Blockwoche in Emmental

This past week my school had the second Blockwoche (a project week) of the year, and I was able to explore more Swiss culture. We studies the Emmental region of Bern, which is close to the Bern Oberland. It consists of lots of farmland, with lots of cows and pastures. The towns are pretty small, but very beautiful, as is the scenery. Throughout the week I was able to experience lots of typical swiss things. On Monday we went to a family owned bakery and made chocolate bunnies and got a tour around the factory. One thing I was absolutely amazed by was how big their mixers were! They were so huge, that I could probably fit in one of the bowls if I sat down. On Tuesday we visited the Flyer bike company's factory and got a tour around that as well. Flyer bikes are special because they have a motor in them that helps you bike up large hills, such as the Swiss Alps. They can go up to 30 Kilometers per hour (I think). After that we had a typical swiss lunch, soup, salad and either Rösti or Swiss Macaroni. We then went and learned how to do Schwingen, which is Swiss-style sawdust wrestling. It was really fun! I even won a couple of times! On Wednesday we got to try a bunch of different homemade cheeses. We even got to make our own cheese, which we will get in a couple of months! We also saw typical swiss dancers dancing in the old swiss dresses. On Thursday we learned how to yodel and then we went to a gold/silversmith's workshop and saw how they make typical swiss jewelry. On Friday we had Rösti for breakfast in the school cafeteria (which is so much better than american cafeterias) and then we were done! The whole week was super fun and I learned a lot more about Swiss culture. I'm so happy I had this opportunity, because if it weren't for this week I would have not experienced a lot of these things! Another exciting thing that happened during this week is that I have begun to understand Swiss Bern German when it's spoken! I have been able to read and understand it for a while now, but being able to understand when it's spoken is the icing on the proverbial cake!