Way to go, Jennifer!

Congratulations to Jennifer on completing the full Swiss Walking Event marathon (yes all 26 miles 285 yards, or 42+ kilometres) in Solothurn, Switzerland this Sunday, August 31st.  The first words out of her mouth as she crossed the finish line were "Remind me to never do this again"....or something to that effect.  We'll give it a while.....she'll be ready to try it again in a few months or so.

First Theme Day of the Year at RIA

Friday, August 29 was our first theme day of the year. Each of us in the fifth and sixth grade class dressed in our national colors. We had colors from the USA, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland and Canada. Other classes themes included a safari theme and a princess theme (how did you guess that the 1st-2nd grade class is all girls!)

Rhein International is back in Session!

The Fifth and Sixth Grade classroom is off to a great start this year at Rhein International Academy. We started classes on August 18th, so things are well under way. I have included some photos of our most recent Science experiment, based on our study of mass, volume, and density. We each built a small boat out of a 12 cm by 12 cm piece of tin foil, then floated our boats and added weights until our boats sunk. It's amazing how much cargo you can carry in such a small boat if the design is right. Jakob was our class winner with a mass of 76 grams in his boat. Fantastich!

Happy 60th, Henri!

This past weekend we had the pleasure of attending Henri Braun's 60th birthday party in Dielsdorf, just north of Zurich. You may remember Henri as the father of our Swiss exchange student, Joel Braun, who lived with the Barbours in 1999-2000, and attended Eagle Butte High School.

Henri and his family hosted an absolutely splendid party on Saturday, followed by a leisurely breakfast and a walk to Regensburg (a medieval fortified village) not far away.

It was so great to see all of the Braun family again, and to meet some new members of the family. Our linguistic skills were indeed tested, as the celebration was a combination of Luxembourgish, French, German, Swiss German, and English. I think we all got along well, though, and Henri seemed to enjoy his party.