I Want To Ride My Bicycle

After several previous attempts at planning to cycle to Frutigen with Carly, only to be cancelled because of awful weather, today it was dry and clear (occasionally even sunny!) and we were finally able to go. Going uphill was a slow struggle, but when we reached the downhill parts we flew down them so fast we had to hold onto the brakes the whole way! It's quite a distance to Frutigen and it took us about two hours of cycling to get there.

First we visited Tullenburg, an old stone tower on a hill in Frutigen. We explored the ruins, clambering on the walls and climbing the staircase to the top of the tower to look out across the town. We knew there was a geocache in the vicinity and after a long hunt we finally found it.

Cycling around town, we came upon a playpark..... the playpark of dreams! Neither Carly or I cared that we were the "wrong age" for playparks, and we rushed right in and swung on the swings, slid down the slide, climbed up the treehouse, went on the seesaw and zipped down the zipline. Epic. Big kids for life!

We went to look at the old Frutigen church, but it wasn't open so we were only able to see the outside, and wander the cemetery, which was full of flowers and well cared for. At 5pm we caught the bus back to Adelboden. I'm so glad we were finally able to do the Frutigen cycle, it was just as fun as I thought it would be!

Why Is A Raven Like A Writing Desk?

My day began very early this morning, as I rose at 3.45am to set off on a sunrise hike up Cheunisbargli. Putri, Karin and I began our trek in darkness, with our torches showing the way. It was snowing lightly, but we're hardcore explorers so we didn't mind! We made good progress and managed to make it to the top in about 2 hours, despite being slowed down by snow-covered paths as we reached higher altitudes. The sky was just beginning to brighten. Though it was too cloudy to actually see a proper sunrise, it was still pretty cool, and there was a great view of the valley below. Walking back was much easier and we arrived back at the Chalet just after 8am, whereby I promptly fell back into bed and didn't wake up until the bell rang for lunch at noon!

The afternoon was spent preparing my costume for the evening's event: an Alice in Wonderland 'Unbirthday Party' organised by Carly. I'd been looking forward to it all week! I was going as Alice, and I managed to whip up a pretty decent costume from what was available. I also put together a simple White Rabbit costume for Carly, as she was way too busy getting the teaparty ready and making delicious food to make one for herself.

All dressed up, 6 o' clock arrived and everyone assembled for the evening to begin! It was a fantastic sight. There were so many awesome outfits; the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, Dormouse in a teapot, Tweedledum & Tweedledee, a playing card, Cheshire Cat, White Rabbit and myself, Alice! As for the table, Carly did an amazing job of decorating, and the spread of food had everything from jam sandwiches, inside-out cupcakes and scones to chicken pastries and quesadillas!

The party was a huge success; we shared nonsense poems and jokes, and took lots of photos! I know I have a fondness for costume parties anyway, but it really was brilliant. One of the highlights of my time here!

Queen of the Dessert

On the 20th, we worked on our personal projects. Karin, Eve and I are focusing on revamping the WAGGGS room. Amongst other things, we want to make a Pen Pal wall, which is what we began working on. I started making a postbox from cardboard. In the evening, we had a special Dessert Night. Everyone had prepared a different dessert, and we set them all out and helped ourselves. Everything was delicious! I had made french macarons; a dish I've never attempted before, and which was pretty tricky, but turned out great! If only I'd had some food dye, they would have looked even prettier. On Saturday 21st I had a day off with Karin, and we set off on a Geocaching spree; managing to find 3 and hiking several miles in the process!

The next day, after the usual work, Putri and I ran a cultural evening programme for the staff. She taught us all about Singapore, and I shared some knowledge about Scotland with a presentation I had prepared. I also included a recital of Tam o' Shanter, a Scots language quiz, Scottish confectionary to try, and some lessons in Ceilidh dancing to end the evening.

We had a special 'Christoph Day' today. This meant spending the entire day outdoors doing chopping, sawing, shredding and de-branching fallen trees and logs with our resident Grounds and Maintenance man. I actually used a chainsaw!! We even stayed outdoors for meals, cooking both our lunch and dinner over a fire. Thank goodness it wasn't a wet day!

The Past Few Days...

Here's a quick run down of the past few days events.

On Saturday the 14th, we took photos of Flat Stanley's (If you don't know what it is, google it!) which had been posted to the Chalet from America. We took a photo of each Flat Stanley doing something fun, and we wrote replies to the girls about the adventures their Stanley had been on.

On Sunday, Catt "fell out" with me because apparently I have never yet mentioned her in this blog! Whoops! So here you go Catt: Catt is a crazy, awesome, fellow-orange, McFly lovin', English chick who is obsessed with coleslaw. YEAHHHH. Catt Catt Catt!

Monday 16th was my first ever day off with my lovely room-mate Eve, so we decided to do something fun. Together with Putri, we took a bus and a train for a day trip to Thun. We browsed the shops (Putri went wild in a chinese supermarket), explored the old church and then Thun Castle up on top of the hill. Thun is a very pretty place, with amazingly clear water in their canals I might add! Back at the Chalet in the evening, Stef and I baked a chocolatey birthday cake for Putri, with a marshmallowy frosting.

