Dear SAS Members,

Wherever you celebrated Christmas and the New Year I hope you had a wonderful time and a great start into 2007. May you have tanked enough energy to keep going through the next exciting 365 days!

Looking back to the last SAS events in November and December I can only tell you how glad I am to be part of this Club. Wherever I go, I feel to get together with a wonderful group of friends.

• Adriana Mettler’s presentation of her book “Verschobene Grenzen” was well attended. Those who were there were treated to an exciting glimpse into the life of her character Anna, and I think everyone had to get a copy to learn the rest of the story.
• A big crowd gathered in the lobby of Two Midtown Plaza to celebrate the official opening of the new offices of the Consulate General in the presence of the Swiss Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Urs Ziswiler. I would like to take the opportunity and thank everybody at the Consulate for the continued support of our Club – it is a pleasure working together with you!
• The Christmas Market at Atlanta International School gets bigger from year to year, and the SAS Raclette booth is sure to attract more and more cheese lovers. A big THANK YOU! goes to the crew of volunteers who cut the cheese, boiled potatoes, served the melted delicacy and certainly helped promoting Switzerland and our Club.
• Samichlaus Luis Alemany did a wonderful job praising the good behavior of more than 20 youngsters in our Club and showing them where they have room for improvement. Garden Hills Pavilion proofed to be a perfect location for his visit.
• And then more than 80 members celebrated the end of the year at our Christmas Party with a delicious dinner at restaurant Violette. There we also announced the results of our very first essay contest “How would visiting a Swiss Youth Camp make a difference for me?”

… and the winner is!

First Place:
Tiffany Eberhard        daughter of Debra and Stefan Eberhard

Runner-Up:           
Christopher Vakkur  son of Susan Wang and Mark Vakkur

Other entries:         
Elizabeth Bell           daughter of Nancy and John Bell
Emmy Rechsteiner daughter of Lynn and Hans Rechsteiner
Julia Rhiner             daughter of Madeleine and Martin Rhiner
Isabelle Wozniak   granddaughter of Marguerite and Alexandre Todorov

Tiffany will go to a 2-week Swiss Camp Summer 07 – congratulations!
I know she will have a good time at it would be nice to hear about her experience maybe at next year’s fall event.
All other contestants were awarded with a certificate and a gift card to Barnes & Noble – thank you for participating!

Member News
Anne and Bernhard Haene have relocated to Birmingham/AL at the end of the year where Bernhard found a new employment. We wish both of you all the best for a new start and hope to see you again at one of our functions!

Upcoming events
With this mailing you receive the invitations to the Fondue Night at Garden Hills Pavilion, on Saturday, February 3. Make sure you sign up in time!

Preparations for the General Assembly are well under way. We still plan to hold it on March 24 or 25. As soon as the plans are finalized (we need the location confirmed) we will send out the invitations.

ASO Newsletter
ASO (Auslandschweizer-Organisation/Organization of the Swiss Abroad) sends out a newsletter 4 to 6 times a year with a lot of information about what is going on in Switzerland relevant to the Swiss abroad.
You can subscribe to the newsletter by sending your email-address to presse@aso.ch, however it is available only in German version and a French.

On a personal note
Most of you are aware that I will be moving to Canada this summer to join my husband Bernhard who started his new assignment in London/Ontario last April. The Board is discussing the make up of next year’s crew and its president, and I am confident that we will be able to present you an effective and enthusiastic group of leaders to be elected at the upcoming General Assembly.
But what I really wanted to say here is on a completely different level:
My family is clearing out the basement, closets, and bookshelves in order to get ready for the move. We will have a yard sale, but certainly we will not find a customer for the boxes of books in German! They will be most appealing to girls age 8 to 15. Please let me know if you are interested or know of someone who would enjoy them.

SAS Board Members 2006/07

Helen Freiermuth President
Rene Welti Vice President 
Markus Engel Treasurer 
Berta Mikulcic Secretary 
Beat Schindler Director 
Anton Buehlmann Director 
Alfred Mettler Director 
Sybille Hoegger Rionda Director 
Monica Camacho-Bandlin Consular Liaison 
Astrid Wilkens Webmaster 

We want to hear form you! Feel free to contact any of us in case you have a question or suggestion.

For the SAS Board
Helen Freiermuth, President

Visit our web site www.sasatlanta.org for up-to-date information and check out the photo gallery!