Rubin Trek 2017

Remember from the last post that I was going to mention more about my English conversation sessions with students/staff from ETH?  Well, I am thrilled that 4 people answered my ad.  I meet each of them once a week for about an hour.  Not only have I met Sandra (originally from Mexico) who gave us the excellent recommendation of the hike to Aescher Restaurant, but I've also met Josaine (from Brazil), Elena (from Switzerland) and Rama (from India).  I am helping them with English and I learn so much from them about their home countries and what it feels like to live in Zurich. And there are more coincidences with Rama.  Not only did he participate in Miles' short course at ETH, but he also organized a full-day hike for the Mechanics Group.  Miles and I, along with 14 others (one other professor and family plus graduate students all who represented 8 different countries:  Italy, Spain, Russia, Hungary, Israel, India, Holland and Mexico) met at the Zuri...

On our sabbaticals, one of the most enjoyable activities I have developed while Miles is working is to find local university students or staff who want to practice English.  The secretary in Miles' dept. at ETH was nice enough to send out a notice "advertising" free English conversation practice with a professional teacher (me).  So far, I have 4 students and I have a wonderful time meeting them and they enjoy speaking English.  (More about this another time). One student, Sandra, suggested a day hike/lunch in mountain restaurant and, WOW, was it special!  We would have never heard about this without Sandra's suggestion.  And making it even nicer, our son Daniel and his partner Sefi were visiting and joined us on this incredible day. The four of us took the 2-hour train trip from Zurich to Wasserauen, a small town in the Appenzell Canton, east of Zurich.  This area is known as the "most hilly" area of Switzerland.  The craggy alpine scenery is ver...