The 17th of April was Putri's 22nd birthday! Yaaaay! I was off with her, and she decided she'd like to go geocaching so off we went on a hike in the sunshine, to look for one nearby. Despite our best efforts, it evaded us that day, but it was still a lovely walk. We also found a new route up to town as well. It's quite a steep path, but it goes through the woods and it very pretty. It's nice to have a change from the same old route. Later on there was spicy food and birthday cake to be had, and we sang to Putri in many different languages, whilst wearing tea-cosies on our heads....I don't know why either!

Go Your Own Way

So Carly and I had planned to cycle to Frutigen on Wednesday, but our plans were foiled by the weather. I opened my curtains this morning to see falling snow, and so we had a lazy morning at the Chalet instead... but by afternoon I was bored and desperate to get out and do something! Although the weather was still very downcast, it had at least stopped snowing and we agreed to go out on a shorter cycle trip within Adelboden to find a Geocache (I think we are all fans now!). Freeriding all the way down the hill from the Chalet was awesome, but the joy didn't last because once at the base of the valley we knew it was all uphill from there! As the altitude got higher, we eventually reached a point where we could no longer ride/push the bikes because of snow on the ground, so we left the bikes out of the way and continued on foot. We were on a path which wound steadily uphill and gave us some spectacular views across Adelboden. At times we passed through the woods; and with the trees all freshly frosted by the earlier snowfall it looked quite magical. Eventually we reached the place were the Geocache was hidden, and after a bit of searching Carly was the one to finally spot it. Hurrah!! Reunited with our bikes, we freewheeled all the way down the hill again... only to have to drag ourselves up the other side of the valley again to get home.

The following day Carly and I had even more exciting plans. We headed up to the ski slopes on Silleran for one final skiing sesh before all the pistes close for the end of season. We had a fantastic time, and my skiing is definitely much better. We did some challenging blues, braved some difficult reds, and basically zoomed about all over the mountain. We were meant to be doing some tobogganing up there too, but Catt cancelled on us and she was the one who was meant to bring the sleds! Never mind though, we had the best time skiing all afternoon. Not to mention the off-piste bum sledging from one run over to another hahaha! "Gotta go your own way"!

Today I was working again, and I was kitchen co-ordinator. It was just us Vollies for dinner, so I made sweet chilli chicken stirfry with noodles, which proved to be very popular with everyone - especially Putri, who misses the spicy dishes back in Singapore. We also found an amazing video on Youtube today, of a guy performing 'Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus' in American Sign Language. Since 'Project Single Ladies' is now complete.... guess what we've decided our new project will be!

All The Single Ladles!

Today - April 10th 2011 - as the 100th day of the year, marked the final day of the WAGGGS centenary celebrations. At Our Chalet, we were of course planning to party in style! First off, us Vollies prepared a tasty cooked breakfast for all the staff. Stef next helped us find out our 'True Colours'; which was a sort of personality test which highlights the characteristics you have and your leadership style. I'm Orange type, closely followed by Blue. Look it up if your interested, it's fun!

That afternoon all the Vollies, plus Katie and Rhianna, set out on a Geocaching adventure. We drove to our starting location and set off on a hike to find two different caches. In the process we crossed the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in Europe; a somewhat scary experience! We later also crossed a rushing river on a bridge made of two logs and some wooden slats; also pretty scary! It was a very pretty hike, and we managed to find both of our caches, where we left behind some centenary badges for the next cacher.

That evening, Stef and I donned our costumes, poufed our hair and put on our stage makeup. All in preparation for the evening's centenary entertainment: our highly anticipated debut performance of Beyonce's 'Single Ladies' routine!! Yes, after many rehearsals we were finally ready to present our Sasha Fierce selves. The staff gathered in the conference room and took their seats. Stef and I took our places, the music began.....and off we went! Somehow, it went extremely well. It was definitely the best we'd ever done it; no mistakes at all, and I'd like to think we had some bootylicious attitude thrown in there too! We topped off a great day with a tasty dinner cooked by our new kitchen co-ordinater Katy, followed by a cosy film night watching the Inbetweeners movie.

Ready for our performance ....then washing dishes later with our 'single ladles' hahaha!

"My Plan with the Pyjamas is Working..."

My working day began by giving a tour to some visiting Derbyshire Girl Guides, and I also finally received my training in the shop which was really put to the test by the Derbyshire girls' spending power! A fairly average day of working in the kitchen and cleaning around the chalet ensued. However, after checking my progress towards my Staff Challenge and deciding I needed to take more action, I suggested to the other Vollies that we spend the night sleeping in the campfire tent. Not content with just that, I also hiked all the way to town and back at midnight by myself. 7 more points earned? Oh yeah!

Once back from my hike, I headed to the tent with the others... The experience of sleeping there was horrible! I got barely any sleep, and despite piling all the blankets we could find on top of our sleeping bags, it got really cold. My feet were like blocks of ice in the morning!