March 2015 Switzerland

March has been another busy month.

Gruyere, Switzerland
Famous for it's cheese.
I had the chance to visit here with my host-mom when I had a day off from classes.  It was great to see the beautiful view and tour the small village in the pre-Alps.  We also visited Callier, a famous factory in Switzerland with "free" samples included with the price of the ticket.

In Gruyere there is an old castle with a lot of
beautiful art work, wood work and tapestries.

There are also several murals about local history.
This is the depiction of a famous battle where the women
attached torches to goats' horns and chased off a much stronger
enemy.

It was warm enough to eat outside.
I shared the very traditional Swiss dish of
cheese fondu with my host mom Christine.

The family I'm staying with has a small vineyard amongst the many
small vineyards in this region.  They make their own wine from what is harvested.
I'm here with Melina, the youngest of their 3 children, who lives in
the apartment attached to the house.

We decided to take a walk with the dog (Simba) to the
vineyard, which is about 3-5 miles from the house.
He, obviously, enjoys the time outside.

Near the end of the month I finally made it to the Alps,
but it was in France.
I was invited to spend a long weekend with some of the other people
moving to the DRC who are in language school in France.

I actually went skiing in the French Alps,
but I had a slight mishap with the slow down sign at the
bottom of one of the ski slopes. The visibility wasn't great
and as I was starting to slow down I was forced to
slow down by the sign (aka, I hit the sign and fell down).

These are some of the other ladies heading to the DRC.
On the left is Ashley, who does community development with animals.  Her husband is a pilot.
Next is Anna, who is a nurse.  Her husband is a doctor
working with Samaritan's Purse.
And, on the far right is Shannon, another Ob/Gyn
who will be going to a different hospital in the DRC

Spring

here!

is

I am still in French language school, but it's not very exciting to talk about grammar.  I continue to learn a lot and I still struggle with pronunciation and grammar, but the people here are really nice, even when correcting me.  I am thankful for my time here and would highly recommend this language program to anyone trying to learn French (inlingua in Neuchâtel, Switzerland).

I will be leaving Switzerland May 18th to go to the DRC.  I just sent in my passport to the Congolese embassy in Switzerland to get my visa.  If all goes well and I get it back in time with no problems, then I will fly to Uganda on the 18th.  I will then take a smaller plane the following day to the DRC.  I arrive the day the other Ob/Gyn is due.  I don't know if she'll still be pregnant when I arrive, but I think she's hoping I make it by the time she delivers, otherwise, it will be her husband doing the delivery.

Many of the details about what I will be doing day-to-day, where exactly I'll be living when I arrive, and when I'll be coming back to the US are still unclear.  I do know that they are working on the place where I will be living...hopefully, it will be done/ close to being done when I get there.

I'll be living in one half of the duplex, when it's completed.

Continue to pray for me as I study and learn.

I have 6 more weeks to focus just on language learning, and then it will be moving, starting work and trying to learn yet another language (Swahili).

Also, pray as I continue to meet people here in Switzerland.  I hope to maintain contact with several of the people I've met.

As always, feel free to e-mail.  Soon the internet connection won't be that great, but I'm thankful I'll have it, I hope!