My summer so far has been considerably quieter than my winter here this year. Except of course for the engagement, that was pretty exciting! But you may remember in the winter I was out doing snowboarding or some other activity every weekend. Partly because the weather has been crap and partly because I am somewhat lazy, I haven't done much other than take Rustbucket around town on a weekend (he's a very cheap date).
Well today I think I found a new summer activity. My friend Bhav has been trying to get me to come wakeboarding with her since last year. The idea of getting up at 7am to go jump in a lake is not very appealing to me. I used to get up at the same time to catch the skibus, but at least for that we got on the bus, had a little snooze, got a coffee and a croissant, got on the nice relaxing chairlift, and THEN started snowboarding. Oh and there's that little part about being dressed in 4 layers, instead of practically naked (bonjour!) and soaking wet. But she was going today at 9, which I agreed would be more feasible.
We biked about 20 minutes to the wakeboard club on the lake and met up with 2 other guys, plus the driver, Nicolas, who would be taking us out. The sky was greyish and it was quite cool (60F), but the water was calm and as smooth as glass. I have a longjohn wetsuit from my triathlon days, although I completely forgot to pack my bodyglide which meat it took me a bit long to get on (and was seriously difficult to get off too!!). We all climbed into the boat and headed out.
First up was this guy Alex, a big, happy guy from Norway with a beard. He jumps into the water and the boat speeds up. Immediately he is up, carving in the wake, riding switch, doing all sorts of jumps. Basically, looking super cool and making it look really easy. It was really fun to watch actually. I didn't realize until then that one big bonus of going wakeboarding was that you get to ride around on a boat on beautiful lake Geneva with nice chill people, blasting music and having a little wakeboarding party for yourself. The sun came out while Alex was riding and on the stereo was blasting "Pass the dutchie from the left hand side." Hilarious.
Next was little Bhav who jumped in the water and proclaimed that it was nice and warm. Although she didn't do as many tricks, she could still do jumps and was attemping to turn a 360, where you pull the rope behind your back and then grab it with your other hand. She was able to grab it and turn and stay up for a few seconds before falling. Still very impressive!
Next up was me. I grabbed a life jacket, and Nicolas helped me to put on the board. Amazingly, it is exactly like a snowboard. The bindings look almost like snowboard bindings except the boot is attached and your toes are exposed. Obviously it's wider than a snowboard, and obviously it floats. Very comfy too.
I eased into the Lac Leman for the first time since arriving in Switzerland and gasped sharply as my breath caught in my chest. Warm!?!?! Of course, Bhav is not really sensitive to temperatures, as you might remember from our picnic in the snow. The water was 60 degrees. And the sun had gone back in. Great. "Ok," Nicolas instructed, "You don't pull wiz ze arms, you pull ze knees hup to your chest when ze boat start to go, you stay bent and slowly you let zeboat pull you hup. And you don't try to turn until you are all ze way hup." "Ok," I answered though clenched, chattering teeth, my heart hammering. I felt like I could barely move or breathe in my wetsuit, which I haven't worn in a long time. I gripped the handlebar with white knuckles and yelled ok.
The boat started to move and I pulled up, and fell forward immediately, getting a huge facefull of ice cold water. It was seriously shocking and not fun. I popped up and gasped for air. "You pulled wiz your arms. You stay bent and let ze boat pull you hup," he instructed from the boat. "Ok, got it." I said. Starting again...I got about halfway up, and fell again. And again. "You don't turn ze board until you are all the way hup. Just wait, zen turn it once you are standing hup." "OK, got it, no turning." And then on the fourth try, I stayed bent at the knees and slowly, slowly let the boat pull me "hup." And I was standing, and I turned to my snowboard position, and I was wakeboarding!!
I decided not to try any jumps or anything on the first time out, just to practice carving a little and get the feel for it. It is pretty much exactly like snowboarding so once I was "hup," I did pretty well. Falling was also similar to snowboarding - impossible to do gracefully, although thankfully I didn't have any more face-first choke sessions like I did on the first try. I ended up having about 4 long runs after I was finally successful. I smiled back at the boat while I concentrated on carving the blue and white wake. Finally, after about 15 minutes, I was done. It is seriously exhausting on your arms - mine kill right now. But it was super fun, and I of course got a huge confidence boost out of the fact I was actually able to get the hang of it pretty quickly (snowboarding took me about 2 full days and I broke my wrist in the process).
I got a "forfait" which means a pass to go back several times. It's not that cheap - about 40 CHF per time. But snowboarding was more, and I did that every weekend, so I can justify it. Plus hopefully it will get my arms all buff.
Next weekend I am bringing my camera so hopefully I can put up some photos and videos. Dude!!!!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Swissness
Hi there! I've been putting off posting about some random things because I wanted to keep my super spectacular post about my recent news on top. But I have some things to comment on and can't figure out how to rearrange my posts on here. So I'll just put a link to my love story, in case you still want to check out how it all happened.
I feel I've occassionally strayed sometimes from discussing Switzerland, so I will do that today! Two things I have recently learned which I thought were awesome:
1) Switzerland has air rescue service throughout the country, something called REGA, which can dispatch a helicopter or air ambulance to come get you. Everywhere in the country, except the Valais region (which is the big mountainous valley area with awesome skiing and wine) can be reached within 15 minutes. AND they also cover the ENTIRE WORLD using jet aircraft if necessary to come rescue little Swissies stranded atop some mountains in Peru or Nepal. How much does it cost to get such insurance, you might ask? Like 1000 bucks a year? 500? No. 30 Swiss Francs if you are single or 70 Swiss Francs for a family. That's cheaper than going out to dinner in Switzerland! And it is completely private - not one cent from the government. If I had known about this before, I definitely would have joined for ski season. I honestly don't know how they figure out some of this cool stuff.
2) Geneva has recently been voted by Mercer the #2 place to live in the entire world!! That's right. So how lucky am I that I have been able to live here for almost 2 years? Number #1 is Zurich, which is nice but...they don't speak French and I can't imagine they have as much good wine and cheese as we do here in Geneva, because we're closer to France. So just my personal opinion...I know that normally they are also rated 2 of the most expensive cities in the entire world, but I have to say I have certainly not gone into any sort of debt living here (although if I did more shopping and eating out, I definitely could). The U.S. didn't even crack the top 25 - only Honolulu landed on there, at #28. Even the U.S.'s northern neighbor managed to sneak 2 cities, Toronto and Ottawa in there (clearly, the writer of the article was bought ooout). Obviously if Chicago was able to upgrade its public transport system and recycling programs to a grade above where they are now (D+ for transport, F for recycling), and the winter was 3 months shorter (4 instead of 7) and maybe they could make some big mountains nearby for skiing, it would be just as good as Geneva.
Did I mention the sun is setting at almost 10pm every night at the moment? So cool.
You can read an excerpt of the article here.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
That's how you know
It's been almost 2 years to the day since I first got the e-mail asking if I might be interested in working in Switzerland. Who knew a one line e-mail could completely change my life. My job, where I lived, my friends, the languages I could speak, my lactose and alcohol intake. I knew it would be exciting and fun (it has been) and probably a bit challenging (I may have slightly underestimated that one). The one question I always got pegged with was "What's going to happen to you and Justin?"
Surprisingly, this is the one thing I didn't worry too much about before leaving for Switzerland. Everyone else worried plenty, believe me. I still remember going to dinner and telling him what I thought were the pros and cons, and getting ready to write out a list (I'm a nerd, I know, he tells me too). Justin just looked at me and said, "Well, it's an incredible opportunity, and I think you should take it if you want to do it. But you have to promise to come back." And that was that. Of course we both knew that living 5,000 miles apart was not going to be easy. Personally I always swore I would never find myself in a long distance relationship and then suddenly, I had created one for myself. But I don't think we ever worried "would we make it?" I didn't. And let's be honest, girls obsess about those kinds of things. We just kind of knew it would all be fine.
This year has definitely been more of a challenge, partly because Justin is working. Which means, he's not home from business school every day anxiously awaiting my call in between rounds of dubious, dilligent studying and maybe a game or two of Tiger Woods golf with an ice cold mug of juice. We can only talk really on the weekends and just email during the week. Now I know you might say "Well, in the olden days, you could only send letters, and people didn't even have email or cheap international long distance!" But I didn't grow up in the "olden days," and so that doesn't really help. We miss each other and a lot of times it seriously sucks. But we've made it this far.
