Friday, January 09, 2009

Wild times

We're still here! Yes, I'm still dead tired, but slowly recuperating. And you know why? Because although I actually had 2 weeks off work between Christmas and New Year, I managed not to get much sleep. However, we did have a LOT of fun. A fair compromise, I think. My cousin Rachel came for a 3 week visit from Canada. And by now, you all know that we love partying and Rachel is family, so she does too. So now, you know.

Here are a few things we did during that time in a nutshell.
  • Dec. 19: Rachel arrives in Zurich, but her luggage doesn't make it through her tight connection in Frankfurt. Gha! But she does get an overnight bag from Swiss with T-Shirt, sleeping goggles, G'Ma undies, a toothbrush and a couple of other necessities. She sleeps at 6pm, up again from 10pm and we chat until 2 am. Good start.

  • Dec. 20: Rachel's luggage arrives and later, she and I are rocking & dancing until 2 am to (too) loud music until our neighbours ring the doorbell. Ooops! But we do stay up and chat until 6am...with wine.
    Dec. 24: We decorate the Chistmas tree (never did it THAT late in my WHOLE life.... EVER!), Pack the presents (never did that this later either!), have a late dinner and unpack presents. Bedtime: Decent (for a day off). 2am, or so.

  • Dec. 25/26: We decide to go out after dinner (midnight) for some dancing. Great time! Get home at 5am (?) and decide to stay awake for the next 2.5 hours until we bring Rachel to the train station to catch her TGV to Paris.

  • Dec 26: Sleep until 2pm after returning from the train station, miss call from TBFs with invitation to dinner, call back TBFs and accept invite. TBF just recovering from a flu, but doing well. Delicious food, wine & great company, but around 1am, eyes (ours) are twirling in butter and leave for home. Invited TBFs for a New Years' Eve Eve's party.

  • Dec. 27: Get a sore throat and hints of a flu (TBF? Rachel? Anonymous Swiss in the tram?)

  • Dec 29: 9:15 pm. Flu is real bad. Fever. We're at the station waiting for Rachel's train. Delayed by 30 minutes. OK. Call TBFs. Cancel New Years' Eve Eve's party with TBFs because of my stupid flu. TGV arrives, no Rachel. Did she sleep though it? Wait 30-40 minutes. Drive back home in hopes that she just missed the stop. Rachel arrives around 10:30pm. She got off 1 station early. Yep. That's family all right! Have dinner and wine, hoping the latter will kill the damn bug!
  • Dec. 30: Rachel goes to visit an aunt near St-Gallen. I'm desperately looking for a hotel in some kind of snowy area to learn snowboarding. No luck with the hotels. All booked out.

  • Dec 31: Rachel is back home for dinner and we celebrate New Years' Eve together, and got to bed early (2am). I book snow boarding lessons for OX and me for Jan 2nd in Adelboden.

  • Jan 2: Leave at 7am for Adelboden and encounter a massive taffic jam. Arrive 30 minutes late. While Rachel hits the slopes, Ox and I really enjoy our snow boarding lesson. Won't be the last time for sure. Addicted.

  • Jan 4: Rachel goes to Barcelona.

  • January 5: Back to work for us. Blech!

  • Jan. 7: Rachel returns from Bacelona. Dinner & wine. Go to bed at 2:30am (again). Remember, we still have to work. Ugh!

  • Jan. 8: Back at work feeling a bit woozie. Rachel goes to Lucerne for the day, also feeling woozie. Good. I'm not the only one. Go to bed at a decent time: before midnight. Really! I swear!

  • Jan. 9: OX takes me to work by car before droppig Rachel off at Zurich airport.
    Jan. 10: We get to slep in? No way! We left bright and early (07:15!!...am!) for Amsterdam to celebrate Harry's 44th birthday.

Since then, we've been snow boarding again and I've rented myself some equipment for the season. That's how much we're enjoying it! A few bruises here and there and muscle ache from the pull-lifts, but what the hell! The turns are getting easier and we'll soon be ready to hit the real slopes after a warm up run on the "Mickey Mouse" run. Tomorrow's our next trip to Adelboden. Yup. We're getting up at 6:30 and are aiming at getting there around 9:00am.

Here are a few picts of our first attempts (with teacher) that Rachel took of us. OX is in the dark top with light pants, and I'm in the light top with the dark pants.







Can you believe it? I never in my dreams thought that I'd start snow boarding at the age of 43. But hey... Why not? You only live once, right? And we're really improving.
No, it just looks like we're going fast. We're not. Fooled ya!









We still want to go sledging with TBFs, though, but need to find a date before the snow melts ;)

Adelboden anyone?

13 comments:

swenglishexpat said...

Seems you had a wonderful time. And that picture of the mountains with Rachel in the foreground makes me ache to do some skiing again after many years away from the slopes. It looks fantastic! I would not try the snowboard though, I'll leave that to you. ;-)

CanadianSwiss said...

We did. And there are many more photos I want to share, but lately, I keep thinking someone should invent days of 48 hours to do all I want to do.

That region is absolutely gorgeous, indeed. BTW, I hear that skiing is like cycling; you never loose it :) See you on the slopes?

The Big Finn said...

We not only need to find a date before the snow melts, but also a date when we're all here at the same time!

CanadianSwiss said...

TBF: To be honest, I think the latter will be the bigger challenge!

Jay said...

I'm tired just reading this stuff, but tiredness passes and good memories keep going.

Anonymous said...

Bravo...Championne!!!
Le matelas en bas,,,c'est pour la relaxation après le snow boarding???

Shammickite said...

Somehow I missed your last post, perhaps I was sleeping! So you've started snowboarding... good luck! Tearing down a snowy hill at top speed with both feet welded to a board isn't my idea of fun, but you go ahead.....

CanadianSwiss said...

Jay: That's the good thing about memories! :)

Rita: Il a l'air pas mal invitant, pas vrai?

Ex-Sham: I've been a lazy blogger lately, I know. The snowboarding and the travels are taking up many weekends, nowadays.

Unknown said...

You know I can't believe I did not comment on this one. I'm sure I read it but then again, who knows... Just a month later.. lol

So the pics are wonderful and well I am such a looser for going to sleep so early!!!!! I need to be trained but P is great staying up late! I just always get up early... I guess I only used to do that in my 20's..

I really wish we could make a trip out there! Really... But of course you know it looks like Montreal will be in the works first... :(

Ginnie Hart said...

You are one heck of a daredevil, CS, but I already knew that. Good for you! Snowboarding at your age will keep you young and dangerous for a long time, I'm sure. :D

I still can't believe you're not sick more often, based on the hours you keep. Man! I'd be dead. But then, I AM 20 years older. :)

Shammickite said...

Still planning that summer trip to Canada?

CanadianSwiss said...

Ginnie: Yup... A bit of a daredevil... and it scares me a bit, to be honest. But I still feel like... uhm... 30?? :D

As for me not being sick: I've just gone through 2 flues, and the most recent one kept me a week at home and 104°F fever, thank you very much ;) Luckily, I only get that kind of flu every 10 years.

Ex-Sham: Yep. Already planning! :)

Unknown said...

I miss you! STill love that last photo! IT's march already and we got a ton of snow here...