We're off to Leukerbaud (spelling?) for the weekend with Alec & Danielle and special guest star..... Shivani! Hoping to enjoy some thermal baths in the mountains.

We just wrapped up 2 wks of vacation with Sue's mom and brother where we spent 5 days in Rome and 5 in Paris. Great sites, great food, great fun.

Last night, we went to the world famous Montreux Jazz Festival and saw Alicia Keys. Interestingly, she tied the record for most grammy's by a female artist in one year, with 5 awards in 2001. Other artists with this record include Lauryn Hill ('99), Norah Jones ('02), Beyone ('05???) and Amy Winehouse ('08). This and other fantastic tid bits can be found on Wikipedia.

Here are some overdue videos of our trip to China in April.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mYr6BpFZQKA

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Sm4mGK4IkFY

We just came back from 3 days in Nice, where we also did day trips to Monaco and Cannes. We were in Monaco a week before the Grand Prix and in Cannes a day before the Cannes Film Festival started. After no celebrity sightings the whole day, we settled down for one last drink on a hidden restaurant patio. To our right: Danny Glover. After telling our triumphant stories to our friends and co-workers here, we've discovered that that nobody actually really knows Danny Glover. The only possible way to describe him is "the black guy with Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon".



Here is a video of a trip we took last year to Lisbon, Portugal where we attended a football match against Poland. GOOOOOOAAAAAL!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRbhRk5Qop4

It’s the end of April and this is the first post of 2008. This could mean a few things:
- we have nothing going on in our lives worth sharing
- after having been here a year, we’re getting busier, leaving less time to do some of the things we used to do, like updating this page
- we lost all but 1 finger in a horrible accident involving a elevator door and a half drunk bottle of Nicaraguan rum. With 1 finger, it’s taken us a while to type this out.
The answer is a little of all of the above.

Also, there are about 2 other people reading this page at this point. One of them is family member and the other is you, and you found this page by accident after Googling “Free Tibet Nude Photos”.

Anyway, thanks for caring. To catch you up, here is one bullet point per month:
1. January: Sue spent a week in Toronto. Chris turned 28. We went sledging. Watch the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIHuGjjyCtk

2. February: We went to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, Sue bought Chris some drugs, and he took them. It was flu medication though. Here’s our trip to Amsterdam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGYOU9LLotY
(note, we've removed the video from youtube because of its racey content. email us if you really want to see it)

3. March: While in London on business, Chris got to see Jeanine Tan, and also ran into Lawrence and Ian.

4. April: We went to China. More to come on this one.

Lastly, we finally got around to sifting through some vintage video clips of our trip to Portugal and Spain last Septemeber with Jon, Joyce, Scott and Hang Kit. Here’s a video of our time in Barcelona, or as the Spaniards call it, Barthelona. They talk with lithpths.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl4jOUKB_L0

We'll be flying to Vancouver for the holidays and all we can think about is the sushi we're going to indulge in, even if it means we'll be crapping California rolls for a week.

One of the things we looked forward to about living in Geneva was the ability to escape Toronto's brutal winters. It appears that along with our furniture, the moving company also packed and shipped our Toronto winters to Geneva without asking if we wanted to bring them with us. We're told that this has been the coldest November to date in 60 years. We're filled with joy to be able to write climate history in Geneva.

It's now the third week of November and we noticed how odd it feels this year not to be in the thick of a "Shopping Mall Christmas" culture for the first time in our lives. You know, that "Shopping Mall Christmas" culture that North America has born and bred, where you can browse for a striped scarf at the GAP while Christina Aguilera belts out her latest rendition of "All I Want for Christmas", or window shop the Pottery Barn and catch a whiff of the neighboring Starbucks' steamed gingerbread soy latte double shot tall machiato espresso. That same "Shopping Mall Christmas" that dresses Telus pigs up in cute human outfits and plasters them all over the TTC, convincing us that every member of the family actually DOES need a new Samsung phone.

The sad truth is, it doesn't feel like home without it.

