Die Glocken von Zurigo

Boh, hab mich grade total erschrocken! Auf einmal ein Riesenkrach! Um halb acht bimmeln hier die Glocken dass einem die Ohren droehnen! Heute morgen auch schon um 10. Kein Wunder dass es hier ne Initiative gibt die Glocken wenigstens nachts stillzulegen. Die Glocken von Zuerich sind wirklich die lautesten die ich kenne. Und dabei kann ich von hier gar keine Kirche sehen!

Muenster: Im Sommer auf dem Domplatz, das Kopfsteinpflaster bruetet in der Sonne und ich auf einer Bank unter den Baeumen und die ganze Stadt ist erfuellt von Glockengelaeute. Das ist ein Klang so alt und schoen, wie Musik.

Einmal im Hoersaal im Fuerstenberghaus direkt neben dem Dom. Seminar von vier bis sechs. Vorne redet der Prof aber dann die Glocken vom Dom und die gehen ganze fuenf Minuten. Ohhhh, so schoen!

Und in Vigera um 10 und um 8 Uhr abends mache ich das Fenster auf und strecke den Kopf raus und hoere einfach nur zu wie die kleine Glocke an der Kirche klingt. Und in Amerika hab ich ihn immer vermisst, den Klang der Kirchenglocken...

Quaranta

Ok, here's something that's really scary. Lately I went to Zurigo and there were two girls who looked kind of lost at the stamp vending machine. They spoke English and for those who don't know it I used to travel to the US every summer for quite some years and in the end I felt absolutely no difference between expressing myself in English or German, in fact people used to believe that I was from another part of the US and didn't even realize that what little had remained of my accent was foreign. I used to be so proud of having learned English so well after my teachers at school had told me I had absolutely no talent for learning languages. (In fact I had to repeat 7th grade because of-- tadaaahhh, English and Latin--how ironic is that???)...

However, so there I was with those two kind of lost-looking girls whose every word I understood and I asked them "Can I help you?" Oh, they were sooo relieved and grateful because all the explanation on the vending machine was in German, French and Italian but then I wanted to explain to them how it works. So I stood there and I wanted to tell them that shipping a letter to South Africa was 1,40 CHF. But, ohhhhhhhh!!! I got so far as to tell them it was "one". Of course I had no clue what CHF is in English and that really didn't bother me, I simply said "franchi" like they say in Italian. But then I wanted to say 40. And, can you believe it? A enormously HUUUUUUUUUUGE "QUARANTA" was written all over my brain. I think I blushed. Desperately, in my head I began to count "ten, twenty, thirty..." but then there was the

QUARANTA

again. I swear, I was completely, utterly, helplessly unable to say "forty". I didn't not only remember "forty", it even felt as if "forty" had never been saved on my hard drive. I wanted to die of shame right there... Then, it got even worse, I wanted to explain why I was having problems speaking English when I first sounded like a native speaker and I could not for the life of me remember the word "learning". Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, aiutooooo! What is happening to me? Also, whenever I talk to someone on the phone, no matter if it is in English or German, I cannot refrain from saying "si" instead of "yes" or "ja". Is it possible to lose a language? But then how strange is it that I can still write in English but speaking don't work? And how am I going to teach English when I am apparently losing it? Hellllllll---p!!!!

La Neve

Snow, snow, snoooooooooooow!!! Yes, it's true, there's snow!! Almost half a meter of snow in the mountains!! After spending Friday and Saturday at Zurigo with two friends from the South of Italy (fotos in Zurigo) we returned to Bellinzona Sunday to see the mercato natale (fotos in Bellinzona) and then took the train from Bellinzona to Faido, climbing 1300 meter by foot at dusk. It was an awesome climb although we had to haul all of the stuff up the mountain that we use here, clothes, food, etc. It felt like a dream, the lights shining on the snow, the forest crispy cold, the air heavy with the profumo of snow. And then today we went on a walk (fotos in Vigera) playing in the snow, taking in the last rays of sunshine (that phrase has become such a joke...) And after that hot cocoa, biscotti, a warm fire and candelight... life is awesome!!!

Stamattina

Mi sono svegliata con la musica di Natale, che bello!!! Mi sentava come da piccola, però tutte le parole erano in Italiano. Era Nico e sui amici dall'Italia che cercavano le canzone in internet per farmi un cd. Ho visto tutto del Zurigo ancora una volta con la Claudia e suo futuro marito Luigi, che sono davvero simpaticissimi!! Ho anche visto il mercato di Natale di Zurigo, però mancava la musica di Natale. Che scemo fare un bell mercatino e dimenticare la cosa più importante... insomma non mi ha messo nell'atmosfera di Natale. La Claudia ha fatto circa due mille foto dell'albero di Swarovski, che è davvero bello. Ha anche scritto la mia Mamma che è andata al mercato di Natale a Muenster (fieeeeep) ma era troppo caldo e più piccolo quest'anno. Nel fratempo è arrivata la neve sopra di 600 metri e vogliamo andare a Vigera (a 1300m) domani sera...