Episode 9: January 2006
Happy New Year!
Our year began with a fabulous feast of Indian food cooked by Neal’s mum. We had Dad and Julie over to meet Neal’s parents and enjoyed a wonderful lunch together. Neal’s parents really made the most of their stay in Switzerland. Their stay here overlapped our first couple of days of work in 2006. While we headed off to work, they braved the winter weather and took advantage of Switzerland’s fabulous rail system to see some of the sights in Zurich, Luzern, and Mt Rigi. We bid farewell to them on January 5, and I think they really enjoyed having a chance to visit and see how we spend our days here.
January was the beginning of our winter adventures. For Christmas, Neal organized some events that would help us to enjoy the winter weather in Switzerland. Our first adventure took place on the first Saturday in January: snowboard lessons. We drove to a very popular mountain nearby (45 minutes away) called Flumserberg for our very first lesson. Both Neal and I are real beginners. We have no equipment - or talent, for that matter. Leading up to the lesson, we took care of one of those things. We drove to a small shop that rents out snowboards and boots for the season. Equipment…check.
Snowboarding was fantastic fun. After leaving the gray skies and miserable weather in Zurich, we were pleasantly greeted by sunshine and the most amazing panorama view of the mountains around Flumserberg. Our lesson lasted three hours, after which we stopped for lunch, and headed back to the beginners’ area (better known as Kiddy Bo Bo Land…no kidding!) to practice for the remainder of the afternoon. We left Flumersberg on a real high, knowing that we would be back a few more times to enjoy all that the Swiss Alps have to offer!
Our next winter adventure came on the following Saturday. We have a goal of getting ourselves in better shape for the spring and our upcoming wedding. To help with that, Neal found an English-speaking lady who has set up a Pilates studio very close to our apartment (10-minute walk). He scheduled a one-hour private lesson with her so that we could try it out. We really enjoyed the lesson…and realized that we need a bit of work to reach our goal! Not surprisingly, Pilates and snowboarding formed the majority of our adventures this month.
Other activities of the month included shopping for my wedding dress and Neal’s wedding suit. As it is superstitiously unlucky if the groom sees the bride’s wedding dress before the big day, I took along a friend of mine, Maria, to visit the wedding shops. Little did I know, wedding dress shopping is serious work! Apparently, one must have an appointment just to try on dresses, and when one finally chooses a dress, it takes another three months for the final dress to arrive and be tailored. (For those Aussies reading this, I did see many Muriels at the wedding dress shops…was quite funny.) Amazingly, I found my dress quite quickly. I just love the dress I chose, and I can’t wait to wear it in May!
Buying Neal’s wedding suit was also an adventure but not quite so extreme. The store from which I bought my dress has a sister-store selling men’s suits. As it turns out, this was the first (and last) place we visited. We dropped into the store on a Saturday and they were happy to help us then and there – no appointment necessary. After trying on a few suits, there was only one clear standout, which the fabulous salesman obviously saw as well. Before we knew it, the invoice was drawn up and the next appointment was made for Neal to have the final measurements taken. We did want to look around a little more, but in hindsight, I do not think we would have found as nice a suit at the same reasonable price. So both of our wedding outfits are done.
The remainder of our weekends was filled with more of the same: snowboarding at least one day and Pilates followed by lunch and shopping in Zurich the next. January is sale season in Europe, and the sales here are REAL sales, with everything between 40 and 70% off. So, it is very worthwhile to shop around and grab some of the bargains.
On one weekend we helped one of our friends, Ulrika, “warm” her new house. She bought an apartment in a suburb of Zurich and was kind enough to invite a group of us over for a home-cooked dinner and a chance to see her new place…complete with a fabulous view of the lake!
On another weekend we caught up with a friend from the U.S., Gina, who also works for Dow and who has known us since we first met in Michigan. Gina was in Europe on a work trip, and a mutual friend of ours, Lisa, was kind enough to invite us over for dinner so we could all catch up. We had a great evening with Gina, Lisa, and her husband Chris and children, Eric and Noah.
The last weekend in January we headed up to Dad and Julie’s on Friday night after work, with snowboards packed, to enjoy one of the slopes on their side of the country. On Saturday, we joined the Nestle Ski Club to visit a mountain in France near Chamonix. However, when we got there we discovered that the winds were too strong at the top of the mountain (over 100 km/hr). So, we all got back on the bus, and the driver took us back to Switzerland to a small ski slope called Nax. Nestle’s club puts together a great ski deal. They provide skiers and snowboarders with several private instructors for the entire day, and we took advantage of that opportunity. The one-on-one attention from the instructor really helped us improve that day. We really noticed our progress by the end of the day, and the highlight was when we learned to use the t-bar lift, which is a big step toward becoming indepenent snowboarders! It was a great day – and needless to say, rather exhausting – so much so that none of us were able to stay up past 10:30 pm that evening!
Work in 2006 started for both of us with a bang. Things were rather quiet in late-December, but everyone was back in full swing in January. Luckily, there was no travel for either of us. Outside of work, Neal kept up with his weekly squash and badminton games. We enjoyed catching up with friends, including our monthly all-you-can-eat sushi night. Mostly, we took some time to relax, as well as enjoy the sights in this beautiful country.
This month has taught us that we can, in fact, be active through the winter months, and there is no excuse for sitting on the couch watching movies while it is miserable outside. This is clearly the secret of how the Swiss keep fit! They do not quit – rain or shine. February will surely see us enjoying more of the outdoors!
