It was a gorgeous Fall here at the southern edge of the Black Forest. Temps stayed quite comfortable and the winter rains held pretty much off until the passing of Christmas.
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| Fall colors with a canola field in the foreground and vineyards up the hill |
In late October our school attended Basel, Switzerland's annual Fall festival as is our custom (20 minutes from BFA) - always a treat!
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| Hanging out by Europe's tallest portable Ferris wheel |
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Ran into Daniel - former student and one of Carl's best buddies
The refugee crisis has met with mixed feelings. Germany has welcomed many and our local communities are doing their share to help these displaced people. But not all agree. Our town was chosen as a place to trot out some anti-refugee activism. The pictures below show the crowd of locals who were gathered to outshout (with voices, trumpets, vuvuzelas, etc.) the anti-refugee group plus the gathering at the local Lutheran church to pray through this and support refugees. It made us proud to see our town take a loving stand. |
We were able to host a dinner with some old and new friends from Belarus who were in the area checking out TeachBeyond's schools. Diane has sent many teams for English Camps their way.
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| Delicious dinner spiced with some lovely Slavic accents! |
The Christmas season has its share of markets to visit. We went to one in Ribeauville, France (45 minutes away) and visited with a guy who we've come to call a friend. His shop sells tablecloths and he always offers us a cup of coffee. Come to see us and we'll make sure you meet Jean.
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| Jean, dealing with a customer and wearing his festival wild boar hat |
We, after living here for 8 years, decided to take a drive to Bern, Switzerland (1.5 hours away). We had a free day over Christmas break and enjoyed getting to know a new (to us) and beautiful city.
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| Above the Bern Cathedral's front door |
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An old chocolate factory (or maybe just an ad) in Bern
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Christmas Day:
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| Carl & his buddy Joe (in his new Lederhosen) |
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| Christmas guest playing an online game together |
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| It took a while, but we finally got the shot |
And now, winter!
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| One of our many walking paths in the town and environs |
