More to come soon....

We have lots to update you about; namely our taping with HHI in Calgary and our final days in Canada-- but that won't happen today. Several people are asking for more blog entries (and I thank you for your patience in advance), but they will have to wait until we arrive in Geneva. There are too few stretches of uninterrupted time this week and I am hoping that since we will soon have no English TV except BBC and CNN that I will have plenty of time to fill you in on the move.
We will say a BIG THANK YOU to all of you for your support and encouragement and hugs and goodbyes to our many friends in Calgary for a wonderful past 4 years. We really hope to see many of you again soon (hint hint come and visit us!)

House Hunters International

Many of you are familiar with a reality TV show called “House Hunters International"  http://www.hgtv.com/house-hunters-international/show/index.html (in Canada we watch it on HGTV). It is one of Bernie’s favourites and I enjoy it as well. The concept is basically that you follow a family or couple looking for a second home/vacation home etc. in a foreign country. They narrow it down to three potential properties, discuss the pros and cons, and at the end you see which one they chose. Usually, they are looking at some spectacular million dollar vacation homes on exotic islands, though sometimes you’ll see a couple or single person looking for a rental apartment in a city. We’d been joking that our story would suit the show especially since we had never seen an episode in Geneva. Lo and behold, Bernie applied on the show and that started a series of phone calls and emails with the producers. We even had to send in a short video of our family—we hope that never gets leaked on the internet.

WE JUST RECEIVED THE NEWS THAT WE WILL BE ON THE SHOW!!!!

Note: I thought Bernie would be the most excited about it, but it seems Ethan can't wait for his 15 minutes of fame. After he tells people that we are moving, the next thing he says is "We're going to be on TV!"

Moving to Switzerland

In a few short weeks, we will be moving from Calgary, Canada to Geneva, Switzerland. How did this all come about?

Back in July, Bernie had an interview with the World Trade Organization (WTO) that seemingly went very well. He had applied on the job on a bit of a whim-- he hadn't even mentioned it to me until I got a call from Geneva asking for Bernie! Even though we had been discussing the option of moving overseas for about 5 years, we weren't sure if it would ever happen. Then came Bernie's phone interview from Calgary and subsequent face-to-face one in Geneva. It was all moving so fast and we were excited and dreaming about the possibilities.
Suddenly, summer came to an end.  There was still no news from the WTO.  We went on with our plans for the fall and enrolled the boys in school and lessons-- all the while feeling in limbo. It turned out that though they were considering Bernie for the job, they had to have an international committee review the hire. 
Then came October with an amazing offer and the possibility of moving to Switzerland became a reality-- and then the anxiety set in. Are we really going to do this? Bernie is happy and secure at his job at Bow Valley College. Ethan and Trevor love their schools and friends. Minoo is settled in to her routine and really does not want the upheaval of another move. After all, we had only been in this home for 2 short years. Are we really going to leave this all behind? Some thought we were crazy and brave for even contemplating it. Others thought it was right up our alley and seemed more excited for us than we were! All in all, it was a difficult decision, but we're taking a leap of faith and looking forward to the adventure.