Street Theater

We recently took in the Vevey Arts Festival, a juried performance art competition placing acts at various squares throughout town.

There was a cotton candy siting, so we went scouting for

Barbapapa! A French cartoon figure synonymous with cotton candy.

I know little of this family of globs but they're popular with the very young. Barbapapa is the pink dad (= cotton candy), followed by Barbamama the mom; each their own color and skill set.

Away from animation to the real. We were mesmerized by this Argentinian duo that performed for an hour. Several skits showcasing their acrobatic strength and flair for showmanship.

After 30 minutes of jawdropping feats, we were stunned

by the utter lack of artifice or effect,

simply drawing you into their human creativity and achievement.

It is possible to see this kind of legacy to the middle ages on the streets of Switzerland - the kind of art that surfaces in circus or Vaudeville - but I was brought up short as to my own need for gimmickry, technological pizazz. After 20 minutes of my own internal fidgeting the magic of this duo made its impact,

leaving me deeply moved at seeing how hard these individuals worked at their craft.

Being more accustomed to the way movies transport to distant times & places - helping (requiring us) to forget our existence - these theatrical performances rather reinscribe a common world between performer and audience.

Net result: Theater becomes a shared bond, less about fantasy, more about the magic of work; opening up the space you already inhabit - different than Narnia being accessed via a wardrobe you pass through. This is a dimension that liturgical practices are trying to bring into worship, as well these days; not just about - neither against, however - thinking or believing, but doing.

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In a footnote to the legendary 1936 essay, "The Work of Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction," Walter Benjamin notes that stage actors - because they are real - lack the prodigious promotional industry that Hollywood studios invest in movie actors. Movie actors require publicity & rumor mills - we'll make you a star! It is the role of advertising to humanize what are, essentially, inanimate industrial products; making them heroic, as well as culturally palpable to the consumer - negotiate meaning.

Since our emotional and mental lives are increasingly dominated by media and imagemaking, it is tough to experience the 'magic of work,' either in everyday life or in worship. That space has been removed. Screen projections - up high at front or the IPAD in your lap - a symptom of the malady, not cure.

Ecole Montriond

Reminding drivers: school in session again!

This is Montriond, where Michael and Jack began school today - typical turn-of-century school building, where kids play in the yard; very nice park across the street. It's a 13 minute residential walk with morning/afternoon sessions & a 2 hour lunch, which kids come home for.

Madame Massy had the children swing by Jack's desk and shake his hand! This kind of sociality is learned early, as each child greets the teacher and enters the shared public space with respect. They will share such spaces all their lives, in contrast to Americans who move privately in public spaces - the way we do with cars on streets. This enacts a level of accountability and personal stake we generally only experience in churches, if at that.

Madame Massy

Madame Reischer (below) with intern (right) and Michael at one of the yellow desktops. The fellow looking at me is Pierre, who really loved playing with Jack 3 years ago (he still wears big glasses). Desks are in sets of 4,

where Jack's are in pairs

The boys were excited to begin school, getting their supplies ready; pencil case, notebooks, backpack, classroom slippers - a bit like AWANA; ie a world that is theirs.

That's Jack (left) negotiating the playground. He never attended Montriond, so doesn't have playmates welcoming him back. On the other hand, he told me, "A girl likes me. Gave me candy." I saw him take this candy (SUGUS: popular Swiss, Starburst-like)and dangle it in front of children, trying to win affection, I think. Michael, on the other hand, has joined a band of boys, playing all through the forest after school let out today.

Of the two, Jack will have the easier transition - just rolls with things - while Michael has hurdles to climb; some are just there, others are his own making. From day 1 in China, Michael used his winning personality to get him places, but the early weeks here will be hard - he was shell-shocked in class today - sacrificing his social aptitude; a trade he's never made in his life.

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Swiss schools are largely fun at this age; tracking begins in earnest 5th grade, determining academic & vocational lines where 20% go on to university. As in Japan, elementary is less academic (ie less abstract); the emphasis is on learning to focus, follow instructions, hand-eye coordination, drawing - exploring a tactile world as a foundation for intellectual training.

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For now, we decided to let the boys be outgoing Americans when out in public, although Michael takes this up a notch when singing at the top of his lungs; this is definitively un-Swiss, but maybe a little give-and-take is OK? 70% live in apartments, so they learn to be contained, resembling behavior we associate with kids from hands-on parenting. These kids are sweet, lacking the who-gives-a-rip vibe you sometimes see in American youth culture empowered by media.

It dawned on me the other day that superior dining behavior is probably due to the fact that these kids eat twice as many meals at home; not just scarfing, but trained how to be at a table. A way of doing things - ritual, if you will - tied to eating, talking, entering buildings, studying, until second-nature. Not outside the box; this approach to values, precisely, the box. How to own it.

