haas.kohtz.org

Our wedding

I just realized, I have never uploaded any pictures from our wedding. I have at least a thousand pictures from that wonderful day. So, here are a few of my favorites! Enjoy!

To the movies

Thomas and I had a date night last night. We went out to eat and then went to a movie. What an expensive night! It costs a lot of money to live in this country. Dinner was 80 Francs, the movie was probably around 30 Francs, plus a 5 Franc water and then 20 Francs to park in the parking garage for 5 hours. Ouch!! I hope we can eat this week!

We went to Valentines Day, which was a pretty good movie. There were a lot of good actors in it. The movie was in English with German and French sub-titles. I noticed a few times that the audience laughed before the whole line was even said, that prevented me from hearing the joke. I figured it out that they were reading the subtitles faster than the actors were speaking. It actually was kind of annoying. I had to ask Thomas what they said! So, comedies may be difficult for me to go to.

It was my dad's birthday yesterday! I spoke to him on Skype for a little while. Their new camera works great so it was also fun seeing him and my mom!

SO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIMMY JACKET!

Scrapbook

Why did I start? I started a scrapbook for our wedding a few months ago. So far, I hate every page that I have done except for two. I also have no desire to do anymore. It is too hard and I am not creative enough. Buh.

Wow, I just realized that I can say the same about learning German! Interesting. Guess I had better not quit either "hobbies."

Aren't hobbies supposed to be enjoyable?

Feeling at home

I haven't written anything for a while, but things have changed. I don't know when or how but I think I am starting to feel at home in Switzerland. I went home to Nebraska for a week and after that one week I was actually ready to get back to Thomas, my life, and my house. That's a good feeling. I didn't cry at the airport this time, I didn't feel that I was abandoning anyone, I was ready.

On the other hand, Nebraska was fun! I was worried about one week and it not being long enough. It was actually the perfect amount of time. I did some shopping with my mom, hung out with some friends in Lincoln, visited my grandma, annoyed my dad and spent two whole days with Lauren and Brayden. It was perfect!! I did A LOT of shopping while I was home. I am getting very good at packing and knowing when the suitcase is more than 50 pounds. Haven't gone over yet!

I was able to bring back 11 curtains from Pottery Barn! We wanted curtains for the first floor and we looked into getting some here but it would have cost 4,000 Francs, which is the same as $4,000. OUCH!!! I found some nice and MUCH cheaper ones at Pottery Barn and ordered them. I hung them up today and I LOVE them! Once they are ironed, I will post some pictures. I think the house looks great and I am very proud of our first home! Too bad only a handful of people will ever get here to see it. (Not making anyone feel guilty am I?)

The trip to Nebraska and back were amazingly fine. I missed the bad weather both ways. Going to Nebraska, I went through the Georgia airport, the snow followed a few days later. Coming back, I went through Ohio, missing the blizzards that hit Georgia and missing the blizzards that hit Nebraska by one day. Very lucky. Because I went through Ohio, I had to stop in Paris for a connection. There, I did have some trouble. That is a big and confusing airport. Our plane landed around 9:00 in the morning. After a long taxi (20 minutes), we had to take a bus to the terminal. THEN, when we got to the terminal, I looked at the screen and it said the Zurich flight left from terminal 1. So, I waited to take a bus to that terminal. I finally asked if it was right and the guy told me Terminal 2G, which was right up the stairs. I RAN and ran. it was about 9:30 by now. The plane was boarding. I went through passport control, the lady let me go through the business line where no one was, and ran some more. I saw signs that said 2G but they just disappeared. I finally asked someone who only spoke French and he pointed me to outside to wait for yet another bus. By the time I got to the terminal it 9:57. My plane took off at 9:50. Grrrr. I was able to get on the next flight which was at 1:05. It was good, frustrating and annoying, but good. Thomas met me at the airport with roses so it was getting better.

Guess that's all! A not too detailed update, but it's all I got.

Take care!

Packing

I am starting to pack! I'm coming home to the "Good Life" and I couldn't be more excited! I am packing almost nothing too. I am planning on coming home and getting LOTS of stuff. I am going shopping with my mom in Omaha and we will get a good lunch together. I'm also going shopping with my friend, Lindsey in Lincoln and getting a great lunch with her and an even better supper with some other friends! I hope we can make it to Norfolk to visit my grandma one day and get some Big Apple Bagels. It sounds like I am more excited for the food! (Not going to lie, I plan on eating a lot.)

The best part of this trip happens on Sunday. Lauren and Brayden are coming to Columbus and I am going to surprise them! They do not know I am coming!! Ryan and Jackie are going skiing the week I am home and Grandma and Grandpa are watching them on Thursday and Friday. Surprisingly, I will also be there! I am so excited to see the kids and to see their reactions when they see me. Hopefully, they are surprised and won't let me down.

I hope to get some good pictures!

Robyn, I'm sorry that you have parent teacher conferences. I will be missing you and thinking of you!

Military

Thomas just left for his next two weeks of military. He was able to come home this weekend because he had school on Friday and Saturday. He thinks he may be coming home this weekend on Friday so he can go to school but then he will have to go back to the military that same night.

