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Zinal 13/12/2011:

Dear parents,

It was a long journey by train, but thanks to Swiss precision, we arrived as scheduled at 19.45 in Sierre. The children quickly disembarked and we got on the awaiting coaches. Off we went, on a steep and winding climb to Zinal. Although it was raining in Sierre, the higher we got, the more snow there was. We are happy to say that we've arrived in a picturesque, winter wonderland- Zinal. As soon as the children got off the bus, snowballs began to fly and we quickly went inside for a warm dinner.
As always, the staff and personnel of the hotel prepared a warm welcome for us. Once the children had had their meal they prepared for bedtime. This went smoother for some than for others, but in the end they all went to sleep. As I type this short summary of the first day, all of the children are sound asleep, dreaming of more snow that awaits them on the ski-slopes. If you would like to see how the situation is on the pistes, please have a look at these webcams: http://zinal.ch/fr/Infos-pratiques/Webcam/ .Tomorrow we won`t ski, but the children will participate in several other snow-related activities. After receiving their ski gear tomorrow, they will be ready to ski  and we will most certainly send on some pictures of the ski-classes.We will upload these as soon as possible!

So please keep up to date, more news will follow in the coming days.

Best wishes from your children in Zinal!

Sjoerd Van Loon

Après un long, long voyage dans le train nous sommes arrivés, comme prévu, à 19h45 (“avec une precision Suisse”) à la gare de Sierre. Nous avons changé tout de suite le train contre le bus (déjà equipé de chaînes de neige) et nous avons monté à Zinal. La pluie qui nous à reçu à notre arrivée à Sierre est devenue de la neige lorsque nous sommes montés. Zinal nous à offert une belle image hivernale sortie d’un bouquin de contes. Un bon repas chaud nous attendait à l’hôtel. Le personnel de l’hôtel nous à accuelli avec une chaleureuse bienvenue, comme d’habitude (merci Lieve!!). Les valises, elles aussi, nous attendaient déjà dans nos chambres.
Aujourd’hui, 14 décembre, pas de ski, mais bien d’autres activités. Nous allons recevoir le matériel de ski.
Si vous voulez voir en direct quelques images de Zinal,vous pouvez aller sur ce link: http://zinal.ch/fr/Infos-pratiques/Webcam/
Lorsque je tape ces lignes, quelques heures plus tard que celles de mon collègue M. van Loon, je peux déjà vous apporter quelques photos du voyage et de la neige qui tombe sur Zinal ce matin.
À bientôt!

Cristóbal Crespo

Zinal 14/12/2011:

After a good night’s rest, the children woke up to find themselves in a winter wonderland. Looking out of the windows, we could see nothing but snow covered mountains, snow covered rooftops, trees- everything was draped in majestic white. It truly was a beautiful sight and they were all very excited to go outside. And so off they went...

Snowballs galore! The children had a great time gliding off the hills, throwing snowballs at each other and making snowmen. Most of the classes went for a relaxing walk in the snow today, to explore the village so they now know how to find their way back to the hotel, to the cabin lift that will take them to the slopes and most importantly: where to buy the best souvenirs for mum and dad!
All of the ski-equipment and ski-passes have been distributed. So we are ready to go up. They can't wait...The monitors that accompany us began organising their activities. They played many games. White t-shirts have been transformed into lifetime souvenirs! We've had a very entertaining evening when the children participated in the "Grand Jeu". This time, there was no Harry Potter or Justin Bieber, but an unexpected visit from several movie-heros such as The Mask, Captain Jack Sparrow and Batman, who was chasing The Joker. The Joker had stolen pieces of a film and the children had to get these back by winning several games, prepared by the team of monitors. It was a wonderful evening and afterwards they were sent to bed. Soon all was quiet in Zinal...

A big hug to all parents, from all of us here in Zinal!

Après le repos, tous les enfants se sont réveillés pour rencontrer une belle housse blanche sur Zinal. Lorsqu’ils regardaient par la fenêtre ils ne trouvaient que des montagnes blanches, les toits des maisons typiques suisses couverts de neige, les arbres blancs… De la neige partout!
C’était vraiment beau. Et les enfants attendaient avec beaucoup d’enthousiasme la possibilité d’aller jouer dehors. Et ils l’ont fait…

