Bern: The D.C. of Switzerland

I have a problem. 

I get sucked into Internet quicksand too easily, and see the hours dwindle away in The New York Times, the Olympics,A Adium, on Facebook, and Wiki-ing nonsense. Not to mention an unhealthy addiction to the Friends DVDs box sets. I guess what I am getting at is that I spend all day at work in front of a screen, and then come home to a screen. I use these things as a supplement, as a crutch, as a distraction. I need to scrounge my way out of this boggy sand. So. I will not be online, unless for work purposes, for the next week. And Friends, I am limiting to one episode a day, if any (yep, it was that bad). Will probably check my mail briefly. I need this.

Just came back from seeing Into the Wild at the Open Air cinema in Münsterplatz with my roommate Katie. After a rousing game of 20 questions (seriously, it was a lot of fun), and a free ice cream, we enjoying the most expensive movie I have ever been to... a whopping 19 CHF... but wow,what a moving film. Being on my own little journey right now, it has put a looking glass up onto my time here, and driven some questions into my heart that I just keep ignoring. One of the most moving parts was when Alexander Supertramp wrote between the lines in his book "Happiness only real when shared." Going into the wild to be free, only to become trapped. Rent it...very powerful.

Church on Sunday evening was sweet. The night before, I was unable to get to sleep until like 5am, so it was difficult to concentrate, but the service was awesome because we are beginning to study Nehemiah; I KNOW I have never read this book. It just sort of gets lost in the abyss of the Old Testament for me, so it is great to actually take a look at this book. We discussed society, and as Christians, how we sometimes tend to talk about society as a "them" rather than an "us." The pastor passes around a bunch of newspapers, and we read them for five minutes, and then prayed about how we could help, leave a life of comfort and looking in, and rather be involved in prayer and action. With the way I have been addicted to the news lately, I thought it was such an interesting way to open our eyes to the world in a different way. I was "reading" (in quotes because the papers were in German and I was going off cognants and online news from earlier in the week) about the Georgian-Russian-(American) conflict. It was a good thing, for as frustrated as I am with the political actions of America and the impact it has had on me here, I must associate myself with these relational problems, as do the Swiss. I cannot be a condemning outsider; we are all in the problem, and all capable of moving towards a solution. 

Sunday afternoon I took a short trip to Bern, the country's capital, which is about an hour away. It is a lot like Basel, in its small-town vibe. The arcaded walkways and quirky shops were fun to peruse, as well as the Zentrum Paul Klee, who was born here, did some work here, and later headed to Germany to work with the Blaue Reiter group and the Bauhaus. Check out this sweet thing I found in the gift shop.

There was an exhibition there about Klee's study of botanicals, but I really didn't get much out of it. This, though, was pretty cool, a theater group doing a performance ontop of the Renzo Piano structure. It was cool until it started raining.

I just thought this was picturesque.

Because the bear was the first animal hunted in the area, it became the city's "mascot" and is on the canton flag. They even have live bears as "pets" in the city.

I have never seen a river quite as blue as the one in Bern... with a lot of green in it. Saw the giant glockenspiel, where the people come out at the strike of each hour. And I saw the "White House" of the city, where the seven person board functions as their President. It is difficult to see this "board" at the same level as Bush. It just seems so small here, like it could possibly be a state government, but not over a whole country! The board members apparently catch the tram to work, and have no bodyguards whatsoever. 

Here's another picture I loved from the journey:

Well, I guess this is c-ya until next week. Take care. Love Linds.