Waldsee

Hopp Schwiiz!

Waldsee was honored to host the Swiss Ambassador to the United States Urs Ziswiler during the first week of July, 2008. Ambassador Ziswiler spent the day learning about Waldsee's German language program and participating in Village life. He began his day with a traditional Swiss breakfast of Birchermüesli and Croissant with villagers from Waldsee´s high school credit program.

After Frühstück he participated in Gesang with the two week villagers, where Ambassador Ziswiler even helped teach a song to the villagers. Following Gesang, three credit villagers (Christianne, Miriam, and Robert) led the ambassador on a tour of Waldsee, ending the tour at the Waldsee BioHaus, where he was met by Edwin Dehler-Seter (our Environmental Education Specialist) and Stephan Tanner (the architect of the Waldsee BioHaus) for a tour and a discussion about sustainable building practices in Switzerland.

Helvetia, one of Waldsee´s adventure programs, was the next stop on the ambassador´s itinerary. He met with the Helvetia group, where they included him in a couple of language-learning games based on Swiss geography and then asked the ambassador a variety of questions about daily life in Switzerland.

After a full morning of activities with the villagers, Ambassador Ziswiler sat down to lunch in the Waldsee Gasthof for a wonderful Mittagessen that included Züricher Geschnetzeltes mit Rösti, Lauchauflauf, Salat, Brot und Butter! After lunch it was off to visit the other language villages on Turtle River Lake with Patricia Thornton, the Director of Summer Programs at Concordia Language Villages.

The afternoon was full of time reserved for villagers to ask questions about Switzerland and the life of a diplomat. First, Ambassador Ziswiler met with high school credit villagers for a Q & A session at Waldsee and then headed over to Lac du Bois, where he was met by Charlotte, the French Dean, for a tour of the French Village and another round of Q & A with the Lac du Bois credit villagers. Upon returning to Waldsee, the ambassador was met by reporters for Waldsee Radio who recorded an interview with him that probed into hot topics such as Switzerland´s opposition to the death penalty, issues concerning human rights, and global warming. To view a PodCast of the interview, click here.

The ambassador´s day concluded with a Schweizer Straßenfest. The villagers from Lac du Bois came over as guests of Waldsee and together we celebrated the Basler Fassnacht festival with great Swiss food, including Fondue and Raclette, and took part in a variety of games around the Marktplatz.

The following morning, the ambassador returned for one last meal with Waldsee and even volunteered to go "in the box", meaning he hid in a giant box while villagers were allowed to ask ten yes or no questions in order to figure out who was hiding in the box. Botschafter, Botschafter, Botschafter - in einer Kiste!!!