The world economic forum is this coming weekend in Switzerland so he will be keeping the sky safe the rest of the weekend. I took some pictures of him in his uniform before he left. Can't help to think that he looks pretty HOT in it too! Enjoy!

Ah-Ha!

I just had another Ah-ha moment. Thomas has been gone for the last week and I think we were all a little worried about me and how I would handle it. I kept telling everyone that I do like being alone sometimes and that I like myself so it's not so bad! Well, that didn't happen this past week while Thomas was gone. I went out two nights to get dinner with new friends and I had a work party on Friday night which was actually a lot of fun. I was very busy! My ah-ha moment came today. Maybe it was good for me to have Thomas be gone. My safety net was away and I had to do things on my own. I had to go downtown and meet up with people all three nights. Something that I did on a regular basis in Nebraska, but not here because I am so timid and shy.

I already have a few evenings planned next week too. Are things really starting to look up?? Only time will tell.

Thomas has two more weeks of military and then I am off to Nebraska. It's going to be just like old times, which isn't necessarily the best. Not seeing him everyday is no fun, but what are you going to do.

When you visit

I thought I would just let everyone know a list of items you can bring when you come and visit me! :-)

1) A box of Grape Nuts
2) Carmex
3) A children book or two (for my students)
4)

Guess I will have to think about this some more. Trying to think of things that won't break in suitcases . . . (like a bottle of Sweet and Sour sauce)

Next three weeks

Some things are happening around here which are good and not so good. First of all, tomorrow begins my alternating work days. I get every other Friday off from now to the July! That is great!!

Beginning Monday Thomas has to start his three weeks in the military. He thinks he gets to come home his first weekend there, but then it's two weeks straight. That's the not so good news. For those of you who are unaware, any eligible Swiss man must be in the military. Switzerland is a neutral country, but they must be prepared for any possible invasions. We have all of Thomas' equipment in the attic just in case this country was ever invaded. He could get his stuff and get moving. Thinking it's pretty safe to say that won't be happening any time soon. I have some things planned which will keep me occupied though! I have started scrapbooking our wedding. (I'm not very creative so it's terribly hard). Surprisingly, I also have a few evenings planned with some girls next week! I am getting dinner with a mom from work, I'm getting dinner and then going to a movie with another teacher at work and then I also have a work dinner/party.

Another great/bad thing will be happening once Thomas is done with the military. I am leaving for Nebraska. He gets home on Friday and I leave for a week beginning on Saturday. The day I leave is also Thomas' 29th Birthday! You can see why it's good and bad. When I return, it's Valentines Day! This will be our first Valentines Day together! In the past, we have spent Valentines Day via Skype. Not the best.

Something else happened last night! Thomas and I booked our first trip to Nebraska together. In April, we will be spending a week and a half in Nebraska and before we head back to Switzerland, we are heading to New York City! It's funny, I move to Europe and travel in the US. Guess I have my entire life ahead of me to travel around Europe!

Sledding

Wow, sledding in Switzerland sure isn't like sledding like we used to at "our old house." For those of you who don't know, we used to live in the Johannes Edition in Columbus (did I spell that right mom?). In our back yard was some farm land and on the other side of that was the canal with a good sized hill. During the winter, we would go sledding down this hill. It sure was fun! Then we would have to haul our plastic sled all the way up that hill to do it again.

Well, today we went sledding at the Gringewald.
http://www.grindelwald.net/skiingskifahrensleding.php?userlang

We took a bus all the way up the mountain. It's a one lane road with not a lot of extra room for other cars, pedestrians and sledders. It was kind of interesting when our bus met another bus and had to reverse back down a little ways. Anyways, once we got to the top, we rented sleds and then started going down. We sled down the actual road, which had a lot of sharp turns. It was kind of tricky figuring out how to turn but I got it after a while. Some of the turns were scary because if you didn't make the turn, you would fly off the road! After about 15-20 minutes, we were half way down the mountain! Luckily, there was a bus waiting to take us right back up.

The second time down, was a little easier and faster. I started to get the hang of the turning and I wasn't so scared because I knew what to expect. This time when we made it to the half way point, we stopped at the outside restaurant and had some lunch. I even had some gluwein (the hot wine).

We waited for one more bus to take us back up. This time it was a lot more cold and more foggy. I was ready to be done when I couldn't feel my fingers anymore. All of my ski gear is at the Holiday House so I had borrow snow pants from Yvonne, Thomas' sister, and use my cotton gloves that really do not offer much warmth. This time, when we got to the half-way point, we kept on going down with our sleds. We had to be very careful at this point because cars could be going up the one lane road at any time. (When we went from the top to the middle, we only had to watch out for the buses, which would honk their horns to let sledders know they were coming.)

We finally made it down the mountain, turned in our sleds and then headed for home. It was A LOT of fun, expensive but fun. Each bus ride was about 16 Francs per person. Add that to the lunch and the sled rental and we easily spent 200 Francs between the two of us. Gulp!

I wasn't able to take too many pictures while we were actually sledding. I was just going too fast to get out the camera. Plus, I was a little afraid that I would fly off the road and into some trees.

Enjoy More

Take care and if you ever come in the winter, we should do this!!