Margaret in Zurich

We had a great visit today with our friend Margaret who was up in Zurich this beautiful weekend. We did our best to apply jet-lag therapy to her...this consisted of long walks along the lake and lots of conversation and catching up. It was tough saying goodbye....We sure feel homesick after having a bit of Colorado with us, if only for 1/2 a day!

By the way, check out the mad swan behind us, getting ready to pounce on Tigger! Fortunately we parted before the bird turned violent...

Our train ride home was nice...had a nice philosophical conversation with a college student from Geneva...Anyways we're now home and it's time to wind down!

Cheers, Dave

Hey , I got one of those!

I have been having parent conferences this week, which has been fun for various reasons. Today, I found out my new student from south Africa who has been with our class for three weeks is developing an American accent. She says "wawter" instead of "wahter."
It has been amusing to teach students from all over. They are four years old and hald speak English fluently. For the letter "N" Show nTell, a British boy brought in a picture of his Nana. One of my youngest French students, chimed in, "Hey I got one of those at my house."
Traveling to Geneva each day I have honed in on a specific routine, although I am starting to feel like a vampire. I get up at 5:30, leave the apartment 6:00. If I leave at 6:05 I run the two blocks to the bus stop. The bus picks me up and I take off my coat and cover my head, so I can doze the 15 minutes til I get to the train station. Once there, I walk all the way to one end of the platform so that when the train pulls in the cars will not have many people in them. Once aboard, I find a double open seat, lay my backpack down on the arm rest, take off my shoes and again I cover my head to divert any artifical light that may try to wake the part of my brain still asleep. 30 minutes later, I hear "Prochain arret , Geneve, " and then the German, "Nexte halte, Gump." After a specific jerk in the tracks, I come out from under the darkness and put my coat on , grab my backpack and walk back one train so that when it stops, I am close to the escalator. Usually, I run about 2-3 minutes, to catch the tram before it leaves, so I wont have to wait ten minutes. Within 15 minutes I am right in front of the International School of Geneve, It is now 7:30 am. And this is how I start my day!

Age 16 Drinking Limits?

Maybe they've got it right here....you get to drink for 2 years before you can get a drivers license...You can legally buy beer and wine at age 16 but must be 18 to drive...Sounds pretty good, maybe, but while many of you with 15-16 year olds are dealing with driving schools and fender benders in your second car, we're facing our own challenges...

Friday I went to a school social at a wine cellar in Lutry...It was a fun evening of sampling many many local wines, followed by a small dinner. In the conversation I learned of a co-ed sleepover party and parent's concerns over having their daughters attend. I had heard nothing of this and assumed Brenna was not invited..

When I got home though, Dedi mentioned that Brenna had asked to go to a sleep over Saturday night. "Will this be co-ed?" Brenna said "Yes, I mean it's being hosted by a boy's family! But don't worry, the parents will keep the boys separate from the girls at night"...Hmmm...Then Dedi asked, "Will there be alcohol?" I never would have thought of asking this...I mean Brenna is only 15 and there will be parents there!

but...come to think of some of her friends are 16...and things are different here...

Brenna answer "Sure, but not everyone will be drinking..."

So we agreed no sleep over but Brenna could go to the party...Turns out this was a wise choice...

Apparently the party was fun, with dancing and mostly girls hanging out with girls and boys with the boys, but the alcohol was flowing freely and apparently there were a few of the children worshiping the porcelain bowl.

When I arrived to pick up Brenna, I was greeted by a security fence surrounding a 4 car garaged mansion and two guard dogs...this is a big deal here...Not the dogs, just the size of the house... You don't see to many large homes here...I sounded the buzzer and I gingerly walked towards the house and front door. There I read the party guidelines "No hard liquor or Drugs Please"...
ok...

I rang the doorbell and entered...Met the mother who was dressed fashionably cool and puffing away at her Marlboros......"I think Brenna is downstairs..."

Loud music, 16 year olds everywhere...boys running up stairs with 3 bottles of beer in each hand...not a pretty site...

Found Brenna after some searching and was glad to have her safe and sound...I also met a few other parents coming to claim their daughters...kind of reminded me of when we'd drop our kids off at daycare and pick them up after work, but somehow a bit different...

Brenna seemed unfazed by the whole thing. Said it was a shame that some kids drank too much but that she had fun.

In a way this is a bit like the college social life I fondly remember and maybe it's good that kids get to experience this 'freedom' prior to heading off on their own..Also, better this is done in the open under parental supervision, however limited this may be.

Comments ?
...
Cheers, Dave

A Little Higher Please

It was raining and Brenna was waiting at the bus stop staying reasonably dry under her little umbrella. Suddenly she noticed an older gentleman crouched next to her and sharing her umbrella. She looked at him, he looked at her, and then he asked: "could you hold your umbrella a little higher?"
Pretty funny no?

Leysin Impromptu

Brenna was busy on the computer Friday night, working through the bus schedule to figure out how to get to her school by 7:30 am on Saturday morning..Her Volleyball team was heading to Leysin, Switzerland (about an hour away) for a 2 day tournament. "OK, got it, I will get up at 6:00 and catch the

6:20 bus! "So how are you going to wake up at 6:00?" I asked Brenna..."I'll find an alarm clock somewhere" she replied...Well I've taken on the role as the morning wakerupper so I said, "Don't worry, I'll set my alarm and wake you up. Well one thing led to another and after waking her up, I decided to walk with her to the bus...then I decided to ride with her on the bus...then upon finding that there was an extra seat to go to Leysin, I went ahead to the tournament...then after seeing how beautiful the town was, booked a hotel room to spend the night! It turned to be a great time. I watched several of Brenna's team's game. They started out well and finished poorly but Brenna made me proud! I also got a great hike in on Saturday...I have never though been so sore...I can barely stand up now, let alone walk, yet I felt great then... I also learned the difference between trails and trails with chains...the latter (which I picked) involves climbing up steep inclines with the aid of a chain anchored to the rocks....

Upon seeing this and knowing my terrible fear of heights, I called Dedi to let her know where I was, just in case... turned out to be unecessary, but better safe than sorry.