Justin came back to Switzerland about 3 weeks ago for his first visit since last summer. I had last seen him in March for about 55 hours, and that includes time we spent sleeping and on gross planes, so really, it was not very quality time. The week before he arrived was, as usual, agonizingly and painfully long. In fact the only week longer than the week before his arrival is the week after he leaves. On May 23, I met him at the airport and gave him a key and a quick kiss. Then I dashed back to work, because I had to re-do a stupid project that one of my lazy, good for nothing co workers, failed to do correctly (he shall remain nameless but if you come to visit me, I promise to properly introduce you). Plus Justin and I were leaving for Provence on Sunday, so I had a lot of things to wrap up.
I was able to escape around 4pm and got home to find a few things. Justin was asleep. No surprise there. I walked further into the living room. Hmmm roses nicely arranged in a vase? Quelle surprise! That's a rarity. I immediately became suspicious and walked into the kitchen to investigate further. I found cheese and more cheese. Again, not surprising. Therefore, I decided nothing was going on and went to wake up my jet lagged boyfriend.
I'm expecting for Noah to pull up in the ark any day now, which will give you an indication of how much it has been raining here lately (except for when my parents were here, I'm pretty sure it's been raining since April. Every day.). Thankfully the day Justin arrived, the weather was nice again. We went to the store to pick up a few things. We came back and opened a bottle of champagne (my Christmas gift from work) and some cheese and just relaxed in each other's company on the balcony. We decided to watch some Top Chef.
After the episode ended, Justin decided to shower. Then five minutes later, decided not to. Ok, whatever, I understand completely that the jet lag makes us all really confused and tired. I didn't think anything of it. Nor did I think anything of his pacing around the apartment. We had finished our champagne and he suggested we refill and go back out on the balcony since it was still light and now was much quieter, so I went into the kitchen to top off the glasses.
As I was coming back, I noticed him standing and leaning out over the balcony, then turn his head around over his right shoulder, just to give me this look, this half flirting, half serious look, which at the time made me think, "What is that look??" but retelling this now, I realize exactly what that look was.
I stepped outside and handed him his glass, and we did a little impromptu cheers. "Well," Justin said...
...well, gentle reader, you must know what he said to me. What he asked. If you want the story, I will be more than happy to tell you personally, but I am not posting the details of this for the entire world. But, I will tell the entire world this:
I said YES!!!
It was a completely surreal, emotional, laughter and tear and hug filled, deliriously happy moment. We kept trying out new lines like "hi fiance" and "we're engaged!!" and then bursting out laughing. He did have another surprise which I didn't find in the kitchen - a second bottle of champagne (which we followed with a bottle of wine...I mean if you don't celebrate the day you get engaged, when do you?!). We spent a good hour or so just relishing the moment and looking at my new ring (I suppose that was more me...) before we called our families.
Mine of course, were all out (j'ai de la chance!!), but we spoke to Justin's parents, who were very excited. About 45 minutes later, my mom called me back, saying she was out with her friend Kim. Then I said, "Well, you can tell Kim that Justin and I are engaged!," and my mom starting screaming with excitement. My sister as well, was completely shocked, at at Macy's. "Ohmigod, that's so awesome!!! How did he - hold on a sec - yes can I get this in a four? Sorry to keep you waiting like that, but my sister just got engaged!!" This was actually really fun, because Mom and Aimee were pretty much the only two who were REALLY surprised, which is thanks to my dad throwing them off the trail (thanks again Dad). We called Justin's brother Chris (the number one fan of "Jac Goes to Switzerland!") and his wife who knew already, and my brother Chris who confidently announced "Yeah well (insert loud, frat boy sigh here) I'm proud to say I kinda knew something, but I didn't say anything." Our friends we called later seemed to know that it was going to happen, given the circumstances of the trip and of our relationship.
Of course, we've probably known for some time. Since Justin agreed to go to Cubs games with me, or the day I bought a Sox hat. Since the time I tried skiing, and he carried my snowboard. Since five years ago, when I have started force feeding myself olives. Since he agreed to come to my parents' house to do yardwork and move pool furniture. Since we supported and encouraged each other through busy seasons, business school applications, triathlons, internships, working too late, staying out too late, and that liiiiiiiiittle part about me leaving for a foreign country.
There's something else I've always known too: I have no idea how to plan a wedding. I can only hope I learned enough as sorority social chair to plan an event slightly more complicated than a swap with DKE. But I can't wait. All I know is our wedding is going to be legendWAITFORIT...
dary!!!!
Surprisingly, this is the one thing I didn't worry too much about before leaving for Switzerland. Everyone else worried plenty, believe me. I still remember going to dinner and telling him what I thought were the pros and cons, and getting ready to write out a list (I'm a nerd, I know, he tells me too). Justin just looked at me and said, "Well, it's an incredible opportunity, and I think you should take it if you want to do it. But you have to promise to come back." And that was that. Of course we both knew that living 5,000 miles apart was not going to be easy. Personally I always swore I would never find myself in a long distance relationship and then suddenly, I had created one for myself. But I don't think we ever worried "would we make it?" I didn't. And let's be honest, girls obsess about those kinds of things. We just kind of knew it would all be fine.
This year has definitely been more of a challenge, partly because Justin is working. Which means, he's not home from business school every day anxiously awaiting my call in between rounds of dubious, dilligent studying and maybe a game or two of Tiger Woods golf with an ice cold mug of juice. We can only talk really on the weekends and just email during the week. Now I know you might say "Well, in the olden days, you could only send letters, and people didn't even have email or cheap international long distance!" But I didn't grow up in the "olden days," and so that doesn't really help. We miss each other and a lot of times it seriously sucks. But we've made it this far.
Justin came back to Switzerland about 3 weeks ago for his first visit since last summer. I had last seen him in March for about 55 hours, and that includes time we spent sleeping and on gross planes, so really, it was not very quality time. The week before he arrived was, as usual, agonizingly and painfully long. In fact the only week longer than the week before his arrival is the week after he leaves. On May 23, I met him at the airport and gave him a key and a quick kiss. Then I dashed back to work, because I had to re-do a stupid project that one of my lazy, good for nothing co workers, failed to do correctly (he shall remain nameless but if you come to visit me, I promise to properly introduce you). Plus Justin and I were leaving for Provence on Sunday, so I had a lot of things to wrap up.
I was able to escape around 4pm and got home to find a few things. Justin was asleep. No surprise there. I walked further into the living room. Hmmm roses nicely arranged in a vase? Quelle surprise! That's a rarity. I immediately became suspicious and walked into the kitchen to investigate further. I found cheese and more cheese. Again, not surprising. Therefore, I decided nothing was going on and went to wake up my jet lagged boyfriend.
I'm expecting for Noah to pull up in the ark any day now, which will give you an indication of how much it has been raining here lately (except for when my parents were here, I'm pretty sure it's been raining since April. Every day.). Thankfully the day Justin arrived, the weather was nice again. We went to the store to pick up a few things. We came back and opened a bottle of champagne (my Christmas gift from work) and some cheese and just relaxed in each other's company on the balcony. We decided to watch some Top Chef.
After the episode ended, Justin decided to shower. Then five minutes later, decided not to. Ok, whatever, I understand completely that the jet lag makes us all really confused and tired. I didn't think anything of it. Nor did I think anything of his pacing around the apartment. We had finished our champagne and he suggested we refill and go back out on the balcony since it was still light and now was much quieter, so I went into the kitchen to top off the glasses.
As I was coming back, I noticed him standing and leaning out over the balcony, then turn his head around over his right shoulder, just to give me this look, this half flirting, half serious look, which at the time made me think, "What is that look??" but retelling this now, I realize exactly what that look was.
I stepped outside and handed him his glass, and we did a little impromptu cheers. "Well," Justin said...
...well, gentle reader, you must know what he said to me. What he asked. If you want the story, I will be more than happy to tell you personally, but I am not posting the details of this for the entire world. But, I will tell the entire world this:
I said YES!!!