Here are the final installment of the adventure with the family when the visited.

The grandeur of the top of Europe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cI12mTPR7M

The only logical dinner after the grandeur of the Top of Europe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay3DhckC1L8

The last two months have been a whirlwind. Lisbon, Seville (a pit stop in Valencia), Barcelona, Prague, Interlaken and Budapest. Mom & Dad (Chan side) came for the trips to Prague, Interlaken and Budapest. What a fantastic time, and not surprisingly, filled with an abundance of hilarious moments. We eagerly await a trip with the Hua family next year.

Congratulations to the South Africans on their Rugby World Cup victory over England. We’ve learned that it’s very hard to cheer for Canada on the world stage for any sport except hockey. And that means that it’s very hard to cheer for Canada on the world stage for any sport that the rest of the world cares about. Go Canucks Go!

Interesting and somewhat related story: The South African team is called the “Springboks”, which as we understand, gazelle-like animals. At work a few days after the championship, Chris’ P&G cafeteria served springbok. Coincidence? Or some angry English rugby fan slash cafeteria chef?

We can’t believe that we’ll be going home to Vancouver in 8 weeks.

Here is a video of Budapest, the last leg of the family vacation and a day trip we took to Lyon in early September.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x18I5rU6XPQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8T7ZGxdq_k

It's been a while since we've posted. We've been on the road a lot.

Here's a video of our family trip to Prague. We'll come back with a post for our latest adventures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmZZTcsszas

We had also posted a non-publicized Swiss Nerds inside scoop video with behind the scenes footage of our family. Somehow it ballooned to 50 views without us even notifying anybody of it.

Message to Amber: Chris was thoroughly embarrased in a meeting with Grey on Thursday when Lindsey made a comment about how he "creatively cuts his hair" and then proceeded to tell all attendees of the meeting, including the marketing director how she saw aforementioned video on youtube. We have no idea how Amber stumbled onto the video, but thanks for sharing it with the world andn humiliating Chris. It has since been stripped off youtube.

We just got back from our trip to Portugal and Spain with Jon Shui, Joyce, Hang Kit and Jon's friend Scott Johnston. It would be a feeble attempt to try to capture the trip in words here. We'll post a few thoughts after we digest everything. The videos will take a while as we ship CD's across the ocean, sharing footage and photos. Jon and Scott will be releasing a 45 minute feature film of their trip, which includs 6 weeks in Africa before meeting up with us in Portugal. Stay tuned for a release date for. Joyce joined us after finishing a 3 month secondment in South Africa, and Hang Kit flew out from Toronto and met up with us on the second half of his 3 week European tour.

On the flight home, Chris came up with an idea for a movie. The story is about a team of Navy Seals who are captured, and the only way to save them is to call in a team of old retired Navy Seals - the best of the best:

> An ex-Austrian spy, now a politician, trained in the art of bad one liners and known for his trademark sunglasses. Played by Arnold Schwarznegger.
> Enter the underdog boxer slash jungle fighter, who has a tendancy for sequals. Played by Sly Stallone.
> Enter A ex-champion kickboxer and street fighter, known to gratuitously expose his butt cheeks and do the splits either in combat or in a training montage. Played by Jean-Claude Van Damme.
> Joining the dream team is an ex-All-American police officer with a young friend who sees dead people. Looking for a new life after his business of opening "Hollywood" themed restaurants went belly up. Played by Bruce Willis.
> From the shadows returns an Inuit warrior, lover of nature, and an intense stare down. Once trained in full karate, now only able to engage in close hand to hand combat or low kicks at best. Weapon of choice remains daggers. Played by Steven Segal.
> Finally, enter a ex-judo champion, turned "All in one" fitness centre spokesperson. Played by none other than Chuck Norris.

Think about the potential of this movie. I know. It just blew your mind.

