Swiss Style Weekend

On Saturday we attended a wedding of our now German teacher/old neighbors in Rapperswil castle which is at other end of the Zurisee. The wedding was all in German, of course, and in a castle, duh. Who doesn't get married in a castle?! Our upstairs neighbors and their daughters were there. They are so freaking cute these girls. Joe is shown posing with the oldest one, Madea, after he hoisted her up on this giant bench that is outside the castle. She definitely enjoyed being taller than Joe! She's also one of the main people we practice our lame, suited for a 6-year old German. But, even she doesn't want to speak to us in high German. Recently, when she starting responding to a question in Swiss German, her mom reminded her to speak to us in high German and she rolled her eyes and sighed. I guess it starts early around here, the dislike of high German;) We teach her little phrases in English too & she always says 'bye-bye, bye-bye' to us when we end a conversation. She loves showing off her English!

We spent Sunday on Rigi, a mountain outside Luzern with Erin, Lach, Will and a bunch of our closest Swiss friends & wrastlers. Schwingen is a real Swiss, farmer, country event. The object of the wrastling is to pin your opponent to the ground with both shoulders down. The ways men twisted and contorted to avoid both shoulders touching was a sight to behold. One man did a headstand for nothing shy of 30 seconds while his opponent tried to knock him down. They wear what I would call a giant man diaper (also described as wrestling breeches, but take your pick) over their pants and this is where the opponent grabs and holds for the wrastling. And if you win, you get a steer. I mean seriously. So, like I said, it was country. People brought their own fondue pot, burner, cheese, etc. and were fonduing and taking shots at 11am. Other people paraded around in traditional garb with old fashioned cribs strapped to their backs & real live babies inside (maybe something about crossing over mountain passes in the olden days but that's just a guess). Men tossed Swiss flags in the air, while others raked the pits, a few others led goats or steer around, some few dudes cracked huge whips, oh, and those others who were wrastling (thank God these events did not all happen at the same time, although some did take place simultaneously). Basically, it was crazy person world, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.