Evendays

Just got back from a 45 minute trip to Romainmôtier, an abbey in a monastic village at the base of the Jura mountains. It’s a little below freezing but as clear as can be. Alps are across the lake, though they seem much closer, while the Jura mountains ring our side of the water.
There was [...]

Switzerland voted yesterday not to allow the construction of any more minarets on its territory. Here are my observations:
The polls before the vote showed that only 37% of the voters were for the ban. Someone had to be lying, for 57.5% ended up voting yes.
The media had declared that the initiative would be [...]

Our 4th of July… Our National holiday is August first. On Saturday Switzerland celebrated 718 years of existence, commemorating the pledge made by the leaders of three cantons (Uri, Schwyz and Unterwald that they would, with God’s help, defend each other and, well, just get along a whole lot better.
The local retirement home invited me [...]

I got a call about a week ago from a retired Spaniard who does most of the preaching for a small assembly here in Lausanne. He had heard of the preaching I’d done for a friend in a church that he’s just started. Wife and I invited the Spaniard and his wife over for a [...]

We got to hang out in one of the most beautiful places in Switzerland a couple of weeks ago: Gruyère. Wife and I took a small assignment with a nearby consultant and worked with students graduating with a BA in the Hospitality Management. I did a short seminar on interviews and work styles, then interviewed [...]

Sorry, but European football may be a reoccurring motif in the weeks to come. The European Cup of Nations starts on Friday night. Teams have been arriving in Switzerland over the last couple of days. Some of the host cities to the teams are swamped with fans who have shown up to get a glimpse [...]

Great things will be happening in Switzerland starting June 7 at 6 PM when the Swiss National Football Team (soccer) kicks off the European Cup Championship. This event happens every 4 years. Austria and Switzerland are the double hosts this time, which allows their teams automatically qualify and obligates government authorities to spend gazillions on [...]

Check out this link about La Lutte Suisse… Swiss Wrestling. 200,000 people attended the weekend sporting event which is also called Lutte à la culotte (which means, and I am not making this up, wrestling in your underwear).
This is a national sport, believe it or not. And if you win the championship, they give you [...]

I can remember trying to hold my breath from one end of it to the other. Dad would do it too, and he was driving… Then always slow down at the end and I would have to gasp for breath… It was about the only tunnel we would ever go through, right there at the [...]

Most of you know that a company of Swiss soldiers did a big booboo last week and accidentally invaded one of our neighbors, Liechtenstein. This was quite an embarrassment to the Swiss Army, who had to apologize profusely to all eight people who actually live in Liechtenstein. I have not read about this incident in [...]