EXPERTS ONLY- in the Alps

So, we're back from the Alps!!  Everything was so beautiful but the skiing was terrifying... for me at least.  Paul really enjoyed it but I was scared out of my mind.  Everyone (including 3 year olds) are expert skiiers and the bunny slope was EXTREME.  But our friends thought me and another girl (she had only skiied once before) could handle going to the top but as soon as we got there we knew it was a mistake.  So we looked over the 'cliff' and said 'yeah, right.'  Somehow, 2 hours later, we finished the 15 min run and I was dripping with sweat with extremely tense muscles.  One of our friends (a postdoc in Paul's group) had found us right as we were beginning.  She is an expert and used to teach kids.  So she coached us the whole way.  Needless to say, I never went back to try it again.  We stayed on the extreme bunny slope for the rest of the weekend and improved as much as we could.  At one point, we waited at the top of the slope for the fog to clear and sat there so long that the old Swiss guy manning the hut started talking with us.  However, he was talking Swiss German and I had already given many blank stares when they would try to help us get on the t-bar lift (basically a bar that sits right under your butt and pulls you on your skiis up to the top- not easy to get at first).  But the other girl, Rachel, knew some German so she would pick out words she knew and try to draw on that.  She did a really good job and he was our friend for the rest of the day.  There were a lot of "Es tut mir leid"s (Im sorry) from us in the conversation and he would tell us "Viel Glück!" (good luck) as we took off- slowly of course.  :)  The whole time, Paul looked like he had been skiing all his life.  But we all had a great time and 10 of us slept in 2 bunks- basically 5 mattresses pushed together for the top and bottom- very interesting.  They served us a 4 course dinner (soup, salad, beef, rice, veggies, and pudding) and had a great breakfast in the morning complete with Nutella. :)  The train rides were so much fun and now I am so incredibly sore.  Here are a few pictures:

For other news, we got the apartment!  The family that is moving out checked on it for us and they were hesitant to give it to us because of our income but he told them that he had been approved with the same income and I was looking for a job and so they gave in.  We havent received the contract yet though and they called Paul to say they are redoing the bathroom before we move in so the rent will be higher.  I'm excited for the bathroom but now I really need to find a job.  We found out that some way or another ETH will make sure I get a B permit- it may be this week or it may be in a couple months.  So Ive been back to job searching but I've run out of places to apply and am already receiving rejections.  But I'm still searching and still playing the waiting game...

Other than that, things are back to 'normal.'  You can go here to check out more pictures of the Alps:  http://picasaweb.google.com/erickson.jes/Switzerland02  Oh, and Paul got me yummy Lindt truffles and these beautiful tulips Friday night for Valentines Day: