switzerland – trippingdifferently

July 19, 2023

Graduated! Matura Done! Next Chapter…

I am a proud mother of a young man who has graduated from the Gynamisum in Solothurn, Switzerland. That’s pre-uni level for our family and friends in other parts of the world.

So he has breezed through 2 years of kindergarten, found his feet during 6 years in primary school, survived 2 years of secondary school and put in the hard work for his 4 years of Gymi (pre-uni); a total of 14 years of formal education!

There was a lovely graduation ceremony at the end of June. I really liked it. It was filled with speeches, music and dance. One of the more moving and inspiring speeches was by this well-known singer/poet who has Iranian heritage (I have sadly forgotten her name) and she spoke so movingly about how women in Iran have no movement in all aspects of their lives, thus have little choice in their direction in life. The ceremony’s theme was Movement – so she encouraged the graduates to take hold of their options to have choices and to move forwards in life.

Here are a few photos from that lovely ceremony, which took place in a redevelopment of an old cement factory:

Next chapter for my boy – National Service in Singapore. While he has deferment pending renunciation of citizenship, he has chosen to serve. We fully support his decision. It would be good for him to experience life in Singapore and have some time to consider what he might want to do for further studies or a career.

syc

April 30, 2023May 6, 2023

Holiday Fun with Old Friends

3 of my primary school classmates decided to holiday in Switzerland. It has been so long since I went on holiday without my family. I think the last time was when Tobias was little and I went for a few days to Bintan (If my memory does not fail me) with my best friend from Poly while my mother looked after Tobias.

Here are a few pictures, just some highlights of what we saw and did:

One of the many presents my friends brought us – THANK YOU!

As you can guess from the above pictures, we went to lots of places, saw a good number of things and walked many steps. It was so much fun; talking, laughing, sharing, and being together 24/7 for 17 days. We loved it all! Who would have thought that friends who only reconnected a few years ago after not being in touch for many years could have such a blast, traveling together across 3 countries!

Looking forward to seeing you gals again real soon!

syc

March 29, 2023

Chasing the Snow…

Yep, that’s what we did for the February sports holidays here in Switzerland. We went searching for snow. Why? Because global warming/climate change has meant that this alpine nation, once known for great skiing didn’t get enough snow for the season!

So we went up to a mountain we had never been to before, having heard that they might have more snow than others – we went to Crans Montana. Not somewhere we would usually go because it’s a bit further away and has been known to be expensive.

While there was little snow in the village, just a short up the way you could see the white stuff so it was not too bad. We had an okay time. The husband and son said the snow was not good by the afternoon, so they returned early and decided not to ski the next day. Lexi and I had a wonderful walk across the mountain; the views were amazing. But I took a tumble on an icy patch near the end of our walk; that sort of put a damper on things.

The hotel we stayed at was nice, the staff lovely and the food pretty good. So no complaints there. We left early on the 3rd day and made a pit stop at Fribourg, the university city in the French part of Switzerland. It was nice to see this city again after many years.

Here are some photos of our trip: