Raclette & Roshambo

This past week, we've been having such a good time. We visited Switzerland where we had some excellent food and for the first time, tried Raclette. Here's a description: hot plate on top where you cook veggies/meat. Underneath the hot plate are cheese holders. The cheese melts, the veggies/meat cook, and you place all of this goodness atop some cooked potatoes and dig in. I have full intentions of buying one of these super grills for future entertaining. Who will be coming to visit us?

Okay, now for the second topic of the post, Roshambo. You know, rock-paper-scissors. This game is well known by every single child or adult as far as I know. Well, until now, I was only able to confirm this existed in America. Now, living across the Atlantic in a little country (haha) called Germany for six months and now traveling down to the south in Switzerland (where they speak Swiss German... so kinda still German, right? Though, Swiss German is a whole different ballgame to speak and understand IMO), we have seen people from other cultures.

We were taking a gondola down from Mt. Titlis and shared a gondola with 4 children and their ski instructor. It was super quiet until these awesome kids realized that they needed to spice things up a bit. I was looking out the window but had to look back as I heard two children laughing hysterically while saying three words over-and-over. Those three words sounded a bit familiar to my ears... being somewhat trained in children's games, simple German vocabulary, and the fact that most people don't think saying three words over and over again is that entertaining.

What were these kids saying? You guessed it:

Schere-Stein-Papier. 

Much like our words, they are recognizable. Schere are scissors. Because, scissors sheer things, after all. Then, on to Stein. Unlike most people think (and we mistakenly thought during our first month pre-Oktoberfest in Germany though this is well known throughout the world as "stoneware" including those beer mugs), a Stein is not a beer mug. It actually translates in German as stone. And finally, Papier. It even looks like paper.

So, breaking this down further, the kids in Germany say, "scissors, stone, paper" in that order and with those terms.

I just love watching kids have fun, interact, and teach me things! After this, of course I wondered where on earth this game originated, why kids across the world find this so amusing, and how they interpret it for themselves.

Oh, and rule change, Swiss-style. Rather than the scissors being smashed by the rock, the scissors are squeezed into the top of the stone (picture it as your fingers being pushed into the top of your opponents fist if you were the scissors and your opponent, the stone).

In case you care, there are court cases, rules, and tournaments to read about here about this lovely and simple game...