Cafe de la Poste

Just past Lausanne extending 'til Vevey is a scene of astounding beauty; steeply terraced vineyards with tiny villages perched on hills dotting the trails and roads that crisscross them. Epesses, St Saphorin, and the village of Chexbres, the spot where Cafe de la Poste services the tables overlooking the dramatic backdrop of French and Swiss Alps rising up from Lake Geneva.Each village has its wine by same name and you can order by the deciliter.We had just spent the day at All Saints, staying for the BBQ - a small humble affair by American animal protein standards, but very delicious and enjoyable. The rector, Clive Atkinson, Protestant Irish is preaching out of the Psalms (pronounced "Sams") of Ascent, dovetailing nicely with GRC in Camarillo.

We connected with a L'Abri worker, Richard Bradford and another American expat, Amy, with a private business helping corporate clients with leadership; apparently, companies recognize that the "predator" model of manager - gets things done and everyone hates him - is costly by human standards. "Crazy boss" and other choice vernacular comes to mind.

We ended the day early to get the boys - and us - on fall school schedule which begins tomorrow! The boys are in the schools we wished for, so we are all excited and nervous to see how this will all go.

Pata Negra

Summertime is not only sausage-grilling season here, but seems to focus upon cured meats, as well, perhaps because of the picnic menu. At anyrate, Michael and I discovered Pata Negra
a cured ham made of the black pigs of Spain who feast on special diet of chestnuts and grass.
We were attracted to this man's slicing directly off a cured leg:

We're talking hoof

It had a beefy texture with belts of fat running through it. We regret never having been to Spain, despite the fact that our deepest friendships here have been with Spanish folk who form a second-class citizen status here, dominating the service wing of Switzerland's hospitality industry.

***

Sometimes diverse groups inhabit a common world via a shared marginal status: foreigners, Christians, economic underdog. Etrangers is often translated "outsider" or "stranger" as in Camus' famous story, a staple of French studies. It can mean alien or gaijin (Japanese) or gentile, in English Bible translations of non-Israel. In its most brutal 20th century, nationalist form - where people, land, culture coincided - these labels also marked the non-human, the contaminated, ie Jews.

Sometimes premodern worlds marked the non-human by class or work station, as the buraku, a non-ethnic "people" in the Japanese Edo period (1600-1870) whose labor involved the shedding of blood (leatherwork, butchery), a religious taboo.

We live in a time which celebrates difference - in contrast to equality defined as sameness in early modernity, as in Marx. Not too long ago it seems, minorities were "invisible" - now they're everywhere. Colonialism complicates these shifts and Camus was, like Jacques Derrida, French Algerian.

***

Some of these tensions are tapped here by the Swiss People's Party (SVP); quite vocal & the largest party, the SVP houses Euroskeptics and anti-immigration sentiment. These signs are everywhere:

"Stop Massive Immigration"

- a petition seeking 100K signatures to put anti-immigration measures on the next referendum. While some of the ads are poisonous, many people are sympathetic to a loss in Swiss identity; most immigrants being Muslim.

Although the country has an exceptional number of foreigners - almost 20% of the total population - they draw attention (touch a nerve?) to the secular nature of Swiss society, representing a threat to a culture that modern Swiss (and Europeans) have abandoned - or been abandoned by. Modernity marginalizes everyone in different ways; the secular have the political high ground but a hollowed tradition; the religious a cultural legacy without form.

We are from a 1st world nation in a privileged role here, in our betwixt position. Europeans, especially Swiss, still think more tribally, wanting to know, for example, upon meeting me, where I'm from; never quite satisfied with the "from America" response. In this context, I'm reminded how crucial Asia was/is in shaping European identity, its historical Other.

On the other hand, in the States, I'm taken aback when some do not "see" me at all; accepted & equal, but effaced of any cultural marker; one of us. Whatever than means.

Ecole de Voile

Sailing School

We'd been eyeing this sailing school in La Tour de Peilz since Michael was 3, admiring family friend Isaac's Wed afterschool lessons (Wed: 1/2 day school - mountain kids go skiing in winter!).
Sailing's been on our minds, since being with the Bonds on Whidbey Island, raising all things nautical, like kayaking, up a notch. (Jack on the left in the last boat).

The La Tour school differs from most in teaching the work of sailing: pulling out the boat, assembling the sail, docking.

They learned to right a capsized boat, perform rescues.Even Jack joined the 5-7 yr old course.

Sailing &, especially skiing - given the natural resources - are generally "normal" here, not falling into the haves vs have nots camps. Families also budget more for vacations - a frequent criticism of our, perhaps, more European-style president - taking advantage of their mandatory holiday time; by contrast, American work conditions seen as generally harsh. We'll never be Europe, but I'm keenly aware of the diminishing standard of living for the American middle class, real wages having stagnated since the 1970s.