It was a completely surreal, emotional, laughter and tear and hug filled, deliriously happy moment. We kept trying out new lines like "hi fiance" and "we're engaged!!" and then bursting out laughing. He did have another surprise which I didn't find in the kitchen - a second bottle of champagne (which we followed with a bottle of wine...I mean if you don't celebrate the day you get engaged, when do you?!). We spent a good hour or so just relishing the moment and looking at my new ring (I suppose that was more me...) before we called our families.
Mine of course, were all out (j'ai de la chance!!), but we spoke to Justin's parents, who were very excited. About 45 minutes later, my mom called me back, saying she was out with her friend Kim. Then I said, "Well, you can tell Kim that Justin and I are engaged!," and my mom starting screaming with excitement. My sister as well, was completely shocked, at at Macy's. "Ohmigod, that's so awesome!!! How did he - hold on a sec - yes can I get this in a four? Sorry to keep you waiting like that, but my sister just got engaged!!" This was actually really fun, because Mom and Aimee were pretty much the only two who were REALLY surprised, which is thanks to my dad throwing them off the trail (thanks again Dad). We called Justin's brother Chris (the number one fan of "Jac Goes to Switzerland!") and his wife who knew already, and my brother Chris who confidently announced "Yeah well (insert loud, frat boy sigh here) I'm proud to say I kinda knew something, but I didn't say anything." Our friends we called later seemed to know that it was going to happen, given the circumstances of the trip and of our relationship.
Of course, we've probably known for some time. Since Justin agreed to go to Cubs games with me, or the day I bought a Sox hat. Since the time I tried skiing, and he carried my snowboard. Since five years ago, when I have started force feeding myself olives. Since he agreed to come to my parents' house to do yardwork and move pool furniture. Since we supported and encouraged each other through busy seasons, business school applications, triathlons, internships, working too late, staying out too late, and that liiiiiiiiittle part about me leaving for a foreign country.
There's something else I've always known too: I have no idea how to plan a wedding. I can only hope I learned enough as sorority social chair to plan an event slightly more complicated than a swap with DKE. But I can't wait. All I know is our wedding is going to be legendWAITFORIT...
dary!!!!
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Updates
1) The plant has been mysteriously removed!! It happened when I was on vacation last week. Almost as strangely as he came, he went. Well GOOD RIDDANCE is all I have to say to that sad excuse for foilage.
2) I would like to clarify a section in my Krakow post where Abby licked the wall of the salt mine as re-reading this, I think it paints a murky picture of our adventure. You may think, not knowing Abby, that this was kind of a stupid thing to do and that her observation ("It's totally salty!) would be quite obvious. First of all, everyone wanted to lick the wall, which was clean (including yours truly) but only Abby was brave enough. I kept seeing good places for licks but couldn't get up the gusto to do it. Secondly, Abby read this book called "Salt" which she recapped for us that sounded super interesting, making us all very excited to see the mine. And in fact it was not really known to us that the walls would be totally (meaning, in total, not meaning, "radically" or "mega" some other 90's word often used as a synonym for totally) salty. But the whole thing was really, totally salty, which we did would not have discovered if it were not for Abby!! Did I mention the salt mine was TOTALLY (and here I do mean it in the other context) AWESOME??!!
2) I would like to clarify a section in my Krakow post where Abby licked the wall of the salt mine as re-reading this, I think it paints a murky picture of our adventure. You may think, not knowing Abby, that this was kind of a stupid thing to do and that her observation ("It's totally salty!) would be quite obvious. First of all, everyone wanted to lick the wall, which was clean (including yours truly) but only Abby was brave enough. I kept seeing good places for licks but couldn't get up the gusto to do it. Secondly, Abby read this book called "Salt" which she recapped for us that sounded super interesting, making us all very excited to see the mine. And in fact it was not really known to us that the walls would be totally (meaning, in total, not meaning, "radically" or "mega" some other 90's word often used as a synonym for totally) salty. But the whole thing was really, totally salty, which we did would not have discovered if it were not for Abby!! Did I mention the salt mine was TOTALLY (and here I do mean it in the other context) AWESOME??!!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
It finally happened!
After such a long time waiting, I could hardly believe when the moment arrived.
My parents came to Switzerland!!
(haha, gotcha readers. don't worry, I'll soon provide the next post that some of you were expecting here instead!!)
A lot of you know that I have been waiting and waiting and WAITING for my parents to come visit me. My dad came to visit in January for a few days and we made a new friend in Zermatt:
But I really wanted them both to come and see my life and my home, and experience all the things I love about Switzerland. As you might imagine, my parents were not exactly thrilled when I told them about moving 5,000 miles away for two years. I get along very well with my parents (now that we are all adults) and disagreeing with them on something which was so important to me made the decision to move quite difficult. But in the end of course I am glad I came over and especially now, in year two, things are really good over here.
My parents arrived on May 1 which was fortunately a holiday here in Switzerland (Ascension Thursday). Unfortunately, as you well know by now, this meant that everything was closed. I picked up my parents at the airport along with beaucoup de baggage. The first thing we did was take Switzerland's excellent public transport towards my apartment. A little old lady came and sat next to me on the bus, speaking in French. Somehow she and everyone else must have known that these were my parents, because random people were speaking in me in French all week, allowing me to show off to my parents! Random people always talk to me - I must either look nice or like I know directions and timetables to all transport connections. However I used to freak out that someone would ask me a question in France and would always immediately answer "non."
Anyway, my dad tested the sleeping conditions in my apartment while I took mom to into town to check out the lake and window shop. After a nice lunch and a trip to a tea room, we headed back home to regroup and had a fairly lazy night, which extended into the next day. Around 1pm on Friday, I announced that jet lag was over and it was time to get up! Needless did we know the fun that lay in store for us that night...
As painful as this will be, I have to recount this story. A little context first: Before Rustbucket came into my life, I took the bus/tram roughly twice a day, every day. Having been here for 17 months at the time my parents arrived, and accounting for the time I spent outside of Switzerland when I didn't take the bus, that's roughly 950 or so times I have taken the bus. And my ticket has been checked 6 times. That's about 1/2 of 1% chance that you get your ticket checked. Now, where am I going with this?
Here's my adorable p's in Montreux. So unspecting of the impeding drama...
My parents and I went to Montreux on Friday night since it is pretty and has the Chateau de Chillon right on the lake. It was a beautiful night with the sun setting on the lake. We got to the bus stop and did not see a ticket box outside of the bus. However normally when this happens, there is a box on the bus where you need to buy the ticket. So we get on the bus and my parents obviously had no clue what to do so sat down. I was trying to figure out what zone we needed to go to and how much to pay on this weird machine, unsuccessfully, and freaking out that I probably didn't have enough money for us to get a return ticket. This took about 30 seconds and the bus stopped.
So gentle reader, a probability question: If your chance of getting checked is less than 1/2 of 1%, what are your chances of getting checked when you have 2 other people with you and none of you have bus tickets? You would probably say well, it might be slightly increased, to like 1.5%. WRONG.
The answer is, of course, 100%.
I figured I could just explain to one of the nice Swiss men that I was trying to buy a ticket but the machine I used ne marche pas and I was just about to go to the normal one. I did this in French. "Come with me," he said in English (never a good sign), and made me and my parents get off the bus and take our passports. We were then told that we were EACH fined 80 CHF for riding without a ticket and if we didn't pay at that moment, we would go to jail. Yes, jail. I confirmed later in one of my Swiss books that this really does happen.
Obviously things got ugly after that. Let me just say that Switzerland is not America. I love Switzerland, but if you think you can appeal to rulemakers with sweet talk, bribes, flirting, stripping, idle threats, real threats, or klondike bars, forget it. I tried explaining 100 times that I always carry a ticket and was just confused and my parents didn't know, etc. My dad used a bit stronger tone and the one guy started speaking very angrily and as fast as he possibly could in French to my dad specificially so he couldn't understand and to piss him off (sorry Dad, but actually I understood what he said and it was really funny that he did that). My dad wanted to test the threat that we would be arrested, but I refused and handed over 240 CHF. Then promptly made my parents take me to a nice dinner to pay me back. Needless to say, I think this is VERY bad for tourism in Montreux and left a terrible taste in my mouth. So BOO to you stupid city with your smoke on the water. I take Geneva (which gives free bus passes at the airport for tourists) any day of the semaine.
