Prague

In March, my school sent me to Prague for a course called Making the PYP Happen. This is an itroduction course to the PYP and two other new teacher from school came along also. I was sooo excited because this was my first "business trip" meaning they paid for my flight, hotel ,and we got a stipend for food each day. Not too often that happens when you are a teacher, but my school does an excellent job providing opportunities for professional development. We got there Thursday night and we out for dinner then went to bed early because the course started early Friday morning. Zann decided to come along since the plane tickets were cheap and my school had paid for the hotel and our food. And Sheila and Kevin were meeting us there Saturday night.

We stayed at the Crowne Plaze which use to be the old Communist Head quaters. It was very nice. This is where the conference was and they did a fantastic job giving us breakfast, a huge lunch, and many snacks during the day.
The PYP Group + Zann Making it Happen down town for dinner

Out for pizza and beer on Friday night. I meet a great group of girls that are teaching all over the world. I hope I get a chance to visit some of them one day!

Other events of Susie and Jeff's visit

Here are some other high lights of Susie and Jeff's visit. One day we took the train to Lucerne while Zann had to work. It was a beautiful day so we decided to give ourselves the beer guided tour through the town which made for a more exciting tour.

Yes we are in our 20s and still buy matching clothes.
Mt. Pilatus is way back there.

The ever so famous Lion of Lucerne. Many people on Trip Advisor said this was the most moving statue they have ever seen. Some even say it brought tears to their eyes. Jeff totally felt the same way.

Chicken curry sandwich and pizza for lunch....yummmm!

Sippin some Lowenbraus by the lake.

You all are about to get schooled in 31 and I will get my 10 francs

Zurich zoo. They aren't really into high fences at the zoo here, gives you a much better view.

Every day when the weather is cool enough the let the penguins our of thier cage and they do a lap around the zoo.

One night Zann and Jeff went night skiing while Susie and I had a girls dinner. When they got there the ski rental place wasn't open, so Jeff and Zann took turns on Zann's skis even though his boots were 2 sizes too small for Jeff. I think they opted for 2 runs and dinner at the chalet instead :)

The day Susie and Jeff got here we told them we had a suprise and wouldn't tell them when it was. So Tuesday night we said we were going out to dinner and they didn't really need to dress up. When we got off the train Zann started to tell them about The Blindekuh which is translated at The Blind Cow. This is a restaurant run by blind people (the wait staff and cooks) and your eat COMPLETELY in the dark. Susie and Jeff didn't know what they were in for (neither did we since we hadn't been there yet) and Susie asked if we could go to a different place because eating in the dark didn't sound too exciting. When you walk in they have the menu for the week projected on the wall and you choose what you would like and memorize it before you go into the "dark room". Well dark is an understatement. You could not see an outline if your hand was in front of your face. So we were actually really "blind" for the night. After a few minutes of freaking out we had a fantastic meal and could even pour ourselves beer. Deffiantely an experience though (a good one!) and I would highly recommend it.

First taste of Spruengli Luxemburgerli

Jeff is a pro at the self- timed photos

Singapore Slingers. The bar tender asked "Are you sure, normally girls order those"

Out for cocktails

Riding the tram around Zurich

We had the BEST time with Susie and Jeff!! I can't wait for them to come back and to spend time with them this summer!

Gstaad skiing

Susie and Jeff came to visit during my Ski Break from school. So we figured we should go skiing during this time and that we wanted to go to Zermott. Zann and I started looking for a place to stay about two months before they came and weren't having much luck. Who knew that all of Europe has ski week at the same time. People warned me that it would be hard to find a place but we have done many things last minute and they worked out fine, so I knew we would find a spot. Well I was wrong, you pretty much have to wait for someone to die to get a rented spot. People pass rentals down trough generations. I got one offer from a rental company telling me they had a great spot for 6-8 people for the week and it would be 65,000 CHF for the week. I guess she didn't know it was a teacher contacting her. So we got back to work and Zann found a cute looking apartment in Chateau-dOex for 4 people for 3 nights. Well we had 6 people and were going to make it happen. Zann reassured the rental lady many time that it would be just 4 not 6 people. So we were on our way Friday when I was done with school with 6 people hoping for the best.
Lets just say we didn't travel lightly. If you can notice Mandy has a backpack on her front and back and so does Nathan. And don't forget the 2 yoga mats we brought with extra sheets and a quilt for some comfortable floor sleeping in the kitchen :)

The place was beautiful and our group of 6 fit just fine. As long as we snuck out in the morning in shifts so the desk lady wouldn't notice. This is the view of our chateau in the morning

Zann having to ski down the hill to get to the train, it was quite slippery in ski boots. Chateau-dOex has skiing but it isn't a huge hill so we decided to take the train 20 minutes to Gstaad. After renting gear for the other four we were on our way to Gstaad. Gstaad is a fantastic place for skiing with all levels of runs and wide open scenary that was just breath taking.

The boys realxing before lunch.

Sisters hitting the slopes together. I think it had been since I was in 8th grade we had skiied together.

Enjoying some lunch after a great morning of skiing.

Zann and Jeff at lunch.

Party of 4 styling with our helmets and mad bomber hats.

Susie getting back into gear.

The second day we decided to ski the Glacier 3000. It was absolutely amazing. We had a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky and warm weather. Susie and I were a little intimidated by the first hill you have to go down to get to the glacier but after that it was wide open and snow and mountains that went on for miles.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The view from the top of the glacier. Incredible! The skiing was on wide open trails and there were t-bars to take you to different runs.

The gondola to get to the top of the glacier.

There was a black run (not the same a black in the US, much more difficult) to get to the bottom. Susie and I decided we wanted to get to the Gluwein first so we took the gondola down. Mandy and the boys took the black run head on and finished like champs.

Rewarding ourselves with a beer for some great skiing!

Christmas card?

Apparently Moon Boots are the new style in the fancy town of Gstaad. I think we were the only people with out a pair.

The weekend was a blast and some of the best skiing. We did get caught for haveing 6 people in our apartment right as we were leaving. Sorry Mia, all 6 of us really enjoyed the sauna and pool!

On our way home we took a detour to the town of Gruyere (yes thats the town where they make the famous Gruyere cheese). We ate lunch at the cheese factory and took a tour to see how the cheese making process goes.

The town of Gruyere is really cute with some awesome Rosti!