I am sorry for the lack of update. Been busy lately and now starts the Autumn Holiday and tomorrow I'm going to the AFS Fall Camp for a week so I won't be able to update soon. it's 1.48am and I should sleep.

Sorry about the lack of update. Wasn't as free as before since school started.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy school. Just hate that I have to get up early every morning and walk all the way uphill for 10 minutes to my school.

Lets start off where I stopped.

So I guess on Monday nothing much happened, so skip. Tuesday, after lunch, I could actually go home, but then I stayed for German class, cause they were watching a movie. Anja and Megi ordered pizza while I ordered kebab. They delivered it to the school, and then we just took our food and ate in class while watching the movie. A movie starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. "Eyes Wide Shut". They're reading the book for literature in German class, and obviously we watched it in German. Yeah I get the movie here and there, but later I had to wikipedia and read the plot. It was a...well... Kids shouldn't watch it. I'm seriously amazed by how teachers are allowed show movie with some "content" in school. After the movie, I went home and went to Luzern. Our AFS Chapter, Vierwaldstättersee, organize a meet-up for us oldies with the newbies. I just gotta say, someone really pissed me off. Catherine, Carolina and I were the only oldies present. There were only 3 asians newbies I met. 2 from Japan and 1 from China. We met outside the Restaurant Treibhaus and walked to the park nearby to meet up with the others, then played some games, and then about 8.30 or so, it ended and we ate the snacks AFS prepared for us. Yeah it was nice, but when I was on the train, all I was thinking is that no new exchangies will be in my school. Just then, we had to get off at Wolhusen and board another train, and I saw a guy I met during the meet. He's Ukrainian so I can't spell his name, but it sounds like Yev-Hen. Turns out, he lives in Entlebuch, and will be starting school in Kanti Schüpfheim. Obviously, I was so excited. YEAH. I'm an oldie in my own school. I'm the next Julie, Isaac, Marcos and Gabriel :P so yeah, that was all for that day.

Wednesday was nothing much as well.

Thursday class was only 6 people. The rest went to Zürich to visit some University or some kind. Sports was jogging, and me wearing that ill-fitting shoes from my host mother, my feet were killing me. As always, I'm the slowest in class, but I really tried my best. After that we played Volleyball, against the boys from 4Pa. Yeah we got owned seriously. We lost. After school, after going home and shower and all, I went to the Zürich airport. Harry from Australia is getting ER-ed and was leaving that day. Met up with Jun Khee, Kook and Shu Jie at the airport, then Anna from Australia and Carolina. Then the rest, Will, Michael, Carly and all came. Apparently Harry requested to be ER-ed, and his host family isn't that good. They didn't even send him off. We stayed and took photos and I left before he went into the gates. I left at 8pm+, but I arrived home at 11pm. Bleh.

Friday was Herbstwanderung. Yeah. HIKING. It is actually a compulsory kind of sports day for the schools in Switzerland, "because Switzerland has too many mountains". It lasted altogether 6 hours. I was almost the last person, but I wasn't. I'm actually quite proud of myself, cause I didn't really stop much. I kept up with my pace and took everything slowly. In my mind, I kept thinking "slow and steady wins the race".



Opps I'm writing this in school. Class starting soon. Shall continue soon.

2nd week of the new school year.

The week was quite normal, except that the weather was terrible. I guess Monday was normal. Tuesday was normal as well, I guess, except the fact that the Mensa served something special that day. Cheese buffet and sausage buffet, with ice-cream as dessert. Wednesday was normal (Nicole's birthday), Thursday was normal, Friday, however, was a twist of change.