The rest of the trip, thankfully, was much more fun. On Saturday, we went wine tasting in Dardagny. My dad who denies he can speak French, had no problem obtaining numerous tastings of this delicious cabernet sauvignon which we later purchased. We went home and took a much needed nap and then had a fun night cooking in. My mom and I watched "Charlie Wilson's War" on my HUGE screen tv (read: 17in laptop) while my dad watched the Cubbies on MLBtv.
On Sunday we went to Interlaken! We checked into the Hotel Bellevue and got an awesome triple room (yes, all in one room, we love each other!!) with an adorable balcony and to die for view of the river and mountains. Nice photo below by Mom!
We took a boat cruise on Lake Brienz (the cleanest lake in Switzerland in 2005 until flooding; still looked pretty clean to me) and then had a nice dinner in a square on a quiet side of town. We decided to take a walk after dinner and that's when I noticed...the bugs. The BIG SICKASS bugs. I put my sweatshirt hood up and my parents thought I was nuts. They looked like cicadas though and I HATE bugs. Snakes or rats, throw em at me. Just not a bug of any kind. So we got back to the hotel safely and decided to open the window slightly. I was a bit worried because the screen wasn't super substantial. But we were on the 3rd floor right?
We took a boat cruise on Lake Brienz (the cleanest lake in Switzerland in 2005 until flooding; still looked pretty clean to me) and then had a nice dinner in a square on a quiet side of town. We decided to take a walk after dinner and that's when I noticed...the bugs. The BIG SICKASS bugs. I put my sweatshirt hood up and my parents thought I was nuts. They looked like cicadas though and I HATE bugs. Snakes or rats, throw em at me. Just not a bug of any kind. So we got back to the hotel safely and decided to open the window slightly. I was a bit worried because the screen wasn't super substantial. But we were on the 3rd floor right? I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and hear my mom yell AHHHH!!!!! IT'S IN THE ROOM!! Immediately I scream and lock the bathroom door. "Kill it Dad!!!" I yell from inside. "You're the one who likes the outdoor stuff! Carol, kill it!!!" He yells back. My mom yells a bit more but bravely somehow manages to get him outside. "Ok J, it's fine." I continue brushing my teeth. Warily. Very waaaar... "AAAAHHHH THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!!!" "AAAAHHH!!!" I yell again. "I'm not coming out of this bathroom until they are all gone, I'll sleep on the floor if I have to!" My brave, wonderful parents conspired a plan where they trapped the bug with a jar, then slid a piece of paper underneath, and then put the sucker outside on the patio. Such a good team!! Thanks for saving my life from the cicadas Mom and Dad.
On Monday, we went to the Top of Europe, which I went to with Justin in August. It was really cool to see it this time because there was a TON more snow. My parents loved it, and we had a lot of fun goofing around and taking pictures on the mountain. And we had an amazing lunch in this gorgeous resto on the side of the glacier. Nothing tastes better than Swiss french fries at 11,000 ft!
We were back in Geneva on Monday night and on Tuesday, I went into work to "regulate" while my parents stayed home - Dad to catch up on some work of his own, and Mom to take care of me by cleaning some things in my apartment (eg my oven, which you will recall was subject to a minor grease fire). That night we went to a traditional Swiss restaurant with my friend Ingvill which was really fun. We had fondue and filets de perche and Ingvill educated my parents about lots of Swiss food and customs. I know this too by now, but it's a little more credible coming from her since her husband is Swiss.
Sadly my dad had to leave on Weds and my mom and I went to Rome. It was the first time in probably a good 6 or 7 years I have been on a vacation with my parents and it was so much fun. They are both threatening to come back before they leave and I really hope they do!!
Here's some more pictures:
Family fun on the Jungfraujoch:
Mamoo and me
Finally Mom and Dad in the Ice Palace!
My family rocks.
The Plant
OK, I don't know why it's bothering me so much, but it is.
About two weeks ago, I went into the bathroom at work.
Let me backtrack a little and say that I really love our bathrooms. It is one of the few nice things about my office (the others being view of mountains and ability to watch all the planes taking off, and the recently installed teeny vending machine on the 4th floor). The stall doors shut all the way so you have complete privacy. There are air fresheners (broken at the wrong times unfortunately, but generally effective). And the lights are the energy saving ones that take a long time to come on. Needless to say sometimes when I am super hungover, I just go and shut the door and sit in the nice, quiet, dark, generally good smelling bathroom and take a moment to close my eyes and will away my headache. It's like a sanctuary.
So I went into the bathroom two weeks ago on a Thursday which was a holiday so the office was pretty much closed, and there was a disgusting smelling plant in our bathroom. In the sink, looking like someone had abandoned it. I figured that it would be gone shortly and just held my nose and ignored it.
The following Tuesday, I had to come into work and regulate on some people who decided to slack while mother hen (aka yours truly) was on vacation. I went into the bathroom and lo and behold, yucky plant is still there. This time on the counter, looking like he has made a home for himself. I asked one of my co-workers, "Who put that nasty plant in our bathroom?" But no one knew. It's kind of tall and leafy so how it made it in there without someone ,"what are you doing with that kind of tall and leafy and bad smelling plant?," I don't know.
I came back to work this Monday and guess what is there. Looking SAD I might add. Because let's think about this. Plants NEED sunlight, do they not? This is not some jade plant that you can give like a teaspoon of water and a drop of sunshine and it will grow. This is some random leafy plant which A) is being exposed only to artificial bathroom light and B) someone is REALLY overwatering. With each day, the plant looks worse and worse. Now it is about half covered in dead brown leaves and the rest are wilted. It is making me really angry. Who would be so stupid to put a cast-off plant somewhere that it would obviously die, and then make a mess, in one of the only nice places in our office?
Who does this?
And would I be a terrible person if I led the plant to its natural home (ie garbage dump/compost pile)? Maybe I should rescue it and take it to my office which gets lots of sun? Help??
About two weeks ago, I went into the bathroom at work.
Let me backtrack a little and say that I really love our bathrooms. It is one of the few nice things about my office (the others being view of mountains and ability to watch all the planes taking off, and the recently installed teeny vending machine on the 4th floor). The stall doors shut all the way so you have complete privacy. There are air fresheners (broken at the wrong times unfortunately, but generally effective). And the lights are the energy saving ones that take a long time to come on. Needless to say sometimes when I am super hungover, I just go and shut the door and sit in the nice, quiet, dark, generally good smelling bathroom and take a moment to close my eyes and will away my headache. It's like a sanctuary.
So I went into the bathroom two weeks ago on a Thursday which was a holiday so the office was pretty much closed, and there was a disgusting smelling plant in our bathroom. In the sink, looking like someone had abandoned it. I figured that it would be gone shortly and just held my nose and ignored it.
The following Tuesday, I had to come into work and regulate on some people who decided to slack while mother hen (aka yours truly) was on vacation. I went into the bathroom and lo and behold, yucky plant is still there. This time on the counter, looking like he has made a home for himself. I asked one of my co-workers, "Who put that nasty plant in our bathroom?" But no one knew. It's kind of tall and leafy so how it made it in there without someone ,"what are you doing with that kind of tall and leafy and bad smelling plant?," I don't know.
I came back to work this Monday and guess what is there. Looking SAD I might add. Because let's think about this. Plants NEED sunlight, do they not? This is not some jade plant that you can give like a teaspoon of water and a drop of sunshine and it will grow. This is some random leafy plant which A) is being exposed only to artificial bathroom light and B) someone is REALLY overwatering. With each day, the plant looks worse and worse. Now it is about half covered in dead brown leaves and the rest are wilted. It is making me really angry. Who would be so stupid to put a cast-off plant somewhere that it would obviously die, and then make a mess, in one of the only nice places in our office?
Who does this?
And would I be a terrible person if I led the plant to its natural home (ie garbage dump/compost pile)? Maybe I should rescue it and take it to my office which gets lots of sun? Help??
Monday, May 12, 2008
Krakow
Yes it's been a while, I know! I have been incredibly busy.
Things I find myself doing much more than a normal person:
a) sprinting down the street at full throttle, often in heels, to catch a tram/train
b) crying in airports
c) buying lots and lots of vegetables, and throwing them all away a week later (very bad I know, but I do compost them)
Lately I feel my life is a big jumble of racing from bed to work to french to bed etc and not much sleeping. And a lot of traveling. Let's start there.
