Switzerland - Last week back home

There was one week left to wrap up a fantastic 2008 and I would spend it, as supposed to at christmas time, with my family in Switzerland. One more week before starting the adventure New Zealand, and it was very much like the other brackets I spent at home during the last 8 months.

Since april I was planning lo leave my homecountry permanently, so everytime I went home, which was between 4 and 10 days once a month, I could enjoy it a great deal. Eating typical food, attending events, hiking in the engadin valley, playing tennis with my brother, enjoying Zurich and our fabulous public transport system, just seeing my family and talking to them or this time around skiing, playing icehockey, catching up with old schoolfriends and looking at the breathtaking mountains covered in snow were things I never had enjoyed that much before. The fact that life and every little bit in it is volatile, that we are mortal, that nothing lasts, that's what makes life precious.

Why would I do such a crazy thing and leave Switzerland, a place so well-known for its wealth and beauty all around the world? Maybe because I am crazy. But then, everyone of us has his pecularities, and as long as it doesn't cause any harm to anyone, there is no reason for hiding them. In short, Switzerland didn't feel right anyomre when I came back from Down Under a year ago. The idea of living my life there was unbearable, and it felt like I could do something better with my life. I choose Christchurch and New Zealand because I believe that I'm going to have a great time there. After 15 months of treaveling I need a place to call home, where I can take part at regular activities, be part of a community and build up something. Christchurch is the place that I believe will suit me most.

In the end, saying goodbye to everything in Switzerland was tough, but staying any longer would have been impossible. And, by bording the train to Frankfurt from where I would fly to Auckland at New Year's Eve, the excitment about 2009 and my future in New Zealand was overwhelming.