july 10, 2010. biel.

On Friday night after the concert, Iwan and I went our own way. He went back home and I stayed in Biel with Sara. Iwan was still writing his thesis and the longer he was away from it, the more anxious he would grow. Of course, it was partly my fault for coming to visit at such a busy time but he did his best to balance school work and to hang out with me. I would say he was quite generous with his time.

Thus, after our Lake Biel bike ride on Saturday, Iwan decided to come back to Biel and spend the night at Sara's. We would both go wakeboarding with Hoschi the following day. Sara surprisingly told me that Iwan rarely comes to stay the night. In fact, when he has lots going on in his life, spending the night at people's house apparently stresses him out. Perhaps what she said was true or perhaps he actually missed writing about his transgenic wheat and woodlice, but it really didn't matter. All I could think of was how grateful I was that he was coming. It made me think that he valued the time I would be in Switzerland.

We slept outside in Sara's backyard with some cushions we found lying around her house. It wasn't going to be the most comfortable of nights but a little bit of excitement kicked in knowing that opportunities like this don't come often in Los Angeles. We talked for a bit and Iwan clonked out. It took a while for me to fall asleep. The next morning, I was woken up by Iwan and he suggested that we go back inside the house. So, like zombies, we walked in and I immediately crashed out on the couch until it was time for us to leave at around noon. Today was going to be my first time for two things: swimming in a lake and wakeboarding. I have actually never jumped into a lake and there was definitely some adrenaline rush. At certain times though, I thought about how deep the lake was and that there were living creatures that in my imagination could pull me down into the depths. Then I would freak out and climb myself out of the water until I forgot about those ridiculous thoughts. Definitely ridiculous. Wakeboarding on the other hand was frustrating and extremely difficult. I couldn't get up from the water and my arms began to weaken after being pulled twenty times or so and having the handles ripped out of my hands. What made it worse was that the two wakeboarding pros, Iwan and Hoschi, propped up as if it were in their nature to do so. I was terribly jealous. Next time I said to myself, next time.

Mid-afternoon, we picked up Sara and Domi and Captain Hoschi took us out on a gnarly boat ride. The sun began to disappear behind a blanket of clouds and rain shortly followed. We had barely made it to the docks when it started to pour. Eventually we scrambled to the car and then went to town for some burgers. The burger joint was definitely eclectic americana but so well decorated that it reminded me of home. Food was satisfying and I felt fully content how the day had gone. Domi, Sara, and I also had good conversations throughout the weekend and I began to feel comfortable and accepted. Don was happy.