Ruxandra's Blog: Belated end of year summary

Sledding

2014 was beautiful and hard in its own way. It was a good year. See pictures below. David is in second grade. He has been going to a new school. The move has been quite stressful, but he is starting to like it now. Edward is 4 and not yet allowed to go to kindergarten because he was born after July 31st, and the law in Switzerland is quite strict in that respect. I also live close to work now, which is quite convenient, and close to the veterinary hospital, which has been fun. We have watched the autopsy of a sheep, and how they put all its organs in bags with liquid nitrogen. Cows that come here are often very thin and have IV lines with fluids. We've seen the ambulance for animals and were disappointed that it does not make loud sounds.

Edward and David are both growing and I learn about as many things from them as they learn from me.

The sheep

David and a goat

Me: “Why do I have to ask you and David so many times before you do something I ask?”

Edward: “Because you don’t always understand us.”
Me: "Just like you do not understand me...but you have to try a little harder. I will try, too".

Just now:

Me: “Are you going to continue to have temper tantrums?”

Edward: “I am not sure yet. You will have to see.”

They often stand up for each other and do most things together. When David was not allowed to board the plane to Israel because his passport was valid for another five months instead of six, Edward chose to stay home, too. I am proud of how reasonable both of them were.

In Fallanden

Above the parliament in Neuchatel

We have been walking through parks, meadows and forests, and when on vacation on beaches. The children have had extended conversations with swans, ducks, goats, frogs and tad poles. In and around Zurich we have visited various museums, gardens, the zoo and parks with family and friends whom we hope will come again. We’ve watched baby turtles hatch in Greece, seen the Swiss parliament meeting room in Neuchatel (it’s in a castle), and grown quite attached to three sheep in Romania, and to a little dog.

Presenting our work

in the conference room

Mihai and I have discussed volcanoes, general relativity & atomic clocks at the ICNFP conference under a picture of Jesus and the Orthodox patriarch. The meeting was organised with the help of the Orthodox Academy.

I finished my first set of job applications for professor positions. I’ve applied to about 20 positions world-wide. I have done the first set of seminars and interviews in Israel over the Christmas period. There should be more in 2015.

Tree climbing in the park

With a swan and duck close by

On a cliff

Overall, I am extremely thankful for my family and for the rest of the people and things in my life. My mother told me that she is efficient in everything she does because in her life she has had a lot of practice in controlling her own feelings and emotions, and that in order to take charge of difficult situation one has to first control their own fears and then have the common sense to take the steps that solve the problem. As a doctor of humans she has had plenty of practice with difficult situations where lives were in balance. As a doctor of stars, planets and clocks, it is still often hard to take decisions. It’s also hard to move, and hard to never be certain where I will be next. The search for jobs in previously unknown countries has its own challenges, and I sometimes want to drop everything and run somewhere far away, but I will stick to what I do a bit longer and see what comes out. After all new experiences lead to personal growth.