Austria and Ski Touring

Last weekend was a three-day weekend at school, so I took advantage of the extra day off and rode a train for 9 hours to Salzburg, Austria. My friends Hayes, and Jen are working at an international school just outside of Salzburg, so I was there to meet up with them. The weather was crummy (cloudy and rainy), but we still had a nice weekend together. I would like to make it back to Austria at some point in time while I'm still over here.

At the AUGUSTINER ABBEY & MÜLLNER BRÄU BREWERY

Overlooking Salzburg

Hayes and I

Overlooking Salzburg

Here in Leysin, and a majority of the other resorts over here, we've been suffering from a nearly snowless winter. We went around 60 days with no snow...ridiculous. But Friday night it started snowing, took a break on Saturday, and has been snowing all day Sunday. Finally we have some real powder to ski in. Yesterday I went on a ski tour with five friends (Shane, Pezz, Aaron, Erin, and Ethan). We were out for about 5.5 hours and in that time we only skied down for about 20 minutes. A lot of work with little reward. But we found untouched powder and got an amazing workout while at it.

A nice break on top of a saddle

Prafandaz Restaurant for a post-ski drink and snack (chocolate cake)

Post-ski beverage

Aaron and I (I'm exhausted and it shows)

(Thanks for the pics Shane)

The Last Two Weeks

Well my life during the week continues to be rather mundane. Work. Dorm Duty. Maybe skiing. Knocks on my door when I'm not working. Same restaurants. Same people. But all in all relatively good. We haven't had a real snow in some 53 days. Watching all the snow fall everywhere but here was crazy. Last week instead of skiing I rode my bike...yes, it was that nice out...a bit cold in the shade, and plenty of water on the roads from snow melt, but the temps were right.

My friends Peter and Leslie visited two weeks ago and spent a couple days here in Leysin and then we went down to Chamonix. They brought me some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and NyQuil. The Reese's are nearly gone. They NyQuil hasn't been tapped into yet, thankfully I don't need it. It was so refreshing to spend time with people from back home. I have friends here, but it's different. Their visit was great and they even got engaged when we were in Chamonix! A very ideal place for a proposal!

This past weekend I went to Paris for my 2nd visit. I fee like I'm getting acquainted with the city now and I'm excited for my next visit which will be in the summer for the Tour de France...maybe sooner.

A couple of weeks ago I went tubing with my "family" from school. The tubing is much better than the skiing. With the warm temps during the days and cold temps at night, it turns the tracks into ice. We had a lot of fun! Here's a video

Chamonix

Hey, two blog posts in one week...I'm doing well!! This weekend I went with three coworkers to Chamonix, France, which is considered to be one of the best ski resorts in the world. After this weekend I would say that it is one of the most beautiful ski resorts in the world, but for the skiing I can't really comment too well...the snow conditions were not that great. But it's easy to imagine if there is good snow, then there will be amazing skiing. Despite the conditions, we had fun skiing, and it excites me to return later in the season. It seems like many of the ski resorts are suffering from a lack of snow, and it seems like my previous two homes are not (Korea and Missouri).

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107013&id=1393045053&l=64e925bb70

Looking Back

This evening I had dorm supervision duty, which means that for 4 hours I sit at a desk or wander the dorm and make sure students stay relatively on task. Out of boredom while sitting at my desk I thought it would be kind of fun to look back at my blog. My first entry was some time back in June/July of 2008. I laughed a lot about some of the things I wrote. Two years ago seems like such a long time ago. Lately I've lacked the motivation to write much, but I'm going to try again. This semester should be full of opportunities to take pictures, ski and travel, so hopefully I'll get some of those pics and stories up on here.

This past weekend I went to Gstaad, Switzerland, which is about an hour from here. Normally it has great skiing, but lately the weather has been quite warm and all the ski resorts at lower elevations suck (including Leysin). So we went a bit higher for a little better conditions. A friend from Asia was in town for work with her marketing team. Since she does some work with school counselors, I was written off as a business expense...which means my hotel, lift tickets, and meals were taken care of. A great, unexpected gift! Despite the poor ski conditions it was a fun weekend with a group of people outside of work. I'm waiting on pictures from the people I was with...if I get some, then I'll post them.

This weekend I am supposed to be on duty, but got it switched so that I can go to Chamonix, France with 3 coworkers to ski. I have high expectations for the skiing there, but if the snow is not good, at least the scenery will be. I will take my camera with me.

There's a lot going on in my mind right now about the future. I came here with the intention of staying 3 to 5 years, but as you've read in previous posts I'm not to keen on my school, so I will hopefully be leaving after my initial 2 year contract is up. There are some positives about being here, namely the travel opportunities, riding my bike, skiing, and having worked in a Swiss boarding school, believe it or not, is a huge C/V booster. Part of me would like to stay in Europe, but another part of me would like to go back to Asia...I'm thinking Japan. There are several jobs that I'm interested in that are posted for the next school year, but I will have to hope that some jobs that I'm interested in will be available for the year after (starting Fall 2012). If I stay in Europe I will need to be in a city. Despite my love for the outdoors, I need more than that...I need people, culture, energy, etc. But I need to focus on now, and make the most of my current situation, which really is quite good.

That's enough for now. Pictures to come in the near future...

Korea Revisited

Much to my surprise and many others, I opted to return to Korea for my Christmas vacation. I had originally planned on traveling Europe during the holiday, but after an exhausting semester I just wanted to see some friends and escape from what was, at times, a sterile life in Switzerland. Rather than returning home for the holidays where the goodbyes never seem to get easier, I came to Korea instead.

