Mat's teaching soon-to-be-officers

This past Monday, a total of 240 officer candidates from all branches of the armed forces began the "Basic Tactics and Leadership Course for Officer Candidates". The location of the course is divided out among Sarnen and Bern. Mat's group is located in Sarnen, which is about a 90minute-drive from home (which means Mat is away for the next 4 weeks).

Mat's group is composed of 24 soon-to-be-officers. The main objectives in these next 4 weeks are to make the students understand platoon level troop leading procedures (show them ways of thinking to solve problems) and tactics. In addition to that, the instructors teach leadership psychology.

Of the three classes in Sarnen, Mats one suceeded the best until now. They won the Bike-Race (the four teams from Mat's class came in the top four!) and they had the best average in the entrance exam.

Following are some pictures from the first three days.

Trudi's 65th Birthday

Today is my (ahem...) mother-in-law Gertrude's 65th birthday. We had her over on Sunday for birthday brunch. I apologize for the lack of structure with the pictures but Blogger has been giving me a rough time and has pushed my patience to the limit. This is the best I could do until Mat does some re-arranging.
The cake was decorated by yours truly (MOI) and I swear I never saw Miles devour something at such lightning pace. I think he likes sugar...just like Mommy, Daddy and the dog do:-)

"Chrabbelgruppe Leubringen"

So far his week has been a very standard one, so not much newness to report. I worked on Monday and Tuesday. Today however, I decided to participate in a local "Chrabbelgruppe", which translates to "Crawling group". It is basically a group of Mom's who get together for a couple of hours once a week with their babies and toddlers. It's to get familiarized with new people and to introduce our little ones to the art of socializing.

I must frankly admit to not being much of a "group joiner". I'm not anti-social by any means but growing up I just never really liked being part of the girl guides, the church choir or the volleyball team. I much preferred solo "sports" like playing the piano or real activities like partying with my friends:-) Although many things have changed over the years, I still fringe at the thought of joining groups. You join one group and then another, and before you know it all your evenings and weekends are booked up and you have no time left for yourself. Well, to each his own...

Now that I am a mother I do realize that for the sake of Miles, it may actually be beneficial to show him "what's out there" as much as I can. In other words, participate in groups if needed...UGH!!
Well actually, it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be this morning except for the fact that Miles walked around stealing other kids' toys. I met 6 other Mom's and a big eye-opening experience for me was to meet another boy BIGGER than Miles despite being 1 month younger!!! Miles is in the top 97% according to the growth chart. I always wondered what a child in the 98% or 99% looked like... well I saw with my very own eyes...

I signed up to be an official member of this "Chrabbelgrouppe". The ladies meet every Wednesday morning which is fine by me because it gives me a good reason to leave the house NOT to go shopping and spend :-)

Cheers!

Written by a Canadian Mom

I'm not normally a fan of forwarded mail, but I couldn't resist this one...

Subject: WRITTEN BY A CANADIAN MOM


One of my sons serves in the
army. He is still here in Canada. He called me
yesterday to let me know how
warm and welcoming people were to him, and his
fellow soldiers, everywhere
he goes, telling me how people shake their hands,
and thank them for being
willing to serve, and fight, for not only
our own freedoms but so that
others may have them also.

But he also told me about an incident in the
grocers' shop he stopped at
yesterday, on his way home from the quarters. He
said that ahead of several
people in front of him stood a woman dressed in a
burkha. He said when she got
to the checkout she loudly remarked about the
Canadian Flag lapel badge
the cashier wore on her blouse. The cashier
reached up and touched the badge,
and said proudly," Yes, I always wear it
and probably always will." The woman
in the burkha then asked the cashier
when she was going to stop bombing her
countrymen, explaining that she was
an Afghani.

A gentleman standing behind my son stepped forward, putting
his arm around my
son's shoulders, and nodding towards my son, said in a
calm and gentle voice
to the Afghani woman. "Lady, hundreds of thousands of
men and women like this
young man have fought and died so that YOU could
stand here, in
MY country and accuse a check-out cashier of bombing YOUR
countrymen. It is my
belief that had you been this outspoken in YOUR own
country, we wouldn't need
to be there today. But, hey, if you have now
learned how to speak out so
loudly and clearly, I'll gladly buy you a ticket
and pay your way back
to Afghanistan so you can straighten out the mess in
YOUR country that you are
obviously here, in MY, country to avoid."

Everyone within hearing distance cheered!

IF YOU AGREE -------
Pass this on to
all your proud friends----- I most certainly did!

(My sentiments exactly!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOSSIE!!!!!

