Firsts

This week has been crazy! I have been running a small summer camp here at home and it has been awesome.  The boys had several friends over every afternoon and I hope it doesn't stop.  I have had so much fun with all of these kiddos regardless of the language barrier.  I'm getting pretty good at hand motions/gestures and my boys are great at translating for me if we really can't communicate.  We do a lot of swimming, razor scooter riding(takes me back),  soccer playing and officiating, and all sorts of other activities.  Luckily they are all great at soccer and I'm getting better, but they usually stick me in the goal just to be sure :)

One of my jobs is to cook lunch for the boys and it's pretty fun getting to play house.  I was a little nervous at first just because I didn't know if they would eat what I made. I have been very fortunate thus far, and they haven't left much on their plates.  I cooked a whole artichoke this week, which is so yummy.  The hardest part of cooking/baking here is figuring out what ingredient is what, but I'm starting to get the hang of it.  My first batch of chocolate chip cookies were interesting, they were very fluffy, but all the kids ate them in a matter of minutes, so I put it as a W in my book.  I've started experimenting with making sauces and I love it.  Mustard is very popular here. No ranch, which is probably for the best :)

The first meal I made for them! Chicken with a mustard-cream sauce, green beans, and couscous!

Artichoke!

I had the opportunity to go to with my family to play tennis at the club in Geneva! To say it was incredible is an understatement.  The courts are red clay, which is amazing.  You tennis players will know what I'm talking about.  I have always wanted to play on a real clay court, and I have. The whole family plays tennis and its so fun.  We played a mini family tournament and it was so fun.  These kids are going to play on the Tour someday.  We then had dinner at the restaurant there which was also amazing.  I felt like I was in a movie, but I have pretty much felt like that since I arrived.

Thursday afternoon, one of the au pairs in the neighborhood brought her kiddos over to play and we became acquainted with one another.  We went down to Fetes de Geneve, which is a celebration of Geneva by the lake which starts the last week in July and continues through the first week of August as far as I know.  There was a local band playing and then a DJ, tons of food stations, mobile bars, and lots of people.  It was really fun, I am having a hard time with everyone's smoking habbits here.  EVERYONE SMOKES, well almost...but it's miserable and my eyes are constantly watering, but I guess I will get over it.  I had my first "kebab" down at the fete, and it was amazing....It is not at all what I thought it was, its actually a tortilla filled with chicken, lettuce, tomato, and onion with chili sauce and some other sauce.  So pretty much a grilled chicken wrap.  I don't know if they come in other forms, but it was great nonetheless.

Friday was one of those days. I felt like I was going in a million different directions, but only because I had planned poorly for post work activities.  I am going to babysit on occassion for one of my family's friends and I am so excited. They live in the next village and it is so beautiful.  I took the boys over to play and to see the place.  After I dropped them off, I walked home and took the scenic route.  This village/town was a medieval town and it is truly breathtaking.  There is an old watchtower that I wanted to go up in, but it was locked up tight.  A beautiful church, fields and fields of sunflowers and wildflowers, and the cutest houses you've ever seen.  The majority of houses and building have shutters and flowers on the windows, which I think is the perfect touch.  As I was walking home I stopped along the way to snap a few pictures, but what I've realized is that no picture nor word can describe what I see here everyday.  This is the most beautiful place I have ever seen and I discover new places everyday.   

Hayyyy....behind the house

                                                                                   Beautiful Church in Hermance (next village over)

Watch tower in Hermance

So many sunflowers, I Love it!

My new favorite route to take.

Bathtub in the street? Nope, really cute water fountain with delicious, ice cold water

"Romantik Hotel"...precious

Late Friday afternoon, I met up with Damon and one of his friends to see "The Dark Knight Rises" and it was incredible.  We were all tempted to stay and watch it again.  Damon is my Uncle Cole's best friend from Northwest Arkansas, but he and his family now live here in Geneva as well.  It's so nice to know someone here, even if I don't spend much time with them, it's very comforting.

Saturday afternoon I met up with my friend Savannah (another au pair) and we headed into town to pick up food to take to a BBQ for Link.  Link is an au pair group here in the Geneva area.  An American couple runs it and they have lived here for over 20 years I believe.  They are some of the nicest people I have ever met and I can't wait to get to know them over this next year.  I found out that we are kind in an awkward transition time for incoming/outgoing au pairs, so there were only 4 au pairs including myself at the BBQ.  It was held in Nyon, which is only a 15 minute train ride away from the center of Geneva.  We sat around and became acquainted for awhile and then they took us on their sailboat.  I have always wanted to learn how to sail. I learned when I was a kamper, but I don't think it was much help here.  He taught us all what to do and I was able to steer us all around that side of the lake.  It was a perfect way to spend my saturday afternoon.  I hope I can take a few more "lessons" and go out with them again.