After arriving in Switzerland I began doubting my decision to leave Korea. I worked at a great school and had great friends, but my view of Korea was jaded by things in my control as well as things out of my control. In Korea I struggled with living a healthy life - physically, mentally, emotionally, etc. - and that was my number one reason for leaving. I had a love/hate relationship with Korea. My life is the classic case of the grass always being greener on the other side. Anyways, I was second guessing my decision to leave and was even considering a return back to Korea for work.

This trip has brought some closure for me, even though the temptation to return still lurks around the corner. Korea is a fun place. There is an energy that exists there that I haven't experienced anyplace else. But I want to live a healthy life and I want a healthy relationship and I don't foresee myself having/doing either if I returned to Korea. So my three weeks here have confirmed my decision to leave and my thoughts about my life here...but who knows what will happen in the future...I'm known to make decisions that don't make much sense.

It's been great to see friends and to see people who I thought I would probably never see again. When I arrived at the Incheon airport it felt like I never left. I'm comfortable here in Korea and I know how things work here. I know more Korean than I do French (I know zero French), so it's pretty easy for me to get around. I stayed at my friend's apartment, so I had a free place to crash. I spent my first night here throwing up...not because I drank too much, but because I either caught the 24 hour flu or ate something bad on the plane...I think it was the 24 hour flu. Thankfully the school nurse was able to get me to the doctor the next day. It's been bitter cold here in Korea, much colder than in Switzerland. After the stomach issue left, I then caught a cold, which I've had for the duration of my trip. I went to the doctor two times here, and then the other day a filling popped out, so I will go to the dentist before I leave. But despite all this, I've had a good time here, and I'm leaving excited to return to Switzerland.

The start of the semester will be busy, but I'm rewarded with skiing during the school day and then some weekend trips to different ski resorts around Switzerland and France. My friends Peter and Leslie are visiting at the end of January/beginning of February. They will spend a couple of days in my town, and then we're headed to Chamonix, France for a few days of skiing there. I welcome any visitors. Living overseas and not being able to share my life with people close to me gets kind of old, so I'm excited to have some visitors!

Well, there's a brief update of my life...if anyone is still reading this..hah.

Pictures

Here are some links to pictures that I haven't posted on here...

Switzerland:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97744&id=1393045053&l=936805be31

Cycling:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97737&id=1393045053&l=9fc4b7e3e6

Paris:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90828&id=1393045053&l=ccff8b80c6

Milan:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97740&id=1393045053&l=3f7ac01e00

Barcelona:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97743&id=1393045053&l=74c74c7f07

Lacking Motivation

My friend Hayes visited for a few days

Sunset from my window


It's been forever since I last posted. I haven't been in the mood to write anything partly due to the fact that I've been struggling some with being here. I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, but where I spend most of my time, at work, is not so beautiful. I've learned some lessons that I will apply when searching for my next job, which may end up being sooner than later...I'm still deliberating. In the future I will avoid working for a "school" which is for-profit. Education does not come first at such places. I will also avoid working at a boarding school that is not independently staffed by someone other than the teaching faculty. We are put through a juicer here...squeezed for every minute and every dime. But being here has afforded some great opportunities when time allows.

Four weeks ago a coworker and I headed down the mountain to watch the first race in the World Cup Cyclocross series. National champions from all of the world kicked off the series in Aigle, which is just 30 minutes from where I live. There were 3 riders there from the USA, so we cheered them on...they were probably wondering who was cheering for them :)


Jeremy Powers at the World Cup race...go USA!


Amongst the snowy days and rain that has been common lately I was able to get out for 2 final rides before the season ended. Now I anxiously await ski season to roll around the corner. I went down to the ski shop last week to check out their "touring" skis, which will allow be to go just about anywhere. It's like a combination between cross country and alpine skiing. Great for fun and fitness!
My favorite bridge to ride across


The month of November is crazy at work since we will be processing about 800 college applications. But despite this I booked 3 of the 4 weekends for travel. This past weekend I went to Milan, Italy (I'll say more in a minute). Next weekend I will be going to Barcelona, Spain and the weekend following that I will be in London.

Since my time here I have been to Italy twice. I'm in love with this place, but will most likely never be able to get a job there because of visa issues. If I were to take a year off from work, I would definitely consider doing a language program in Italy. The people are friendly, the food is amazing, the language is beautiful and there is plenty of cycling all around the country. It's about a 3.5 hour train ride to Milan, which goes by quite quickly. For those of you fashion gurus, Milan is the place to be. I was with one coworker and we stayed with his friend that is studying there, so we had a "tour guide" and a free place to crash. A majority of our time was spent checking out the historical sites...the two most notable places being the "Duomo di Milano" and da Vinci's "The Last Supper." Ancient architecture blows my mind and to see one of the most famous paintings in history was amazing! A group of us then went to see one of the largest European soccer rivalries: AC Milan vs. Inter Milan. 85,000 fans chanting, singing, and yelling. They are emotional about their times. The atmosphere was buzzing with energy! Both teams have played much better soccer in the past, but it was a once in a lifetime experience to be there! We arrived back at Leysin at 3:30am Monday morning...work started at 8am...and I made it there at 9:30am.
Duomo di Milano


At the San Siro Stadium


It looks like the stands are on fire, but just some flares!

Audrey Hepburn and I


Christmas break is starts in about 5 weeks. I never thought I'd say it, but I miss Korea and many of my friends back there. So I'm planning on booking a ticket there for Christmas. I lost motivation to travel here during break. I just want to relax and not bounce around. So Korea here I come (90% sure).