Gallagher 2017

We are looking back on a year packed with wonderful times spent with family and friends, new opportunities, old routines and loads of amazing experiences. We are thankful for all that has been given to us throughout this year. Here is a glimpse at what we have been up to these past twelve months.

Ezra turned five in January and is in second kindergarten year. He continues to be our family clown, inventing characters and putting on a show – usually during dinnertime, which leaves him being the last one finishing breakfast, lunch and dinner. He loves fast cars, movies and anything loud – just like his voice!

Noah (8) is in second grade. He learned to swim this summer, started playing the recorder, and was able to perform Jingle Bells for Christmas. He enjoys drawing any kind of machinery (mostly farm vehicles) and climbs and hikes up mountains in record speed. He spends most of his free time with his friends around the neighborhood – loves the outdoors and loves helping us with any kind of physical work.

Anja is continuing her work with choreolab – traveling to Lisbon in spring and hosting a lab in Basel in fall. She also taught a children’s dance class in our area so that the boys got a chance to do some dancing of their own. She choreographed a high school musical production – which was quite a challenge with respect to the age group. She also completed her first dance movie, Transience, with her dear friend Sanne in the historic ruins of the Rüeggisberg cloister. In August, she officially opened her new therapeutic office for shiatsu, together with her friend Anita, who practices craniosacral therapy. It is named flügel11 (wing11) and is located in the historic buildings of Schwarzenburg’s castle. They are steadily ramping up with new clients and are enjoying the location immensely. Book an appointment - the treatments do wonders! ;)

My year started teaching refugees about programming in a startup initiative called powercoders.org, which has gained national funding recently. I continue to work at Edorex and have been able to help the agile organizational transformation to fixed teams. In June, I took a two-week timeout to reflect and meditate – resulting in part-time work with a startup company that is innovating in the field of hydropower. Keeping with the water theme, I have been involved in setting up a local association to help preserve the wells and secondary water supply throughout the area. Just so things would not get too boring, I enrolled in a paragliding school and continue to boulder, climb and spend as much time as possible in the mountains – love the peace and quiet up there! ;)

As a family, we have enjoyed numerous trips and vacations throughout the year. Ski vacation in Simmental in February, Legoland Germany in April, a family reunion in August and summer vacation in Ticino with lots of swimming, hiking, and a beautiful two weeks on the Island of Elba in September. On a sad note, we had to say goodbye to our dear cat Sidi in December, which has been with us for almost 17 years.

We hope these lines find you in good health and ready to dash into 2018. We are looking forward to seeing you next year!