The End is Near

Tomorrow I am leaving for Sweden for four days with Heidi and Jill. It should be a lot of fun. Apparently one of the hostels we are staying in is a ship... like on water. I hope I don't get seasick!!

I made it through last week living in Ebertswil (I just found out that is the name of the village I'm staying in a few days ago). I really enjoy the family here. And of course their cat. I'm trying to teach Pippin to say "kitty". I know I have mentioned before, German speakers have a hard time saying my name. The dad asked me the other day if I had a nickname or shorter version that I like to go by. I told him Mere was fine and he said that he thought maybe Merry, "and then there would be Merry and Pippin." Hahaha! I thought that was so cute. I actually am pretty sure that his son is named after Pippin the hobbit.

I have been working long days but mostly I have enjoyed my time here so far. Both parents are fun to talk to and very helpful. They offer me the car and they always offer to drop me off or pick me up in places kind of far away. The mom is really sweet and easy to talk to. She used to be a midwife and I like asking her questions about that. Her daughter, Yara's, father is Morroccan and she and Yara are going to Marrakesh for a few days next week since Yara has not been very influenced by that side of her culture. Yara really likes me and wants me to stay with them forever. Compared to the seven year olds that I used to look after, she seems so mature and well behaved so I like spending time with her too.

This last weekend, Abbi came to Switzerland from Vienna to visit me. She arrived on Friday and we hung out at the family's house that night. The next day we met Heidi and Dragan in Zurich where we walked around for awhile so Abbi could see the city. Since there is really no touristy things to do in Zurich it did not take long and we went back to get ready for the night. Saturday night we went out to a few bars in Zurich and on Sunday we had a picnic near the Limmat River in Zurich. We were going to go for a boat ride around the Lake of Zurich but we found out it cost almost 25 francs each for about an hour boat trip. We decided against this and traveled to Zug where we hung out at the lake for awhile there. It was a sunny and warm weekend. Abbi left early this morning to catch a train back to Austria.

Next week I am taking a short trip to Amsterdam with Heidi. It will officially be my last traveling experience around Europe ... for now. And then in just over two weeks I will be headed to South Korea!!!