Two weeks ago, I went to Krakow, Poland to meet up with Abby and Melissa (2 friends from college) and Cara. I LOVED Poland. The love affair began instantly, unexpectedly, like these things often do.
I exchanged some euros at the currency counter and received a neat stack of Polish zloty. "And this is for you too" she said, handing me a candy. When was the last time you exchanged money and got candy (ok I always got candy at the bank when I was little, I mean, as an adult)?? Then I got in a taxi with a driver who spoke about 10 words of english. "Hello" "Please" and "Tip I keep?" being half of that. Although we could hardly communicate, I told him that I was from Chicago, which is practically part of Poland, there are so many Polish people there. This was very exciting. Things heated up when I told him that my grandparents were Polish AND I knew how to say thank you in Polish! I was beautiful, I was told, because I am Polish. Score!
I had the wonderful fortune of arriving after the girls tried to check in to our first hotel, which was apparently a cross between a halfway house and a boxcar circus train from the sounds of it. So I arrived at the beautiful Sheraton in Krakow and showered my friends with hugs, kisses and of course, imported swiss cheese. Yum!!! You can read about some of the adventures we had on Abby and Cara's blog here.
Krakow was cheap, the food was good, the people super nice and the beer was outstanding!! I think we tried around 5 or 6. My favorite was called Dog in the Fog, a darkish local Polish beer. The slogan was "he will not lose his way" or something like that. I've looked for some stuff on google about it but have come up empty handed. You'll just have to trust me until I can get my hands on Abby's photos which prove it!
One of the interesting things we did while there was take a trip to Auschwitz, about an hour away. Why would anyone, on a sunny, fun filled vacation, choose to spend the majority of a day going to a concentration camp? We pondered it too. But we were compelled to go see it. It was one of those things that you don't necessarily want to see or do, because it is painful and heartwrenching. I visited Ground Zero earlier this year, which is different but the same in the way that it was the site of a tremendous atrocity and not something that you really want to do on vacation. In New York, I felt extremely emotional and near tears, maybe because it was something that happened during a critical time in my life and I still remember every minute of that entire day - and although it's in the past, for most people my age it is a memory that we live with constantly. At Auschwitz, it felt more like history, and while it was shocking, it was in some ways more difficult to comprehend everything. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the barracks looked more like college dormitories than places that used to house thousands of people. At one point we stood near a wall where many people had been shot, and a group of girls began simultaneously praying (what sounded like the our father to me, although it was in Polish so I couldn't tell). That stayed with me throughout the day, as did the hundreds of photographs we saw saying how long people remained alive there. Some were a year or more. Some were five days or less. I don't know if I forgot from school or I never really knew the extent, but I didn't realize the intent to basically eliminate the entire Polish population, regardless of religion. The quotes and photographs were truly mind-boggling and shocking, and I couldn't decide what astounded me more - the fact that people could actually think and act in such a manner towards fellow human beings, or the fact that other people could stand by and let them get away with it. The other thing which stayed with me for the day was walking through a barrack called "Evidence of Crimes against humanity" where you saw articles left behind from the holocaust victims. A room the size and depth of a large swimming pool filled with pots and pans. A large window, filled with thousands of pairs of spectacles. And another room, high and deep, and on either side, thousands and thousands and thounsand of shoes big and small.
I don't mean to be depressing, but the main thing I personally took away from the experience was that it is ok to feel uncomfortable and depressed and kind of angry about these things that happened, and to allow yourself to feel that way. Because it was really, really awful, and we should feel that way about it and work to ensure nothing like that would ever happen again. If you try to just glaze over it and numb yourself...well I think it was put best by one of the quotes at the site: "he who forgets history is condemned to repeat it."
Anyway...I had to get that off my chest. Back to the fun parts of Poland.
Going to Poland and experiencing everything was cool for me because I am half Polish, and it was the first visit I had to a country of my ancestors. The other fun trip we had was visiting a huge salt mine!! It was about 130 m underground and we had a super funny and cute guide to show us around. Salt is bad ass and was the world's first major trading commodity. There were a lot of really cool sculptures and an entire church which were completely carved from salt. However I think my personal highlight of the entire tour was when Abby licked the wall, and excitedly proclaimed, "It's totally salty!!"
After all the pierogis, beer, Polish history lessons (man they have had a rough time with the neighbors) and adventures, I felt more proud of my Polish heritage than I ever had. Which I commemorated by purchasing a super tacky bright red POLSKA t shirt with a huge eagle on it. Love you Poland!!! (thanks for letting me steal your line Cara!)
Things I find myself doing much more than a normal person:
a) sprinting down the street at full throttle, often in heels, to catch a tram/train
b) crying in airports
c) buying lots and lots of vegetables, and throwing them all away a week later (very bad I know, but I do compost them)
Lately I feel my life is a big jumble of racing from bed to work to french to bed etc and not much sleeping. And a lot of traveling. Let's start there.
Two weeks ago, I went to Krakow, Poland to meet up with Abby and Melissa (2 friends from college) and Cara. I LOVED Poland. The love affair began instantly, unexpectedly, like these things often do.
I exchanged some euros at the currency counter and received a neat stack of Polish zloty. "And this is for you too" she said, handing me a candy. When was the last time you exchanged money and got candy (ok I always got candy at the bank when I was little, I mean, as an adult)?? Then I got in a taxi with a driver who spoke about 10 words of english. "Hello" "Please" and "Tip I keep?" being half of that. Although we could hardly communicate, I told him that I was from Chicago, which is practically part of Poland, there are so many Polish people there. This was very exciting. Things heated up when I told him that my grandparents were Polish AND I knew how to say thank you in Polish! I was beautiful, I was told, because I am Polish. Score!
I had the wonderful fortune of arriving after the girls tried to check in to our first hotel, which was apparently a cross between a halfway house and a boxcar circus train from the sounds of it. So I arrived at the beautiful Sheraton in Krakow and showered my friends with hugs, kisses and of course, imported swiss cheese. Yum!!! You can read about some of the adventures we had on Abby and Cara's blog here.
Krakow was cheap, the food was good, the people super nice and the beer was outstanding!! I think we tried around 5 or 6. My favorite was called Dog in the Fog, a darkish local Polish beer. The slogan was "he will not lose his way" or something like that. I've looked for some stuff on google about it but have come up empty handed. You'll just have to trust me until I can get my hands on Abby's photos which prove it!
One of the interesting things we did while there was take a trip to Auschwitz, about an hour away. Why would anyone, on a sunny, fun filled vacation, choose to spend the majority of a day going to a concentration camp? We pondered it too. But we were compelled to go see it. It was one of those things that you don't necessarily want to see or do, because it is painful and heartwrenching. I visited Ground Zero earlier this year, which is different but the same in the way that it was the site of a tremendous atrocity and not something that you really want to do on vacation. In New York, I felt extremely emotional and near tears, maybe because it was something that happened during a critical time in my life and I still remember every minute of that entire day - and although it's in the past, for most people my age it is a memory that we live with constantly. At Auschwitz, it felt more like history, and while it was shocking, it was in some ways more difficult to comprehend everything. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the barracks looked more like college dormitories than places that used to house thousands of people. At one point we stood near a wall where many people had been shot, and a group of girls began simultaneously praying (what sounded like the our father to me, although it was in Polish so I couldn't tell). That stayed with me throughout the day, as did the hundreds of photographs we saw saying how long people remained alive there. Some were a year or more. Some were five days or less. I don't know if I forgot from school or I never really knew the extent, but I didn't realize the intent to basically eliminate the entire Polish population, regardless of religion. The quotes and photographs were truly mind-boggling and shocking, and I couldn't decide what astounded me more - the fact that people could actually think and act in such a manner towards fellow human beings, or the fact that other people could stand by and let them get away with it. The other thing which stayed with me for the day was walking through a barrack called "Evidence of Crimes against humanity" where you saw articles left behind from the holocaust victims. A room the size and depth of a large swimming pool filled with pots and pans. A large window, filled with thousands of pairs of spectacles. And another room, high and deep, and on either side, thousands and thousands and thounsand of shoes big and small.
I don't mean to be depressing, but the main thing I personally took away from the experience was that it is ok to feel uncomfortable and depressed and kind of angry about these things that happened, and to allow yourself to feel that way. Because it was really, really awful, and we should feel that way about it and work to ensure nothing like that would ever happen again. If you try to just glaze over it and numb yourself...well I think it was put best by one of the quotes at the site: "he who forgets history is condemned to repeat it."
