Jennifer did!

 

Gardener Jennifer finally wins the battle to uproot a small flowery bush on our balcony. Now it won't obstruct our view of the sea and of Puerto de la Cruz. Good job, Jennifer!

Dos Canine Companions

Our two morning canine greeters:

Scotty, the valiant male border collie, and Trixy, the alarm-clock female Irish wire-haired terrier.

Pictures.

A few more photos

The view out our front windows.....lots of ocean and very few ships!

Part way up the 40 km. drive to the top of Mt. Teide (No....we did not go to the very top. You can take a chair lift almost to the top, or you can hike up if you get permission from the parks department) The topography, microclimate, and vegetation all change dramatically as you ascend. Above the tree line, you'd think you were on the surface of Mars....lots of red rock and sand everywhere. In fact, a few weeks ago, a team of scientists were up on Mt. Teide testing a Mars rover prototype.

What a view!

Finally, a photo or two from the Barbours ! We've been on the island of Tenerife (pronounced ten-e-reef-eh?) now for about a month. We have a nice one-bedroom apartment below the garage of the main house we are looking after for the next few months. There is probably no other garage in the world with a better view each day! The photo here shows the view off our garden balcony (all of about twelve feet wide).....a great view of the city of Puerto de la Cruz with majestic and dormant (we hope!) 3700+ metre volcano Mt. Teide in the background. We are about 200 metres above the Atlantic, yet the sound of the waves crashing onto the volcanic rocks below is constant. For those who can come to visit, there is a hiking trail down to the black-sand beach....about 20 min. down and 35 min back up if you're reasonably fit. (Double those times for Cam!)

The weather has been consistently in the mid to high 20's (C) since we arrived, although we did hit 30 a couple of times. Our Spanish is improving by a word or two each day....enough that we can order tea or coffee and ask for the bill. Our local town, Santa Ursula, is a few minutes' drive from the tourist spots, so English or German is not commonly spoken. So...we'll try to learn Spanish. If you want to speak English, you can always drive to the south end of the island where there are tourist beaches and hotels everywhere.

Moved to Tenerife...... hard to believe!

Hi all,

After a very generous summer offer from one of our former RIA families, who own a home near Santa Ursula on the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands), we have run away from our home and family in Canada to make the big move here! We will be "house-sitting" for a few months while these folks are living in Switzerland. So far we have moved into a small, but wonderfully-situated one-bedroom apartment overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, and learned to find the grocery store, order a coffee in Spanish, feed the family dogs, and to water the plants. So far the 20+C temperatures every day have been hard to take.

We hope to add a few photos, and to update this blogpage once in a while to let you know what we're up to.

Glassy version of Jingle Bells

Mallory and Jennifer made their glass music debut at Hergiswil with a rousing rendition of Jingle Bells. CDs will be available later.

Visit to the Hergiswil Glass Factory in CH

Last Saturday, Kelly, Mallory, Jennifer and Cam travelled about an hour and a half by train to the beautifully-set village of Hergiswil. This is the home of the Hergiswil glass works, and it provides a wonderful look at the history of glass production in Switzerland, and a close-up look at modern glass production techniques. There is also a great hands-on area where visitors can produce all kinds of "glass" music and see how glass is used in science and industry.

A great place to visit. We also recommend Mr. Ooi's Chinese restaurant, just across from the Hergiswil train station!

Thankful for a Wonderful Christmas Holiday!

After a great Christmas break in southern Alberta, we are back in Deutschland.  We spent a cozy week in a YMCA lodge in the Cypress Hills of southern Alberta, where Winter's wrath wreaked temperatures approaching -40C (that's without the wind chill factor!).  All of the Barbour young'uns and the grandson were able to make it, and of course, we had far too much food and far too little exercise.  We were able to do a bit of walking in the crispy cold....something you just don't get to do here in Germany.

We trust that all of you enjoyed a great holiday break with your families and friends!

School starts on Wednesday, January 7th, so we begin the second half of our final year here at Rhein International Academy.  We look forward to seeing the staff and students again!

Back from Sweden!

Jennifer and Cam are just back from a wonderful week-long trip to visit the land of Jennifer's forefathers...Sweden.  There is probably no country on earth more gloriously displaying Nature's Fall colours than Sweden.  Everywhere we went, people were friendly and the scenery was spectacular.  We enjoyed staying with one of Cam's Kodaikanal India Class of '68 classmates, Kristina Ajaxon,  her son Nils, and her husband Ragnar.  Thanks to all of you for being such great hosts!  The conversations were always lively! Thanks too, Kristina, for letting us try all kind of Swedish delicacies, including caviar and reindeer.

Our quick tour took us by Ryanair (Latin for "no legroom sucker") to Nykoping, just south of Stockholm for a day or two of visiting with the Ajaxons.  Then...on to Stockholm for a visit to the harbour and a day of walking down the Strand and through the Vasa warship museum....fantastic!  The last few days, we spent driving north to Varmland, the area of Sweden where Axel Nathanael Bergstrom (and 139,999 other Varmlanders) emmigrated to North America from many years ago.  In Dalarna we also visited the home of the great Swedish artists, Carl and Karin Larsson.  Both of us have a much greater appreciation for all of Carl's beautiful paintings now.

Let the photos do the talking!

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.

A Short Summer Back in Canada

After a productive two-week stay at the NICS Pre-Field Orientation in Southaven, Mississippi, we returned to Alberta on July 4. It has been sooooooo good to see friends and acquaintances again, although it seems a little strange to be back in an English-speaking environment again. You know you've been in Germany for a while when you accidentally bump into someone in a department store here in Canada, and the first thing that comes out of your mouth is...."Entschuldigung"....instead of "Excuse Me". Hopefully that's a precursor to more successful communication in German next year.

So, for the time being, we are enjoying finishing up all of our errands, and visiting with our family and friends.....not the least of whom is our delightful grandson Finn(eas).....he's just so much fun! August 6th will see us take the big silver bird back to Deutschland, in preparation for a new year of school which starts on August 18th.

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers, everyone!

Cam and Jennifer

Congratulations, Robyn!

Although we weren't able to attend her convocation from the University of Lethbridge, we did huddle around our laptop at nearly midnight German time waiting to see Robyn walk across the stage and receive her B. Sc. It was well worth it!

The photos from Jeff and Ann-Marie Scott were fantastic. It's nice to know that we had surrogate parents attending on our behalf. Thanks guys!

See you all back in Canada in early July!

How Can We Help Myanmar and China?

Last Friday, the students and staff of Rhein International Academy held a bake sale to help in some small way with the dire needs of people in Myanmar and China. While the Middle School students organized the selling and advertising, the school cooking club baked some delicious chocolate banana loaves, and the First Grade class created some wonderful chocolate chip cookies (including one giant one that was raffled off). In addition, every family at RIA generously donated something to sell.



Thanks to everyone's hard work, we raised about 230 Euros, all of which will be sent to World Vision Deutschland to use as they see fit in the relief efforts.