Lancer des boules de neige, glisser sur les pentes, construire des bonhommes de neige… La plupart des classes ont bien profité pour s’offrir une belle promenade sous la neige et découvrir le village. Les enfants donc sont capables maintenant de trouver le chemin de l’hôtel, du télépherique, des magasins ou ils pourront acheter des beaux souvenirs pour maman et papa…
Le matériel pour le ski a été distribué et nous sommes déjà prêtes à monter. Les enfants ne peuvent pas attendre… Les animateurs qui nous accompagnent eux aussi ont commencé avec leurs activités. Des jeux, des t-shirts qui se transforment en souvenirs et pour terminer nous avons eu une soirée très amusante avec le “Grand jeu” qu’ils nous ont preparé.
Cette fois nous n’avons pas trouvé Harry Potter ou Justin Bieber, mais un voyage non attendu mais très allucinant au coeur du cinéma. Les héros des enfants tels que le capitaine Jack Sparrow, Tarzan, Lara Croft, the masque ou Batman avaient la difficile missión de trouver les morceaux des films que the Jocker avait volé. Heureusement qu’ils ont eu la collaboration de nos enfants qui leur ont donné un coup de main pour les récupérer! Cela a été une soirée fantastique, mais peu après les enfant ont été conduits au lit et le calme est revenu sur Zinal.
Un grand bonjour à tous!

Zinal 15/12/2011:

Snow is what we wanted, snow is what we got…
As our trip to Zinal was fast approaching, most of the children, parents, teachers, and yes… coordinators as well were worried, because of the absence of snow. All were very relieved when during the first days of December snow started to fall. Now the ski-slopes are decorated with a beautiful thick layer of fresh snow and all of the children went to ski for the first day today. An experience that most of the children, especially the beginners will never forget! The snow was wonderful, soft and in abundance. So much so that even the children who went out to ski in the afternoon had to come down a little earlier because of a heavy snowfall, combined with a fierce, cold wind.
It was good to see on the piste how brave the beginners were. They truly did set out to conquer the Swiss Alps on ski’s. And yes, they fell... be it when they went down the gentle slopes for the first time, or out of the ski-lift, or just trying to make a turn. Wherever you looked children, just learning to ski, were falling! But they persevered! They got up, tried again, and at the end of the day bravely said that they’d only fallen about five times. These are the heroes of Zinal! And so it goes for all the children. It was great to see how they were all helping one another!

The weather changed during the afternoon, when the second group were on the piste and so we decided to stop a little earlier than planned. As we’re writing this mail, one eye is on the Swiss weather forecast. We are expecting a lot of snowfall and more wind. I would like to assure parents that we are monitoring the weather and that we have a clear programme in case weather proves too bad to continue with the regular ski-plan. The forecast changes by the minute however, and we might just as easily, have a good day skiing tomorrow.

Today, we have also started the various excursions. These excursions will continue in the following days. We will visit Grimentz, a small farm and go on a snow-shoe walk.
Parents keeping up-to-date on the school’s website will see the pictures soon enough!
All the best from Zinal,
The teachers of Lux 1.

C’est vrai, nous voulions de la neige, mais il ne faut pas exagérer… Nous étions tous préoccupés quelques semaines avant le voyage à cause d’un insolite manque de neige à Zinal. Quel bonheur lorsque depuis début décembre la neige est arrivée ! Maintenant les pistes ont une belle et grosse couche de neige poudreuse et les enfants ont bien profité aujourd’hui pour son premier jour de ski. Ce sera sans doute pour eux une expérience inoubliable. Mais la montagne et la neige imposent sa loi qu’il faut respecter et le groupe de l’après-midi a été obligé d’arrêter et de descendre des pistes avant l’horaire prévu à cause d’un excès de neige et d’un vent très fort. Bravo en tout cas pour nos enfants et, surtout, pour les débutants qui ont été courageux et ont bien appris les leçons dans des conditions très difficiles. Ils sont tombés assez fréquemment, c’est normal, mais le plus important c’est comment ils se relevaient rapidement et rejoignaient leurs groupes. «Je suis tombé cinq fois seulement », disait quelqu’un tout fier. Bravo! Ce sont les héros de Zinal ! C’est beau de voir comment ils s’aident les uns les autres. Les prévisions météo ne sont pas meilleures pour demain. Si le temps le permet, nous continuerons notre programme de ski. Le cas échéant, nous avons prévu un programme alternatif. Nous avons démarré également ce jour le planning des visites. Grimentz, Une petite ferme, Une promenade en raquettes… Vous pourrez les suivre quotidiennement sur notre site web. Un grand bonjour de Zinal. Les enseignants de Luxembourg I

Zinal 16/12/2011:

Just a quick note to inform everybody that all went well today, we were able to ski, despite the great snowfall. The daily report will follow later. Sjoerd

Juste un petit mot pour informer toubt le monde que tout s’est bien passé aujourd’hui malgré l’incessante chute de neige. Plus d’informations un peu plus tard. Merci de patienter un peu. Cristóbal

