Last Day

Today has been a fantastic yet emotional day. We have gone from this...

To this... 

(Not everyone was available at the time photo was taken but you get the idea!)

We had a great yet emotional last day. Here's some photos from today's festivities:

Parents, if you haven't checked your email in the last day or two, please do so. There is information on flights home and August events there. See you soon!

Elviene 

Some more photos during this final week

Here are some pictures of the students in various activities.  The first ones are their efforts in calligraphy class:

The "noodle party" was the schools's version of Nagashi Somen, a traditional Japanese noodle event.

It was fun to catch the noodles as they flowed by in the water,   Here is a picture of the traditional way it is done, using a piece of bamboo:

Finally, a good, fun time really has been had on a daily basis here, and this is just a snapshot.  

Pretty respectable!    

Only 3 more sleeps until we arrive home!! Friday is our farewell and we will experience the events of a Japanese festival. Can't wait!      - Ms.B

Final Week

Can you guess who snuck my phone at breakfast this morning? :)

Not much to post this week as students are finishing up their classes. Emotions are mixed as they're both eager to go home and sad to leave.

Elviene 

Swiss National Weekend

On Saturday, Switzerland celebrated their Swiss National Day. We woke up to a cloudy morning in Leysin.

In Leysin, they have an annual half-marathon that starts in Aigle (at the bottom of the mountain), passes Leysin and goes up to Berneuse (above Leysin), and then ends in Leysin. The Swiss are a fit group of people!! Even the Japanese students are quite active; there is hardly a moment that we don't hear them playing in the basketball court outside. A number of students & staff participated in the marathon, and numerous students cheered them on. Here are posters a number of the students made to cheer on their Japenese peers:

Tim & I watched a number of people fly in through the finish line. We couldn't believe how fast some of the runners came in (considering most of the trek was uphill & even the downhill was on quite  a steep track). 

In the evening, many students came out to see the fireworks that were being set off up the mountain!

This morning, the students also helped to serve the annual Canadian brunch! Here, the students served a very high calorie-intake meal including poutine, bacon & eggs, and waffles (with white sauce, whip cream, ice cream, AND berries). The Japanese students were loving it! And it is probably some of the best waffles I've ever tasted. 

Tomorrow will be a sad day for me as I see Tim off to the airport, as he will need to be back at work at home on Tuesday. And the final countdown for the rest of us is on!

Elviene & Tim

France!

Today, we took an excursion to Chamonix, France. Chamonix is a little resort town near the foot of Mont Blanc, which is the highest mountain peak in Europe. The mountains were beautiful, although Mont Blanc itself was covered in snow and not always easy to see.

Once arriving in Chamonix, we took the train up to Mer de Glace. It was about a 20 minute train ride up the mountain and there were nice views of the mountains from there.

We did a short walk through of a crystal gallery, where they displayed various crystals formed in caves in the area. This was an amethyst:

From there, we hiked down the mountain to approach the famous glacier. It was a long trek down, and at the end, included over 400 steps to see the glacial cave.

Once we got down to the caves, we walked inside the glacier. The glacier is constantly receding and gravity is pushing the glacier down the hill at 1cm every hour, or 90m per year. Every morning, workers recarve the cave to compensate for this movement to ensure it is safe to go inside. It was very interesting walking into the ice cave.

After the caves, we walked the 400+ steps back up to a cable car, which took us back to where we started, and then we trained it back to Chamonix. Here, Tim & I are squashed into the cable car with Nathalie & Chantal!

Once we got back to Chamonix, students had a couple hours to explore Chamonix. Students enjoyed some French crepes and shopping before we headed back home.

Because of the Swiss national day tomorrow, students had today off, so they get a nice long weekend. They'll have some "time off" to rest and explore in Leysin over the next two days. Many of the students seemed a little extra tired today, so the rest will do them good. The weather has also been a bit cooler in Leysin lately (i.e. it was only +9C when we woke up for breakfast this morning), so that's actually been a refreshing change from the heat. In spite of the exhaustion some students are feeling, the consensus has been that all are sad to realize that this is their final week in Switzerland. 

Tim & Elviene