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!