you stand there and I'll pretend I'm taking a picture of you!!
*Katie moves into position and they get the shot*
Marianne and Katie- Yesssss.....
Next was the Eiffel. We could see it in the distance, so we figured all we had to do was walk in that direction. Our plan worked, and within an hour, there it was! Unfortunately, neither of us are very patient people, and the lines to even WALK just to the second floor were a good 37 miles long. We didn't feel like waiting, so instead, we took pictures.
Our plan had been to go on a night bike tour of the city with this company called Fat Tire Bike Tours, and we had nothing to do, so we decided to go check out their headquarters. We were not pleased with what we discovered. The company is American owned, and run, and sadly, you can tell! They were very rude, wouldn't even greet us when we got there, and the guy who did talk to us was... strange. "Excuse me, Manitoba girls," with a sick little tone of voice, yuck. He wasn't even cute. So we decided to scrap that and buy cookies and pringles. We picniced in front of the Eiffel Tower on the Champs de Mars.
Then we decided we needed a new plan! So we scouted out our options, and decided instead, on a night BUS tour. In the meantime (we had like 4 hours to kill before it started) we decided to chase around the gypsies and take more pictures. We actually got approached by a gypsy and Marianne almost fell for it, but Katie came to her rescue and saved her from the evil gypsy. (After that the same gypsy approached us like 3 more times.. she must be on drugs) We even got some sweet pictures of them!
Eventually the bus tour rolled around and we froze (it was an open top bus) as we watched the major attractions of Paris by night. We even got to see the Moulin Rouge! And yes, as we watched the windmill spin, we sang the song.. "How wonderful life is now that you're in the world.." Then came the scariest part of our Paris trip!! The bus tour was over and it was around 11:30, and time to get off the bus. Before we got off, Katie thought we should ask the bus man where we could find a taxi...
Katie- Where can we get a taxi from here?
Man- Where do you need to go?
Katie- Rue de Nancy...
Man- (confused look)
*Katie whips out the map and shows him*
Man- I can take you there..
*Marianne and Katie are thinking, sweet! The bus must go by there!*
Man-...I have a car..
Katie- (confused look)
Marianne- LET'S GO!!!!!
Katie- Where can we get a taxi?
Man- You mean you would rather pay a taxi then get a ride with me?
Marianne- LET'S GO!!!!!!
*Marianne and Katie book it off the bus and down the street*
So we eventually found a taxi (Marianne almost shit her pants because of her taxi phobia) and we got a ride back to our hotel for under 10 euros. It was a pretty sweet day to say the least. The next day we slept, ate our free breakfast again, got more groceries, and bummed around the train station for like 3 hours waiting for our train. By the time we got back to Engelberg we were pretty tired (past midnight) and cold from the rainy walk home. But everything was worth it, now we can say, we have been to Paris!
Bon nuit!
Montag, 14. Juli 2008
Dancing in the Rain!
Katie and Marianne here:
The past five days have been one thing... cold.
This makes for an uninteresting time up at Brunni, with practically nothing to do and no one around.
however!
last night we were fortunate enough to have stayed up at Brunni (instead of coming down early) and we ended up having the best night so far!!!!
A group of Dutch climbers (who can speak English) were staying up at Brunni for a few days. At first glance, there was one good looking young man who Katie quickly hit up a conversation with.. unfortunately, he turned out to be .. strange. She recieved his wholeeeee life story in a mere 5 mintues (bahahaha). LUCKILY, he had a friend! This friend.. happened to smell like heaven on earth... (katie tends to forget that some people DO understand what shes saying, embarrassing!)
To top of the smell... he was, for lack of better words... gorgeous!
As evening settled in, Monika and us decided to play a lovely game of Monopoly! Marianne had the genious idea of calling Ronny and asking to borrow his speakers so that we could hook up her ipod and listen to some good ol' Canadian tunes....
not long after, the Dutch were attracted to our melodies! and asked us to move our music into the room where they were so they could listen too.
one thing led to another... and soon we were teaching them to line dance!
After we moved on to two-stepping (which for the record, katie FINALLY taught marianne) and then... there was Erik!
