Upcoming Fasnacht

The jesters are coming! This week was the unofficial start to the Fasnacht, or Carnival, season. Yes, another festival in Basel, and more new bakery goodies to try with the season. We tried the Fasnachts chüechli, which is like a very thin fried dough. It is circular in shape, and my theory is that it is meant to look like a mask, which is worn on Fasnacht. I've heard that it is disrespectful to call the costumes masks because of their deep traditions, but for now I've forgotten what the proper term is. The masks are meant to scare Old Man Winter away. I'm sure we'll be learning more as the main event approaches in March.

We are hearing about snow and more snow in the US, but we have no snow on the ground here and it's been 10-12 grad C (about 50F). I have been taking advantage of the weather and started running again in the last 2 weeks. Because the cheese and chocolate are taking their toll! And I have found more time to get out while the kids are at school.  The trails near our house have been a welcome discovery -- I feel that I will be able to find new trails daily for the next year! Some of the trails remind me of Erie Canal pathways. Having grown up in Central New York, it was neat to know that you could travel on foot or bike from Syracuse to Rochester. The Swiss trail system has the same premise, but the options are endless. You can get from any village to another via foot/bike/trail, and the signs indicating which directions you're heading in are fairly prevalent. This weekend, we also discovered geocaching here -- we are still novices, but I can see how we could quickly become addicted to "finding treasure"!

Finally, I've been meaning to write a note about the music that we hear here. For example, on the radio, there are quite a few stations that play US music. We hear Katy Perry, Train, and Michael Bublé. I can't explain, though, why I have heard "Footloose"  or "Maneater" more than a few times? (Maybe there is sudden popularity in the US as well?) And we hear "Over the Rainbow" as sung by the Hawaiian artist with the ukelele at least twice a week. (It was released in 1998.) We have discovered new artists like Plan B and James Blunt (from England) and Die Fantastischen Vier from Germany. I love the music that the kids hear at school -- they have a class called "Music and Movement", and it's primarily a way to get some energy out. Willem's class, in particular, learns some folk songs in German, which I think is great. But they also dance to Eye of the Tiger, Walking on Sunshine, and I Was Made for Lovin' You.  Great dancing songs!