View near the top
James and I before having fondu on the mountain side
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Ski Week Continued
Just a couple more pictures of the amazing mountains we were hanging out on.
View near the top
James and I before having fondu on the mountain side
View near the top
James and I before having fondu on the mountain side
Ski Week - Jan 6th - Jan 12th
A gorgeous view from the mountain
Ah yes, another manditory TASIS travel week. As faculty we get to spend a week in Crans-Montana in the French speaking area of Switzerland, taking ski lessons and enjoying winter activities. We do have some work to do. We are required to be on duty for a shift of a day as well as to chaperone an activity or two. So for example I was on duty on Sunday -the day we arrived - and I had to take part in Snowfest for the 9th Grade. We had a huge snow ball fight outside at night and then walked to a restaurant for hot chocolates. Tough life. I hung around to do evening check in, did lights out and was out of there at 11pm. Then I was done for the rest of the week and could pretty much do as much or little with the kids as I wanted. Our ski passes were paid for so all we had to pay for was equipment rental which was discounted to CH100 for the week. I rented a locker as well to save myself shlepping all that gear up and down the hill. It's really tiring! I think the hardest part of skiing is getting your gear on and together.
We had great weather 3 days and not so great weather the other couple, but it was a good time. Tiring for sure, but lots of fun. Most of the faculty stay up in the center of town in one hotel (which we don't pay for either!).
Though James made the decision to skip the skiing, I couldn't pass up the chance to give it a try. Over the week I took advantage of a couple of the morning lessons. I was in the Never group and basically hung close on the bunny trails till the last day. Then I dared to venture onto a beginners trail down the mountain. I was fairly terrified but thanks to my good friend Charlene, I made it with no major injuries and only a handful of clumsy falls.
Charlene and Keith - two of our good friends here who we spent alot of time with
Amy, Joanna and I on skis - Amy was helping the two of us out a little!
We ate fondu on the mountain, went tubing at night and even had a chance to watch a movie in English at the local theater. One night a bus had been organized to take the teachers and some 12th graders to some thermal baths. My aching body was more than grateful for the soak. We also had a lovely faculty dinner one night and much socializing on the other days including crepes and hot chocolate.
Other fun bits were the faculty vs student ice hockey game. So many people who have hardly ever played or never played just got up on the ice and had a great time. I was happy to watch! I don't think anyone needs to see my lack of grace on ice.
The night tubing with the kids was also great fun. We tied many tubes together and headed down a fairly long track. Of course there had to be hot chocolate to follow!
James and I at the hockey game
Tubing - I was on the end of this crazy train of students!
Ah yes, another manditory TASIS travel week. As faculty we get to spend a week in Crans-Montana in the French speaking area of Switzerland, taking ski lessons and enjoying winter activities. We do have some work to do. We are required to be on duty for a shift of a day as well as to chaperone an activity or two. So for example I was on duty on Sunday -the day we arrived - and I had to take part in Snowfest for the 9th Grade. We had a huge snow ball fight outside at night and then walked to a restaurant for hot chocolates. Tough life. I hung around to do evening check in, did lights out and was out of there at 11pm. Then I was done for the rest of the week and could pretty much do as much or little with the kids as I wanted. Our ski passes were paid for so all we had to pay for was equipment rental which was discounted to CH100 for the week. I rented a locker as well to save myself shlepping all that gear up and down the hill. It's really tiring! I think the hardest part of skiing is getting your gear on and together.
We had great weather 3 days and not so great weather the other couple, but it was a good time. Tiring for sure, but lots of fun. Most of the faculty stay up in the center of town in one hotel (which we don't pay for either!).
Though James made the decision to skip the skiing, I couldn't pass up the chance to give it a try. Over the week I took advantage of a couple of the morning lessons. I was in the Never group and basically hung close on the bunny trails till the last day. Then I dared to venture onto a beginners trail down the mountain. I was fairly terrified but thanks to my good friend Charlene, I made it with no major injuries and only a handful of clumsy falls.
Charlene and Keith - two of our good friends here who we spent alot of time with
Amy, Joanna and I on skis - Amy was helping the two of us out a little!
We ate fondu on the mountain, went tubing at night and even had a chance to watch a movie in English at the local theater. One night a bus had been organized to take the teachers and some 12th graders to some thermal baths. My aching body was more than grateful for the soak. We also had a lovely faculty dinner one night and much socializing on the other days including crepes and hot chocolate.
Other fun bits were the faculty vs student ice hockey game. So many people who have hardly ever played or never played just got up on the ice and had a great time. I was happy to watch! I don't think anyone needs to see my lack of grace on ice.
The night tubing with the kids was also great fun. We tied many tubes together and headed down a fairly long track. Of course there had to be hot chocolate to follow!
James and I at the hockey game
Tubing - I was on the end of this crazy train of students!
Winter Comes to Lugano
We saw our first snow in Lugano right before we left for Ski week. I think what gets me most is the snow on the palm trees!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Crazy Christmas Break
London - New York - Boston. It sounds glamorous and oh so jet set, but as it turns out, it was quite exhausting!
First stop London for 3 days. We had a nice stay at Sonja and Theo's and I was very happy to spend a little time with Julie every day. Our first night she had us all over for dinner and cooked a spectacular multi course meal. After 3 months of TASIS food I was really done with bad food by the time we left, and that meal was the start of a good food vacation.
The weather was crap as it tends to be in England. We took a walk in Hyde Park only to find it getting dark at 3:30pm. It also felt freezing to us after our balmy Ticino weather. And of course there is the expense of everything in England - Outrageous! Still, when friends and family are around everything is that much better.