Erik? you may ask.... ah.. yes. he was the one perviously mentioned.. from heaven.
Turns out Erik (who sadly we think is gay) was a dance teacher!!! and has been in dancing competitions his whole life (style dancing as he calls it!) He wanted to learn how to two-step so.. katie taught him! and in return, he taught her the quickstep... which happens to be somewhat similar.
After... it was marianne's turn. the CHA CHA CHA! With hesitation she agreed to try and learn and amazingly enough, she got it!!!
"Yes, thats the ChaChaCha, nothing more, nothing less" -Erik (with little gay/dutch accent)
So we stayed up later than all our time at Brunni.. and danced the night away... in the arms of a gorgeous gay dutch dance teacher (yeah.. try saying that 5 times fast)
Tomorrow we leave for paris!
Chow for now!
Marianne and Katie.
The past five days have been one thing... cold.
This makes for an uninteresting time up at Brunni, with practically nothing to do and no one around.
however!
last night we were fortunate enough to have stayed up at Brunni (instead of coming down early) and we ended up having the best night so far!!!!
A group of Dutch climbers (who can speak English) were staying up at Brunni for a few days. At first glance, there was one good looking young man who Katie quickly hit up a conversation with.. unfortunately, he turned out to be .. strange. She recieved his wholeeeee life story in a mere 5 mintues (bahahaha). LUCKILY, he had a friend! This friend.. happened to smell like heaven on earth... (katie tends to forget that some people DO understand what shes saying, embarrassing!)
To top of the smell... he was, for lack of better words... gorgeous!
As evening settled in, Monika and us decided to play a lovely game of Monopoly! Marianne had the genious idea of calling Ronny and asking to borrow his speakers so that we could hook up her ipod and listen to some good ol' Canadian tunes....
not long after, the Dutch were attracted to our melodies! and asked us to move our music into the room where they were so they could listen too.
one thing led to another... and soon we were teaching them to line dance!
After we moved on to two-stepping (which for the record, katie FINALLY taught marianne) and then... there was Erik!
Erik? you may ask.... ah.. yes. he was the one perviously mentioned.. from heaven.
Turns out Erik (who sadly we think is gay) was a dance teacher!!! and has been in dancing competitions his whole life (style dancing as he calls it!) He wanted to learn how to two-step so.. katie taught him! and in return, he taught her the quickstep... which happens to be somewhat similar.
After... it was marianne's turn. the CHA CHA CHA! With hesitation she agreed to try and learn and amazingly enough, she got it!!!
"Yes, thats the ChaChaCha, nothing more, nothing less" -Erik (with little gay/dutch accent)
So we stayed up later than all our time at Brunni.. and danced the night away... in the arms of a gorgeous gay dutch dance teacher (yeah.. try saying that 5 times fast)
Tomorrow we leave for paris!
Chow for now!
Marianne and Katie.
Dienstag, 8. Juli 2008
Socks in Flipflops
Hello all! Katie here :)
So.. socks in flipflops? Yes, that is the style out here abroad in the Alps, haha, for Marianne that is! Somedays we honestly look at each other and question why we decided to spend our "summer" in the Alps. The last few days it probably hasnt gone above ten degrees, okay, maybe fifteen.. no.. thats pushing it. It is FREEZING! Luckily, I brought my BOOTS (which Marianne and my Mom tried to convince me to leave at home) and my warm fuzzy slippers. We also probably drink about five gallons of hot chocolate today, so we may seem a little rounder when we first get home..
Agnes, the lady who manages Brunni (the lower hostel) with her husband, is practically the niceset woman ever. She is so kind, you can just see it in her face. She glows, like literally. Anyways, she really wants Marianne and I to have a keepsake from out trip, so today she gave us each 100 francs to go buy some sort of shirt or sweatshirt we like, and she is going to pay also to get the Brunni logo thing put onto them. Its so cute! I love her. And she tries so hard to help me understand, though she speaks very little english, but its good, because she gets me to understand her swiss! She is pretty much my swiss Mom :)
Sunday was a hard day, we were both super homesick, but I think we have gotten over the hill! Just now Marianne was looking out the window and was like "You know, sometimes I think we forget where we are.. " and its so true. But looking out into Engelberg right now and I see huge mountains, a cute little town with all the lights just starting to go on, and the evening settling in. It is honestly gorgeous.
