FEBRUARY-MARCH 2005 NEWSLETTER

Howdy everyone. Well, it’s crunch time at school so therefore I am once again behind on my monthly newsletter. We’ve had some interesting times in these last two months. I hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter. Happy Spring!


90 =75=56.07
That’s 90 Swiss Francs is equivalent to 75 US Dollars and 56.07 Euros. For my birthday this year, I decided to go on a tour of my own while Joe was on tour to Italy. I went to Montreux, Switzerland with a group of teachers. I think Switzerland is one of the most beautiful countries on earth. Our hotel was on Lake Geneva and the view was stunning. I’ve seen beautiful mountains and I’ve seen beautiful lakes, but to put a crystal clear lake at the foot of the snow- covered mountains was simply over the top. I couldn’t stop staring out my balcony window every time I was in my hotel room. We were only there for a weekend but we made use of every minute. Montreux is famous for its International Jazz Festival in the summer time and I can just imagine the streets filled with people and music. It is also at the base of several ski resorts but wasn’t too crowded while we were there. The first day was spent walking all around the town, doing a bit of window shopping (I now know why the Swiss are the richest people in the world, I couldn’t afford a slice of pizza!), and touring a medieval castle. The last time Joe and I went to Switzerland, we were close to the German border so most people spoke German. This area is closer to the French border so of course they spoke French, no German and no English. This made it difficult to communicate but we managed somehow using the point and grunt methodJ Our second day was spent in a ski town called Porte de Soleil. I chose to go hiking instead of skiing and had a wonderful time. It was just like all the picture postcards you see of Switzerland: big fat flakes, quaint towns, tree covered hiking paths, and more. After a two- hour hike, we had a lovely lunch in a café that reminded us of the café on the TV show, “Friends”. In fact, we refer to it as the Swiss Friends café. We lounged on leather couches while sipping hot chocolate. This trip was for non-skiers as well as skiers. The skiers were NOT beginners. They had the opportunity to cross over to the French border at the top of the mountain. Those people had to carry four currencies with them if they wanted to stop for a cup of cocoa or a meal. I only had to carry Swiss Francs, German Euros, and a bit of American money when we got back to the base. It was a wonderful way to celebrate my birthday.

POLITE, PROFESSIONAL, AND PREPARED TO KILL
As you know, we do not get commercials like you do in the states, but we do get lots of military messages. Of course, many of them have to do with what is going on in Iraq and surrounding areas. We recently were watching “Combat Camera”, yes, that is what it is really called, and they were showing what one group of soldiers were doing for the war effort. It all sounded so nice until I saw this young man standing next to a sign that said, “Polite, Professional, and Prepared to Kill.” This disturbed me. Can you imagine having to look at that every day and being expected to follow through if necessary? I continue to be thankful that Joe carries a saxophone and not rifle.

LAURA BUSH VISITS RAMSTEIN AIR FORCE BASE
Joe hasn’t been doing much touring lately other than to Italy. But he did get to play for Laura Bush’s 15 minute visit. Apparently she was headed for several other American bases and had just been at Landstuhl Army Hospital. There are many wounded soldiers there and she was making an obligatory visit. I know what she was doing was in good faith however her speech was so patented and almost patronizing that it didn’t seem to have much impact on the crowd. She also mispronounced the name of the hospital and that didn’t help to give credibility to her visit. And when I said her 15 minute visit, I mean that quite literally. She stepped off the plane, made her speech, took a few pictures, then got right back on the plane. I don’t envy her position at all.

SINGING IN THE SNOW
We had a fairly mild winter in terms of snow until March came. We had a couple of weeks where it would snow a few inches each day. It was beautiful as usual but I think nature was confused. Flowers had already begun to bud and the birds were singing…..singing in the snow!

DARTH VADER MEETS KERMIT THE FROG

Chicken pox, flu, scarlet fever,
With any luck
I’ll get neither!
It seems the flu bug has hit later than usual here in Germany. I think maybe it’s the same in the states. Well, it hit my friend and her family harder than most. She is my traveling buddy. She is the one I went to London, Strasbourg, and Mallorca with. Her husband is also in the band, but unfortunately, his group is traveling nonstop. In fact, in recent months he’s been away more than he’s been home. They have twin boys, 4 years old, and a 7 year old girl. She took one of the twins to the emergency room only to find out he had chicken pox. The next day she called and asked if I could come and watch the kids because she thought the other twin had the pox. I have had chicken pox so wasn’t worried about getting sick. When I arrived I found her with her daughter vomiting in the bathroom. She had a fever and we thought she had the good old- fashioned flu. I watched the kids while she took the other to the emergency room. Lo’ and behold, he did not have chicken pox but scarlet fever! I left my friend and prayed they would all get healthy soon. I called the next day just to check up on them and they weren’t home. She was at the emergency room once again with the 7 year old. She also had scarlet fever. Now I was worried. I woke up the next day with a sore throat, stuffy nose, etc. I had the school nurse check my throat and luckily I only had a bad cold. Of course, I shared this with Joe! We woke up one morning and I said, “Good morning, Darth,” because he had difficulty breathing with his stuffy nose and sounded like Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies. As I heard myself speaking, I realized that my voice was gone. I sounded like a frog. Hence, Darth Vader meets Kermit the Frog.


FROHE OSTERN
That’s Happy Easter in German. It seems the war effort takes precedence over everything, including Easter. The chaplains have been spread so thin that they have had difficulty meeting the needs of the American community here. As you know, many more people attend church on Easter than on a typical Sunday. The solution was to have a non-denominational service where we usually go to church. We weren’t opposed to this but it is different from what we are used to. Also, there was to be a sunrise service at 6:30 am. That isn’t all that bad, although 9:00 is much more attractive. But here’s the hitch, we set our clocks ahead on Saturday night, so in addition to having a super early service, we lost an hour of sleep. I hope your Easter was happy!