Life is Good!

I feel so blessed to be teaching at TASIS! Teaching is FUN with small class sizes, a great teammate, inspiring and respectful kids….. And it’s so beautiful here. Within minutes of school or my apartment I can be hiking on trails or biking on quaint roads. I sure do miss my kids, and puppies, though!

Saturday I went on another challenging bike ride – only 38 miles but we climbed 4000 feet, including two Cat 2 climbs. We went mainly up for 10 miles, however there were a few dips in it. At one point I going up and around the inside of a very tight hairpin turn, trouble was, so was a tour bus. The bus won, only after I screamed because it was taking up the whole road and I had nowhere to turn. I got new pedals last week and had trouble getting out of the clips because I was going so slowly.  Yikes that was scary! It was also scary trying to clip in and get going on the steep grade again. One of my favorite parts was listening to cow bells as I rode by. Beautiful, beautiful beautiful terrain.  I wish I could have seen the bottom from the top to really appreciate how high we climbed, and to share a photo of it with you! We double backed a little to avoid a Cat 1 descent; too many tight hairpin turns! As it was my hands and forearms were really tired going down, and those switchback turns are adrenalin rushes!

Saturday's Bike Route

 I got back just in time for lunch and a trip to Bellinzona to see the castles – incredible!!!! The pictures describe it better than I can. If you want to read about them, here is an address to a web site.

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/Specials/UNESCO-World_Heritage/Sites_in_Switzerland/Visitors_breach_Bellinzonas_defences.html?cid=7910466

Yep, it's the water closet!

Draw bridges and moats, how cool!

One of many charming buildings in Bellinzona.

This morning I went to the Italian church whose bells I always hear. Actually church bells ring all over every quarter hour. Every little village has a little church, and there are tiny villages everywhere. I wasn’t sure when the service was, and there wasn’t a sign, but I heard organ music so I went in. In my meager Italian and mainly gesture, I asked an older woman what time it started. When I came back, she was still there so I sat next to her. Too bad I must have been sitting in someone’s spot because although I didn’t understand her words, I understood I was supposed to move. I don’t think I sat in anyone else’s “reserved” spot! I only understood a few words in the whole service. I thought I would recognize some music, but I didn’t. 

Other tidbits:

This afternoon I went hiking in the maze of trails around here, and I made it back without getting lost. Getting lost is easy here because none of the roads are straight, and they all intersect at odd angles.

Our Curriculum Night ended with a wine and cheese reception!

The windows are still wide open here, and I’m still amazed that no critters have visited me. Thankful actually, Lauren and Kerry have had 2 bats visit their apartment.

I’m not the only one who couldn’t figure out how to get the van into reverse! I got to rescue Laura and drive her to the airport to pick up Kerry, who had been away for three weeks singing in an opera.

Ciao until next week!