*The First Snow*

While we were at Dave & Natalie's place yesterday…it started snowing! It's the first snow fall so far this year.  We woke up to this…

View out Kitchen windows

View out living room windows

Also, very excited today because Amanda Durick is on her way from France to visit us through Tuesday! :)

A "Swiss" Thanksgiving

As I am sure many of you suspected, they obviously don't celebrate Thanksgiving here. When Mike and I realized this, we were pretty upset not too have some of our favorite, usual Thanksgiving foods this year. But I was determined despite our very small kitchen, fridge and tiniest oven-that I could pull off a little Thanksgiving meal for us…

Luckily, another American's wife (who has been coming over year for several years), Natalie mentioned that they have a big Thanksgiving gathering every year and invite all of the team, especially the Americans!
…Mike and I were so excited.

So, we spent yesterday there! I had made a vegetable side dish and an apple cinnamon dessert to bring over. I had also gone there a little early (while the guys were at practice) to help Natalie with the preparations as well. We were expecting to feed 12 people total, with a majority of them housing mega metabolisms. There was so much food! Starting with the dinner; there was a 22 lb turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, biscuits, apple sauce, green bean casserole, corn, carrots and a unique African dish that one of the girlfriends made from her heritage. I cannot remember the name of it, mostly because I couldn't pronounce it. It was a soup consistency with vegetables and various types of meat- very good!

Dessert was the grand finale of pumpkin cake, pecan pie, my apple cinnamon cake, and another African dessert that was fabulous and delicious!

Now, after hearing about all of the foods that we ate yesterday, you may be thinking,  "where did we get it, " because we aren't in America! Well, Natalie was able to order the large turkey from a local butcher and several of the other items she had her mom send over from the U.S. Some of these items were canned pumpkin/pumpkin filling, brown sugar, green bean casserole topping, marshmallows, and then several condiments. (Thank you Natalie's Mom!)

Once the eating was over we all gathered in the living room to play a game, "The Wolf game." It was the first time for many of us playing, but we were able to pick up on it fast and had a great fun time. It's a role playing type game where your true identity is kept secret and you have to try and figure out who everyone is while still applying to the rules of the game. We ended up playing about 5, very intense, rounds of the "Wolf Game."

We had such a great "Swiss" Thanksgiving, that we didn't get back home til about 2 am! :)

**Sorry for no pictures…I forgot to bring my camera last night :(

Gorgeous, Fall Day

Yesterday was beautiful-not at all an expected Fall day, it was sunny and 60 degrees! Mike and I took advantage by taking a little hike around the city, also, stopping to have coffee on the patio of Miliano Restaurant.

We had some fun taking pictures too…

In the center of the town.

On the bridge near our Apartment.

St. Nicholas Cathedral in the background.

This will probably be our last warm, sunny day. It's expected to snow by the end of the week…  :(

MVP~

Goes to…MIKE NELSON!!!!  - clap, clap, clap….

At every basketball game in the Swiss League the club selects a "Player of the Game" or MVP from each team at the end of the match. When a person is selected, not only do they get the recognition but also a prize of some sort. Every team usually hands out something different.

Tonight the mega-sized bottle of champagne went to Mike. It was exciting for not only him, but all of the fans. They were chanting with clapping, "Mike-Nel-Son, Mike-Nel-Son, etc."

Mike being honored.

Big bottle of Perrier Jouet

He achieved a total of 26 points, which was broken down to 5/6 from 2's, 4/4 from 3's, 4/4 from the free throw line. As well as 5 rebounds.  Yay Mike! :)

Birthday Party

Last Saturday night, post basketball game, some of the guys were headed to a friend's birthday party. Mike and I decided last minute to go, it was a theme party so the guys had to dress up in suits and the girls were supposed to dress as "Playboy bunnies". I didn't have that costume, so just put on a black/white dress I had brought from home and we were off to the party.

Our dress up.

The guys & I

I didn't know what to expect in the night ahead of us...

We soon arrived at a very nice house where several people greeted us by saying "enchante" with 3 kisses on alternating cheeks. I had no idea what was going on, we asked the guys we came with what the word means, it's translated to "nice to meet you."

This place was pretty cool, there was a photographer taking pictures, plenty of alcohol and food, loud music with a dance floor, an extreme amount of decorations and a gorgeous balcony with a beautiful view. 

Mike and I, along with the other guys ended up at one side of the room mingling with eachother...after a while a girl came up to us speaking French. I asked her (in French) if she spoke English, she signaled for me to "hold on" then left quickly...she came back with a girl who spoke several languages(including English) fluently to translate. Shortly, I found out that it was her brithday party and we were welcome to all the food and alcohol we wanted.

I continued to talk to the girl who could speak English (Natalia) for awhile...found out she is originally from Brazil (as were most of the people there.) Also, her and the birthday girl (Sylvia) were roommates when the attended the university in Fribourg.  She has a boyfriend from Australia, so she mostly speaks English because of him, but also speaks German, Portugese and French.

Later on in the night, Sylvia grabbed me and brought me to the dance floor to teach me a Brazilian dance, (Natalia was also there to help with the translations). It was some sort of really popular dance in Brazil where you start out really slow and then move faster and faster with music. I was awful at it, but it was pretty fun attempting the dance with the girls. 