Carbonated apple juice....this has replaced diet coke and I'm totally ok with it.

Nyon, Switzerland

Sailing...new favorite thing to do.

Sunday was yet another busy day.  Savannah and I met up with a friend of hers from school, Ben,  and some of his friends.  We took a tour of the United Nations Office here in Geneva.  It was very beautiful and semi-interesting, but at least it was offered in English!  We then headed to Ben's home in France about 45 minutes from where we were.  His house was amazing, tucked away on the side of a mountain.  We had lunch with his family and then took a hike around Lac(lake) de Divonne.  Unfortunately I had not prepared for anything beyond the UN tour, so my feet were blistered by the end of the day.  We headed home shortly after, and that was quite a trek.  I watched some Olympic events and ended my evening with a google+ "hangout" with 5 of my best friends from college.  It was so much fun.  It was like we were all together again! I honestly did not realize how incredibly blessed I am by so many great friends and family until I was 5000 miles away.  

United Nations

taken from inside the UN

"Broken Chair" in front of UN

Lac de Divonee

If you made it to this point, thank you for reading.

Lots of love,

Your Swiss Miss

Feeling good

Salut!

I've decided to try and post on Sunday each week to keep it consistent and not overdo it...but week 1 has ended and I have been well trained!  It was a crazy week with a ton of information...You take this bus to get to here and this train there, and oh you always need to do ___, but never do ____...From swimming lessons, play dates, paddle boating, and a large amount of sunscreen, we made it through the week.

E (previous au pair) left for London yesterday to work for the Olympics (yay), I am not sure I'm going to know what to do with myself while I'm off, I became so used to having her here, but she will be back soon and we are planning to travel with some other friends to Spain! I'm excited to see another new place.  I have made 2 more new friends this week through E and plan to travel with them and have them over with their kiddos for play dates! Fun stuff this au pair thing.

I saw a lot of the "city" this week, and I like it a lot.  There is the "Old Town" which is absolutely amazing, the buildings are incredible, I will be making several trips up there to wander, maybe stop by a corner cafe' for an afternoon snack and then there's the shopping oh man the shopping! Louis Vuitton, Versace, Chanel and anything else you can think of...they have it.  I should probably let them keep it, that is if I want to see anything outside of Geneva.  I also paid a visit to the "American Store" this week, I'm sure this place will come in handy for random items needed for recipes and if I need a little taste of home.  I bought two things while I was in there this week... a box of Kraft mac-n-cheese and a can of mountain dew, and both were thoroughly enjoyed! I have tried so many new foods, different meats, cheeses of course, and random things.  My host mom is incredible in the kitchen, and I will try anything. No complaints so far.  We had fondue on Friday and man it was delish!  I can't eat very much of it, but wowza it was great!

I apologize for the randomness and unorganized-ness, but I'm just letting my fingers do the work before it all leaves my little brain...


The weather is absolutely amazing, cool in the morning and then a perfect 75 around 11am, sometimes a nice breeze. Today it was pretty windy, which put a damper in our plans to play tennis, but of course is supposed to be beautiful all week (Shocker)!  The sunsets are unreal! I'll snap some shots and put them on here!  This afternoon we played outside by the pool, the boys and I played a little football(soccer) in the garden, I lost terribly of course, followed by an accidental 4 hour nap in my cave.  My room is absolutely incredible, very homey with 2 sofas, a desk, tv & dvd, dressers, and christmas lights which make me very happy.  I recently made a trip to IKEA with some friends and stumbled upon some bookends that are black metal "B's"...I'm not sure why I bought bookends, because I don't have very many books, nor do I like to read, but they were on sale for 4CHF which is practically free here! I also added a personal touch to my room with my clothesline and clothespin with pictures of friends and family.

FRENCH....oh boy, I am a little overwhelmed with the French. I knew what I was getting into and this is the absolute best way to learn a new language, but I just feel so silly.  I feel like a goober when I try a word, but they keep reassuring me that I'm the only one that thinks that...so I am using E's French Immersion discs until she returns.  It's actually pretty fun, I just have to put it to use with the boys at least.....My actual french classes don't start until September, so I'm hoping to  get a head start on my classmates :)




Well, I should probably head to bed. My first week by myself begins tomorrow morning!


lots of love,
your swiss miss

View from Terrace at home

Geneve

These were hanging in my new room!

Yummy sandwich in the park...Simple baguette, brie and turkey...Oh & I found the avocados!

