La Chaux-de-Fonds

We had our first TRUE split city style week this week. The week prior, our cast was in split cities Weinfelden and Frauenfeld, but we only had to spend 1 day apart, and we were busy doing community impact projects or study abroad work, so it wasn't a big deal. This week, however, we felt the full blow of being apart from half our cast! Call me melodramatic, but it felt like those 3 days were really a month! When you're used to spending every day with 100+ people, not seeing them for a few days is torture! =P I was hosted in La Chaux-de-Fonds with Amilee, Giselle, and Anna. 

My bus date into town with the fabulous Georgie! =)

 Our host family this week was the Bonnet family. Dad Didier, mom Sandra, and three girls Laura (18), Elisa (16), and Marie (14). We also had the family pets Tequila, the Yorkie, Mozart, my kitty cat friend, and even Josephine, the teeny tiny turtle! They had a lovely house outside of La Chaux-de-Fonds, right near the border of Switzerland and France in a village of about 300. Our backyard view was stunning!

At host pick up with Didier, Sandra, and Laura. Our host code was "Coop" which is a very popular store in Europe. It's like 7/11s in the US, but even more of a grocery store.

Our backyard. Need I say more?

 

One of our biggest excitements of the week definitely revolved around transportation and driving! Our first morning driving into town, we casually asked our host sister, "So Laura, how long have you been driving?" She nonchalantly replied, "Oh, 2 weeks!" WHAT?!? Nothing like navigating winding, mountainous roads with a new driver, in a manual transmission car, in Europe...where they already drive crazy! =P We always got where we needed to be safe and sound, but trust me when I say we had some white-knuckle moments in the back seat. We also had many moments of hysterical laughter because we couldn't do anything else but go along for the ride and laugh the entire time!

Out for a drink one evening

Our week went by as usual, with community impact, show days, and even some regional learning! My community impact was working with Sanne and Oreo helping out in a kitchen of a children's after-school program that is run out of a family's house. Since the schools in Europe were all on holiday the week we were there, the program was open all day, so we helped prepare a lunch meal for around 50 people.

Regional learning involved a guided walking tour of the city followed by an afternoon exploring the world famous watch museum in town. I could have spent all afternoon in that museum if I was allowed-  it was so fascinating and all the clocks and watches were stunningly beautiful, ornate, and mind boggling! I learned a lot about La Chaux-de-Fonds that I wouldn't have known otherwise. One thing in particular is how important watch manufacturing is to the city. Many buildings have lots of windows up on the top floor and a different window pattern on the lower floors. This is because they utilized natural light when producing watches and wanted as many windows as possible. The importance of watch manufacturing also dictated the layout and organization of the city. When we arrived, I instantly got a different vibe than other European cities. I felt like I was back in the U.S. because the city is planned on a grid with wide, straight streets. They did so so that houses could be perfectly spaced to optimize the amount of sunlight that hit the windows each day. Amazing!

Exploring La Chaux-de-Fonds

Check out how cool some of the watches from the watch museum are! They had an amazing clock in the lobby that was composed of a bunch of small clocks. Just watch to see what happens every minute!

My favorite watch of the whole museum. Every little picture is hand painted, and this is a pocket watch, mind you! Amazing!

A stained-glass mosaic of the world. Above each time zone is the current time!

A crazy intricate clock that took the builder 30 years to make. It will tell you ANYTHING from the tides, to the holidays, to the date, time, solar calendar, etc. etc.