After the song they brought me to the "alcohol room", Natalia told me that lots of Brazilians have these to hold thier expensive alcohol. We were each poured "Grappa", which I was informed from Italy and something you drink at the end of the meal or at the end of the night. We all said "Sante" (cheers) and drank it down like a shot. 

I got video of the end of the "Happy Birthday" song...

Then, shortly after we left for home (it was now approximately 4am). People around here don't go out til usually after midnight and stay out as late (or I guess you would say early) as 6am! It's crazy, Mike and I were a mess the next day...but definitely worth it. It was so fun to experience a party the way they do it out here and to meet so many new, fun and different people!

The Market

There is a market on every Saturday from 6am to about noon in Fribourg very close to where we live.  I have been twice so far and it is spectacular! It goes on for several blocks and also fills the area in front of the Hotel de Ville.

The area in front of the Hotel de Ville

There is also so much variety…you can shop for pastries, bread, fruit, vegetables, milk, all types of meat, honey, syrup, wine, beer, juice, flowers, etc.  It's all as fresh as you can get it and all very reasonable prices. All items appeared to be made or brought or slaughtered from the person selling it right in front of you. I am sure this is many of the people's sole income. Because I am pretty sure it goes all year-sun, rain or snow!

There were a couple of musicians playing within the crowds

Olympic en Rose

This is what they called the basketball game that Mike had last week. It was a pretty cool sight to see…the whole team was wearing PINK uniforms honoring breast cancer awareness. Much of the crowd also joined  in. They chose to raise money for the organization by auctioning off all of the uniforms they wore.

It was very neat to see all of the action and support here in Fribourg.

BFO in pink!

Neuchatel visit

Last Thursday we went to Neuchatel, Switzerland with one of Mike's teammates, Steve. Our initial reason for the trip was to get some Domino's pizza. Steve has been to this city in the past and remembered the American Fast Food chain being there.

Side note: We constantly crave the "American cuisine" (mostly convenient, greasy, fatty,  fast food). There is only 1 chain restaurant in Fribourg = McDonald's.


Our journey took about an hour, heading to the northern, more french, part of Switzerland.  Already having previous knowledge of the city's beauty, we were planning on doing some sightseeing as well…but we needed to get our lunch fix first.

When we arrived to the Swiss Domino's….IT WAS CLOSED!  ...Thankfully only until 5pm (and it was about 2pm.)  So we grabbed something else quick to eat then prepared to start our sightseeing.

We ended up parking in a car lot near Lake Neuchatel, then started walking.  We walked along the water slowly, we were all in awe of the magnificent beauty within the scenery. Over the lake, towards the South housed the Swiss alps, then to the other side were the French Alps of the Jura mountains. We along stone paths and past a large boat marina gazing at the sites around us.

Mike & Steve

Marina

After soaking in as much sites as we could, we headed into the city, which was almost as equally gorgeous. The majority of the buildings looked as if they were made of gold, the whole city sparkled. We walked in and out of many stores and boutiques. We also made some delicious purchases at a chocolate shop.

When we explored the city as much as we could we headed back to the car, walking along the lake shore again. Being a later time of day, we were able to get some different pictures.

We ended up ordering our pizza "to go" on our way back to Fribourg!

American Sauce?

So today while at the grocery we stumbled upon this item…

American Sauce!?

What is American sauce? Do they have this in America? I have never come across it before.

Did some Google searching to try and find more information on this sauce, I found a French Heinz website that translated to this:

"Taste of America with the American Heinz Sauce! A creamy tomato with chopped shallots and parsley, to revive your taste buds.

To meet your most various dishes: fish, shellfish, poultry, veal, shrimp, avocado, hard boiled egg ... or simply make your sandwich!

Choose the bottle that combines design and practicality: it is transparent and shiny as glass and flexible for easier use. It is equipped with a stopper with an opening large enough to let the tasty morsels of vegetable condiments.

Available in 225g."

Composition:
36% vegetable oil, water, sugar, tomato puree 7% vinegar (barley), whey powder (milk), mustard seed, salt, shallot 1.2%, modified starch, molasses, parsley, soy extract ( wheat), brown sugar, lemon juice, coloring (caramel, paprika extract), anchovies (fish), glucose-fructose syrup, extracts of spices and herbs, tamarind, spices, flavors (contains egg ), thickener (xanthan gum)
Contains allergens: milk, mustard, barley, soybeans, wheat, fish and eggs.


When thinking about this, I guess there is "French" dressing & "Italian" dressing, so I suppose it only seems fair that the Americans get something to call their own elsewhere.

Well,  of course we bought it to try it. Let you all know how that goes…

October 31

It seems this day is just as any other in Fribourg, Switzerland.  I would have completely forgot about the Halloween holiday except for Facebook and seeing all of my friends/ family dressing up for the very festive holiday.

Mike actually had a very far away game on this day,  so the night before we tried to get a little bit in the spirit by watching a couple Disney Halloween movies, (Hocus Pocus & Halloweentown!)

Oh it was actually daylight savings, we were instructed to change our clocks back an hour at 3am. So now for 2 weeks we will only be a 6 hour time difference to back home.

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!