Our plans for Paris have gotten a little screwed up, since we cant get a train (you have to book them in advance and they are all full for when we anted to go) and we already booked our hostel for those days... so we have a little replanning to do. But the man at the train station was outstandingly nice. Best customer service Ive probably ever had, we have been back there a few times already and he keeps telling us, "Dont worry, I havent found anything yet, but I will!! Come back at so and so time" He totally makes the whole thing not seem so bad, like if he was a jerk about it, Id be pissed we cant get a train. But hes just so nice!
Tomorrow we are going shopping in Luzern! Ronny decided, since it is his day off as well, that hes going to drive us. We werent really sure if we wanted him to come along.. but we feel bad telling him no, since we figure he is pretty lonely. Plus, he is our friend, we just kind of wanted to do our own thing. But this will be fun too.
Thats about all.. oh I burned my hand today grabbing a hot plate! It looks pretty sick. Check out facebook for some sweet pictures.. lol. Have a good one!! love you all!
Katie
So.. socks in flipflops? Yes, that is the style out here abroad in the Alps, haha, for Marianne that is! Somedays we honestly look at each other and question why we decided to spend our "summer" in the Alps. The last few days it probably hasnt gone above ten degrees, okay, maybe fifteen.. no.. thats pushing it. It is FREEZING! Luckily, I brought my BOOTS (which Marianne and my Mom tried to convince me to leave at home) and my warm fuzzy slippers. We also probably drink about five gallons of hot chocolate today, so we may seem a little rounder when we first get home..
Agnes, the lady who manages Brunni (the lower hostel) with her husband, is practically the niceset woman ever. She is so kind, you can just see it in her face. She glows, like literally. Anyways, she really wants Marianne and I to have a keepsake from out trip, so today she gave us each 100 francs to go buy some sort of shirt or sweatshirt we like, and she is going to pay also to get the Brunni logo thing put onto them. Its so cute! I love her. And she tries so hard to help me understand, though she speaks very little english, but its good, because she gets me to understand her swiss! She is pretty much my swiss Mom :)
Sunday was a hard day, we were both super homesick, but I think we have gotten over the hill! Just now Marianne was looking out the window and was like "You know, sometimes I think we forget where we are.. " and its so true. But looking out into Engelberg right now and I see huge mountains, a cute little town with all the lights just starting to go on, and the evening settling in. It is honestly gorgeous.
Our plans for Paris have gotten a little screwed up, since we cant get a train (you have to book them in advance and they are all full for when we anted to go) and we already booked our hostel for those days... so we have a little replanning to do. But the man at the train station was outstandingly nice. Best customer service Ive probably ever had, we have been back there a few times already and he keeps telling us, "Dont worry, I havent found anything yet, but I will!! Come back at so and so time" He totally makes the whole thing not seem so bad, like if he was a jerk about it, Id be pissed we cant get a train. But hes just so nice!
Tomorrow we are going shopping in Luzern! Ronny decided, since it is his day off as well, that hes going to drive us. We werent really sure if we wanted him to come along.. but we feel bad telling him no, since we figure he is pretty lonely. Plus, he is our friend, we just kind of wanted to do our own thing. But this will be fun too.
Thats about all.. oh I burned my hand today grabbing a hot plate! It looks pretty sick. Check out facebook for some sweet pictures.. lol. Have a good one!! love you all!
Katie
Samstag, 5. Juli 2008
Encounters with Unique Swiss!
Marianne here:
I’m going to try to be as brief as possible cause its really late but we probably wont update this thing for another week…
So…. Man.. what a crazy week!
We came to Engelberg on Monday night. Its so beautiful here! Mountains surround the town.
Tuesday morning we got up early to start work at the Brunni hostel. (the one only part way up the mountain… that’s when we realized Katie lost her wallet.. NOT FUN.
