Today we were on to Democracy and Switzerland. (We had a bit of a hold over with not having learned about Kazakhstan till this morning, so it was a little chaotic in that sense today. But we're all caught up now, so that's good!)
Obviously, Democracy needs little explaining. We did talk about the difference between Direct Democracy, and Representative Democracy. Switzerland is the only country that still uses Direct Democracy, at least for the most part. In a Direct Democracy, you get to vote on basically everything. We live in a Representative Democracy (and/or Republic.... But, that's for tomorrow, which is the same but slightly different), where we vote on some things, but for the most part we vote for people to represent us and make the decisions for us.
Of course we couldn't do Democracy Day without voting on some key issues.
First, we voted for dinner, or at least a dish. The Swiss Potato Roesti was the winner.
Hayden got stuck with dishes duty, AND dog walking duty with Asa.
Our 10 minutes of cleaning will remain 10 minutes tonight, 10 minutes tomorrow.
The new Waterstraut catch phrase is 'At the end of the day' (See: Candy Bar Election videos)
And, proposition one passed. You now have to eat at least 50% of your dinner in volume to have your pick of snacks.
Switzerland is of course known for a few things: cheese, chocolate, watches, and of course, being neutral. (It seems like a fun place to visit, but buying anything is a little too expensive for me!)
Then there's of course the Alps and the Matterhorn.
And try explaining the Hadron Collider to kids. Somehow Hayden got the concept of how it recreates the conditions right after the Big Bang it a little better than Calib, who kept insisting it was a giant fan for warming things.
For dinner we had the Swiss Potato Roesti, Ratatouille, bread with garlic butter (thanks Publix bakery), and bananas, apples and blackberries.
Tonight's dinner earned SIX spoons up. We have Asa's friend from college, Allison visiting us this week, so we'll have an extra vote for the countries between now and then.
Which means the boys also have the chance to earn some more money for their jars.
Calib's postcard featured the 'Broken Chair', a sculpture that is supposed to symbolize peace, and a campaign against landmines.
Peyton highlighted the Alps with skiing and tobogganing.
And in the right hand corner of Hayden's he tried to draw the Hadron Collider.
Must have missed the picture of the table on Switzerland day.
But that's 45 of 193 complete
Next Up: Hungary!
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