A lot of "firsts"!

Studies on expats say that expats go through several phases-Preparation, Honeymoon, Culture Shock, and Adaptation. Staying in the Honeymoon period as long as possible is a personal goal of ours! During this phase everything seems original, exciting, and new and each new store, or museum, or playground is a new discovery. We know it won't last forever, I'm already feeling like the once interesting trips to the grocery store are beginning to get a bit boring, but as long as we keep the "first" experiences going, hopefully we can prolong this period!

Some recent first...

Travis's first time trying fondue-it was a hit! Melted cheese, what's not to love..

 

 First for all of us-seeing a glacier! It literally looked like it was it was about to crash down on the village of Chamonix, France. However, no fear of that-the glacier has been there for years. In the 1800's the residents resorted to exorcism of the evil glacier in hopes of halting the wall of ice when the glacier expanded. It has since receded and has pretty much been the same for the past 50 years.

 
 Travis and Savannah enjoy their first train ride, to an indoor inflatable place, no less.

 The family's first trip to France! Naturally this also included the kids first taste of crepes!

 Savannah's first day of school-children her age go to a "garderie" which is essentially a nursery for young children. Like Travis it is English/French and she loves it!

 
Travis had his first Sports Day at school-this is like the Field Days we had as a kid. It was fun to see him compete in the events, and naturally everyone got a medal at the end. :)

 

 

 

 

 A first-a picture of Ryan and I together in our blog! With a parking lot behind us-nice!

 

 

 

That being said, there are other firsts that are important too but not photographed due to their boring nature or awkwardness- the first time I figured out how to pay bills,  the first  time to the "baths" which were fortunately not clothing optional but were extremely crowded and lukewarm... etc  but all in all things continue to go well as we settle in.

 

Yea! Here's to keeping the firsts going!

Adjusting to life in Switzerland

This Thursday will be 4 weeks since we landed in Switzerland and while much has happened during that time it has also passed very quickly. I(Kristin) have been staying surprisingly busy with all of the events happening at Travis's school, as well as shopping for furniture to fill our home as we left our furniture in Texas.  In addition we are both taking French lessons, Savannah has started at a nursery a couple mornings a week that she loves, and Travis continues to adjust to his new school and brings us home a new French word every day
Getting things done seems to take a long time-it's like writing with your opposite hand-it takes twice as as long and can be quite frustrating! I have been fortunate to have been assigned a buddy from Travis's school who has helped me navigate items like paying bills, understanding recycling, etc. In addition she and friends from Ryan's work have been welcoming and introduced us to their friends. The expat community here is large due to Nestle, General Mills, and Phillip Morris having headquarters in the area it is quite supportive-it really helps to meet others who are in the same boat! We continue to deal every day with acclimating to being a foreigner in another country but it gets better daily.

Ryan is doing well at his job and has started traveling around Europe-it is a big job managing people from many different countries. He has started up jogging again and is also happy to have his first real wine cellar-we have never had a basement before and it is a perfect set-up. We have many more bottles to buy! We have also discovered that Europeans take their kids to the wineries-how convenient!

 

 I have downsized from my minivan to Le Peugeot (very French!) and my parallel parking is already improving!

Everyone enjoyed our trip to Chateau Chillon in Montreux, a medieval castle.

 Switzerland is very proud of its trains, and there are many tourist trains with spectacular views. The kids got to play on antique trains at the train museum at the top of the ride.

 

Europe is having a very cold and rainy spring so we have yet to break out the shorts. Temperatures have been mostly high 50's! However it's worth it to walk in the rain to get some gelato!

 

When the rain clears the scenery is lovely!

 

 

 We really miss everyone at home!  Have a wonderful day!