Anyway...I had to get that off my chest. Back to the fun parts of Poland.
Going to Poland and experiencing everything was cool for me because I am half Polish, and it was the first visit I had to a country of my ancestors. The other fun trip we had was visiting a huge salt mine!! It was about 130 m underground and we had a super funny and cute guide to show us around. Salt is bad ass and was the world's first major trading commodity. There were a lot of really cool sculptures and an entire church which were completely carved from salt. However I think my personal highlight of the entire tour was when Abby licked the wall, and excitedly proclaimed, "It's totally salty!!"
After all the pierogis, beer, Polish history lessons (man they have had a rough time with the neighbors) and adventures, I felt more proud of my Polish heritage than I ever had. Which I commemorated by purchasing a super tacky bright red POLSKA t shirt with a huge eagle on it. Love you Poland!!! (thanks for letting me steal your line Cara!)
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Me and Rustbucket
Well I think I am really starting to go turn into a Euro.
First of all, I am now speaking french 2 full days each week in the office. That might not sound like a lot, but it is and it's exhausting! It's quite easy to "bavarder" (chat) in French but it gets a bit more difficult to try and explain things and understand things work related that people are telling you. But I have to say it is good practice which I really need. Thursdays it is just with the 2 girls in my office and on Fridays, some brilliant lad that I work with started "French Fridays" where all the English speakers have to speak French. This is actually quite humorous to speak French with other Americans and Brits and Russians and South Africans and other people who don't normally speak french. Anyway it's a "bonne initiative" although today for example, I got so fed up with a situation that I switched to English for the remainder of the day to make it easier for me (and bought a chocolate, also to make it easier).
Second and more notably, I bought a bike last weekend. There is a secondhand bike shop in town and in my opinion, they just go around Geneva, steal bikes and resell them. That or pull them out of the lake because they are all a bit shabby looking. But they work. I got a silver one and put a basket on it and voila! I'm ready to ride around town. I fully intended to name it "the silver bullet," but it doesn't sound quite right for its personality. And like I said, it's a bit from hunger. So, I have christened my bike Rustbucket.
Geneva is actually an awesome city for biking because there are true bike paths everywhere to make it really easy and safe to get around by bike. In fact at some cross walks they even have separate "bike lights" that you cross when that is flashing. Not to mention the fact that you can ride around the lake and check out the French Alps every day of the week. And when you ride in the other direction, you can see other mountains. Yes, just one of the small bonuses about living in Switzerland. Anyway my adventure this week was to take my bike to work! Fortunately, my office is kind of away from town. Well, let me rephrase that. It is nowhere near town. It could actually be closer to France than town. But that means that I can walk through neighborhoods and stuff (and not like the gross pigeon filled sidewalk under the Quincy L stop for example) to get there which is nice. It is also right by the airport which is super convenient for traveling and even BETTER for when you have conference calls and can look out the window at all the planes. Anyway, currently I take the tram about 6-8 minutes and walk about 15 minutes to get to work. On Wednesday morning, I woke up with a slight hangover and pleasantly surprised to see it had stopped raining for seriously, the first time in a month. So I quickly got dressed, grabbed some work clothes, and hopped on Rustbucket.
The only unfortunate thing about the ride to work is it is up a long, gradual incline. Not exactly what you want to be doing first thing in the morning. But that is just the first half or so and the rest is not to bad. It takes me now about 15 minutes door to door which is awesome. Then I go upstairs to work and quickly turn on my crappy laptop, which takes about 10 minutes to boot up, run down to the fitness, get naked, say "bonjour!" to all the other naked ladies, shower up, more naked bonjours, get dressed and run back up to work and voila! In about the same time as it took me to get to work previously, I have gotten a bit of exercise and showered. Cool!
Going home is of course super fun because it's all downhill. In fact it's a little fast for little Rustbucket, and we have to apply the brakes gently so as not to crash into a bush. But two days in a row now, Rustbucket and I went to and from work. And I took my bicycle to French lessons tonight.
All that's missing now is a beret.
First of all, I am now speaking french 2 full days each week in the office. That might not sound like a lot, but it is and it's exhausting! It's quite easy to "bavarder" (chat) in French but it gets a bit more difficult to try and explain things and understand things work related that people are telling you. But I have to say it is good practice which I really need. Thursdays it is just with the 2 girls in my office and on Fridays, some brilliant lad that I work with started "French Fridays" where all the English speakers have to speak French. This is actually quite humorous to speak French with other Americans and Brits and Russians and South Africans and other people who don't normally speak french. Anyway it's a "bonne initiative" although today for example, I got so fed up with a situation that I switched to English for the remainder of the day to make it easier for me (and bought a chocolate, also to make it easier).
Second and more notably, I bought a bike last weekend. There is a secondhand bike shop in town and in my opinion, they just go around Geneva, steal bikes and resell them. That or pull them out of the lake because they are all a bit shabby looking. But they work. I got a silver one and put a basket on it and voila! I'm ready to ride around town. I fully intended to name it "the silver bullet," but it doesn't sound quite right for its personality. And like I said, it's a bit from hunger. So, I have christened my bike Rustbucket.
Geneva is actually an awesome city for biking because there are true bike paths everywhere to make it really easy and safe to get around by bike. In fact at some cross walks they even have separate "bike lights" that you cross when that is flashing. Not to mention the fact that you can ride around the lake and check out the French Alps every day of the week. And when you ride in the other direction, you can see other mountains. Yes, just one of the small bonuses about living in Switzerland. Anyway my adventure this week was to take my bike to work! Fortunately, my office is kind of away from town. Well, let me rephrase that. It is nowhere near town. It could actually be closer to France than town. But that means that I can walk through neighborhoods and stuff (and not like the gross pigeon filled sidewalk under the Quincy L stop for example) to get there which is nice. It is also right by the airport which is super convenient for traveling and even BETTER for when you have conference calls and can look out the window at all the planes. Anyway, currently I take the tram about 6-8 minutes and walk about 15 minutes to get to work. On Wednesday morning, I woke up with a slight hangover and pleasantly surprised to see it had stopped raining for seriously, the first time in a month. So I quickly got dressed, grabbed some work clothes, and hopped on Rustbucket.
The only unfortunate thing about the ride to work is it is up a long, gradual incline. Not exactly what you want to be doing first thing in the morning. But that is just the first half or so and the rest is not to bad. It takes me now about 15 minutes door to door which is awesome. Then I go upstairs to work and quickly turn on my crappy laptop, which takes about 10 minutes to boot up, run down to the fitness, get naked, say "bonjour!" to all the other naked ladies, shower up, more naked bonjours, get dressed and run back up to work and voila! In about the same time as it took me to get to work previously, I have gotten a bit of exercise and showered. Cool!
Going home is of course super fun because it's all downhill. In fact it's a little fast for little Rustbucket, and we have to apply the brakes gently so as not to crash into a bush. But two days in a row now, Rustbucket and I went to and from work. And I took my bicycle to French lessons tonight.
All that's missing now is a beret.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Hey now, hey now, don't dream it's over
It's over.
The first major chapter of my stay in Switzerland has closed. Today was the last day of the ski season, my second season here and likely to be the last "season" I ever have in my life. I actually felt a little emotional when getting up to go on the chair the last time today. Let's face it, I will NOT be driving to Alpine Valley every weekend when I get back to the U.S. Snowboarding and skiing in the midwest is just awful and not worth it. It is absolutely freezing, the conditions are terrible AND the runs are like 25 feet long. Hopefully I will go out to Vail or Jackson next winter (I am taking 3 months off work, so anyone who wants to go on a ski holiday...call me!)
So Bhav and I went to Flaine which is in France. By the way I almost always went to France - only Crans Montana, Leysin and Zermatt which I went to are in Switzerland. We got there and did a few runs and then decided to have another picnic because it was super sunny. This one was mildly more successful than our last one - there were lots of other people picnicking too. But of course as soon as we sat down we were battling clouds until the moment we finished. It was yummy though - a nice multi grain bread, avocado and cheese. With apple crumble and coffee for dessert (we got that bit in the resto). It amazes me how the Swissies and Frenchies eat when skiing - it's not uncommon to see someone get tartiflette, which I have not had yet, but it is basically potatoes, cheese, cream, onions and bacon...sounds good but during the middle of a ski day? And then wash it down with a chocolate tart and a bottle of wine. And how are Americans the fattest country in the world? Because I guess the Euros still do 4 hours of skiing after, whereas we tune in to a marathon of "The Hills."
