Horses & Harry Potter

So, I'd have to say that this past week was one of my best ones here so far. I really felt "at home" and looking back, I see that it was because I had found things that fit into my comfort zone. Everyone needs those things to survive and until you have them all taken away, you don't realize how much they contribute to good mental health!

***Disclaimer: Not that I'm saying DON'T step out of your comfort zone......because I'm all for that. Just realize what things you need to stay sane once you have taken that "step" across the line.

One of the biggest celebrations here is that Mandi is back! Yeah!!! It's like having a sister back and also so nice to not have to "be on my guard" all the time. Plus, she likes to cook/bake and I am actually eating normal food again. Such as pizza on Friday nights again, salad with chicken, and we even had Mexican food the other day for dinner. Second, an awesome family at church found a local stable for me to volunteer at during the week. I can come as often as I like and they welcome the help.

Here is a picture of part of the barn and outdoor ring. I am working here (no, not for money) on Tuesday afternoons for a couple hours and loving it so far. I helped clean out stalls, sweep cobblestone path, and groomed 2 horses. Next week I even get to ride! I do have to speak in French the entire time (makes for some funny moments) but am learning "horse terminology" in French now too - a perk I guess. This stable is higher up the mountain and actually in the same village where Mandi and I will be living later this year - God is SO good! So, I can go there as often as I like.......at this point it involves taking the train, a bus and a 10-15 minute walk. Not bad though.

This week also marked the opening of the new Harry Potter movie. I admit I am a fan and read all the books and thought they were very well written. I got Mandi hooked on the movies and so with the new one coming out last Wednesday, well, we just had to go see it in the theater! I had never been to a movie on "opening day" and didn't know how crowded it would be or what to expect. We walked down to the theater after school but it didn't open until 1:30pm so we went to get some lunch. There was a bit of a line when we came back, but not too bad. We got up to the counter and I had only looked at Mandi and uttered an "uhhhh" and the girl behind the counter says "Harry Potter in English, right?" We looked at each other in surprise and nodded yes. (Sometimes I wonder if we have this tattoo across our foreheads that says "English speaking only" or something similar........it's weird.)

Anyway, we did get tickets to see the VO = version original = English and headed up to the theater. The line behind us was getting longer and I didn't know if we would be able to get decent seats or not. We waked inside and this is what we saw............

Yep, not a soul in sight! So, maybe it was worth the 16 francs we paid if we get a theater all to ourselves! Granted we had 45 minutes before the start of the movie, but I did a little reconnaissance of the other French version theater and it was full of kids - and I could only see the balcony section. We waited, finished our homework, and waited some more. A few people came into our theater, a few left after asking if this was Harry Potter in french, and we ended up with around, oh, roughly 17 people total by the time the movie started. Not bad, eh?

I must say that I forgot I was in Switzerland for a couple hours that afternoon......not that it was necessairlily a good or bad thing, just nice to leave reality behind for awhile. And, they did show the previews in French and the movie had French and German subtitles, so we didn't get away from it completely.

All in all a good week.