Well I only had 1 period on Fridays, cause I can not to go for German, as in I'm allowed to not go, and I don't have to go for French. So after my first period, I went back. After lunch and all and things like that, I went to Solothurn and met up with KC at the train station there. Then both of us tried our best to recall the road back to Jun Khee's house. Amazingly we managed to arrive at his house, safe and sound, and without asking directions at all, plus it was dark. KC, Shu Jie, Pei San and I were overnight-ing at Jun Khee's house because he's alone at home and yeah, we went for 1 night. KC brought "Sex on the beach", a drink, and Pei San cooked porridge. We just talked and played cards and had fun till about 2am or so, then we went to bed. I woke up at 9am the next day, awesome. I think it was the first time ever that I was the first to wake up among us. We had some breakfast ourselves and then Shu Chien came around 12pm or so. Shu Chien and Shu Jie went to Migros to buy lunch because they're the only ones that have GA, so they don't have to pay for a cent for the bus ride. They bought tortellini, and I cooked it. Holy mama I can cook!! First time ever to cook a western dish alone!! I don't know what started it, but we started "revising" our BM. We were pointing at the window and thinking what is Window in Malay, and then our body parts. None of us remembered what neck was. We had to google translate after a long failed attempt to recall. Damn our BM has gotten so bad, I don't think it's gonna be easy when we get back to Malaysia. The moment when one of us remember the word in BM, it feels like we've just achieved something enormously amazing. After that we all set out and left Jun Khee's house, them going to the Street Parade in Basel, and me going home. I went home because it was Joel's birthday and I figured I shouldn't be away the whole day. We were a bit late, so I had to take the bus. Apparently the bus came, but Shu Jie said that it isn't the right bus, but right after the bus left, I noticed it was the right bus. Ended up running halfway to the train station, with the last 5 minutes, I gave up. There was no way reaching the train station in 5 minutes. So in the end I arrived home 1 hour later, which was 6pm. Anyways it has been such a long time since all 6 of us Malaysians were together. I arrived home and Joel wasn't home, and he didn't come back till 9pm. I could've gone to Basel, too, but eh, whatever.

On Sunday, we celebrated Joel's birthday. I wanted to get him something special like a pocket-knife, because he loves doing those handy stuff, but Julia told me he already has one, so phooey. I just bought a birthday card and gave him the special birthday chocolate I bought when I was in Germany. Around 2pm or so, Muetti (grandma) arrived. It's really awkward when she remembers my name but suddenly forgot about Joel's name. Then other relatives started arriving. We had desserts, like cakes and tarts and vanilla and chocolate creme. Then, Lia, the little cousin from next door, pulled me to play some games with her. We played Uno and some board game called Dr. Bibber, and then another card game called Halli Galli or something like that. Eventually we got bored, so she took 2 rubber ducks from the toilet and started playing them, and narrating the story at the same time. You know what it's like? Think about Toy Story and how Andy plays with Woody and the other toys. That's exactly how she played those ducks. Eventually, again, she got bored and pulled me to her room in her house and played Barbie doll again. After that, masak-masak. After that, dress-up. She has this whole princess dress. After that, masak-masak again. After that, she handed me some rubber bands and asked me to tie her hair. After that she just took off all her clothes and got into her bikini, and placed a beach towel in the middle of the upstairs living room, and when she was ready to put on sun-screen (even though we're indoors with no direct sun-light), her dad calls us and dinner was served back in our house. So we went back for dinner, which was bread with assorted meat and cheese and some hard boiled egg. After dinner she asked if she can play in my room, so I said, yes, obviously. But it really ticked me off when she kept trying to climb into my bed with her shoes on. I kept telling her, no shoes on the bed. Honestly, my room was a bit wrecked by her. I don't know if I was the same when I was 5 years old, but she just takes everything she sees and play with it, or stick her hands into my lotions and all, which I have to say, I have never seen her wash her hand the whole time I was with her. Not before a meal, not after touching dirt, not after going to the toilet, never. Soon after that, Joel, Micha and Tim, Lia's brothers, came in as well. And then Lia and Micha started fighting around. Some time later, their dad came in and said that they have to go home. Honestly, I was a bit relieved. I was dead tired. Since they never mop the floor here in the house, I had to take a small cloth and wipe the floor after they left, cause I really can't stand them wearing shoes in my room.