After lunch we got serious and snowboarded for the rest of the day without stopping (unusual for us as we get tempted by various apero bars located all over the mountain). We did two or three runs on one side of the mountain and then kept taking this one awesome run. The chairlift to get up was HUGE. It was an 8 person chair which I have never seen. It was like sitting on a really comfy sofa that flew through the air at super high speed! Also it went over a waterfall and a bunch of trees. Cool. The run itself was great, starting off with a big open bowl at the top and opening into a wide flat bit where we practiced riding goofy (the other way), then narrowing up before dropping you down a steep mogully slushy bit which dropped into a flat bit and you went super super fast! Then more steep and narrow and then steep and wide and then just normal and back to the sofa chair. We went nonstop for about 3 hours and then finished off the day with a kir royale in the sunshine.
We totally passed out on the skibus and when we got back, our driver said thanks and announced that it was the last bus and he would see us all for another season and everyone clapped and cheered. It was cool but a little sad too.
Welllll in any case, this was a bonne saison all around, not just on my board, and with the exception of the few weeks I was trapped in major study lockdown for my work exams, I think I made the most of it.
I will remember the most:
-My first ski lesson in a blizzard
-My second ski lesson when I almost died and some nice guy saved my life (he was like 45, don't get any ideas)
-The amazing views in Chamonix when snowshoeing quietly through the woods, where all you could hear was the snow crunching underfoot
-The taste of a delicious pizzwich at the top of Signal in Les Contamines
-The adorable town of Les Gets and its super slopes
-Being on top of the world in a huge flying bumblebee balloon
-Seeing the Mont Blanc every single weekend
-Someone always pointing the Mont Blanc out to me every weekend
-When I took a snowboard lesson and got my confidence back (and have kicked ass ever since, ha!)
-When I would swing my ice ax just right and hit a sweet spot
-Sitting up top of a huge piece of ice I climbed and not hearing anything except people sniffling and carribeaners gently clinking together
-The first time I rode goofy and turned 5 consecutive times (and promptly fell on my ass)
-The awesome orange apero bar in Crans Montana
-Flying at super speed down the Nantes-Rouge run in Contamines
-Hearing the sound of the waterfall coming down the run today
-When I successfully took a button lift without falling!! (after falling twice before)
-The shots of Jaegermeister Bhav made us do at ONE PM
-The huge white slopes
-The wide blue skies
-The sunshine
-My last run
It was a good season.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Escargots
A short post about snails.
Seriously, it has been raining and cold all week which is unusual, as I heard the weather in Chicago is nicer than here. Incroyable!! This is GOOD news for me because that means it is probably still snowing in the mountains and that will give me another weekend of snowboarding. Hooray!
On my way home from work however, I spotted a snail on the ground in the rain. I have honestly never seen a live snail crawling around outside of Switzerland when it rains. However here I see them all the time. He was totally sprawled out and everything, and I picked him up and he curled up inside his shell, just like they say. It just amazes me sometimes the things that you will find here walking home from work that you would never see in Chicago. Or has anyone ever spotted a snail outside of say, the Tin Lizzie (also known as in my opinion the worst bar in Chicago)?
By the way, if you have never eaten escargots, they are DELICIOUS and if you are a picky eater, go with a friend who is not and have them order it and get some bread to dip in the yummy garlicy herby buttery escargot-ey deliciousness sauce. YUM!
Seriously, it has been raining and cold all week which is unusual, as I heard the weather in Chicago is nicer than here. Incroyable!! This is GOOD news for me because that means it is probably still snowing in the mountains and that will give me another weekend of snowboarding. Hooray!
On my way home from work however, I spotted a snail on the ground in the rain. I have honestly never seen a live snail crawling around outside of Switzerland when it rains. However here I see them all the time. He was totally sprawled out and everything, and I picked him up and he curled up inside his shell, just like they say. It just amazes me sometimes the things that you will find here walking home from work that you would never see in Chicago. Or has anyone ever spotted a snail outside of say, the Tin Lizzie (also known as in my opinion the worst bar in Chicago)?
By the way, if you have never eaten escargots, they are DELICIOUS and if you are a picky eater, go with a friend who is not and have them order it and get some bread to dip in the yummy garlicy herby buttery escargot-ey deliciousness sauce. YUM!
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
CERN
Have you read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown? Or are you a big nerd? If either of those is true, you are probably familiar with CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Both are true for me which is what piqued my interest in visiting CERN, and also this "open house" which was on Sunday.
As I understand it: CERN is a bad ass physics laboratory where scientists all over the world come to play and study and make cool new things happen. So they built this particle accelerator called the Large Hadron Collider and it goes underground - it's 3km (almost 2 miles) underground and 27km (about 17 miles) in circumference, spanning the Swiss and French borders. The LHC is new, and they are going to flip the switch I believe in the summer. It was open to the public to go underground on Sunday, which is where I went (after like 2 hours of waiting and 1 hour of taking random shuttle buses). What happens then is they send little particles zooming all around France and Switzerland at super high speeds. Then they smack them into each other, and it will re-create conditions that existed around the time of the Big Bang (or the "beeg bong" as I kept hearing the Frenchies call it). This will teach us more about the universe as we know it and such things like random particle masses that existed after the beeg bong and why the Cubs cannot win a world series (ok seriously, the answer must lie in science because there is no other explanation!!)
That is my layman's explanation of the LHC but you can read more about it yourself on the webpage dedicated to the new LHC. I basically spent my day wandering around CERN and its various sites and trying to learn about physics, which was quite complicated enough for me in school, when I was so horrible at physics that my reputation preceded me and most people refused to be my lab partner...Anyway a lot of the explanations were in French, about half of which I understood. You get my drift. It was also massively crowded because the open house was for ONE DAY ONLY and you see, even in Switzerland, people are not so refined that they can resist this kind of American gimmicky advertising!
Well CERN was interesting, but it won't make for much of a blog. I leave it to you, gentle reader, to explore the world wide web (which was invented at CERN) if you have more interest in these subjects. There's a lot of cool experiments going on over here!
As I understand it: CERN is a bad ass physics laboratory where scientists all over the world come to play and study and make cool new things happen. So they built this particle accelerator called the Large Hadron Collider and it goes underground - it's 3km (almost 2 miles) underground and 27km (about 17 miles) in circumference, spanning the Swiss and French borders. The LHC is new, and they are going to flip the switch I believe in the summer. It was open to the public to go underground on Sunday, which is where I went (after like 2 hours of waiting and 1 hour of taking random shuttle buses). What happens then is they send little particles zooming all around France and Switzerland at super high speeds. Then they smack them into each other, and it will re-create conditions that existed around the time of the Big Bang (or the "beeg bong" as I kept hearing the Frenchies call it). This will teach us more about the universe as we know it and such things like random particle masses that existed after the beeg bong and why the Cubs cannot win a world series (ok seriously, the answer must lie in science because there is no other explanation!!)
That is my layman's explanation of the LHC but you can read more about it yourself on the webpage dedicated to the new LHC. I basically spent my day wandering around CERN and its various sites and trying to learn about physics, which was quite complicated enough for me in school, when I was so horrible at physics that my reputation preceded me and most people refused to be my lab partner...Anyway a lot of the explanations were in French, about half of which I understood. You get my drift. It was also massively crowded because the open house was for ONE DAY ONLY and you see, even in Switzerland, people are not so refined that they can resist this kind of American gimmicky advertising!
Well CERN was interesting, but it won't make for much of a blog. I leave it to you, gentle reader, to explore the world wide web (which was invented at CERN) if you have more interest in these subjects. There's a lot of cool experiments going on over here!
Friday, April 04, 2008
Vampire Weekend
No, those are not my plans for tomorrow. It's a new CD I downloaded after being recommended by a guy I work with, Geoff, after his mate (friend, for those of us non-Brits) recommended it to him.
