Sunny Smiles in Snowy Switzerland

The required photo at the Hotel du Peyrou, this time with snow.

The mid-point of January marked two weeks of good company for me. When I took this job abroad, I urged my retired friends to "come on over". So it was that Susan, Regan and Ruth arranged their schedules to spend the latter half of the month with me.

The snow outside my apartment building.

Their arrival coincided with the school's exam week, followed by the end of the semester, and a week's break. We had lots of adventures planned. Unfortunately, mid-January also brought unseasonably cold and snowy weather to Neuchâtel. (Last year, snow never stayed on the ground here longer than a few hours, so I was shocked that we had so much for so long this year.)

There were snowmen on the waterfront to greet my friends.

While the city provided a chilly reception to my friends, the Neuchâtel staff and students brought lots of warmth. We celebrated the end of the semester with parties, dinners out, and a talent show.

At the Musée des Beaux Arts

Susan, Regan and Ruth arrived on Friday at lunch time. I had not scheduled much on their first day, allowing for jet lag, but that evening, they tasted their first fondue at La Taverne Neuchâtelois. Bill and Terry joined us, thus beginning a week of inclusiveness for my guests.

Market day in the snow

On Saturday, we woke up to a fresh snowfall and very chilly temperatures. Undaunted, we headed out to explore the sights of Neuchâtel on foot. After visiting the Saturday market and a couple of shops, we headed to a local tavern, Les Brasseurs, for lunch.

Susan and Ruth say "santé" at Les Brasseurs

That day, one of our goals was to shop for a pot luck dinner at Terry's that evening. Another was to squeeze in a visit to Susan's friend, Barbara, who was staying with her son in nearby Cormondrèche. It was busy, but we managed both tasks.

Susan and Regan say "santé" at Terry's.

I left preparations for the pot luck in the hands of my guests, while I used every spare minute to grade papers. I wanted to spend time with my friends, but I had work to do as well. That was the case for much of the first week of their visit.

Ruth connects with Woburn grad, Adam, while Patti looks on. 

At the party, the "girls" were again impressed with the welcome they received from my wonderful colleagues. This was a very fun evening full of good food and laughter.

Arriving at the Zentrum Paul Klee

Regan is a big fan of Klee's art.

As I have done with all my guests, I planned a visit to Bern on the Sunday. The weather was still very wintry, so we decided to spend part of the day inside the Zentrum Paul Klee. It was my first visit to this art gallery too, so I was excited to explore it.

Sculpture and snow outside the Zentrum Paul Klee

The usual Billinghurst walking tour was cut in half, as we relied on transit for part of the day. The Bern bears, escaping the cold, were nowhere to be seen, and we, too, stopped for warm drinks in the city to fight the chill.

This was the only bear in sight at the Bärenpark.

Shivering on the bridge.

Even in the cold, Bern is lovely, and I was happy to show off the Swiss capital to my visitors. Now I can say I have visited it in every season.

Watching the clock chime at 3:00 p.m.

Coffee and hot chocolate: "santé" in Bern

Over the next week, since I had supervision responsibilities, I only spent one day with my friends, while they explored Swiss towns and cities by train and, one day, by car, with Susan's friend, Barbara. They made stops in Lausanne and Geneva, where they explored various museums. They most enjoyed their trip to Gruyères, however, since, on that day, the sun finally shone and the Alps emerged in blue skies. On that road trip, they also made stops at the Cailler chocolate factory, and the lovely town of Murten.

Ruth and Regan enjoy fondue in Gruyères

Barbara and Susan also enjoy fondue

On the Wednesday, I was able to free myself for the day. We decided to take the train across the border to Pontarlier in France, a 45 minute trip. This town has a beautiful little church and its own "arc de triomphe" but more importantly, it has great shopping along la Rue de la République. The January sales were on, and the prices across the border are more reasonable than in Switzerland. We were women on a mission!

In front of the former Palais de Justice in Pontarlier

The Arc de Triomphe at one end of la Rue de la République

This was an enjoyable excursion which included lunch at a small establishment looking over the Doubs river.

At the Cote Pont in Pontarlier

In the evenings, Susan, Regan and Ruth took very good care of me. They made dinner, cleaned up afterwards, and even reorganized the kitchen.

Santé in my apartment

By the end of the day on Thursday, my fellow teachers and I had finished grading, calculated final marks, and composed report card comments. We were free, as were the students! To celebrate, we had organized a talent night at a local school auditorium nearby. That evening, I was proud that my friends could see my three NESDA drama pairs perform their short plays, and that they could hear Laura's silver medal winning speech. To close the show, the staff band reunited. It was fun to be on stage again.

Terry, Bill, Aaron and I: the band sang The Band.

The socializing continued afterwards over dinner at a crêperie a few meters away. The final day of the semester was set aside for parent interviews for me, while the girls headed off to Geneva. With impeccable timing,  they returned just in time to join the apéro in the salon where they too met some parents.

Ruth and Susan recite some Robbie Burns

Our last night together in Neuchâtel was spent at yet another party, a Robbie Burns night at the Bellamy's home. This was a celebration of poetry and music, in honour of the bard. As they did with every other event during their week with me, Susan, Regan and Ruth jumped in with both feet.

Our hosts, Beth and Aaron, read some of the bard, as they bless the haggis.

Some of the crowd at Robbie Burns night.

I would be remiss in this blog post not to do as my friends have requested–to thank the Neuchâtel community for their warm embrace of these three retired teachers. Susan, Regan and Ruth had a great time in spite of the cold and dull weather. It was a week to remember.

The Neuchâtel Life

The view from the school. That's our patio in the foreground.

