Events coordinator

Ok I officially feel like an events co-ordinator.

I have been negotiating between M and her friends host families and her parents regarding

her outings.

Who, when, where, how long, why?

I believe a weekend of activity with her friends plus organising them for next week when our

girls have exams has got the all clear.

I have learnt that if you get your ears pierced anywhere but the lobe, you have to be 16 without

parents consent.

Swiss kids are back at school as of this week.

It's a little harder to contact boyfriends now.

Swiss cheese

I neglected to mention how ecstatic I was last week when I found Gruyere swiss cheese at the supermarket.

I also bought a soft cream cheese called Blanc Nuage (white cloud) from France. It reminds me a little of butter and sugar after they have been creamed with beaters. I really like it.

Gruyere is very expensive at $45/kg.

It has a unique taste that is nostalgic in quality.

I wonder what cheese my parents bought when I was little that brings back a taste from long ago.

These cheeses have been made from non-pasteurised dairy.

I have been using more cheese of this nature in my cooking, replacing meat.

We have had large potatoes baked in the oven with their skins on and openend and topped with either of these cheeses, avocado, corn, baked beans, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, boiled egg, sour cream..........so yummy!

We sat around our coffee table for our last helping and watched "The Man from Snowy River".

Fantastic movie with great music.

http://www.myownsweetthyme.com/2009/08/chocolate-train-in-montreux.html

the above site will give you insight into the cheese factory and town of Gruyere in Switzerland and provide some lovely recipes.

Goodbye to August....

It has been a tense week.

I am slow at negotiating when and how to address issues.

Tonight was the night.

The catalyst was a text message. "Can I come home late tonight?"

Response-"Not today."

When picking the girls up from the train station, I told M sorry for not allowing her to have a night out tonight but it was a busy night.

Roast chicken in the oven, FHE, stories to N, M home sick and needing attention.

I allowed myself the opportunity to talk with her about my concerns for her social life

and my expectations.

I spoke with the host mother of her friend she hangs out with.

I told her my concerns and ways we could curtail them ie early homecomings.

I have suggested they go to the Big Breakfast on the bridge near southbank this sunday seeing as neither likes to go to church.

She has resolved her loneliness during class time by watching DVD's in English.

Today she has been watching "Willow".

I took her and another Swiss girl Irina to Byron Bay on Saturday.

We visited the lighthouse, had fish and chips, the girls wandered the shops, and quickly dipped their feet in the ocean and squeaked their feet in the sand.

The migrating whales performed beautifully for us slapping their tales and spouting water.

We sent an email to M's school seeking information for J turns up in November.

I also received an email in French from a Bishop in Annemasse just across the Swiss/French border not far from where J will be staying. J suggested she may like to visit a French Ward.

The Bishop's are so on the ball there. As soon as they receive my letters, they write to me and discuss my needs with other Bishops. 3 Bishops are on task now. I wish I got that sort of response and attention here. I did a online translation of the French and got a giggle.

"Bus" was translated into "drunk".

"where she stays" was translated into "box."

M tells me the verb for drinking is similar to bus and although I live in a box, she doesn't.

Half-way

No photos.
It's is seriously hard at this point.
You know enough about eachother now.
M is homesick.
She realises how isolated she is, and that she has a few more weeks of it.
J can't spend time with her having fun in the afternoons, so its on Facebook she goes.
I offer things that might interest her but she turns them down.
Her parents rang on the weekend and they felt all things could be resolved by talking to her, but she doesn't offer any suggestions. She is just realising how hard it is.
She says it reminds her of her family's visit to California where you had to drive everywhere and were so car dependent.
Geneva is accessible and small. All activities can be reached in about half an hour by bus.
We both had a tear to shed on Monday night.
I gave her a hug, I hoped it helped.
She is bored at school too.
I don't think a I.B school should host exchange students.
The work is hard and intense enough for our own kids, net alone someone who has a language barrier.

The week that was..........

I can barely remember what has transpired this week.

Less involvement with the family.

We must have watched Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. That came about because of King Ludwig's castle in Bavaria. So beautiful and famous, yet M didn't know about it.

I think this week she had another afternoon with friends at South-bank.

There was some interesting arrangements with her Great-Aunt L, where she is staying for

the weekend. I am glad Aunt L is wise to the antics of 16 yo and managed things quite well.

There will be firmer expectations voiced upon her return on Monday.

M needs regular sleep at night, so I will give her a chance to turn her computer off by 10:30pm midweek and 11:00pm weekends. If that doesn't happen I have other ideas.

She also needs to be clear that making her own arrangements without telling me is not ok, especially for her safety and well-being.

I will ask her to share more of her talents with the family especially as N was so keen to have her guide him with guitar techniques.

I have to spend at least an extra half hour every day sometimes more taking care of M's affairs.

That doesn't include sight-seeing and extra pick ups from the train station.

Just a point of interest if you are toying with having an exchange student with you and are short on time.

I am grateful for a little catch up and having the opportunity to take care of my own children's needs for a couple of days.

Tell me why I don't like Mondays.......

Not good karma today.

Broken glass, cut fingers, rushed all day.....perfect dinner.

The school phoned me after their attempts to leave messages at various sources to say M had cut her finger deeply at school. As their early attempts to contact me failed, they took her to the doctor themselves to have the cut dressed.

Thank goodness for that.

Their initial response was for me to go and pick her up. (Oh yes, leave work, drive an hour to put a dressing on a wound!)

Magically, she is still alive!

I received a couple of emails from her mum and sent some pics to show she was happy and

having a good time. Mum and dad are off to see mum's sister in the South of France at

Saint Tropez.

END OF WEEK 3

Friday night M spent with her Swiss friends in the city until 9:20pm when she caught the train.

She slept late Saturday morning and I had to wake her so we could get away to Tamborine Mtn which didn't happen until 10:45.

We made it to the Glow Worm Caves at Ceder Creek Estate Winery.

I didn't know it was an artificial cave before my visit. It was well done for many reasons.

The Glow Worm caves I have visited in NZ and Tassie only allow a view of the glow from the roof of the cavern. Some these Worms at Mt Tamborine are deliberately placed on the walls so they can be viewed closely under UV light.

They can perish under the breath and touch of humans, so they are moved with a paper clip.

We could see the larvae and the silk the drops from them like fine raindrops. Quite magical.

The light shines from their tail when they generate waste through their kidneys.

I was impressed.

We missed seeing the bride that was to arrive at the Winery.

We took in the view at the Nut Shed and browsed in the shops.

I stocked up some light items to send in the Swiss package later in the year.

Through the help of locals and after a couple of attempts on previous occasions, we made it to Curtis Falls.

The kids wanted to make a dam in the water, so we stopped to do that before heading to the Skywalk.

We inspected the gift shop and decided that a 45 min walk was more than we could cope with, so had to forego the opportunity.

I lovely drive home.

Stake Conference today.

Mmmmmmmmmmm.

To Dean and Janelle's for a lovely lunch on such a warm day.

Home for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and popcorn while I read some doctrinal articles from BYU archives.

THE WEEK IT RAINED!

Wednesday M went with M and N and W to Movieworld. They sampled a number of rides.

Home at 4pm.

Leftovers, toast and cheese, chinese for dinner.

So Brisbane decided to have typical EKKA weather. Not much wind but a lot of rain.

Humidity was up and we didn't feel cold until Wednesday afternoon when the cloud cover lifted.

Monday was school as usual, with a beautiful Roast chicken dinner with sage/thyme and garlic/onion stuffing. We had FHE with a glimpse of a Seminary DVD story on the reasons for morality. Christ has bought us with his sacrifice. We had a quick hangman with words used in the story. The poor man was hung twice! Another quick chocolate hunt with the game hot/cold.

Tuesday we took off at 9:45 for the EKKA. It was drizzly most of the morning.

We landed a park in Waters Street not far from the entrance of Showbag pavilion and the Woolworths building. We chose our bags. I chose the Good Taste and Good Food bags which are loaded with grocery items. We did taste testing before the kids went to have their Strawberry icecreams and I took the bags to the car. Ok they were heavy and I almost lost my arms. Thankfully the rain was light. I exchanged bags for an umbrella. We looked at the baby animals and watched Nambour high school display their cows, milking, and butter making. With vouchers we were all able to get a yoghurt from the Dairy Farmers Stand. The kiddies also sat and held baby chics. I was then being nagged for lunch, so back for toasted cheese and J got a chicken stick. We looked in the agricultural hall where I bought my punnets of strawberries, and then it was homeward bound. It rained quite heavily so it was slow going.

Tacos for dinner.

An early night.

The Ocean at Last!

A photo requested by M. She loved the colours and the contrast between ocean and skyscrapers. The gulls were a welcome addition.

3 drowned rats! Oh dear, a couple of strong waves surprised them and buckled them under.

They are asking for it, aren't they? I don't think they have any intention to stay dry for long.

The wonder and awe of the Pacific Ocean................with a trail of footprints in the sand.

The evidence of Swiss meeting Sand. Continent meeting Coast. Summer meeting Winter.

Now what is this strange contraption? She has not ridden on one before and took more effort than anticipated.

Saturday is a special day......

Friday I was without M and it was an opportunity to "re-group" and access how things were going, and to see if a new approach was needed.

As M is very free with her schedule, and would be happy to party the next 7 weeks, I see that I need to be more direct.

I asked her to help with dinner preparations which she did, even though she was tired after a long day of shopping and music concerts. She went to bed after dinner-8pm.

To keep her awake beforehand we played some card games including Uno. She was familiar with both games and it was a very relaxed and enjoyable few minutes.

She spent $80 on a country road bag and T-shirt and ear-phones, her 2nd pair since she's arrived. The others broke.

She had a hot breakfast with the works with the Bells this morning at West End.

We thoroughly enjoyed our spud dinner with toppings- baked beans, cheese, sour cream, chives, onion, bacon, leftover beef pieces, lettuce, grape tomatoes and corn kernals.

For dessert: whipped cream, leftover fondue chocolate sauce (wow, I forgot how good that was!), strawberries, orange slices, and watermelon.

What a run I am having. Last night's pizza was the best I had ever made with a fantastic crust, and less sauce. I used vege water from the previous nights dinner for the dough.

I gave her a clap when I picked her up from the train station for successfully navigating her way home alone.

M clarified for us tonight that her family doesn't have their own chalet at Morgins. They own a studio within a large chalet. It is heated by water pump through the pipes.

She thinks that food is comparable to France. I am checking out prices online. Their major supermarket chains are called Coop, and Migros.

WATCH WHAT YOU SAY

"I am just going to pop into the shops"

"Pop that on the kitchen bench"

"Pop your dirty clothes in the washing machine"

"I am just going to pop out for a minute"

How do you think that translates in French?

I haven't clarified with her if she has understood what I mean......POP!!!

I think it is time to pull out the Dr Seuss books.

Do they have an equivalent in other languages that rhymn?

I found out that they are printed in other languages but they don't rhymn or should I say the words don't match. Spoil the fun?

I will read them to "M" and see what she says.

2 WEEKS DOWN, 7 TO GO

Jeans for Genes Day last day of school for a few days. Another train ride to school

I have lost track of time.

Too much happening.

M has sorted out her weekend sleepover and activities.

M is going to stay with J's friend who also has a Swiss student with her.

She will have breakfast at a cafe and attend the 4 Walls music concert at QA Kelvin Grove

in the afternoon and train it home.

I asked her last night if she was packed for tomorrow but she hadn't got round to it.

This morning I asked her if she had her ticket and student card, she said, "yes".

When I took the sheets off to wash them, I discovered her wallet with money and I.D card

still in it.

J organised for me to scan and email the I.D through and M will just have to borrow money and pay it back on Monday. I will have to phone V's parents to inform them of the situation.

We've had spaghetti bolognase and pumpkin soup for dinner.

Last night we had beef and veges done in the slow cooker with roast potatoes.

She had 3rd helping of that.

M said to me that I did a lot of washing.

I asked her how often her mum washed, and she said their Maid comes twice a week.

I don't know if she has ever had to do much work around the house.

She said her mum gets upset with her for letting her dirty clothes pile up.

Her mother prefers the maid to clean than do washing all day.

M has played the violin while I played the piano the other night.

Her eyes get very tired.

She has new strings for the violin.

She kept up quite well from sight-reading but her sound is a little scratchy.

I wish she would play more often.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE

M experienced her first morning at orchestra and said everything was fine and she enjoyed it.

J has a lot of weekend activities at school including an overnighter, so M may look at staying O/N with someone or come home on her own from school. She wants to go to the QA Musical festival this Saturday.

The girls went for a run after arriving home. M was used to running on the flat in Geneva. There are so many hills here she said.

We had pasta, salad and crunchy oven warmed bread and homemade biscuits for dinner tonight as we huddled around the TV to introduce M to "The Sound of Music". Well, the first half of it anyway.