I think I'm gonna like it here

I thought that I should make a blog post with some pictures from our everyday life here in Switzerland. It is rare that I do those kinds of posts because, frankly, I don’t really like to blog, but I do it because I like to have some sort of record of our adventures together as a family, and it is about as much as I can to get those down.
Anyway, I spent the first couple of weeks here moping about missing Marseille. I loved Marseille. And anyone who talks to me regularly is probably sick of me saying that, but I really did. I missed Marseille. I’m better now, and am falling in love with Switzerland. I am filled with gratitude as it seems like this move was such a good choice for our family. Perhaps most important is that Daniel loves his job here, which was the only real missing link in our Marseille experience. As for me, I landed an internship almost immediately at an NGO called Enfants du Monde which addresses maternal and neonatal health issues in developing countries in collaboration with the World Health Organization (somebody pinch me!) I spend two mornings per week in the office and do the rest from home, and I absolutely love it. It feels so good to be back in my field again. The village where we live seems like a child’s dream to me, with so many things to entertain them and an environment safe enough to give kids the type of freedom and independence that I haven’t seen anywhere that I have lived since growing up in Washington 20+ years ago. I didn’t know that there was still a place where young children could enjoy such liberty. All these things more than compensate for my petty complaints (Daniel likes to remind me how ridiculous they are), such as the fact that I hear English more than I would like or grouchy neighbors. This is the outside of our apartment building. Ours is the top left apartment. We really get a kick out of the rainbow blinds. I guess whoever thought of that wanted to add a little color to the green.

This is the park right outside of our builing. The kids love it.

About 200 meters away from our apartment starts a network of trails that leads through the forest. One follows along a creek until eventually hitting Lake Geneva, although we have never made it that far. The kids get too distracted. Here Jaxon is sharing the worm he found with Jonas.

Being on the fifth floor we have some great views of the Alps across the lake from our windows and balcony.

Mont Blanc from our balcony

Jaxon on his first day of school. He loves his school and is making a lot of friends. It really surprised me to find out that there is no barrier or fence around the school and that the kids just get let out when the bell rings and kids as young as 5 walk to and from school by themselves. They hire crossing guards. I guess it shouldn't surprise me. It was like that when I was in kindergarten.

These pictures are here because I know I won't do a separate post for them. We went with some friends to the circus zoo a couple of weeks ago. I thought these pictures were cute.