I spent most of the first half of April preparing for, thinking about, and traveling to Spain. At work I was mostly focusing on preparing for a workshop we are offering in May to practitioners in the water and sanitation sectors. We initially thought that we would have about 20 participants, but now we have almost 50 signed up and had to ask for new rooms!
It hasn't all been vacation and work! In Zürich, the third Monday in March is Sechseläuten. This was very confusing to me when I first heard co-worker talking about it because it is pronounced "sexy-loy-ten" and "loy-ten" sounds a bit like Leute, which means people. So it sounded to me like they were asking, "Are you going to look at the sexy people after work today?" ( It really means something about ringing the bells at six.) Also called "Böögg" (no idea how to pronounce that- I live in Höngg, which sounds kind of like "h -the u sound from murder- rnk", if that helps), this holiday involves a half day off from work and burning a snowman figure (the Böögg) on top of a huge bonfire. The amount time it takes from when the fire is lit until the head of the Böögg explodes, is supposed to somehow predict the duration (and perhaps quality) of the summer. So it is kind of like groundhog day, except with fireworks, costumes and class tension. Did I mention that the snowman is full of fireworks? Or that before the fire, there is parade of the guilds with men dressed in traditional garb? Or that the whole thing happens on what is essentially the Zürich town square, but is fenced off and (from my understanding) you have to invited to attend?
I took some shaky photos and videos of the event with my phone and google stitched them together and added music and a title, without me even asking. So, I present Sechseläuten from outside the fence (and behind some umbrellas) (there are actually a few decent shots in there, you can see the whole base of the first for a few seconds + some explosions, but it is really just for the creepiness/coolness(?) factor of google doing this all on its own):
I really like the premise that tradespeople are celebrating the beginning of the time of year when there is still light out when they are done working and of course the bit about burning a snowman with accelerants and fireworks, but the exclusivity gets to me (especially when quite a few of the people wearing old-timey clothes were speaking English with American or British accents). Apparently, after a certain amount of time the common folk are allowed to roast sausages over the coals of the fire.
The women's team that I am playing with won Sky Bowl, a tournament in Winterthur, just outside of Zürich. This is the first of five tournaments we are attending to prepare for the World Championships this summer. We lost a pool play game to MICZ, our cross-town rivals and the team for which most of the women on Headless play, but we beat them on day two in the elite pool and because of how that pool shook out, we played FABulous, of Bern, in the finals.
We will meet many of the teams from this tournament during the Swiss Meisterschaft, which begins this weekend in France (the fields are literally just over the border). This eight team tournament (on the women's side) gets stretched out over two weekends!
It hasn't all been vacation and work! In Zürich, the third Monday in March is Sechseläuten. This was very confusing to me when I first heard co-worker talking about it because it is pronounced "sexy-loy-ten" and "loy-ten" sounds a bit like Leute, which means people. So it sounded to me like they were asking, "Are you going to look at the sexy people after work today?" ( It really means something about ringing the bells at six.) Also called "Böögg" (no idea how to pronounce that- I live in Höngg, which sounds kind of like "h -the u sound from murder- rnk", if that helps), this holiday involves a half day off from work and burning a snowman figure (the Böögg) on top of a huge bonfire. The amount time it takes from when the fire is lit until the head of the Böögg explodes, is supposed to somehow predict the duration (and perhaps quality) of the summer. So it is kind of like groundhog day, except with fireworks, costumes and class tension. Did I mention that the snowman is full of fireworks? Or that before the fire, there is parade of the guilds with men dressed in traditional garb? Or that the whole thing happens on what is essentially the Zürich town square, but is fenced off and (from my understanding) you have to invited to attend?
I took some shaky photos and videos of the event with my phone and google stitched them together and added music and a title, without me even asking. So, I present Sechseläuten from outside the fence (and behind some umbrellas) (there are actually a few decent shots in there, you can see the whole base of the first for a few seconds + some explosions, but it is really just for the creepiness/coolness(?) factor of google doing this all on its own):
The women's team that I am playing with won Sky Bowl, a tournament in Winterthur, just outside of Zürich. This is the first of five tournaments we are attending to prepare for the World Championships this summer. We lost a pool play game to MICZ, our cross-town rivals and the team for which most of the women on Headless play, but we beat them on day two in the elite pool and because of how that pool shook out, we played FABulous, of Bern, in the finals.
 |
| A teammate tasting gold! |
 |
| The chocolate trophy, mid-demolishment |
We will meet many of the teams from this tournament during the Swiss Meisterschaft, which begins this weekend in France (the fields are literally just over the border). This eight team tournament (on the women's side) gets stretched out over two weekends!
No comments:
Post a Comment