Keeping it Local

It was another beautiful, sunny fall weekend in Switzerland. People here keep telling us this is not normal, and in fact this is the warmest November on record in Switzerland in over 100 years! Is it global warming? Who knows, but we are enjoying it anyway. Though the Swiss people are complaining that there isn’t any snow yet, as they are itching to start skiing. We stayed home this weekend and did our best to be like the locals.

On Saturday morning, we headed outside to bring our yard and our garden up to snuff. The Swiss are meticulous about their gardens, and ours has been sorely neglected for the past several weeks. So, while the kids played in the street with the neighbors, Joe and I raked leaves, swept walkways, turned over the garden and covered it for the winter. It felt great to dig our hands in the dirt one last time this season.

On Saturday night, we rewarded ourselves by going to the Chäs-Fescht or Cheese Festival that was put on by the local yodeling club (Jodlerklub Alpenrösli Münsingen). Talk about local! It was a lot like a church fish fry in Milwaukee, only instead of fried fish and french fries, they served all-you-can-eat Raclette and Fondue. It took place in a school gymnasium packed with families intermingled at long tables. There was an accordion trio playing traditional music. Unfortunately, there was no yodeling, as all the club members were serving food.

Sunday, we spent the morning basking in the sun by the Aare river. Henry worked up an appetite throwing rocks into the river. As we’ve mentioned before, people are allowed to build a fire anywhere they want in Switzerland. So, Joe built a nice fire on the rocks and we roasted hot dogs for lunch.

To finish off the weekend, I had a performance with the community choir I belong to. In Switzerland, there are a lot of community “clubs.” From sports clubs to cooking clubs, outdoors clubs, music groups, cultural clubs, etc… Once someone joins a club, they often stay committed to it for years and years. I joined the local choir, Kantorei Münsingen, and it has been a great way to meet people and get out of the house one night a week! We performed Antonio Caldara’s Missa Dolorosa at a service in honor of Totensontag or Sunday of the Dead. It is a traditional German holiday, similar to Memorial Day, honoring those who have passed away. The choir performed with a chamber ensemble and four soloists. I don’t have a recording of our performance yet, but you can hear a selection of the piece here.