My diatribe (after 2 years of reading): part of the credit crisis owes to Americans trying to recoup via credit and sending out an additional wage-earner what their parents had outright; mistakenly thinking owning more and better quality goods compensated for lack of time to even enjoy them; see Juliet Schor's The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure.

My own family's working roots have spoiled me against golf & tennis, ie leisure sports, even though I'd probably enjoy the former; it always seemed to be about real estate.

Anyway, I'm a tenured academic with the last company job in the country whose unemployed summer status is coming to an end. Everyone appears to be thriving, Carolyn using her French in town, kids in school next week, & Wed afternoon sailing lessons running through fall. We have a schedule.

Update

We're in school limbo in the canton (state) of Vaud; term begins today, but we meet with more Swiss school officials Tuesday to assess Michael & Jack; placement thereafter. Not worried about the French, the officials want to see how the boys function in their native language, so we're playing hookie from the start.

The Swiss system, like the US, is fiercely governed locally; not one national model - an oddity separating both nations from other nation-states. Indeed, the US was an early inspiration for CH's regional, autonomous approach, thus explaining its anomaly status within Europe - non-EU, non-Euro. Health insurance required, not nationalized.

***

Money is, of course, a topic of major concern

The 1000 CHF note is a pretty purple and BIG; the denominations increase in size and value, as do their coins, with the exception of the .5o centime piece: small but mighty. The notes sport key literary, historical figures and now have fancy electronic imaging to prevent counterfeiting. In contrast to Euro notes:

which have generic images - types - of European architectural styles, since individual nations couldn't agree on whose national icons should emblaze which bill.

This trip suffers from a currency war in which the US is a key player; heavily indebted, having borrowed billions abroad (and domestically), to underwrite spending, we are paying back $s by lowering their value. If I owe you $1,000, I can pay back less by making it worth $800; something domestic vendors from Breyer's to Biolage have engaged in, shrinking containers, portions, and quality to offset costs. The last time we were faced with this, birthed the "fun-size" candy bar back in the 1970s.

Many nations made money off the USA's arrangement - we buy, they build - so guilt is everywhere. High CHF or Yen doesn't help the Swiss or Japanese export or tourism industry either, although it empowers them to travel, spend abroad. Older German investors, facing demographic demise, chose to invest in American subprime real estate, as well, for retirement income - no kids to support them - but lets just say that Americans abroad are caught in-between:

4 years ago, for $1, you got CHF (SwissFranc):

Today:

It's a sobering reality hard to accept, I think, to consider the decline of your own country. Christians have understood downward trends as cultural decadence for awhile, but usually not economic demise. Our own myths of inventiveness, drive, untapped creative energy, etc. keep the national ego strong - can't happen here - especially with elections looming.

Given that Christian theology is so rich in articulating debt, slavery, payment, etc, you'd think the Church would have more of a voice in these times. I am amazed that the first performance of Handel's Messiah was a fundraiser to liberate debtors.

I also wonder about the utopic promise of technology, geared more for personal distraction, turning to Charles Hugh Smith:

"'Innovation' stays safely corralled in the realm of toys, gadgets and social media. Real innovations in education, governance, the legal system, etc. that threaten the status quo fiefdoms and Power Elites are smothered at birth."

Serious thoughts for serious times.

***
I leave you with some Swiss pics:

The Swiss version of water cooler can be hyper-elegant; choice of mineral, sparkling, non-sparkling, etc.

Swiss are the world's biggest per capita consumer of chocolate, so are always innovating their taste:

How about a chocolate chip chip?

Back to Migros, the main supermarket chain

Need to keep a 2 CHF piece handy for those carts - the coin releases the cart, and is refunded upon return.Jack heads straight for the bread!

I the mushrooms - these chantrelles were boxed in lovely wooden crates.

Stop for coffee break. Pain au chocolat for Jack,who runs to the window each time a train passes, counting each car; joyfully exclaiming when a double-decker pulls in.

Spectacular sunsets off our living room.

The Move

Next time: 24 footer needed.

This move was surprisingly hard; then I realized: we're out of practice! We had lived in one place not for one, but over 3 years! Our neighbors threw us a party the day before leaving, echoing gatherings of our "new" and old church groups. With Beacon Hill & GRC, we felt more attached than ever; resettling in CH* - at least for me - feels different this time. Not singing "I Left My Heart in Camarillo" yet though.

The two out-of-country spots we know best - Japan & CH - resemble each other in striking ways, most painfully now in terms of currency exchange, as the world's investors look to the Swiss Franc and Yen for safety, given the dollar collapse.
Really pricey now: $1 = .75 centimes. OUCH! CH is 20% higher living costs than Europe anyway, and a Big Mac in Zurich priced in at over $17.00 last week.