Today is my Dad's birthday. He is 60-something going on 20-something. One day he will be 90-something still going on 20-something, but that is how it has to be...

Having been born first out of 5 boys, my Dad (as well as his 4 other brothers) was raised to be a "real man" and not a "sissy, girly-man or gay". Perhaps that was the norm back in those days--during the post-war days.

Growing up, I remember him not being very expressive or chatty. He pretty much kept to himself. He worked shifts at the pulp & paper mill in Dalhousie. Worked there all his life and liked what he did. Creature of habit that he is, 2 of his daily rituals consisted (and still do) of meeting the other guys at the coffee shop and going for his 90-minute power walk up and down the steep hills of Dalhousie.

My Dad is not a big talker nor does he show much emotion, but his actions always spoke louder than words and still do today. I remember whenever our family would go to church at Christmas or Easter, he never once sat with us. He always gave up his seat to a little old lady or pregnant woman who was left standing because the church was overcrowded. He would, without hesitation, take his place standing at the back of the church...every single time. I also remember when he drove me to College for the first time during my first year. Although I felt that his goodbye was a little "short" and awkward, my Mom told me later on that he wept upon leaving.

His whole life was spent "saving" for my sister and my education. He never really indulged in anything. He was always and still is very modest. However, I'm quite happy to see how since he's retired, he seems to be enjoying himself a lot more (maybe a little too much for my conservative taste but hey, to each his own!)

For those who know Bossie well, it is no secret how the man LOVES to party. He likes to go where the action is and if there is not enough action for his taste, then he'll just create some action for everyone! He can be quite the life of the party. For instance, he and a whole group of other Acadians from New-Brunswick headed off to Louisiana back in 1999 for the International Acadian meeting. At one point, he and a whole bunch of others ended up in a Cajun-style restaurant called "Recherché", where the live fiddle favorites were blaring away. My Dad was loving the music so much that he ended up on the dance floor (all by himself). Soon afterwards a crowd started to form around him, clapping and cheering him on...and then the ultimate: the entire cooking staff dumped their pots and pans, left the kitchen and came out to join in on the fun and games. They too, clapping and cheering Bossie on! He was as happy as can be, doing the "dance des canards" and whatever other choreography he could muster at the time. What a show that must have been!

Bossie is legendary. He is a great cook, he is kind, generous, and he is the type of person who would help out anyone in need at the drop of a hat, without asking any questions or expecting anything in return (except maybe a nice cold beer...:-)

Describing Bossie simply has to be one of the toughest things to accomplish. One has to know him to understand. My Dad is an amalgam of Homer Simpson (for his work and love of beer), Forest Gump (for his speed-walking attributes) and Kellogg's Froot Loops mascott Toucan Sam ("Follow your nose! It always knows where the party is!")

I tried to reach my Dad today but he wasn't home. Duh, how could I be surprised? It's his birthday! The party probably got started as soon as the sun rose! :-)

Cheers to you, Dad! I hope this day will be a memorable one for you!

What Dogs are Capable of...

What Men are Capable of...

When it comes to sports, men certainly do not lack creative skills. Watch as this man successfully plays out the necessary actions to get what he wants...
If only my man could put in a fraction of that energy helping out around the house, it would be SPOTLESS, 24/7 !!!

A Weekend in Edinburgh

On Friday, a group of us (13 in total) ventured off to Edinburgh, Scotland for the weekend. The highlight and whole purpose of our trip was to attend the famous Military Tattoo.

This event is so remarkable and spectacular that one must reserve tickets at least 6-12 months in advance since every single performance sells-out. The Military Tattoo takes place twice a day in the evening for a duration of 3 weeks. The Edinburgh Castle where it is held can hold up to 12000 spectators for each show.

Having heard about the heightened airport security on Thursday, we didn't really know what to expect at the Geneva Airport. Lucky for us, departure on Friday went very smoothly and on time.

I have been living here in Switzerland for a little over 10 years now and I have travelled tremendously in Europe as well as overseas. I had never experienced Scotland up until this past weekend and was completely shocked at the thousands of tourists roaming the city. As far as sights are concerned, Edinburgh doesn't exactly have the reputation of being a "must-see" city.

However, Edinburgh hosts TONS of interesting festivals in the summertime, which is why so many tourists flock there. A brilliant idea to boost ones' economy to say the least.

We had a great time and MANY good laughs. We visited the Edinburgh Castle, did a guided city-tour, a little shopping, some pub-crawling, lots of eating and of course attended the amazing Military Tattoo. I simply must add here that the Top Secret Drum Corps from Switzerland stole the show, as well as the New-Zealand Army Band.