After checking the weather forecasts yesterday we were afraid that today was probably going to be a non-skiing day. Fortunately we were wrong. Again there had been a lot of snow (about 50 cm)and snow was still falling heavily during the day. But it was still possible to go skiing. It wasn’t easy and not all pistes were open, but at least our imaginary worst-case scenarios were put to the back of our minds for many more years to come, hopefully.
It was harder for the advanced than for the beginners today, as their piste was very well prepared.
Today the first group of children went to visit the farm, where they received a lot of information on the local tradition of cow-fighting. Interesting! After a warm chocolate and a cookie, all of the children had class-activities with their monitors.
In the evening the monitors of LaHulpe had organised a disco and within no time there was a real party going on in the hotel. When the disco stopped at 21.00, everyone went to their rooms and not long after, they were sound asleep.
We were happy to welcome Mr. De Tourmenire and a representative of the APEEE for their weekend visit today. They have brought all of your letters and these will be distributed tomorrow morning. They will be delighted! Mr Van Wissen will join us tomorrow morning. Their visit is always greatly appreciated by the staff and children, most likely because they take all of the letters and postcards from Zinal back to Luxembourg, where they will be mailed to you.
All the best, from all the children in Zinal!

Malgré les prévisions de la météo, nous avons pu skier aujourd’hui, même si la neige est tombée sans arrêt (50 cm environ). Cela n’a pas été facile et plusieurs pistes étaient fermées, mais nos élèves ont profité du ski quand-même. Plus facile en tout cas pour les débutants que pour les avancés.
Aujourd’hui plusieurs groupes se sont rendus à la ferme où les enfants ont appris beaucoup sur la vie en montagne, sur les travaux typiques, les habitudes et le folklore, notamment à propos de la « bataille des reines ».
La journée est finie par une belle « soirée disco », très bien conduite par nos animateurs, jusqu’à 21h00, l’heure d’aller dormir.
Nous avons reçu aujourd’hui la visite de Monsieur de Tournemire et d’un délégué de l’APEEE. Ils nous ont apporté le courrier pour les enfants que nous distribuerons demain.
Demain nous attendons aussi la visite de Monsieur van Wissen. Il conduira jusqu’à Luxembourg les lettres des enfants pour leurs parents.

Zinal 17/12/2011:

Friday, 23.05: Mr Van Wissen, our Deputy Head due to visit us, sent an sms: 'Plane is late- will stay in Geneva. Will come tomorrow'.
The children are sleeping after a day of skiing. Snow is falling in abundance!
Saturday morning: The pistes are closed. At 2200m, We’ve had 2 metres of snow! The pistebullys are snowed in and have to be dug out before they can even begin to think about how to prepare the pistes. Mr. Van Wissen is 30 mins. from Sierre by train. The ski-instructors take charge of the groups to do snow activities outside(a nice walk through the village). At 10 o’çlock two pistes are declared open and Mr. Van Wissen is in a taxi to Zinal.
10:50: Children have found their skis (Some underneath a 1 metre stack of snow) and the first children are taking the ski-lift up. Mr. Van Wissen is stuck 10 km. from Zinal, the road is blocked…
12:00: Children are finishing up their ski-lessons for today, tired from the morning-walk and their ski-lessons. The road is still not cleared. The children are having lunch and are writing their letters for Luxembourg. By now we understand that our Deputy Head will not be able to visit us, because of yesterday’s heavy snowfall.
The second group is taking the cabin lift to go skiing. The snow is fresh and wonderful, even though because there has been so much of it we only have a limited number of ski-slopes open. It’s not really cold, but unfortunately we still haven’t had the wonderful views we normally see when in Zinal.
The weather forecast for tomorrow is good, we’ll see. Unfortunately our Deputy Head has had to retreat. He has gone back to Sierre. The roads are closed and this means that tomorrow’s trip to Grimentz has been postponed until Monday. The visits to the farm and the snow-shoe walk are still on, but more importantly: The kids will go shopping! Moms and Dads: You are all in for a big treat!
Saturday-evening: All children, teachers, monitors, hotel-staff and our guests Mr. de Tourmenire and a representative of the APEEE are treated to a splendid performance of Santa Lucia by our Nordic classes. A huge compliment to the children of the Swedish, Danish and Finnish sections who have given us a wonderful evening.
We are very unhappy that Mr. Van Wissen was so unlucky with his trip to Zinal and we hope to see him here next year. Meanwhile, then we will post a couple of pictures on the website, so that he, and you can enjoy what your child has been doing in Zinal. We hope that this will cheer you up, as well as Mr. Van Wissen, who has been defeated by the Swiss weather gods.
Tomorrow we will change the time of the groups and the first group of children will visit Grimentz. Skiing will continue and you might see your son or daughter come down the mountain at: http://www.zinal.ch/fr/Infos-pratiques/Webcam/ Please keep an eye on the letterbox at home, a lot of cards have been sent! Now we only hope that Mr. de Tourmenire,the Principal of Lux 2 will be able to leave Zinal for Sierre… If not, the cards might arrive a little later. But not to worry, tomorrow the road will be cleared, we are not totally snowed-in… We hope you enjoy the pictures!

