Markus & Anja's x-mas letter 2001

In January we finished up our Christmas vacation in Switzerland, visiting family and friends. We also spent a couple wonderful days skiing in the Swiss Alps in Andermatt. Back in the US, school got busy in a hurry. Anja's schedule was filled with dance classes and I managed to hang on during one of my most demanding semesters so far. I am still a TA for the Computer Science Department, which I enjoy very much. For spring break we headed off to Colorado. A rather unfortunate choice after a brutal first winter in Minnesota. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the Rocky Mountain spring skiing and visited with our friends in Denver. Right after spring break, Anja performed with University Dance Theater (UDT) and before we knew it spring semester was over. This is when we had to decide whether we wanted to remain in our apartment at Johnson St., or take the big step and buy a house. After many calculations, discussions, and initial problems of finding a loan (two students isn't the best security - I guess :), we managed to pull it off somehow. Needless to say, we flew back to Switzerland for summer break without knowing whether we had a house or not (for gory details on our house purchase story feel free to stop by and visit).

Both of us worked for 2 months at the United Bank of Switzerland (UBS). Anja taught a two-week summer dance intensive for her former students and I ventured my first steps in one of her modern classes. In August, Annie - one of Anja's friends from Minneapolis - came to visit us. We spent a wonderful two weeks of vacation in the southern part of Switzerland at Anja's parents vacation house. I spent a couple of awesome days climbing with my younger, but better brother Lenny.

The end of August we flew back to the US. We had one week to move into, repaint, and refinish the floors of our new home. Shortly after, school started up again and it was back to the old grind. We got a pleasant break from school in late September when we camped a Taylor's Falls in Wisconsin with friends for a weekend.

In October, Anja's parents - Ueli and Elizabeth - visited us, and helped us with the remodeling and winterization of the house. We fixed up the windows, extended the shed to serve as a garage, and painted the kitchen and basement. We had a wonderful time with them, and enjoyed showing them our everyday life in the Midwest. Finally, our house was ready for a house warming party on a weekend after Halloween. Over Thanksgiving break we traveled to Madison to meet up with my dad for a family reunion.

Ahhh... and here we are already in December. With a free Xmas tree from our realtor, we've been enjoying the mild advent season and our new home. Anja performed yet another concert with UDT and I've been busy working on my master's thesis, grading papers and projects for school. I am planning on finishing up my degree in Spring 2002, and will be looking for a job in the Twin Cities area. Anja has been offered a part time position at Minnesota Dance Theater (MDT) to teach beginning ballet. She is honored to be given this opportunity and is looking forward to starting in January.

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St. Paul, December 22, 2001

Dear friends, Once again another year has past. It seems that time keeps going by faster and faster. I guess it's just that more and more things are happening in our lives. We are thankful for this past year. We've been blessed with good health, support from our families and lots of wonderful friends. I won't hold you long this time around and just give you a brief outline of the highlights from our past year. Feel free to click on the links to see more pictures and note that there are also links to the previous x-mas letters in the top right corner! So... here's our 2001 in chronological order:
In January we finished up our Christmas vacation in Switzerland, visiting family and friends. We also spent a couple wonderful days skiing in the Swiss Alps in Andermatt. Back in the US, school got busy in a hurry. Anja's schedule was filled with dance classes and I managed to hang on during one of my most demanding semesters so far. I am still a TA for the Computer Science Department, which I enjoy very much. For spring break we headed off to Colorado. A rather unfortunate choice after a brutal first winter in Minnesota. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the Rocky Mountain spring skiing and visited with our friends in Denver. Right after spring break, Anja performed with University Dance Theater (UDT) and before we knew it spring semester was over. This is when we had to decide whether we wanted to remain in our apartment at Johnson St., or take the big step and buy a house. After many calculations, discussions, and initial problems of finding a loan (two students isn't the best security - I guess :), we managed to pull it off somehow. Needless to say, we flew back to Switzerland for summer break without knowing whether we had a house or not (for gory details on our house purchase story feel free to stop by and visit). Both of us worked for 2 months at the United Bank of Switzerland (UBS). Anja taught a two-week summer dance intensive for her former students and I ventured my first steps in one of her modern classes. In August, Annie - one of Anja's friends from Minneapolis - came to visit us. We spent a wonderful two weeks of vacation in the southern part of Switzerland at Anja's parents vacation house. I spent a couple of awesome days climbing with my younger, but better brother Lenny. The end of August we flew back to the US. We had one week to move into, repaint, and refinish the floors of our new home. Shortly after, school started up again and it was back to the old grind. We got a pleasant break from school in late September when we camped a Taylor's Falls in Wisconsin with friends for a weekend. In October, Anja's parents - Ueli and Elizabeth - visited us, and helped us with the remodeling and winterization of the house. We fixed up the windows, extended the shed to serve as a garage, and painted the kitchen and basement. We had a wonderful time with them, and enjoyed showing them our everyday life in the Midwest. Finally, our house was ready for a house warming party on a weekend after Halloween. Over Thanksgiving break we traveled to Madison to meet up with my dad for a family reunion. Ahhh... and here we are already in December. With a free Xmas tree from our realtor, we've been enjoying the mild advent season and our new home. Anja performed yet another concert with UDT and I've been busy working on my master's thesis, grading papers and projects for school. I am planning on finishing up my degree in Spring 2002, and will be looking for a job in the Twin Cities area. Anja has been offered a part time position at Minnesota Dance Theater (MDT) to teach beginning ballet. She is honored to be given this opportunity and is looking forward to starting in January. 2morrow, we're flying back to Switzerland to celebrate Christmas with our families. There will be many more stories to tell and adventures to share! We wish you all peaceful holidays and hope to see you soon! Love, Markus and Anja