Final Night

After dinner everyone got ready to catch the train to Wengen to meet in a little English church for our evening session followed by curling and skating at an outdoor rink. As Sarah and I were in our room getting ready to leave, there was a popping sound as the lights went out and we heard uproarious laughter coming from the room next door. We went into the hall and Jenny stumbled out of her room surrounded by her roommates as they all laughed hysterically. It turns out that Jenny was straightening her hair and she blew a fuse when she unplugged the straightener. She flipped her head and said, "But at least my hair is straight!"

Sarah and I walked to the bus stop together (my knee was too painful to walk to the train station) and sang all the Psalty songs we could remember. Always fun to meet another Psalty fan! Sarah came to Switzerland on a getaway with her dad and at the beginning of the week I told him that if it was okay with him, I didn't want to know his real name, I just wanted to call him "Dad" because that's how I kept hearing Sarah refer to him. I told him I like to adopt family members since my family is so far away and he just smiled, pointed to a seat at the table and said, "Take a seat, daughter." At the end of the week I asked for his real name - it's Dave.

When we reached the train station we were met with two trains lined up side-by-side. We had to open the doors to the first train and walk straight through and across the centre platform to reach the Oak Hall group on the train to Wengen. Sarah pushed the button to open the door on the first train and I watched as a narrow step automatically unfolded up and out toward us. The step is supposed to make it easier to get into the train but Sarah didn't seem to notice the movement and as she stepped over the unfolding step, the bottom of her foot caught on the edge. As she stumbled I thought she would catch herself but she proceeded to stumble dramatically and crumble to the floor. The two of us burst out laughing and I opened the opposite door and turned to help her to her feet. We stumbled out of the train car, consumed by laughter. I looked up and laughed even harder as I realized half of our Oak Hall group were crammed into the facing train car ready for the trip to Wengen, their arms raised in mock congratulations as they laughed at Sarah's graceful maneuver.

After our evening session we walked to a nearby outdoor ice rink and most people either skated or curled. I'd like to try curling some day but due to my knee pain I couldn't participate so I just wandered around taking photos... it's one of my favourite things to do. Thankfully I was surrounded by photogenic friends so it was a good combination!

The reaction to Sarah's first attempt at curling.

Lots of first-time curlers sweeping desperately.

Rebekah.

Rebekah; the speaker's daughter and fellow homeschooler.

Liz; one of those people you always end up laughing with.

Rich; attempting skating for the first time and not wanting it captured in photos.

Henry; trying to ignore the camera lens aimed at him.

Hannah; the Oak Hall leader for the week. She hates photos of herself but reluctantly admitted that this one is okay.

After spending an hour in the cold, some people returned to Lauterbrunnen and some of us headed to pubs and cafes to warm up and visit. Sarah, Jenny, and I joined a group at a cozy pub with a fireplace but others started smoking so the three of us headed off to walk through Wengen to find another place to get hot chocolate. We finally found a cozy-looking hotel at the edge of town and had a great time visiting and warming up before the return to Lauterbrunnen on the 11:10 train.

The Swiss know how to make a good cup of hot chocolate.

Jenny amused by Sarah trying on Will's goggles on the train.

Me and Will - "Score!"

When we returned to the chalet we grabbed yet another cup of hot chocolate, played a few rounds of Uno, and resisted going to bed because we knew it was our last night in Lauterbrunnen. Most people headed off to bed but Sarah, Henry, and I stayed up and looked at the photos on each of our cameras, talked about who-knows-what, and finally decided to play around with the snow suits awarded to the best wipe-out each day. After dinner each night, people could nominate someone to win the best wipe-out award by telling a story about someone doing something gloriously stupid or hilarious on the slopes (or "pistes" as they call them over here). The winner would have to wear the purple or bright yellow snow suit the following day.

Sarah and Henry hopping around in the wipe-out award suits.

More snow suit antics.

Sarah and Henry traded suits and I wanted to shoot a "headless" photo by pulling the huge yellow suit up over Sarah's head. Henry grabbed a styrofoam head that had appeared in the dining hall at some point during the evening and we stuffed it into the face opening. The results had us doubled over with laughter as Sarah posed and the unseeing eyes stared out at us.

Sarah playing in the suit at 1:00 a.m.