Matti's Adventure Abroad: November 2012

My second Swiss host family was located in the mountain village of Venthone, canton Wallis, overlooking the city of Sierre. As it is in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, the whole family spoke French and little English. The Bessons have about 20 sheep, 20+ chickens, and 12 rabbits, plus an apple juice business ran out of the garage. There were 5 kids ranging in age from 15-24, plus two other kids working on the farm for their apprenticeships. With 10 running around, it was a bit of a full house! I didn't have time to learn any French before coming to Switzerland, (I only studied German before I left), and that made it difficult at times to communicate. I worked with this family a lot more than all the others I have stayed with. The two other student workers and I worked with the host dad weekdays from 8am-6pm at least. Breakfast was bread and marmalade at 7am, then we got an hour or two break for lunch. Dinner was often bread and marmalade/cheese. The apple juice making was at its peak during my stay. We received apples from people in the area, then they paid us for the juice we made from it. A lot of my work was hauling crates of apples around or picking apples from our own trees. We also made the occasional grape juice too. Other work I did was climbing further up the mountain to feed the sheep and rabbits, and working in the garden.
(These Kansas lungs sure aren't used to elevation!! The highest point in Kansas is just over 1000m, and it's a very gradual elevation increase!).
During my 3 week stay, I traveled out of the village for 2 different excursions. My host mom and I went to the German speaking city of Leukerbad, where there are natural hot springs. We went swimming in a resort's heated swimming pools, which was very nice after a week of hard work! I also took a walk along the river trail. The other trip I took was with my host dad to Kippel, a small village located in a scenic valley.
Unfortunately, I had an unforgettable Halloween away from home. I made a 1st degree burn out of my left hand, leaving a scar that will be great for story telling! This led to an inside look at Swiss health care, after I finally went to the local physician a week later.