So even though Katie felt really worried and stressed… we went up to Brunni. In order to get there you just take a gondola and then another chair lift.
Wednesday it was time to head all the way up to the top. (oh.. and we woke up to a text from my aunt, who’s house we stayed at the first weekend, saying she found Katie’s wallet!!.. yay!)
The hike up to the second hostel was pretty brutal… though we got up in pretty good time! Two hours! We passed one couple that had stayed at the lower hostel the night before too and they ended up getting to the top 3 hours after us. Rough times! Haha…
So anyways.. we stayed at the top hostel (called Ruggubel) until Friday afternoon and then walked back down ( a LOT easier) to Brunni.
Last night we went ‘’kniping’’ (you can ask us personally about that sometime. It takes too long to explain.. ) and played games with the fellow staff members in the evening... Today we worked in the ice cream shop/bar type thing at the lake behind Brunni.. and tonight we’re staying in the village at Megi’s beautiful house because its so full at the hostel. Tomorrow morning we’ll head back up to work.
As for the work at the hostels… we do a lot of dishes.. which really isn’t too bad. And then basically whatever else someone tells us to do weather its cleaning or cooking or whatever.
Now.. about the title. While walking down the mountain yesterday… Katie and I realized…
WE HAVE MET SO MANY UNIQUE PEOPLE IN JUST ONE WEEK!!! Haha
We’ll start with staff at Brunni:
There’s Ronny, the cook. Who’s from Germany…and absolutely hilarious. He’s 32 and just.. odd.. but so funny at the same time! He makes really good food though! He also had the German colours dyed into his hair for the Euro cup.. but after germany lost and everyone really started making fun of him, he cut it all off. He wears this weird little white wooden clog/heel things sometimes.. makes us laugh!
Leo… wellllllll… he’s a 56 year old alcoholic. They keep him around cause he can’t be employeed anywhere else. He swears constantly. About everything.. and he’s always holding a beer or has a smoke in his mouth.. or both. He decided to be on Katie’s team when we were playing card games last night… Actually one of the most hilarious things ever! He forgets she doesn’t know German. But he was actually good at the game! He sure keeps things entertaining and really is in a sad state… but he has a good heart. Sometimes when he starts swearing about something (which is always cause he never shuts up) I cant help but burst into laughter. Then he turns around… looks at me and starts laughing too. It’s awesome.
Fredi: He’s the alp man… who has the biggest beard ever.. and looks terrifying. But is SO content and one of the nicest people ever.
Marianne is the swiss Brooke Christie. Always smiling and kind. She also brought her tomato plant up the mountain.. cause she likes it.??
At Rugguble:
There’s Paul. Who works there full time. He’s in his fourties and single. And Katie thinks it’s cause he’s gay… and/or smells bad?
Josee: Is this super old man.. who looks 90 all wrinkly and shrivelled… but I swear he acts like he’s twenty. Like he’s sitting there and you expect this old man to start talking slowly and hoarsely with kind or bitter words. Nope. It freaks me out cause he’s so with it still.
Andreas: is the gay alp goat farmer who comes up to Ruggubel to help out when it gets busy. He’s really attractive… but then we found out he was gay… so our hope was crushed. Haha
Marianne: she was a guest at the top hostel… most in shape woman I’ve ever seen. She looked like a man, she was so muscular.. it was actually kind of creepy. Haha
(for the record.. its weird how many Marianne’s there are here. It’s like Katie or Kayla in Canada)
Two Swedish Boys: we met them when we were working today. They were just two of the many English speaking people we met (to Katie’s excitement) and we suggested they climb all the way to the top hostel, thinking they would never make it. Turns out they came down just as we went down to the village after work and we ran into them. Apparently they made it up and down afterall.
k… there were so many.. and Katie and I actually made a list this afternoon when we were bored while working… but I forget who was all on it. I’m sure you’ll all here lots more about all these people from us sometime..
It’s time for bed!
Good night!
I’m going to try to be as brief as possible cause its really late but we probably wont update this thing for another week…
So…. Man.. what a crazy week!
We came to Engelberg on Monday night. Its so beautiful here! Mountains surround the town.
