Monday morning we headed to the French-speaking part of Switzerland to another split city. I lived in a beautiful city up in the mountains called La Chaux de Fonds and half the cast lived at the bottom of the mountain in Neuchatel.
I was hosted with the Stehlin family who had two boys, Max who was 10 years old and Joey who 15. My roommate for the week was wouter from the Netherlands, who was my roommate during staging in Lakeland.
Tuesday was our first community impact day where I had to chance to volunteer at Europe's small zoo with four other people. I have alway loved animals, so I was very excited to be working at a zoo. Once we arrived, we were divided into groups and I was assigned to the vivariun with Andrew, our lighting technician. When we arrived to the vivariun, I learned that it was the facility where they housed an overwhelming about of venomous snakes and horrifying spiders. We were taken into the basement where all the species that are not on display are kept. We walked passed a particularly odor-filled room with countless tubs. I quickly came to learn that it was the room where thousands of rats and mice are kept to feed the snakes. Our job for the morning was to clean out the tubs that no longer housed rats. I do not think I have ever had a more disgusting job in my life than to clean the tubs without gloves, but Andrew and I made it fun and we had many laughs.
During lunch, we all ate in the break room, and since we were at a zoo, I was not shocked that there was a parrot walking across the lunch table. We all took turns having the parrot sit on our shoulder as we ate.
In the afternoon, Andrew and I were given a tour of the vivarium and the zookeepers explained to us all of the species they kept on display. We then want back downstairs to see the animals not on display where we got the chance to hold several snakes and lizards. I also saw some of the biggest snakes I have ever seen in my life, which was rather horrifying. Although we did some dirty work, it was an awesome day.
The following day we headed back to the zoo for a different project. We were taken to the edge of town to a large hill. We were told that frogs live on this hill, and when it warms up, they cross the road to get to the pond on the other side. Apparently, many frogs lose their life in the battle to cross the street, so were were asked to build a wall to stop the frogs and funnel them into an underground pipe that takes them safely to the pond. I've never seen so much effort to save frogs, but we sure stopped the frogs from crossing the street and saved some lives.
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Thursday was our Regional Learning day where some of us went to a watch museum in the morning. La Chaux de Fonds is one of the first cities where people began making clocks. We had a tour of the museum where we got to see some of the most intricate and ornate clocks that I have ever seen. Even after all that we learned from the museum, I still cannot figure out how clocks and watches work. However, I do know that some of the hundreds of pieces it takes to make watches can hardly be seen with the naked eye. It was a very interesting morning and I was very fascinated by all that we learned and saw in the museum.
In the afternoon, we took a walking tour of the city and learned about the history of the city. La Chaux de Fonds is a unique European city in its layout because the roads were constructed in a grid pattern, which reflects our road layouts in the United States. Furthermore, because most of the people that settled the city were clock makers, the buildings were spaced far enough apart so that the shadows of the surrounding buildings would never block the light of the other houses. The clock makers used the light from the sun and the shadows would cut their daylight hours down. It was a very educational day and it is always nice to understand and know the history of the places in which we get to live.
Friday and Saturday were our show days. Friday was our show in La Chaux de Fonds and Saturday was our show in Neuchatel. Again, we had fantastic audiences. Since we have arrived in Europe, we have given an encore performance after every show that we have done because the audiences want to see more.
Saturday, I got to meet a very special family. My father's host family that he lived with for four weeks when he was living in Switzerland in 1980 came to see me perform in Neuchatel. It was like I had known the family my entire life. They were the sweetest family and were just as excited to meet me as I was to meet them. They welcomed me with a large box of Swiss chocolates and also brought old pictures of my parents to show me. It was such a joy to spend the evening talking to them and hearing stories about my parents. It was certainly a very special evening for me and one that I will always treasure.
On host family day, went up into the mountains to see the Alps. We joined another host family who was hosting Sage from California. After three weeks of being surrounded by the Alps, you would guess I'd have seen them by now. However, it has been so cloudy since we arrived in Switzerland that I have not had the chance to see the beautiful Alps. And while I did not see the Alps, I did see a lot of nice Swiss snow.
After attempting to see the Alps, we headed down the mountain into Neuchatel to walk along the lake and the harbor. We walked along the lake for a bit and then stopped to have a drink outside at a cafe. After our drinks, our host dad wanted to take us to see the Grand Canyon of Switzerland up in the mountains. We went up and up and up in the mountains until we finally got to the trail to walk to this Grand Canyon. However, the path was covered with two feet of snow, so we did not make the journey to the canyon. Again, we just enjoyed the beautifully white Swiss snow.
We headed down the mountain to Sage's host family's house to have a nice dinner. Dinner was filled with lots of laughter and delicious food. Once we finished eating, it was karaoke time. We spent the next 3 hours singing karaoke in the living room and then moved the party upstairs to jam out on the piano. It was a fun way to end such a great week.
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