Up, Up, and Away

After a brief weekend of farewells (and a bit more packing) in Edmonton, the time had come to say goodbye to Canada. The prospect of flying First Class (Business Class) seemed to soften the blow somehow. It gave us all something to look forward to and distracted us from the fact that we were leaving all that was familiar behind. Again, the WTO really came through with a great itinerary and of course first/business class seats for the entire family. We set off on November 28, 2011 and flew Edmonton-Calgary-Frankfurt-Geneva. It took about 12 hours including the connections but it seemed to fly by (ha ha).

The kids were  really excited about the individual sleeper pods that we would each get on the plane, but Minoo was most excited about checking out all the Airport Lounges. Here is Ethan at the Maple Leaf Lounge in Edmonton.

Cookies and club soda.

Funny story: as we were helping ourselves to the soup and salad bar in the Calgary Airport Lounge, we ran into our Calgary next-door-neighbour who was travelling for business. We had a good laugh! Of course there were many more cookies for the kids and a nice coffee selection for us.

At last, it was time to board the plane and check out our cool seats:

According to Air Canada regulations, each child must have a parent sitting directly behind him. So one side was Trevor and Minoo and the other was Ethan and Bernie.

Bernie enjoying all that leg room. The seat fully reclined into a bed and was quite comfortable even for Bernie's 6 ft tall frame.

We had individual TVs with noise-reducing headphones, comfy blankets and large pillows. They even gave us a menu describing the gourmet meals to come. All drinks were in glassware and we were given proper china, linens, and flatware. Our only regret is that we hadn't requested children's meals for the boys. They weren't so keen on the fancy selections. Good thing they ate so much in the lounges!

Coffee and chocolate pecan pie?  Yes, please!

Trevor watching TV with chair fully reclined.

Ethan doing the same.

It was a pretty peaceful and easy flight; definitely the way to go overseas! It was hard to wake the boys once we arrived in Frankfurt-- they were having such a good sleep. But the promise of tasty treats at the Airport Lounge seemed to do the trick.

What do they serve in Frankfurt Lufthansa Lounge? Delicious soft pretzels and wieners of course. And since it was close to Christmas, there were lots of marzipan and chocolate treats too. Only one flight left and we would begin our new life in Switzerland.





The Big Move

We finally have the Internet up and running in the house and some photos uploaded on the computer (thanks, Bernie) so I will try to get caught up on posting.

It feels like ages ago (end of November), but here are some photos showing the process of moving from Canada to Switzerland. The WTO was extremely generous with their relocation allowance; we are so grateful to them for all their help and advice with the move. Basically, we had a large shipping container to fill with furniture, clothes, toys, kitchenware, and other essentials which would be sent by sea. Bernie's VW Jetta would be shipped in the same container. They estimated it would take up to 2 months to arrive so we were also allowed a small air shipment that would arrive within a couple of weeks. We had movers/packers coming so our main job was to sort which items would go CARGO, AIR, or SUITCASES. Then of course there were the trash, recycle, sell, store, and give away piles.

It was a big relief to have the movers arrive and see some progress with all those piles!

 Cargo items.

Everything in the kitchen but the kitchen sink (ha ha) and no small appliances of course

 as the voltage wasn't compatible. 120 V in Canada vs. 240 V in Europe

Air shipment items.

This was the toughest for me to get organized for the movers. We were planning to stay in an apartment/hotel until the air shipment arrived and we got the keys to our new home. We needed enough clothes and towels and kitchenware and pots and pans to get through a month or so in an empty home. Plus all of Bernie's work clothes and lots of winter gear in case we wanted to go to the mountains for some tobogganing or skiing over the winter break. Then there was the box of craft supplies and the box of books and boxes of toys to keep the kids busy....

Trevor with the guys from the moving company. They nicknamed him "Bubble Boy" as he loved to pop the bubble wrap.

Day 2 of packing started with the very early morning arrival of the shipping container.

There goes the Jetta.

And that's it for the container.

After they left with the air shipment items on a separate truck, Bernie and I were now in overdrive to get our suitcases packed and deal with all the leftover/unwanted items. Ethan and Trevor got to spend their last day in Calgary with their buddies playing and watching TV while we got the house emptied and ready for the cleaning crew. We are so lucky to have amazing friends in Calgary who came to help with the our final day which consisted of packing up a small u-haul of things to take to storage and a dump run. Thank you again!

As for our house, we decided to rent it out with a Management  Company for the 2 years that we will be away. They secured a family to move in by December 1, which was a big relief. We hope they love that house and neighbourhood as much as we have. 

House Hunters- Part One, Calgary

After the application process and planning with the producer, they set a date for the film shoot in Calgary. Of course, it being November in Calgary, the day they arrived it was suddenly -24C (-29C with wind chill) and snow was on the ground. Note: the prior weekend it was +10C and so was the following weekend. I guess they got the "Canadian winter"shots they expected for the show. Our crew (1 sound guy and 1 camera guy) were local but the director flew in from LA so he was in for a shock especially since most of our shoot was supposed to be outside i.e. playing with kids in backyard and going to the park at Rocky Ridge Ranch and then going to the Calgary Zoo. So they quickly changed plans to allow for more indoor filming.

We still ended up going to the zoo and filmed mostly indoors at the gorilla habitat and also the river otter habitat. It was actually really nice to have a last visit at the Calgary Zoo as we had spent many many days there over the past 4 years-- it was our go-to spot in Calgary for sure. They got a few shots of us all bundled up and walking outside in the blowing wind, but we have no idea what will actually make it on the show. They figure that after editing, our 3 hours at the zoo would most likely turn into 1-2 minutes.

The other part of the day was spent in the house with us giving a bit of a tour of our place and interviews about what we would like in a home in Geneva. We weren't expecting to show the whole house as many rooms were full of boxes and a complete mess in my opinion, but they assured me that we won't look like slobs on TV (let's hope!) . The director (who had an uncanny resemblance to our friend Bernie Minute) kept asking the kids tons of questions as well and they quickly got used to the camera and just acted naturally--- not sure that is a good thing. Again, we have no idea how it will be edited but hope that they show us in a good light! Overall, it was a good experience. A bit hard not to look at the camera when speaking but we might have movie stars in the making!

Part Two of filming is slotted for January and they hope to air the show by May.

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.