Tuesday morning we got up early to start work at the Brunni hostel. (the one only part way up the mountain… that’s when we realized Katie lost her wallet.. NOT FUN.
So even though Katie felt really worried and stressed… we went up to Brunni. In order to get there you just take a gondola and then another chair lift.
Wednesday it was time to head all the way up to the top. (oh.. and we woke up to a text from my aunt, who’s house we stayed at the first weekend, saying she found Katie’s wallet!!.. yay!)
The hike up to the second hostel was pretty brutal… though we got up in pretty good time! Two hours! We passed one couple that had stayed at the lower hostel the night before too and they ended up getting to the top 3 hours after us. Rough times! Haha…
So anyways.. we stayed at the top hostel (called Ruggubel) until Friday afternoon and then walked back down ( a LOT easier) to Brunni.
Last night we went ‘’kniping’’ (you can ask us personally about that sometime. It takes too long to explain.. ) and played games with the fellow staff members in the evening... Today we worked in the ice cream shop/bar type thing at the lake behind Brunni.. and tonight we’re staying in the village at Megi’s beautiful house because its so full at the hostel. Tomorrow morning we’ll head back up to work.
As for the work at the hostels… we do a lot of dishes.. which really isn’t too bad. And then basically whatever else someone tells us to do weather its cleaning or cooking or whatever.
Now.. about the title. While walking down the mountain yesterday… Katie and I realized…
WE HAVE MET SO MANY UNIQUE PEOPLE IN JUST ONE WEEK!!! Haha
We’ll start with staff at Brunni:
There’s Ronny, the cook. Who’s from Germany…and absolutely hilarious. He’s 32 and just.. odd.. but so funny at the same time! He makes really good food though! He also had the German colours dyed into his hair for the Euro cup.. but after germany lost and everyone really started making fun of him, he cut it all off. He wears this weird little white wooden clog/heel things sometimes.. makes us laugh!
Leo… wellllllll… he’s a 56 year old alcoholic. They keep him around cause he can’t be employeed anywhere else. He swears constantly. About everything.. and he’s always holding a beer or has a smoke in his mouth.. or both. He decided to be on Katie’s team when we were playing card games last night… Actually one of the most hilarious things ever! He forgets she doesn’t know German. But he was actually good at the game! He sure keeps things entertaining and really is in a sad state… but he has a good heart. Sometimes when he starts swearing about something (which is always cause he never shuts up) I cant help but burst into laughter. Then he turns around… looks at me and starts laughing too. It’s awesome.
Fredi: He’s the alp man… who has the biggest beard ever.. and looks terrifying. But is SO content and one of the nicest people ever.
Marianne is the swiss Brooke Christie. Always smiling and kind. She also brought her tomato plant up the mountain.. cause she likes it.??
At Rugguble:
There’s Paul. Who works there full time. He’s in his fourties and single. And Katie thinks it’s cause he’s gay… and/or smells bad?
Josee: Is this super old man.. who looks 90 all wrinkly and shrivelled… but I swear he acts like he’s twenty. Like he’s sitting there and you expect this old man to start talking slowly and hoarsely with kind or bitter words. Nope. It freaks me out cause he’s so with it still.
Andreas: is the gay alp goat farmer who comes up to Ruggubel to help out when it gets busy. He’s really attractive… but then we found out he was gay… so our hope was crushed. Haha
Marianne: she was a guest at the top hostel… most in shape woman I’ve ever seen. She looked like a man, she was so muscular.. it was actually kind of creepy. Haha
(for the record.. its weird how many Marianne’s there are here. It’s like Katie or Kayla in Canada)
Two Swedish Boys: we met them when we were working today. They were just two of the many English speaking people we met (to Katie’s excitement) and we suggested they climb all the way to the top hostel, thinking they would never make it. Turns out they came down just as we went down to the village after work and we ran into them. Apparently they made it up and down afterall.
k… there were so many.. and Katie and I actually made a list this afternoon when we were bored while working… but I forget who was all on it. I’m sure you’ll all here lots more about all these people from us sometime..
It’s time for bed!
Good night!
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