One of Joel's birthday present

Muetti

See those animal heads? They're all hunted by my host-dad.

Okay so it has been 2 weeks since my last update.

School started and I'm not as free as I used to be in the summer holidays.

Although, my timetable for the new school year is free like siao.

Compared to the last school year, I don't have much free time in between classes, but I have no school after lunch on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and on Friday I have only 45 minutes of class and then I'm finished for the week. On Mondays, though, I have 2 hours free time right before lunch, so that allows me to get home and have lunch at home and then go back to school with 40 minutes to spare. This year I have no more Geography, Biology, Chemistry and Art class, which kinda sucks because those are my favourite subjects of all.

So the first day of school, 20th August. Julia is finally in the same school with me. So now every morning, we walk together to the train station. Julia was really nervous for the first day of school. Her face just kind of showed it all. The railway tracks are done with the construction work, so we can finally take the train again. Train was late, as usual, and we had to walk fast like mad people, in the freaking hot weather. I arrived in school with sweat dripping down my face and my back. We started at 10.15am, not in class, but in the center of the school. We had kind of like an assembly, but so much different than the ones we had in Malaysia. We were all siting on the steps, or anywhere we want, just as long as we can see the principal giving his speech. The principal started off with introducing the new teachers and students, then talking about the new goals in this year, then he talked a bit about the late Gina, the girl who passed away during the first week of summer holidays in Genf, where she had an accident in the swimming pool. He lit a candle and placed it in a corner, and said that the candle will continue to ignite for the whole week, in memory of her. After that we had our own Klassenstunde, where Herr Engel, the same class teacher as last year, talks about plans for this year and assign the "class chief" which is actually the class monitor and the class treasurer and all. This year we finally have a male in class who isn't an exchange student. His name is Julian and he just came back from Panama and Costa Rica from his exchange year there. Martina (Thalmann) joined our class this year because she didn't pass her Maturas last year, so she has to repeat a year. I swear, if this kind of thing happened to me, I would be so freaking depressed. If I didn't pass SPMs and had to repeat a whole year of form 5, I would probably fall into depression. Not that I don't enjoy form 5, but the idea of wasting a year... The idea of me retaking my driving test already drove me up the wall. After that it was just about 11.30am and we were let off for lunch break. Carla, Anja, Martina and I went to the Badi and had lunch there. I had a burger, which is completely unlike McDonalds' burger but more like TGIF burgers. IT WAS OH SO YUMMY. After that we had our first Music lesson, which we have a new teacher. Then it was English, which was Frau Furrer again.

Tuesday, though, was normal,  I think.. I can't think of anything special for the time being, so let's just skip this for now.

Wednesday, normal as well.

Thursday. We have sports on this day. Last year, us 3Ka girls combined with 3Kb girls. But this year, no more with them :( We combined with the 4P girls, which means the 4Plus girls. Kanti Schüpfheim is special. It has 2 parts in it. One is the normal Kantonsschule (Kanti), and one is the Gymnasium Plus (Gymi+), which is special for people with talents, as in Sports, Music or Arts. Julia is in the Gymi+ because she's kind of a professional skier. So the Ka's and Kb's are Kanti students whereas the P's are Gymi+ students, which means the class we're combining are mostly pro in sports, which makes me stick out like a sorer thumb. Plus, this year we had a different teacher, whom is new, and has no idea that I had no sports class back in my 2 years in Cempaka, so she's not gonna go easy on me, like Herr Portmann last year. We started off jogging around the field, doing stretching and warm-ups while jogging. Then some sprinting, and some skipping and high-knees. After that, we went back into the sports hall, and we had a fitness test. Jumping over an obstacle and back which is up to my shoulders' height, running back and forth to put the ball into the basket, running in the same position on a mattress, rope-jumping, sit-ups, jumping over a bench and crawling the way back under the bench, run and half-squats, zig-zag runs. All in 10 seconds and you have to do as many sets as you can. 10 seconds interval to rest. In the end, add all the sets that you did and that's your fitness score. My score was 161. Think that's high? Every other girls in the class got more than 200. And that's how shitty I am. After that we played something like netball, but instead of shooting the ball into the basket, we have to hit the basketball board with the ball and if the person on the same team catches the rebound, then it's 1 point. It is actually really fun, no joke. I can play so much better in games than in those fitness tests. After that horrible but amazing calorie burning class, we went to the showers and it felt so freaking nice to wash those sweats off my hair and my body. Then Megi and I went for Kebaps, which kills the effect of the calories I burnt during sports class.

