March & early April Update… Spring has sprung!

The flowers are out in full bloom, the trees and shrubs are blossoming, the birds are singing, the leaves are budding and it is warm! The 0-5C degrees of Feb. are gone and now it is 10-15C and the sun makes it feel warmer still. Yaaay, we survived our first winter in 4 years!
With spring, there always seem to be ‘fresh starts’.

Ken has big news!
He is pursuing his Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) at Strathclyde University (Glasgow, Scotland). The program is structured so that he learns research skills as he develops smaller research projects over the first year to prepare him for writing his thesis in years 2 and 3… Thankfully, the supervising professors hold a few intensive weekend sessions in Zurich – which is 3 hours by train from here. Ken has already been to one weekend where he met the 4 other DBA students.
Ken will have to travel for three 1-week sessions in Scotland before the year is out as well. Neither of us has been to Scotland before, and I am really hoping I will get a chance to join Ken on one of these trips – if we can tag on a few days once his program is finished.
The doctorate program should take Ken 3 years to complete. That means… we will most likely stay in Switzerland until he is done. So… Plan to visit!
It also means that Ken’s career opportunities will improve as well, which possibly could include a teaching position at a Nova Scotia university.
This choice also means that there are new expenses for tuition, flights to Scotland and hotels / food for Scotland and Zurich. So the only travel we will be doing will be for Ken’s studies. No trips home to Canada for us this year, I’m sorry to say. On the up-side, that means we will be here when you visit!

My news is much milder.
Towards the end of Feb., I started a one-month intensive French course. I enjoy the learning. Unfortunately it was over all too soon! I enjoyed meeting my international classmates. We are all here from somewhere else in the world.

The apartment search has stalled, because we’re waiting for official documents to arrive regarding our ‘living Visa’ status. Once we have the permit, we will start visiting apts again. We do check on-line to see what is available, and as usual… not much!
As for my job search, I have been talking with my previous boss and things are looking good for me to start again in May, and continue for the rest of the year. Actually, right up to the end of Jan 2010.

We had a brief, but good visit with our friend Fabrice, who had a break from teaching in France. He spent several months teaching in China last year, and had lots of photos to share. We got out for a couple good walks too.
Ken and I also spent an afternoon up in the mountains nearby. A friend from his French class owns a hotel so we went to visit him. We spent much of the afternoon on the terrace enjoying the view. While it may be spring down by the lake, just half an hour ‘up’ there was still about 2 feet of snow on the rooftops. You could see that it was quickly receding though.

early April
On the first weekend we got out to enjoy a local jazz festival in Cully. Our friend Scott joined us, and we sat on the wall at the lake-front sipping wine and catching up. We watched the ducks and swans and listened to the jazz performance from the marquis tent behind us. After sunset, we wandered through the town and ducked into several places to watch some live performances.

This is wine country, and many people have their own wine cellars. Local people open their cellars - which usually stores their wine and other things. But during the festival, there are several cellars ‘open’ with live music, and people just buy their bottle of wine, get plastic cups and go from place to place. Beer is also sold everywhere. And food stalls are in one area. The locals are all there with their kids, greeting each other and hanging out. It is very much a family affair. Around 10 or so, you see the sleeping kids in strollers being taken home, and by midnight you can see that some of the teens have had too much to drink (wine and beer at 16 yrs old in Europe), but being Swiss, they don’t get too disorderly… just loud and stupid!

Besides that, April has been mostly quiet so far. We have been trying to get out for a walk in the evenings around sunset. The sky has been clear and sunny every day so far, and the other night we couldn’t resist joining Ken’s colleagues on the terrace to share a glass at sunset. We never cease to be amazed at how beautiful it is here. We still dream of getting an apt with a view of the lake and mountains… but so far it seems that we’d need a car to get “up to” these places that overlook the town, the lake and mountains… or we’d have to spend at least $1800 a month to get a view! We are not willing to do that… so we’re looking, waiting, hoping to find a gem. We will let you know if it happens!

I have been doing some spring cleaning, tossing out paper and stuff that’s been sitting around, re-arranging furniture and sorting through, then packing away all the winter clothes. I have a fresh wardrobe to choose from, and there isn’t a wool sweater in sight!

I am looking forward to May, because in the mornings I will continue to take French classes and I will be teaching in the afternoons for the same Hospitality College. In the evenings I will be searching for a new apt. and studying my French! Ken will be continuously studying, of course.