Christmas, New Year's, & January

Christmas
Well, Ken’s sister and Dad arrived and we (even me with a bad toe) did as much as we could. We wandered through the Christmas market the first night, and experienced it again the next day. We tried the mulled wine, roasted chestnuts, and lots of samplings of the local decadent fare. Even home-made candies!
There was a visit to the local castle (Chateau de Chillon), with Ken, Karen and Art walking along the lake-side promenade, enjoying all the greenery and the ever-changing views along the lake. The backdrop of the Swiss Alps to the East, and France straight across the lake. They enjoyed their stroll, and I took the bus and met them there.
On Christmas day after our brunch, we took a train to the mountain peak above Montreux called ‘Rochers de Naye’. We wandered around for an hour, had a mulled wine, and came back down in time to baste the turkey and open some gifts before our big dinner. Ken expertly roasted the turkey and I did the veggies, etc. Next day we went off to Gruyere, to visit the “walled city” and the castle. There was a lot of ice near the big stone gate that several people warned us about. I was told in French, German and English that I should not go there on my crutches. I was sure I could manage to get beyond that dangerous area and get into the old city to enjoy the afternoon with everyone else. It was worth the caution, and we did have a great day with a pit-stop at the cheese factory while we waited for our train back.
The next day we spent in Montreux, Karen and Art bought me a bright green push scooter and I left the crutches behind. In the afternoon we went through the market again. In the evening, Art treated us all at a nice restaurant at the Montreux Palace, and the scooter made it very easy for me to keep pace with everyone.
We all accompanied Art to the airport the next day and then met up with two friends from our Sri Lanka days.

New Year's
Scott – (USA) has just relocated to Geneva and our friend Bene – (France) came to spend 5 days with us. She and I had fun together, and Ken and Karen spent their time skiing. See the photos of them at the Matterhorn! They had a perfect day there. Bene and Scott joined them on New Year’s Eve for a day in the mountains. I stayed at home and rested my legs, and prepped for our ‘festive feast for five’ later in the day. Bene did lots of prep too once they got back. She had brought about a ton of extravagant food items from France. We put on the music and sipped on wine and ate our way through the evening ‘til almost midnight. We went to join Ken’s colleagues at a bar near-by to ring in the New Year, see some fireworks in the rain, then returned home for more fun with our little party of five. We said good-bye to both Bene and Scott the next AM, spent some quality time with Karen, and then she and Ken had one more ski day at Gstaad before she headed home. It was a really wonderful holiday, great to spend some time with these valued people in our lives.

January
Then on the 5th, it was back to work for both of us. I had just one month more to get the foreign students ready to start their hospitality education in Feb. It was a really intense schedule and then suddenly it was over. I really enjoyed the teaching, and they liked me too. I received some very positive feedback from the students, and their marks show that they were interested and understood what I was teaching. The other teaching staff are all native English speakers from England, New Zealand, Irish/Canadian. They were a good bunch of women to work with. So now I will have work there again in Aug. that will go to the end of Jan. again. I do hope to find something for the in-between time though.
Ken’s Jan. had him finishing up all sorts of things too. He even had to spend his Saturday birthday helping out with graduation! His boss from Northwood University was here for the grad as well, AND… it just so happens that his birthday is also Jan.24th, so I made dinner for them once all the ceremonies were over. Ken said goodbye to one bunch of students and then the next bunch started. The majority of his work is managing the MBA Program, but he does teach one class to the BBA group. He has been busy with the visiting professors from the USA, and last week the university had a ‘Staff Ski Day’.

... next ?
Now Feb. is here and I am looking for three things: a job, an intensive French course, and a new apt. to move into in the next few months.
This is going to be an exciting month for us, with weekend trips to Paris, and then Germany. I will write about it later.