Close up on the Alps

As we approach the mid-point of the school year, I thought some information on our day-to-day life at Neuchâtel Junior College was in order. We are a school community with fourteen staff and sixty-nine students at the moment. We occupy three buildings which are situated across from the railroad station in Neuchâtel; our property looks over the town below us, and then further on, to Lake Neuchâtel and in the far distance beyond the water, the Swiss Alps.

Our first staff meeting in September

A test in English

Chemistry class

Our school combines the mundane with the extraordinary. As in every other educational institution, our students attend classes regularly, work on assignments and write tests and exams. But a large part of their learning occurs away from the classroom. Whether they fly as far as Poland to walk through the grounds of Auschwitz or Birkenau, or travel for thirty minutes to Lignières to watch the Désalpes, our students are getting an education. Recently, in December, we went on a day trip to Geneva to see two of its special sites: the United Nations building and the Red Cross Museum.

Emma, Lucia and Harris getting an education in French on the Neuchâtel scavenger hunt.

Lauren and Amy in Geneva at the United Nations.

Several of the boys outside the Red Cross Museum in Geneva

Besides teaching my three classes, I also meet weekly with my advisee group, the NJC version of "home room". These ten students get to spend quality time with me outside of class too. Once a semester, we dine together. Our first such excursion occurred in early November when we traveled by tram to nearby Colombier to Bockeridjer Bar, where delicious hamburgers and Ikea bowls of fries and onion rings are the specialty.

Here I am with 9 of my 10 advisees. The 10th, Erin, was sick, and could not come.

When we find an extra few minutes in our advisee period, I have been quizzing my group with trivia questions, the better to prepare them to compete against the other advisee groups in the spring.

First place in Trivia in October when Bob was in town. Patti is the star, but all of us contribute.

Trivia is one of my passions, and, fortunately, I get to feed it every other Tuesday evening at Le Café du Cerf, a local Irish pub. Who would have imagined that such a place would exist in Neuchâtel? We teachers always field a team, with Terry, Patti and I the regulars. The evenings have been very enjoyable this year since Patti is a trivia superstar, and, thanks to her, we are usually in the money.

Students at Pub Trivia. This team lost to us by a mere two points.

Sometimes the students will field teams too, in the faint hope of defeating their teachers. One group came close last week, when Patti fell sick, but our meagre team of three teachers squeaked out a (moral) victory over them. Thank God.

Terry and the Foyer Council

Building comraderie and spirit are always goals at our small school. To that end, Terry works with five elected students known as the Foyer Council, advising them on ways to make our community come together. It is not difficult to get teenagers to buy into special days, for instance, like pyjama day and twin day, and of course, many had a great time dressing up for Hallowe'en.

"Twins" Maggie and Kieran

Pyjama Day

I loved the Rosie the Riveter costume that Ellis wore at Hallowe'en.

Sometimes, too, the Foyer Council plans fundraising events, as they did during Movember, and at Christmas with candygrams.

We assemble for our first staff dinner

Friday night potluck at Terry's

While the students naturally form small groups of friends based on many factors, we teachers cannot be so choosy. With so few of us around, we make a point of building positive relationships with each other and doing things together. Our socializing began in September with a fondue dinner. By mutual consent, we have continued dining out regularly when we are in town on a Friday night. We also celebrate birthdays together and, on occasion, we have a party.

Christmas gathering on Bill's patio. This glorious day was in December.

The students looking good for Thanksgiving dinner.

All cleaned up for Christmas dinner

The students party too, in the local clubs in town, but I have no photos of their shenanigans. We do celebrate special occasions together, however. At Thanksgiving, a local hotel served us turkey dinner, while in December, we gathered at the beautiful Hotel du Peyrou for our annual Christmas celebration. These events are fun because we get to dress up.

The staff dressed up from Christmas too.

I enjoy a special lunch with some parents.

The dining room at the Hotel du Peyrou is the setting for our delicious lunch on Parents' weekend too, but this time, it is adults only. There, staff and parents meet informally, over delicious food, and then later the same day in the school's salon for an apéro (wine and cheese).

Parents and staff at the apéro. 

Yoga in the salon.

The salon, a formal room in the foyer building, is a very versatile space. Here, on Mondays after school, there is a yoga class, while later in the year, it will transform into a stage for drama performances.

My husband, Bob, helped Adam coach the volleyball team.

Boys volleyball team in competition.

Beyond yoga, students enjoy taking part in school sports. In spite of our small population, we often field teams in competitions against other Swiss International Schools. So far, we have participated in girls and boys volleyball, rugby sevens, cross country, and badminton.

Terry and the rugby seven boys.

Andie and M.J. - pool bosses.

In late November, we hosted five other schools in a swim meet. That was a very successful event, with our team members earning several medals, including two gold. It was also a lot of fun for all of us, as all hands were on deck, literally–the pool deck. Teachers and students all had jobs to do.

Our boys' team: Will, Nick, Rafa and superstar, Brandon.: silver medalists in relay.

Our girls: Rachel F,. Grace, Ellis and Rachel J.: silver medalists in relay.

I could go on and on about the many things that are part of my Neuchâtel life. It is often very hectic, or, as has been the case since we all returned from Christmas vacation, hard work, as the students write their exams and we teachers grade them. It is certainly never dull, with infinite variety. The first half of the year has flown by as a result.

Students at work, one of many photos by Carmela.

Studying in the library

Finally, I want to acknowledge our social media intern, Carmela, in this blog post, since I have used several of her photographs here. She does a terrific job capturing our school in pictures.

Carmela and I on the bus in Vimy.