Here's a video of a day trip we took to Montreux, Switzerland, a few weeks ago. We wanted to go to Lyon, France, but Chris forgot his passport.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T98IcidCe3k

One of the many beloved attractions in Vancouver is the Grouse Grind, a local hiking trail up the face of Grouse Mountain. Grouse was aptly named after Terry Grouse, a local lumberjack who gained minimal noteriety by surviving a bear attack in the early 1900's. Terry was struck to the ground by a powerful paw swipe from the bear to his face. Miraculously, he shot the bear in between the eyes with his shotgun as he was falling. The gunshot wound was only a minor setback to the bear, who continued to come after Terry. When it seemed absolutely hopeless, Terry reached deep down into the depths of his soul and found the strength to fight back. He bitch slapped the bear with all his might, accompanied by a terrifying shriek. The bear crumbled to the ground and shook the forest, like a dead bear falling in the forest.

In rememberance of Terry Grouse, we climbed the Saleve, a mountain just inside the border of France, which has the most stunning view of the city of Geneva. Chalk up another reason why Vancouver and Geneva are so similar.

4 bears were killed in the making of this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrE9y8uH_jM

On Thursday, we're off to Portugal and Spain for the Epic of Epic trips.

We have hit a travel drought and are itching to hit the road again. Our next big trip is in early Sept, to Portugal and Spain.

But to keep this blog updated, here are a few updates:

1) Sue is wrapping up her special assignment at Unicef. Over the past 4 months, she'd been researching all the countries that Unicef operates in, summarizing for some of the officers in the organization the social, political and economic landscape of the countries. Unicef is going through massive restructuring and we will see what opportunities open up for her come the fall.

2) Chris has had a busier than normal summer, continuing his work on Febreze. He's working on two product launches scheduled for July 2008.

3) Recently, we talked about great cartoons/toys from our childhood. Whenever this topic comes up, the obvious names come up: Transformers, G.I. Joe, Rainbow Brite, Strawberry Shortcake, Cabbage Patch Kids, Care Bears, and My Little Pony. But we dug deep to bring back the lost and forgotten heroes: Glo-worms, Teddy Ruxpin, My Pet Monster, and Popples. Will there ever be a greater era of cartoon/toys than the 80's? That's a rhetorical question. The answer is no. Unless in the year 2020, Teddy Ruxpin, My Pet Monster and three Popples get together and have kids, creating the ultimate cartoon toy:

Teddy Pet My Monster's Popple.

Coincidentally, in the year 2020, this will also be the headline on the front page of the newspaper upon the arrest and conviction of a local gym teacher for his inappropriate behaviour with students.

We recently went to the Paleo Music Festival in Nyon, Switzerland. Joined by 40,000 others, we saw Donovan Frankenreiter, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Arcade Fire and Bjork. Seeing Arcade Fire, one of our truly favourite bands, was among the best concert experiences (probably Sue's best). For those counting, this is our third Swiss Nerds video featuring Arcade Fire music. For anybody that can name the songs and the videos they've appeared in, we will send you a box of Swiss chocolates - promise (even if you live in Switzerland). No amateur footage will capture the essence of a live performance, but here's a video of our day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2riUiqKvqiU

July has come and almost gone. It marks our 6 months in Geneva. Our pace of traveling has slowed since our machine gun travel when we first arrived, but we’re saving ourselves for an upcoming monster trip to Portugal and Spain with Jon Shui, Scott Johnson, Joyce Sou and Hang Kit Wong. It’s going to be so rad.

In a moment of reflection, here are a few lessons learned:

1. The smellier the cheese, the better it tastes. We no longer eat cheese unless it smells like it’s been rotting in Hell for 4 years and spanks you in the face when you take a sniff.

2. Every month, we’ll receive a new bill that we never knew we owed. It’s like Christmas twelve times a year, except instead of getting a ribbed sweater from Banana Republic, it’s like getting a thumb jabbed in your eye.

3. Life without air conditioning isn’t so bad when you figure out a good way to fall asleep at night in the heat like we have: take turns smashing each other in the head with a textbook until somebody passes out.