Monday: As of February 24, 2014, I am back in the classroom trying to improve my German language skills. It was not easy to find a class that met only twice a week and not in the evening. I am very happy with the choice of school and I think our teacher is fantastic. It is a frustrating and slow process, but it is still enjoyable especially when I can apply it outside the classroom.
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| Tonhalle - concert hall |
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| Lake Zurich |
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| pretty fountain |
Before long, it is time to go to class. This language school occupies the first floor of a building with other businesses and apartments above. It does not look like a school
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| front door |
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| Language World |
In this classroom, the other four students and I struggle with sentence structure, prepositions and adjective declination, but we also laugh a lot. Three of my classmates are in the picture below: from left, Kelly (USA), Patricia (Spain), Susanna (our Swiss teacher) and Karim (Peru). Anna Lisa (Phillippines) was not there the day of the photo shoot. Wherever I study, I am always the oldest student.
After two hours and our brains are jello, we leave to do other things. The inside of the school door is beautiful with the sun shining through the stained glass - gives us a nice "auf wiedersehen" on our way out. Most often I go home, but other times I take a tram to meet friends or do errands in Zurich. My car is waiting for me near the train station in Horgen.
The weekly rehearsals for the Posaunenchor I have joined are Monday evenings. We are a brass group in a very small Methodist church in Adliswil (about 10 miles from Horgen). (Through my choir experience, I met someone who attends this church. She learned I played brass instruments and invited me to come to a service and hear the group. Then they invited me to play with them.) If we have full attendance, there are 6 trumpets/cornets, 1 tuba, 3 baritones/euphoniums, 1 horn and 3 trombones - not a bad size, especially considering the size of the church building and its congregation. The director is a volunteer and a trombonist although he doesn't usually play with us. Most of the music is from the Salvation Army Band collection and therefore not my favorite, but it is a wonderful opportunity for me anyway. It gives me an excuse to play my horn (euphonium after many years of mostly trombone playing) and also exposure to the Swiss culture. I am the only non-Swiss in the group. I've asked the director to speak "high" German (as in from Germany or Austria) with me rather than the local Swiss dialect. For the most part, he does and I can understand the majority of what is said. A few of them speak English and my German is improving. The people are all very nice to me so I am having fun even though the music is not a challenge. I would love to have some Gabrielli appear on my music-stand. Fingers crossed.
One example of Swiss culture:
I am never the first to arrive at rehearsal. As people enter, it is customary to go around and shake hands and say "Hoy" (Hi) to each of the others already there. I think that's why some get there early. They get to stay seated while the rest come around and greet them. This tradition was actually good for me because I was able to get every individual's name in my head in short order. I did get a strange look the week I sat down without doing it. Oops. I was on my feet and moving along the group as soon as I realized. If you arrive late to rehearsal, you don't do this. (Maybe that's why Dagi is always late?) At the end of rehearsal, there is some hand shaking, but not as much.
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| rehearsal starts soon |
The odd thing about this group is that all the parts are written in treble clef. (My first rehearsal I waited until others played before I started so I could determine whether to play the music as concert pitch or Bb.) The only exception is our young member (12 years old?) who plays bass clef "because he's just learning" (as I was told). The other trombones, euphoniums and tuba are all playing treble clef parts for Bb instruments! Why? I have yet to figure this out. One person told me that they all started on trumpet so Viktor (director) is making it easier for them this way. I need to investigate further. I've never seen a tuba part written in treble clef before. Obviously, his playing sounds two octaves lower.
Here we are getting ready for a service in the Catholic church where we were invited to play.
Unfortunately, the group's monthly participation in church services doesn't mesh well with my schedule. I won't be here for Easter or their services in May or June! I spoke with Viktor and asked him if he'd rather I not come to rehearsals, but he wants me to come anyway.
Tuesday: I usually go to the drop in Fitness Walk sponsored by ZIWA. The walk takes place in a public park in a neighboring town regardless of the weather. (I don't go if it's awful outside.) One woman leads us on a 90 minute brisk walk around the park and neighboring area. There is a core group of regulars who come most weeks and others drop in when they can. We chat as we walk and the times goes quickly.
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| chatting while we gather |
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| our leader, Monika, in pink |
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| that's me in the dark pink jacket |
This particular day I walked along side the woman in the red jacket (below). She's from Sweden and we discussed Olympic ice hockey, especially the rivalry between Sweden and Finland and between the USA and Canada. Fun!
Baby animals are always fun to see. We were guessing that the lamb was very new and the mom was keeping her hidden.
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| signs of Spring |
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| long haired cows are not only in Scotland! Who knew? |
Wednesday: reread Monday except for the evening rehearsal
Thursday:
Another opportunity to improve my German is attending a conversation
class. This is a much bigger group (12 if everyone comes) and the
teacher is a volunteer. There is quite a range of language ability in
the class. I'm somewhere in the middle: not the worst, but nowhere near
the best. This class is sponsored by a church organization and the
teacher is a volunteer; therefore, it is very cheap! Shocking in
Switzerland. Home countries represented in this group are England,
Finland, Sweden, Thailand, Malta, USA, Peru, Russia, Ethiopia, Congo and Kenya.
One of the things I like the best about the German classes is having
classmates from all over the world. We learn about each others cultures as we learn the language. Some
of the people in this class are married to Swiss men and are not
expats. They are most likely staying here permanently. Others of us are foreigners here as expats for a short or
indefinite period of time. In the photo, you see Christian (Sweden) and Kate (England). Christian is brave - he is the only male. These two
have the best command of the language by far. Christian's wife is
Austrian so he hears a lot of high German and Kate has been here 20
years. Knowing that, I don't feel too shabby about my level. 
Deirdre (Ireland), Rowena (England) and Helen (Singapore)
Saturday: varies
Sometimes we do errands because that's not possible on Sunday (stores are closed). Although we do not have a lawn to maintain, there is more work on the balcony than anticipated. (care of the plants we purchased and getting rid of the weeds that the birds so kindly plant between the tiles) Other days we have field trips.
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| very small church! |
Sunday: again varies
Here's a picture of the little Methodist church in Adliswil, home of the Posaunenchor. We don't go to church every week, but if so, this is where we would be. (No, it is not the leaning tower of Adliswil. I'm just not the world's best photographer.) The prayers, Bible readings and sermon are in high German which benefits Tom and I both. The prayers are the easiest to understand because typically a phrase is said and then there is a pause. Perfect! Gives someone like me an extra second or two to decipher the meaning. There is some social time afterwards and the members are friendly and welcoming.
This is a typical week. If there are special trips or events that happen on a Tuesday or Thursday, I will skip the walk or conversation class. If the event lands on Monday, Wednesday or my tennis Friday, then I skip the trip. There is plenty of time left in the week for my homework, chores, grocery shopping and of course, playing with Denali! Then Monday comes around again and I start over.
