In uploading my Thanksgiving photos, I realized I had totally forgotten to post about a really fun activity we did two weeks ago. There was a countrywide story telling night. Each town could choose to participate or not, and what that participation would involve. There was a general theme, and people could write different stories based on that theme. Then on the designated night, they would take turns reading those stories out loud.
In our town, they chose the fourth grade class to write original stories based on the theme, Water. Nicholas had quite a bit of fun writing his story about Ned, the small little raindrop. On Friday evening, I went with him, Sarah and Sophie to the school, where we met his teacher, the town librarian and a few other parents and kids from his class. The teacher gave a recounting of some of the more famous myths and beliefs surrounding water and its sources. The kids had even made their own little water spring from rocks, moss and cleverly hidden plastic tubing. As he talked, they each took turns pouring water into the moss and watching it drain out through the tubing.
When that was over, we walked to one of the towns many fountains, where some of the children read their stories out loud to the crowd. Nicholas went first, and did a very nice job. Some of the other kids were a bit shy to read in front of all the adults present, so the librarian very kindly read the stories for them. She had also brought little floating candles to place in the fountain and lit them while we were listening to the stories. It was very pretty.
Then we walked to a little stream right in the middle of town, and more stories and poems were read. Again there were beautiful candles lit all around the little platform we were standing on. The girls were very attentive and really liked all the poetry. Then we walked over to the town library where one last story was read, but it wasn't really a story. She had taken all the titles of books in the library that had to do with water, made a list and read them like a poem. It was actually very pretty. There was also a quiz with prizes, where we learned that Aeugst has 20 private in ground swimming pools (!), and that each year we actually use less water than the year before even though the population is growing. They are always figuring out new ways of using less water than before.
Of course, there were also refreshments, although the librarian made sure they were all consumed out in the hall, not near the books. We stayed for quite a while, but it was a school night and the kids had to go to bed sometime. The girls were very excited to be allowed to stay up so late, 9:30 before they were in their pajamas and in bed. But it was a very nice cultural experience and I am glad we were all able to participate.
You seem to have so many fun community things going on over there.
We reall;y do. It's quite the fun little town. Plus, I make an effort to support as many of the functions as I can. It helps us to get to know people who live here and feel like part of the community. In Utah, we got to know our neighbors because they all went to our ward, but here, you have to seek out other ways of meeting people.