We are under the Pepperdine safety net for half of the main meals - huddling close like US soldiers in Japan, staying on base where their dollars hold sway - but make our way out to explore.
These terraced vineyards along the lake take my breathe away every time; deemd a UNESCO World Heritage Site 4 years ago. Hiking trails run parallel and shortcut paths cut across to other levels.
Refilling water bottles is a fun sport; village fountains supplied by tasty mountain run-off.

Michael & Jack experience much nostalgia as they reacquaint with familiar see-saws, climbing trees, All Saints Church. Since we moved often and travel besides, they probably make mental adjustments more than most: ie this slide looks smaller, this railing shorter. At some point last year to his and my sadness, Michael became too heavy to ride on my shoulders. The boys have their lives ahead of them, but even at 8 & 6, sense time passing. Nothing registers life's melancholy quite like the steady aging of children.

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New things. We visited the wonderful Food Museum (Alimentarium) in Vevey, sponsored by Nestles, the world's largest food company. History and geography of cuisine and a killer kitchen of a carefully prepared, set menu (4 course meal), this place was fascinating.

Nutrition research, 200 year old dissertations. The museum is in the old Nestle mansion (the company owns Vevey) on the lake front.

A fitness/calorie burning center complete with a somewhat more complex nutrition pyramid; Jack mostly favoring the middle carb/fat levels! Swiss are really health conscious now - nutrition labels, city initiatives to walk more, health clubs - though a far cry from USA's multi-billion dollar diet & obesity business.

Outdoor gardens supply the museum restaurant and Michael found his favorite - pumpkins - hanging on an arbor!

Although the quality of restaurant meals is uniformly good, the exchange rate, twenty years of the USA's food revolution, and our credit-based, eat-out-all-the-time lifestyle means you can generally find better cheap to middle-fare meals in the States. Swiss noontime assiettes (plate-of-the-day) seem to run $23; stand vendor panini, $12 market sandwiches off a shelf, $7. More than once, I've thought, staring at my plate: "I paid $30 for this?"

Then again, hard to compare since lunches are seated, multi-course affairs; like having nice business lunches everyday. But when I'm back home looking for a lunch, generally don't pull into a Cheesecake Factory?

The museum's final room featured the place of food in religion, devoting key attention to the Church's feast days...

and the last supper, reminding me of Christopher Page's history highlighting the church keenly known as a feasting & singing community, borne out in Pastor David's series on the Psalms, where even creation praises the Maker:

Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together.
(Psalm 96:12)

Close-up of the beautiful vestment piece.
***

The lake sparkles in the summer light, crisscrossed by Alpine ridges - a glass-like stage with dramatic backdrop.

We rented a paddleboat (with slide) of our own, as one of the great turn-of-the-century steampowered paddleboats whizzed by.

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BTW, this has been the summer of lost teeth for Jack!

Apparently, the Swiss tooth fairy settles at 5 francs.

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Another morning we explored Chateau Chillon, one of the most beautiful, smaller castles of Europe.

Castles are complete with dungeons and points of fascination, such as the lord's toilet! A real step-up apparently.
I was struck by the mosaic patterns in the castle chapel and receiving rooms, compared to the rest of the interior. Certainly cathedrals held a beauty that was a gift to the community - an aesthetic that was social, not private. God & man co-mingled in the most beautiful spaces in town, whereas modern home-dwellers create private bastions of beauty. Imagine if the most exquisite aesthetic experience of the week, including awe-inspiring music, was a church. This social weight underscored by geographic proximity - churches anchored a town - has been poorly supplanted by the modern museum which, however vital, essentially curates, ie has overseen only one purview of a church: attending the past, a mausoleum of culture.

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We made it to Vevey' outdoor market last Saturday, thoroughly enjoying the stalls; M & J are more independent - no stroller! no diapers! - enjoying the goods, while missing kettle korn.While we enjoyed the bottomless wine sampling! You buy a glass, then drink away.

There were new vendors, such as this block print outfit doing letter prints entirely by hand! Stunning.One section had sellers decked out in folk costume

Believers were out there, too: "He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever" at the top. I admired them, as well as knowing that this form of witness was absolutely odd in Europe, even more so than in the States. But they're dedicated.

***

Picked-up our disposable grill, lakeside ritual, with Michael doing most of the grilling. Veal (wrapped in bacon), pork, North African merguez (lamb) sausages - very delicious.

Discovered Lausanne's outdoor pool and diving boards. Our thrillseeker did backflips off the 5 meter.

After church swim in the park fountain, with Michael's old school in back. Carolyn met with school officials, but need another to have M & J assessed before placement; we are hoping for the same school with same friends.

Thank you for reading this long entry!

*Confoederatio Helvetica (ancient Latin name of Switzerland), thus abbreviation CH.