One thing in particular that I kept hearing over and over (as well as saying it over and over myself), was how Edinburgh is so incredibly expensive. It's almost like they try to squeeze every last penny out of the tourists. If Swiss people, who are used to paying high prices for everything complain about how ridiculouly expensive Edinburgh is, then you know it is très cher!!!

We departed on Sunday and then and there, at the airport, the théâtre began. Tons of line-ups, delayed flights as well as cancelled flights were the "ordre-du-jour". We were given plastic bags in which the only alloted items to place into them were wallets, passports, eye-glasses without the case and baby food. Many people probably thought that this was a joke and checked in their baggage before placing the "forbidden" items into it. They were caught immediately and were forced to leave many items behind, including cell phones, Ipods, palms, blackberries, food, drinks, books (what the hell??), magazines, toilettries etc. I have rarely seen so many garbage cans overfilled in my life. What a major waste!!! With all of this hoopla going on around us, our return-flight ended up departing 2 hours later. Oh well, c'est la vie I suppose.

While it is clear that certain measures have to be taken for the sake of "terrorism", are we really headed in the right direction here?

Pic 1 : Thousands of people waiting patiently to go see the Military Tattoo;
Pic 2 : The beginning of the show with the bagpipers of 13 different units (Scotland, Ireland, Royal Air Force, Gurkhas, Cape Town (South Africa), and Queensland Police from Australia);
Pic 3 & 4: Band of the Coldstream Guards together with the Band of the Scots Guards;
Pic 5: Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Royal Regiment of Scotland, Gurkhas, New Zealand Army Band and the Army Band of Chile;
Pic 6: All 1000 musicians together for the great finale playing the National Anthem, Auld Lang Syne and the Day Thou Gavest;
Pic 7: Sandra and Mat in a Pub:
Pic 8: View from the Castle;
Pic 9: Parts of the Edinburgh Castle

Video Clip of Norvegian Soldiers in Kosovo

Following is a video clip of a few Norvegian soldiers in Kosovo. Merci Muriel, for the great idea:-) I just couldn't resist.

Kosovo Parody Song


Here are the lyrics just in case some of you Karaoke freaks out there would like to sing along...

Kosovo
to the tune of The Beach Boys' "Kokomo"
by the Norwegian Army Telemark battalion

Croatia, Albania, somewhere near Romania
It's Euro, and NATO, why the hell do we go
Pristinia, blew up, huh? Head for Macedonia

I'll race ya...

Somewhere far overseas
There's a place called Kosovo
That's where you don't want to go
If you're Albanian at all

Protecting human rights
Air strikes and firefights
And we'll be dropping our bombs
Wherever Serbian bad guys hide

Just up from Kosovo

Somalia, Grenada,
Or rescuing Kuwait-a
We screwed ya Rwanda
Wish we coulda helped ya
Iraqi embargo
That's where we got hustled

Ooo so now we're helping out in Kosovo
We'll kick (kiss?) some ass and then we'll see how it goes
And then we really don't know
Good luck to Kosovo

Mi-lo-se-vic
You sorry son of a bitch

[musical interlude]

Every time we go
To little places like Kosovo
We never really know
What happens after we go

Tough luck for Kosovo

Croatia, Albania, somewhere near Romania
It's Euro, and NATO, why the hell do we go
Pristinia, blew up, huh? Head for Macedonia

Oooo from Macedonia down to Kosovo
We'll kick their ass and then we'll see how it goes
And then we really don't know
That sucks for Kosovo

Somalia, Grenada,
Or rescuing Kuwait-a
We screwed ya Rwanda
Wish we coulda helped ya
Iraqi embargo
How it ends we don't know...

[hit by army truck]

Second OB-GYN visit.

At week 12+4 days, Mat and I went for our second OB-GYN visit. The ultrasound showed that all is well. It was quite difficult to get a proper picture since he/she (HE) was in the middle of a major gymnastic session.
I hate being pregnant!

Walking She-Ra

There is not much newness to report since I have been working exceptionally more than I normally do these past 3 weeks during Mat's vacation time.
However lame our lives may be at the moment, I cannot resist posting these pictures taken today from Mat's telephone camera.

Wacky Left-Wings on Wheels

What is it with the left, anyway? Their ideas and political views are often so twisted and unrealistic that they believe the only way to get the message through to the public is with "shocking behavior". I recently stumbled upon this website and thought it was hilarious, albeit I have to admit I had to gag a few times (being pregnant also makes me a bit more sensitive to certain things).

Well, here it is: Zombietime - Browse through the photos at your own risk and...Don't forget to reelect Gore! :-)