On Friday, Pei San, Shu Jie and I planned to visit the Deutschkurs in Olten, because we're now oldies and this is kind of a tradition, oldies visiting newbies. Pei San and I arrived at 12.30pm and we went to buy some cheap but delicious kebap and then went up to the Migros Klubschule. It felt weird because usually they post up "AFS DEUTSCHKURS - Zimmer __" at the entrance, well, that's what they did when we were attending Deutschkurs, but there wasn't any that day. So we went to ask the Secretary. She told us that the class ended early today, at 11.30am. *sigh* 13fr of train ticket, wasted. We met up with Shu Jie outside, and after finishing our kebaps, we went into Migros to buy some things to munch and sit by the river and chat never-endingly. We spent more than 4 hours sitting by the river, then Shu Jie went back, and Pei San and I went to Migros again to buy dinner. That was all for the day, the SUPPOSED visit.

Saturday, Anja, Gabriel (Baumann) and I went to Luzern. I just went to kill some time and to search for a birthday present for Dario, who was having a party that night. I had one of the best times with them in Luzern. We had lunch in McDonalds, and we were laughing our heads off there. I finally ignored that fact that it's super expensive and tried for one of the burgers only found in Switzerland, just like how Spicy Chicken McDeluxe or Prosperity Burger is found only in Malaysia. It was freakily yummy, but when we checked the calorific value, it has the most calories in the whole McDonalds. Oh shit, oh well. We probably laughed off half of the calories. We went back at about 4pm or so, and then at 8pm I met with Megi at Schüpfheim bahnhof and we walked to the place where Dario's having his birthday party with Raphael, Patricia, Joanna and another girl whom I have no idea who is she. Dario doesn't go to the Kanti, but we know each other. That's how awesome living in a small village is. It was raining cats and dogs, and the wind was what's worst. You'd think there was a tornado coming. In the party, yeah we had lots of drinks, and I couldn't stop myself from munching those nuts and chips and candies. I learned a new shot, though. Interesting shot. It's called the "Washing Machine". I should teach my friends and family back home, since I'm legal to drink and all :D.. I went home at 11pm, forgetting my umbrella on the way back.

Sunday, I went to the Schwingenfest with Joel with the bicycle at 9am. Schwingen is the Swiss wrestling, which is actually really funny to watch, but it was kinda boring for me, because I don't really have anyone to root for. Joel had to work during the fest so I met up with Julia. Her friends joined later on. Honestly I don't really enjoy being with her friends. Not that her friends are awful, they are the opposite of it. They are really friendly and all, but they're all 15 year olds, and their personality is totally different with mine, even different when I was 15, plus it looks like they're babysitting me. We stayed there till 6pm, and I was almost bored off my brains. I know this is really rude, but... I had nothing to do, no one to talk to for 9 hours. Then we went home and had dinner, and that's it for the week.

I have photos but it's still in my camera. Plus it's 11.15pm now and I have to sleep, or else I'll be sleeping in class the next day. People here act like it's the end of the world when they find you sleeping in class. I remember telling my classmates that I slept during chemistry when the teacher showed a filmed for the whole 2 hours, and they were all wide-eyed and repeating "Oh My God You Slept In Class?" Since then, I made sure that I have enough sleep at night to stay wide awake in class no matter how boring it is or how I don't understand a single thing the teacher is teaching. Will update about the last week some other day.

*Updated*

P.S: I'm left with 137 days in Switzerland.