Dinner at Julie's place
On the 19th of Dec we arrived in New York after a pleasant flight over with BA. This is especially noteworthy when we compare it to the Alitalia flight back from Boston to Milan. Besides the terrible turbulence which perhaps wasn't their fault, there were no individual tv screens and then no movie on the main screen. We had no choice for dinner - they had run out of chicken and so fish was shoved apon us. Later for drinks we discovered two options - coke or water. Breakfast was no better. Didn't sleep a wink and arrived to find some other passenger had grabbed our hand luggage and left theirs. The airline didn't take their bag from us, and instead just incouraged us to find them before they disappeared... Great. Lucky for us we discovered an old guy with it about to go through to a transfering flight. That could have been a disaster.
But back to New York - it is all a bit of a daze as we tried to schedule in as many friends and family members as we could. Much revolved around meal times and our mission to eat at all our favourite spots was more or less accomplished. Oh the bliss of eating sushi again! And Cuban. And chicken wings. And ribs. And burgers. Wow the list goes on.
Also in New York I got my first mani pedi since July thanks to Karen and her packing procrastinating. We did get round to doing some packing and moving for her and Matt and we even had a chance to see the house they bought. Very cool. We also had a chance to catch up with Jamie and John and hear about the wedding and honeymoon. We had dinner with Felice catching her right before her own trip to Australia, and we saw an awesome performance of Alvin Ailey. We had dinner with a student's dad and girlfriend, shopped at Century 21, walked around Soho, and had Christmas Eve and day with James' family. All this and more in just 6 days.
Meeting up with John and Jamie
Christmas Eve with the Family
Karen and Matt in front of their new house
We thought Boston might be more relaxing, but it turned out only slightly so. James' parents drove us up which was very sweet of them and also gave them some extra time with James. With Sonja also there visiting, we spent the rest of the week bouncing back and forth between Shirin's and my mom's places which was quite disorienting. The first night we tried sleeping all three sisters in one bed, and lets just say that it didn't work out so well! Bugsy and Samba eventually started to recognize James and I again and then permitted us to pick them up, but at first they were very put out with all the new bodies in their home. It was good to see them all adjusted to their new home though. We spent time with Nana, and when my mom wasn't working, with her too. The rest was a mash of shopping, more shopping, social engagements, meeting Shirin's friends, and generally hanging out and eating. Again lots of good food - more on the homemade front with Shirin and her dinner parties. All in all, exhausting but great trip. We arrived back after the interesting flight described above, and made the mistake of taking a nap in the morning. Jet lag followed, and we spent the following few days trying to recover. We had just 2 and a half days before ski week which was not a whole lot of time to get our minds in school mode. We made it through though, and more on that to come!
Three in a bed...
First stop London for 3 days. We had a nice stay at Sonja and Theo's and I was very happy to spend a little time with Julie every day. Our first night she had us all over for dinner and cooked a spectacular multi course meal. After 3 months of TASIS food I was really done with bad food by the time we left, and that meal was the start of a good food vacation.
The weather was crap as it tends to be in England. We took a walk in Hyde Park only to find it getting dark at 3:30pm. It also felt freezing to us after our balmy Ticino weather. And of course there is the expense of everything in England - Outrageous! Still, when friends and family are around everything is that much better.
Dinner at Julie's place
On the 19th of Dec we arrived in New York after a pleasant flight over with BA. This is especially noteworthy when we compare it to the Alitalia flight back from Boston to Milan. Besides the terrible turbulence which perhaps wasn't their fault, there were no individual tv screens and then no movie on the main screen. We had no choice for dinner - they had run out of chicken and so fish was shoved apon us. Later for drinks we discovered two options - coke or water. Breakfast was no better. Didn't sleep a wink and arrived to find some other passenger had grabbed our hand luggage and left theirs. The airline didn't take their bag from us, and instead just incouraged us to find them before they disappeared... Great. Lucky for us we discovered an old guy with it about to go through to a transfering flight. That could have been a disaster.
But back to New York - it is all a bit of a daze as we tried to schedule in as many friends and family members as we could. Much revolved around meal times and our mission to eat at all our favourite spots was more or less accomplished. Oh the bliss of eating sushi again! And Cuban. And chicken wings. And ribs. And burgers. Wow the list goes on.
Also in New York I got my first mani pedi since July thanks to Karen and her packing procrastinating. We did get round to doing some packing and moving for her and Matt and we even had a chance to see the house they bought. Very cool. We also had a chance to catch up with Jamie and John and hear about the wedding and honeymoon. We had dinner with Felice catching her right before her own trip to Australia, and we saw an awesome performance of Alvin Ailey. We had dinner with a student's dad and girlfriend, shopped at Century 21, walked around Soho, and had Christmas Eve and day with James' family. All this and more in just 6 days.
Meeting up with John and Jamie
Christmas Eve with the Family
Karen and Matt in front of their new house
We thought Boston might be more relaxing, but it turned out only slightly so. James' parents drove us up which was very sweet of them and also gave them some extra time with James. With Sonja also there visiting, we spent the rest of the week bouncing back and forth between Shirin's and my mom's places which was quite disorienting. The first night we tried sleeping all three sisters in one bed, and lets just say that it didn't work out so well! Bugsy and Samba eventually started to recognize James and I again and then permitted us to pick them up, but at first they were very put out with all the new bodies in their home. It was good to see them all adjusted to their new home though. We spent time with Nana, and when my mom wasn't working, with her too. The rest was a mash of shopping, more shopping, social engagements, meeting Shirin's friends, and generally hanging out and eating. Again lots of good food - more on the homemade front with Shirin and her dinner parties. All in all, exhausting but great trip. We arrived back after the interesting flight described above, and made the mistake of taking a nap in the morning. Jet lag followed, and we spent the following few days trying to recover. We had just 2 and a half days before ski week which was not a whole lot of time to get our minds in school mode. We made it through though, and more on that to come!
Three in a bed...
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