E and I at the Lake Parade last weekend

Geneve Plage

Cute corner cafe in old town

Old town...Geneva flag and Swiss flag

The doors are beautiful

Danger!

Jet d'Eau

Vineyards behind the house!

AMERICA...kinda

Hello from across the big pond

I have made it! I am currently sitting on my new bed, in my new room, in my new house, in Geneva, Switzerland. This is unreal.  I am already in love with this place, but it hasn't been this peachy the whole time...now I'm not going to complain throughout this whole blog or post, but it is my blog and it is one way for me to remember my trip and for my friends and family to see what life is really like over here....

         It all started in Tulsa on 07/12 at 9:40 AM with overweight bags...oops, and then it was the monsoon taking over Houston.  I was bumped to an earlier flight (yay), but we were still too late to make my connecting flight.  If any of you know me very well, you know that I am a FREAK about being on time, actually I prefer to be extremely early...and well that didn't happen.  So here I am among hundreds of other people who are in the same boat or shall I say the same line that is so long I coudn't see where it started.   Hmmm I'm hungry and who knows how long I'll be in this line and there is no telling what they might feed me on an international flight, that is if I can get on another...So I tapped the sweet elderly man in front of me on the shoulder and asked if I could run and grab food and get back in line, I even bribed him with food...It worked so the first thing in sight was Popeye's chicken. Yummm.  I slowly made my way through the billion people running around and back to my spot in line and up walks a customer service representative from United Airlines.  She leaned in, handed me a small sliver of paper and told me to call the number, so obviously I did...A real human being answered the phone and within 3 minutes, they completely rerouted me and emailed me my new itinerary.  I passed the piece of paper down the line and the line nearly disappeared.  Thank you UNITED AIRLINES.... 

So from there I was rerouted to Frankfurt, Germany on Lufthansa Airlines and it was incredible. The seats were very comfortable, food was decent (not the breakfast though), the attendants were so kind, and great in-flight entertainment. My only complaint has nothing to do with the airline, just the two men I was squished between....Why do men think they have to spread their legs and take up all of the space, and then once you get comfortable, they decide they need to go take a lap around the plane.  I landed in Frankfurt, Germany after a 9 hour flight.  I then had my first German Pretzel, which was quite delicious.  I boarded my flight to Geneva, Switzerland and arrived a short hour later...

Upon arrival, I had a plan to go to the "water closet" and freshen up and make myself look presentable before meeting my "family"....but that was not the case.  My luggage never arrived, my new "mum" was waiting for me for almost 2 hours until I was finished trying to communicate with the french speaking, lost baggage man.  Hopefully with today's technology they can find them, because at this point my wardrobe isn't looking too hot:  

6 pairs of nike shorts, 2 tshirts (don't match any of the shorts), snow boots, 2 pairs of wedges, make up, jewelry, a sleeping bag and of course all of my electronics!

I have no idea what I was thinking when packing that little thing, but we will work with what we have....I was greeted at the airport by my new "mom" and she will be called C. (Oh and they do the 3 kisses on the cheek, you start on the left side, I was just expecting the 2!  ) the current au pair, and one of the two boys I will be caring for.  They are the absolute sweetest family, and I am so excited.  Geneva is everything I imagined and more, I can't wait to explore.  My new digs are pretty sweet as well.  I have a room in the basement (not scary), that has a ton of space with a nice seating area with two love seats, a desk and plenty of storage...The house is stunning and the view of the lake, mountains, and countryside is absolutely breathtaking. I'll put pictures up tomorrow.

I have been with the current or previous au pair and she has been telling me everything, it is a ton of information, but I know I will catch on quickly.  They had a small dinner party with friends tonight, and it was fun to meet people this early on.  Dinner was quite a shock because the conversation was totally in French and it was so incredibly fast paced that I only picked up on one or two words, but I am determined to be able to carry on a conversation entirely in french before I leave.  After dinner, E (other au pair) wanted me to me some of the locals and some other au pairs, so I made a new friend whom I plan on traveling with quite a bit, and we headed to a "party", it was comparable to a frat party, but with very smart people from all over the world.  I met a ton of really nice people and am glad I went with E.  One tricky part is that we ride the bus everywhere and the bus had stopped running, which meant we had to take a cab from this place which was so far out of town it was unreal.  The cost of the cab was over 100cf! I couldn't believe it.

   It is now 4:15 AM and I am lying in bed wrapping this up.  I am exhausted and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, because tomorrow is the "Lake Parade" which is once a year and it is a huge parade and the festivities carry on until 2 or 3 in the morning.  I'm off to bed now, I apologize for the length of this.

Love,

Your Swiss Miss