South Africa!

Our first week in SA was spent at Umhlanga - a beach town where my family spent our holidays growing up and where Chris and I went on Honeymoon. For winter, the weather was gorgoues! We spent our days going for runs, swimming in the sea, playing with all the nieces and nephews, eating lots of good food and resting! We re-visted some of our favourite places from our honeymoon like the Oyster Box for drinks and the most amazing aftternoon tea and Little Havanna for incredible steak.

Our second week was in JHB and it was so wonderful to have so much time with family - we loved being together. On the Sunday night, my mom, sisters and sisters-in-law organised a surprise early 30th birthday party for me which was amazing. We went to a Spanish restaurant and some of my closest friends were there - such a great surprise. Later in the week Chris and I went away for a night to a boutique hotel as an early 1 year anniversary celebration - we loved our time together and enjoyed all the hotel comforts - our jacuzzi, drinks in the lounge by the fire, room service for dinner, a great sleep and delicious breakfast. My mom had saved us some wedding cake in the freezer, so we enjoyed that during the week too.

We had also planned a early surprise 70th birthday celebration for my Dad, but I didn't know that the family were planning this as another surprise for me! It was a fantastic night - great company, delicious food, the family poem and fun on the dance floor - especially with all the little ones!

On the Saturday before leaving we cooked a Venezuelan lunch for everyone and enjoyed our last meal together. The goodbyes never get any easier, but we are so grateful for the time we can have together as a family.

Helsinki!

My good friend Tiina, who I met during my PhD,  is Finnish and we have always talked about taking a trip to Finland together and we finally made it happen during this past June.

We met at the airport on the Thursday evening and made some ourselves comfortable at a great Air BnB appartment. We went for a quiclk walk around Helsinki and then stopped for dinner and got some grocery supplies for the weekend. I learnt that Finnish people really enjoy all forms of dairy, especially yoghurt!

We started our Friday morning with a run along the sea and then had breakfast at home - I tried a Finnish rice pastry which was quite yummy. We then put our walking shoes on and commenced our tour of Helsinki visiting all the major sites. We stopped for a coffee and a typical cinnamon pastry before continuing our tour. We went to the National museum and had dinner at a Finnish restaurant.

Saturday morning started with a long walk to the olympic pool in Helsinki for a long swim followed by the most amazing all you can eat brunch with Moroccon style food - all veggie based and delicious. We spent a few hours there indulging and talking before having a rest at home. Then we did some more walking - all along the sea and found ourselves at a Nepalese restaurant for some curry for dinner.

Sunday started with another run and quick coffee stop by the sea in the sun before it was time for me to head home.

It was the most amazing weekend of quality time and converstation with Tiina, plenty of good food, exercise, and lots of walking - more than 40km over the weekend!

Catch up time!

My corner of the Internet has been a bit neglected! Time for an update. The last 6 months since my last post have been wonderful and jam packed! The best part of it all has been building and nurturing my marriage and enjoying every day with my husband - he is such a wonderful companion. 

Some highlights of the recent months include: 

Chris and I celebrated our first Christmas together at home! We so enjoyed some quiet days and cooking some delicious food together, and had a night away at Chateau D'Ouchy here in Lausanne.

We went to Birmingham to have a 2nd small wedding apéro with some of our UK friends who couldn't attend the wedding.

Valentine's Day - we went back to the hotel in interlaken were we decided to get married, and spent some time sledging in  Grindelwald and enjoying the tastes and sights of Interlaken

We spent the winter season improving my snow boarding and enjoying the mountains whenever we could. 

Then we moved! We found a great apartment that we love in a super location and had so much fun setting up our home together. It was a big job to choose and purchase all our furniture, build most of it, and move all our possessions, but it is so worth it - we love our home! 

I took up a new hobby - cycling! Chris helped me find a second hand bike and has been a great coach. Although the I really up riding a bicycle, it was usually in the garden or in a park and always on a mountain bike, so adjusting to road cycling has taken some time. I love it and we are so blessed to have stunning scenery and routes on our doorstep! 

And we bought a new car, and I got my Swiss drivers licence - I'm appreciating the independence and flexibility that this will bring. 

We had a weekend in London - enjoying plenty of good food and shopping 

While all of this has been happening I had a very full semester of teaching - I had 6 hours of class time each week lecturing master students in bern and Lausanne, plus all the preparation time and admin. I really enjoyed the class in Bern - I developed my own content and had a great group of students, but the Lausanne teaching was a bit more challenging. However, I learnt a lot and was grateful to have the experience. 

