Paragliding in the Swiss Alps (Verbier)

Last weekend as we were skiing in Verbier, we came across a group of paragliders that were taking off from the ski slopes. What a beautiful, peaceful way to take in the scenic views - I definitely want to consider doing this at some point...

A Swiss winter wonderland

We have been busy winter bees over the past few weeks.  The weather has been really terrible in the city but that means LOTS of snow in the mountains. So lots of snow + Mama K and Andrew visiting = adventures up in the Alps. I can't even describe how beautiful the landscape is once you are up in the Alps, it takes your breath away. Its one thing to see the mountains in the distance everyday and its another thing to be on top of them!

The first weekend my mom and Andrew were here we spent the weekend exploring the mountains in the Lake Geneva area (i.e., sort of close to home). We started by taking a train up to the top of Rochers de Naye, a scenic mountain top area with a mountain top observatory, visits with Santa Claus, yurts that you can stay over night in, and a marmot habitation area (I know what you're thinking.. what a strange combinatin).

 Next, we ventured by train to the region of Gruyere (yup, the actual birth place of Gruyere cheese). The town of Gruyere itself is this adorable little medieval town in the middle of the mountains. It has only 200 residents and a cheese factory and education center.

Cheese cellar where the gruyere cheese stays to age

Then next we went to eat fondue at a traditional restaurant in town

And then stopped by a bar in town that was designed by HR Giger, the guy who created the "Alien" movies, this was definitely the strangest bar I have ever been in and very cool but out of its element in this quaint medieval town

Then after the cheese and fondue, we moved onto the Nestle chocolate factory for a tour of the factory and all you can eat chocolate tasting (do you notice a trend here.. this weekend was dubbed "fat weekend", but boy was it delicious!)

The chocolate tasting room at the factory

The wall of chocolate at the end of the tour

So after fat weekend 2 weeks ago, we jumped on the opportunity to burn off all of those calories with a ski trip to Verbier this latest past weekend. The skiing was like nothing we have ever experienced, feet and feet and feet of fluffy powder with amazing views and wide open trails.  We went with two of our friends and we were happy to have Andrew with us for our first Swiss alps skiing experience. We had so much fun that we're already starting to look into renting a ski chalet for the winter next year - which means you should start scheduling your ski trips now ;)

Yo!! (this is Ryan)

Sooo, this is way overdue...  I hope no one was holding their breath.  This blog is great and I love what Lauren has put together – I should have participated a bit sooner…buttt I have been contently following!!  She is doing an awesome job documenting this once-in-a-lifetime adventure --- all the entries, pictures, and captions are amazing and something we will def be able to look back at.

I don’t even really know where to start – I feel like I just woke up.   We took this huge process head on 10 months ago …but everything is awesome and def settling down a bit.  We have successfully moved ourselves 4000 miles, navigated the apartment (flat) market, transitioned into a new lifestyle/culture, and met lots of great people.  Its all been hectic and overwhelming, but very rewarding at the same time. 

Like I said before, Lauren has done a great job following us each step of the way, so I don’t want to retell all of her great stories or post any of the same pictures – so I will touch upon some of my favorite things! 

We love our apartment and Pumpkin is happy and fuzzy as ever.

Of course, this is Europe and we have a smaller than normal bath tub with a shower wand and no shower curtain.  Me in a small confined tub area with a high pressured hose that isn’t fixed to the wall doesn’t work that well...

Lauren and I have assembled more Ikea furniture than anyone should in a lifetime.  Slowly and painfully we got beaten up by tables, chairs, and fixtures – this lasted for a month until we finally caved and hired the Ikea assembly team to take care of the last few pieces.

Wine happens to be a personal favorite of ours.  What’s better than wine festivals!  These are not uncommon and we have already found ourselves at a few of them.  For some reason they always seem to be a great time…  If you know me well, you know I could never turn away a bottomeless wine glass with what seems to be an infinite amount of wine.

We met our friends in London to tour and watch the Pats crush the Rams at Wembley.  Eric took one for the team months ago, waking up at 5am one morning to score some of the best seats I have experienced.  London was a lot of fun and as a whole we thought it was a very cool city.  Although it is a huge city it reminded us a lot of Boston.  It seemed to have a similar layout and geography with things that we like to do…but the weather is exactly as advertised – dreary and cold.  Gronk Spike!

The difficult things about being away are family, friends, and Americanized holidays…such as Thanksgiving.  I love Thanksgiving.  BUT, the normal routine of getting up early to prepare dishes and drink mimosas and seasonal brew with whoever was around wasn’t in the cards this year. The solution…4 roasted chickens, a huge pan of Moms homemade stuffing, 5 Kg (11 lbs) of Moms potato casserole, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, gravy, cranberry sauce, and plenty of local wine.  Lauren and I even stayed up til 215am baking pumpkin and apple pies (and burning the top of my hand on the oven).  To join us for the feast was Lauren’s Mom and bro Andrew (our first visitors), Boston friends Sam and Eric, Lauren’s colleague and his girlfriend, and our new French friends.  No one went hungry and the general consensus was that we could do it again.

I could go on and on about interesting things we have done and experienced…you will just have to come and see for yourself (we have plenty of room).

 If you have followed this blog since the beginning, you have now probably read about the one real hesitation we faced when deciding to take on this assignment…the biggest question, “what will Ryan do if he goes?”  One would assume the answer would be that I would just find something to do, but it isn’t that easy.  The economy is not good; it’s expensive to sponsor foreigners to work; and you are constantly fighting an uphill battle against the foreign governments, agencies, and rules.  The deck was stacked against us.  All I could do was give it my best try, but now I feel like I won the lottery.

In the past few months, Lauren has eluded to the fact that I had a promising lead in an area that I was very interested in.  The only thing between me and the desk were the legal permits and visas.  Through patience, hard work, and a whole lot of luck - I am officially employed!

Everything worked out and it is my dream job.  I have settled in well and things are starting to seem less foreign and more normal…it is a good feeling.  I told myself through this whole process that I had to be cautiously optimistic and had to temper my excitement until I was at a desk AND I have received a paycheck because you have to expect the unexpected.  Within the past month, I checked off the second part of that statement and got my first paycheck…in Swiss Francs!  Now it’s real!

So now the cat (not pumpkin) is out of the bag and I have fulfilled my first posting duty that Lauren signed me up for – I promise it will not be another 47 days until my next post - stay tuned and talk soon.