'Tis the Season to Spend

Following a doubt filled holiday during which I asked myself repeatedly why I thought it was such a good idea to move to a country I'd never been to and work at a school I'd never seen, I am back to school and back to loving my life in Switzerland. Oddly enough, living abroad does offer the strange fringe benefit of appreciating and loving home like never before. Most recently, the thing I value the most about the wonderful US of A is the strategic placement of Thanksgiving between Halloween and Christmas. This patriotic and historically sentimental national holiday wards off the hell that is the Christmas Season from rearing its nasty head in every storefront and TV commercial before that most significant biggest shopping day of the year otherwise known as the fourth Friday in November. I thought an entire month of that heinous frippery was quite enough to drive any sane person into a straight jacket. Well, try two months, my friend. Halloween is virtually nonexistent in most of continental Europe, and of course, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving. The result: Christmas displays, commercials, ornaments, chocolates (oh yes, plenty of those) and songs start infiltrating everyone's lives by the middle of October. America may be the consumer capital of the world, but fear not, my fellow yanks; our European counterparts are doing their best to catch up and they've got a head start.

Perfection

Sometimes, things just work out the way they're supposed to. All I wanted was to be home at the end of my trip to Ireland and France last week. So much that I bought another train ticket, prepared to forfeit the ticket I had for the following morning and spend the extra cash. But then my plan was foiled and I couldn't cancel my hostel reservation. By the time I added the hostel, the new ticket and the existing to be forfeited morning ticket, I really couldn't justify the price of going home early. So, I put on some music on my mp3 player and headed off to make the most of it. That's when things started to feel really synchronous. Just as I was coming out of the Metro, one of my favorite songs by St. Germaine came on the random shuffle on my mp3 player. I thought to myself, "hmm, this must be a good sign." I checked into the hostel, randomly made a new friend, went to the Eiffel Tower and watched the sunset and then the city go from daylight to twinkling light. On the elevator ride down, the entire tower was sparkling all around me marking the hour with 5 minutes of dazzling display. I met interesting people from all over the world, admired the beauty of Paris and felt peaceful and renewed. I guess that's what taking a vacation is all about. I thought my plans had been foiled, but in the end it was just perfect. Paris, je t'aime.

Breathe

This is what I see every morning when I get off the bus at Avenue des Alpes on the way to work. The view is always different in varying shades of pink, grey, blue and purple and more recently, dramatic burning oranges and reds as the sun rises later and later each day. I stop everyday and take a few deep breaths at this spot. The air is always cool and sometimes wind comes off of the lake and whips up over the town to the part of the hill where I am standing. After a few deep breaths, I turn and walk further up the hill for ten minutes until I finally get to the school, hot and breathless from the brisk uphill walk. I walk into school, turn on the lights in my classroom and prepare for the day. Everyday I have so much to do I can't think where to begin and I think of a million things in my personal life, pesky to-do list life and life at school that I forget to breathe. Those last moments at the Avenue des Alpes before the work day begins are the only peaceful moments I've had in the last few months. And even though I have the next two weeks off, I'm still consumed by all there is to do as a teacher. Everyone said the first year would be rough. It sure is.