Zinal 18/12/2011:

Fear not, mail from your child is on its way! Today the road to Sierre was open again and Mr. de Tournemire took the first shuttle bus to the train-station this morning. Together with the representative from the APEEE, they were just about able to carry all of the mail with them back to Luxembourg. With the roads clear, the piste-bully drivers were able to come to Zinal and prepare the pistes.
The fresh snow is wonderful! In the four years that we have been to Zinal, we’ve never had snow like this. To hear the sound of the fresh snow under your skis, the way the skis carve through the snow. ..the children are very lucky! There is a downside however. As we’ve had such an incredible amount of fresh snow, not all of the pistes could be opened. The children have had a lot of fun anyway and it’s good to see their progress!

Unfortunately, we will have to cancel all our trips to Grimentz, as the roads will be blocked until Tuesday. But this is something that cannot be helped. The village of Zinal itself and its surroundings make up for it though. Many classes have been out in the snow...snow that is in places as high as the children themselves!
In the evening the team of monitors had organized a Casino. The children played several different games. By winning the game, they could win a lot of “money”. The results were handed to the monitors and the winners will be announced soon.
Afterwards, they went off to bed, after brushing their teeth. As usual, it didn’t take that long to have all of them dreaming of skiing down that “piste noir”.
We are expecting a beautiful day tomorrow, with a lot of sunshine. Let’s hope for the best.

The team of Lux 1.

Zinal 19/12/2011:

Zinal 19th of December 2011
The end is nigh. Tomorrow the children will pack their suitcases. Most probably we will not have a  full report that day, but we will keep you updated on the latest arrangements for our return-trip.
Today was the brightest day so far, with a beautiful blue sky. It was colder though, as is often the case when the clouds disappear and the sun comes out over the mountains. Today the advanced skiers  went all the way up to over 2800 metres. That lift that had been closed until today. They loved it!
And as most of the ”debutants” moved to the blue piste, more space was created for skiing. Suddenly they were all over the place! And for most children the time to go back to the hotel came too soon.

All classes have had different activities, supervised by the teachers, the monitors, or both. Apart from the trip to Grimentz, that had to be cancelled due to closed roads, the farm and the snowshoes were fully booked . We would like to thank Regine, the coordinator of Intersoc, who joined us on this trip, for all of her efforts. The children really enjoyed her commentary at the local farm! In the evening our school went for a “marche aux flambeaux”. This has become a tradition for our school. We sang Christmas Carols and drank hot chocolate afterwards. The children went straight to bed and are now sound asleep. We hope you are enjoying the reports on the website and I would like to say thank you to Mme. Martens, our webmaster and Miss O’Donovan for placing our posts on the website daily.
 I know the parents appreciate your efforts and so do we in Zinal!
See you soon!

Zinal 20/12/2011:

Dear parents,
After a week of skiing, every child was rewarded this evening with a medal according to their level. They either got a blue or a red medal and they were proud to show it to everyone. The week has gone past very quickly. We might not have had the best weather, with so much snow falling, but at least our greatest fears were unfounded and snow did actually fall! We have been able to ski every day as planned. Today was also a very snowy day and for a minute, it looked as if the truck for the luggage wasn’t going to be allowed to go up the mountain to Zinal. With considerable delay ,they did eventually get here.  And when the truck was here, at first not every case fitted in! (certainly those from my class, 5Ne…) Eventually however,they were all squeezed in and ready to be transported back to Luxembourg. The roads aren’t always very accessible for trucks and lorrys, therefore the luggage isn’t expected sooner than 17.00 in Lux 1. We have asked that the school is kept open till then, so that the parents can pick them up. We hope you understand. The weather is something we cannot control...
So tonight, all medals were handed out and afterwards the monitors had prepared 'Zinal’s Got Talent'. They showed off their many talents and the children had a wonderful evening. 
Tomorrow, our estimated time of arrival (ETA) is between 23.10  and 23.45. All classteachers will inform their class representatives, whereupon they will inform the other parents.
We hope to meet all of you at the Gare!

Please enjoy the last pictures,
Á bientôt!
Sjoerd van Loon

Zinal 21/12/2011: