Harvest and a weekend in Switzerland

Good evening!

Many things have happened since I last wrote here on my blog so I'll try to recount everything of the past week.

On Tuesday of last week, the harvester was finally ready. This is the front of the harvester.



By the time I woke up and made my way down to the breakfast table, Heiko was already out in the vineyards beginning. However, one of the white pieces in the picture broke and he came back to get another. The white, round pieces move back and forth and hit the vines so the clumps of grapes fall off and into a conveyor belt that hauls them up to bins.



I took Heiko back to the vineyards. After he fixed it and it was ready for more harvesting, he asked if I wanted to ride on top. The next few pictures are views from the top while harvesting.





These were the grapes being harvested. The variety is St. Laurent.



My job during harvest has only one thing to do with grapes. I have been cleaning the patio furniture. I scrub with soap and water, then when it's dry I cover it with grape seed oil so it shines nice. Here are some of the chairs.



To see what happens to the grapes after they come from the vineyards, stay tuned for my next blog...


Switzerland

On Friday, I took a half-day of vacation and left after lunch for Switzerland. There I visited Audra, who is another trainee with Intermenno. I also happened to be a year ahead of her at Hesston, so we knew each other before beginning our Intermenno terms. Her placement is outside of Basel, which is where the countries of France, Germany, and Switzerland come together. There, she works on an organic farm and lives the Eschbach's.

I had gotten my train ticket to the Deutsche Bahn Basel station and not the Swiss one, intending to just stay on the train. The Mennonite in me knows a good deal when he sees it. Had I purchased the ticket to Switzerland, I would have paid another 30-40 euro. My plan worked perfectly, because nobody was checking tickets or passports in the short 6 minute ride between stations. No Mom, I did not get arrested at the border, or anywhere, for that matter. I'm still here for another 10 months for something like that to happen. :)

I was picked up at the train station by not only Audra, but also one of the Swiss Intermenno Committee members. Debbie, who is a second grade teacher, was coming over to cook hamburgers for supper. From the train station we went to CO-OP (a Swiss grocery store) to pick things up for the meal. To give you an idea of how big the farm that Audra lives on is, she pointed out some cabbage in the produce section and said that came from the farm.

Friday evening we consumed said hamburgers, which were fantastic. The family did to me what the Dettweiler's need to do, and that's speak German to me. Granted it was very slow, but if it's slow I am able to pick up words and put things together. After the meal, I got out my ukulele, Debbie her guitar, and Andi (the father) his flute. Audra, who was a member of Bel Canto at Hesston, provided great vocals. We did some songs out of the hymnal and some other tunes. Here is a video of "Let It Be."

(A video will appear here when it gets uploaded. It could be tomorrow.)



On Saturday, Audra and I biked down to the train station where we went to Basel for the afternoon. We mainly wandered through the streets and didn't venture into many stores. We walked across the Rhein and took a ferry back. We saw the Rathaus (city hall) as well as an interesting fountain/sculpture. Here some pictures from our adventure into Basel. On the way back, what goes down, must come up.









That evening we went to a fall festival in Audra's city, which was much like a kerwe. The highlight for both of us was freshly pressed apple juice. It was absolutely splendid and extremely good. There was even a too short Alphorn concert. Later that night we went to Debbie's house for more hanging out. Debbie was an IVEPer in Oregon at the Western Mennonite School a couple of years ago.



On Sunday we went to Audra's church, which she said makes up 20% of the Mennonite contingency in Switzerland. It was big with a lot of young people who were really friendly. We also shared communion. After church we went back for a lunch of really good pumpkin soup.

The Eschbach's farm is across the valley from the Bienenberg Bible Institute, where Heidi's parents worked for MCC in the 1970s. You can see it in this picture, just to the left of the tower, the chalet looking building on the hill. This was taken from their backyard.



Andi, Audra's host father, happens to have his Private Pilot Ldicense. Had my train ticket not been for so early in the afternoon, we would have gone for a ride. The plane is based out of EuroAirport, the main airport serving the tri-country Basel area. He did oblige in showing me the sectional charts for Switzerland, which are much more colorful than Kansas' maps. I'm still trying to get my hands on some European charts for wall art in my future living quarters. This is of particular interest to me, since we have a bit more of a say in where our second-term placements are and I would have the option of going to Switzerland. Being at this placement would be quite beneficial, as he flies most anytime the weather is good. Since I am taking a hiatus from flight training to do Intermenno, I would be able to stay in the air and practice teaching, though I wouldn't be able to legally log any hours. Something is better than nothing. Plus, who wouldn't want to fly a plane through the Swiss Alps? I will definitely be visiting Audra again!


I will be going to Oktoberfest with Tim and Daniel, leaving on Thursday morning from Bammental. They will be doing some MCN meetings in Munich and were able to arrange it during Oktoberfest. I'm happy I'll be able to tag along and see what Munich has in store. The weekend after that is already the Intermenno Mid-Term Conference near Kaiserslautern. Time is flying!

Oh, and Hoffenheim is in second place of the Bundesliga tables after five matches played!

Until next time,
Jon