And my church involvement has continued and expanded slightly - taking on more responsibility for some other events on the church calendar. I'm continuously impressed with what my team accomplishes!

I had a long weekend in Helsinki catching up with my dear friend Tiina - post to follow! 

And we recently spent two lovely weeks in SA - more on this too Later!

All good things come to an end

Today I finished cleaning out my office at the University of Lausanne - this marks the end of a great season! I really had no idea what was ahead of me when I started here 4 years ago - and definitely was not expecting to work with such fantastic people in such a great environment.  I have been so happy to come to work and arrive at my office shared with a group of lovely girls. Walking in the corridors, making coffee in the kitchen - almost every day included a positive interaction with my colleagues who quickly became friends. Having such a positive experience at work definitely shaped my entire Swiss experience thus far, and for that I am truly grateful.

I am sad to be saying goodbye, and although I know it is not the end of some of the friendships and professional relationships I have built, I know that they will take on a different nature and that it will be slightly harder to stay in touch.

Next year, I will continue my position in Bern and will possibly go there more frequently during the week seeing as though I no longer have an office in Lausanne. From the end of February, I will be teaching once a week at the University of Lausanne, but in a different building, faculty, and department, so I am glad to know I will have an excuse to stop by and say hello to friends and colleagues!

My very first office when I started in Lausanne

Then my second office... which thankfully I moved out of so that I could have a window that looked out :)

A snowy view from my office

The walk down to the lake - just a few minutes!

An example of the sweet things my office mates would do!

The day I completed the first complete draft of my PhD!

And the sunset from today!

Birthdays!

My lovely husband and I celebrate our birthdays 3 days apart, so last year we decided to start a tradition of going somewhere to celebrate. Last year it was Rome, and this year - Strasbourg! I had always wanted to see the Christmas Markets of Strasbourg, so Chris agreed and off we went. We rented a really charming Air BnB apartment, which was the perfect base for our weekend adventures.

(Sidenote - I had a great birthday on Thursday. Chris made me chocolate and orange cupcakes with an apricot filling - they were really delicious. At work in Bern, my colleagues had decorated my desk and left me a gift and a card, and Chris and I had Chinese take-out for dinner. All day I received lovely messages and phone calls, cards in the mail and some great gifts. Chris got me an ice-cream maker - an inspired gift. I felt really loved and really grateful for a wonderful network of friends and family all around the world). 

Our journey on Friday took a little longer than we would have liked as we hit some traffic on the way and got delayed at the border going into France, but we found a spot to park the car and headed over to the apartment. After some quick introductions and instructions we walked around the corner to a steak restaurant and proceeded to have steak and cocktails for dinner (food is definitely cheaper in France!) before doing our first quick walk-around the city. The markets were already closed for the night which was actually ideal as it gave us a chance to see some of the Christmas lights and beautiful buildings without too many people around.

On Saturday, our phones told us we walked 18km and although I think we walked a little less than that, we sure did walk a lot! We zig-zagged all over the city and through all of the markets. In the morning we stumbled upon this really cozy tea room and had coffee, croissants and baguette with butter and jam (when in France) and then continued to eat all day - hot wine (both red and white!), hot blueberry juice, a beignet, a crêpe, poêle (a typical dish in Strasbourg - a type of potato noodle, bacon, onion, and cheese, served with some sausages).... a nap at home....then more market visits and dinner - french onion soup followed by chicken in a Riesling sauce for me, and cordon bleu for Chris. We timed dinner really well as when we walked out, there were queues outside most restaurants.

Sunday morning started with birthday cake for Chris - I knew we would be somewhat limited in our Air BnB apartment, so I took a mix for a microwave cake that you cook in a mug plus some candles along with me! I also bought ingredients with me to cook one of Chris' favourite breakfasts - pancakes, bacon and maple sirop. He opened his gifts, and we packed up the apartment. We had one last hot wine before lunch (we really did spend most of the weekend eating!). We ate in a restaurant we had seen on our walks, and the burger roesti on the menu caught Chris' eye - so that settled it! I had a platter of three different types of roesti - all very delicious. We had one more crêpe and a last stroll through one little market on our way out.

Strasbourg had put extra security measures in place because of the attacks in Paris. Unfortunately Strasbourg had received some threats too - so the markets were all running on reduced hours, and apparently there were a lot less people visiting the city (although to us, it still seemed really crowded!). I am grateful we had a safe visit, and I hope it continues that way.