If you know me, you will know that I am obsessed with music. If you are a random person who has stumbled upon my blog, let me be the first to inform you, gentle reader: I am obsessed with music. I NEED it to function and survive, especially sometimes to get through mundane tasks like my job or cleaning house, and to be my happy self. As much as I love eating, if I had to give up either eating (assuming I would not die) or music, it would sadly be food. I think the iPod is the greatest invention ever for a music lover. What could possibly be better than having your entire musical collection with you wherever you go?! I am happy to report that I have a 4 year old iPod with the black and white screen...I think it was the last model they released before the color one.
Anyway I love music, almost any kind, and concerts, and live music, and finding new music. But unfortunately I live in the equivalent of the dark ages here in Switzerlandin that respect because I have no radio or really anyone who can give me suggestions of new things (or old) I have not heard of, especially because I have a rather limited social circle (and life for that matter).
But I downloaded the self-titled Vampire Weekend CD last night and it is REALLY cool! Apparently they have played on SNL and are playing at the Metro this Sunday, so maybe I am just totally behind the times. I really like it and recommend it.
So anyone have any musical suggestions for me? My tastes are fairly simple:
Generally I like happy, upbeat music (I do not like, for example, scary bands like Korn) and not stuff that is too weird (for example, 8 minutes of a digeridoo). I like also other genres that people often hate like country and I like good old fashioned classic rock. I am ready to spend spend spend on iTunes because I have been dying for some new music lately, so if you have any ideas please pass them my way!
If you know me, you will know that I am obsessed with music. If you are a random person who has stumbled upon my blog, let me be the first to inform you, gentle reader: I am obsessed with music. I NEED it to function and survive, especially sometimes to get through mundane tasks like my job or cleaning house, and to be my happy self. As much as I love eating, if I had to give up either eating (assuming I would not die) or music, it would sadly be food. I think the iPod is the greatest invention ever for a music lover. What could possibly be better than having your entire musical collection with you wherever you go?! I am happy to report that I have a 4 year old iPod with the black and white screen...I think it was the last model they released before the color one.
Anyway I love music, almost any kind, and concerts, and live music, and finding new music. But unfortunately I live in the equivalent of the dark ages here in Switzerlandin that respect because I have no radio or really anyone who can give me suggestions of new things (or old) I have not heard of, especially because I have a rather limited social circle (and life for that matter).
But I downloaded the self-titled Vampire Weekend CD last night and it is REALLY cool! Apparently they have played on SNL and are playing at the Metro this Sunday, so maybe I am just totally behind the times. I really like it and recommend it.
So anyone have any musical suggestions for me? My tastes are fairly simple:
Generally I like happy, upbeat music (I do not like, for example, scary bands like Korn) and not stuff that is too weird (for example, 8 minutes of a digeridoo). I like also other genres that people often hate like country and I like good old fashioned classic rock. I am ready to spend spend spend on iTunes because I have been dying for some new music lately, so if you have any ideas please pass them my way!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Caprices
So as I mentioned last week, there was a big music festival going on in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, that I booked last-last minute tickets to for my friend Bhav and me. I think I also mentioned work has been pretty stressful. Needless to say I practically had a panic attack on my way to RUN to the 6pm train to get the heck out of town. I caught it at airport and Bhav met me at the main station in town. After a few minutes of throwing our bags all over the seats, we settled in for our 2 hour ride with some strawberries and a bottle of champagne. I never saw so many heads turn with jealousy as when that I released the cork for that ever so distinct *POP!* There's nothing quite like the sound of champagne opening to signal a holiday commencing!Two hours, miles of gossip and a bottle of champagne later, we arrived in Sierre and asked till we found the funicular which would take us up the mountain to the resort town of Crans-Montana. I thought it was really cool that you took a funi up to the town instead of having the town situated way below (a lot of ski resorts here are like this). Our hotel was located conviently right behind the festival so it was close enough to hear the action and see the tents and walk home (you would think...more on this in a minute) but not loud enough to keep us awake. Brilliant!! We primped up for our night out - I decided to wear heels (again, more on this) and Bhav had some sexy boots of which one of the zippers broke as she was zipping it up. We were so clever that we laced it up around the outside with one of our long snowboard boot laces...function and fashion!! As we could not look any better at this point, it was time to head out.
We had dinner at a delicious little italian resto called La Raphaele. Yes, I am going to talk about the food, but I will limit it to just describing the tagliatelle pasta...it was thick and not flat, but more dense...I suppose in some way like the shape of a flattish carrot stick? Anyway, it was in a delicious super fresh tomato sauce with smoked mozzeralla and basil....mmmmmmmmmmm. The rest of the meal was also good, pizza, dessert and limoncello!
Next we headed out to the concert, again asking all the way there. Bhav, besides a fun friend is an excellent person to have with you when traveling, as she is never afraid to ask anyone for anything (leading to directions and also good tables and free drinks) and also seems to make friends (or flirt, though she dismisses this claim) with everyone around. And people always know her wherever she goes so there is further support to this argument. I digress...we were making our way to Caprices. So it turns out that the festival was in this humongous tent city. We walked into the tent city and went down about 80 flights of stairs and ended up in this big downstairs basement like thing filled with woodchips and drunk people. From here we walked down the hall to see...Eagle Eye Cherry. The best part was that we heard "Save Tonight" within about 3 minutes of walking in there. And it was THE LONGEST version of "Save Tonight" I have ever heard, at least 10 minutes, full of all the gimmicks...audience participation, clapping, reggae breakdowns, solo jams...saaaaaaaave tonight!!
After Eagle Eye we wandered around and saw another cool band called Nouvelle Vague. That's "New Wave" in French. The band does covers of older songs but adds this cool jazzy, bossa nova brazilian type flavor to them. Apparently there are several female vocalists but we saw 2, one of whom was more serious with a really good voice and the other who was a total performer and looked like she was doing a cross between a pole dance and having a seizure the entire time she was on stage. The music was really cool though, and it was definitely a good concert. After this we saw GrandMaster Flash which was fun. It was just like being in a big frat party. Surprisingly for being considered a total badass DJ, he was really cheesy and funny. He kept telling us to jump up over the mountains and how awesome we were. Anyway we were totally dying of thirst and it was about 2, so we climbed back up through 80 flights of stairs and emerged from the underground.
Remember what I said about my heels and the hotel? Somehow when I was leaping up to "Jump" by Kris Kross in my heels I felt fine, but as soon as we were outside my feet were about to fall off. I have never worn heels to a concert in my life and I will NEVER do it again. Yes, I looked good. But not worth it. We emerged totally lost and despite the fact that our hotel was so nearby, we could not find it. I walked around in my stockings while Bhav asked every person passing by if they knew where the hotel was. Finally we were directed the right way and got there. And guess who got in the elevator with us. Eagle Eye!! Well I don't know for sure. But seriously he was a rocker dude with a cool attitude and he really LOOKED like Eagle Eye. Within about 30 seconds I was asleep despite the fact that we could hear the festival going on well into the night.
The next morning we woke up and to our surprise, realized we were staying in an AMAZING hotel. Check out the view!!! 
We went down for breakfast and who did we see again...yes EAGLE EYE!!! There were quite a few randoms talking to him. So we think it really was. Anyway, after this we went for a little swim in the pool and then headed out to the ski rental place which was across town. Town was super super cute and reminded me a lot of Vail.
We went down for breakfast and who did we see again...yes EAGLE EYE!!! There were quite a few randoms talking to him. So we think it really was. Anyway, after this we went for a little swim in the pool and then headed out to the ski rental place which was across town. Town was super super cute and reminded me a lot of Vail.Here's a tip for when you go to Crans Montana. Everything closes between 12 and 2:30. INCLUDING SKI RENTAL PLACES!!! We got there, and I had already booked (and paid 40 EUR for) snowboard hire and the place was shut. Fortunately Bhav again made some friends who told us that there was a hire shop just below the cable car up the mountain. We went there and picked up some boards and headed up.
The slopes at Crans-Montana were amazing. Wide open and sunshine and we had no queues for the lifts. The snow was excellent. But my favorite? Well the apres ski bars of course. There were 2 really cool ones - one of which was in the middle of a slope!! Despite last week's resolution to not drink and board, I had to make an exception for the holiday. The place was COOL and we had to take advantage!
Notice the nets under the tables to hold all your ski gear. Clever!
Around 5:30 we boarded down to the bottom and continued our walking around town. For dinner we tried to get seated in this Thai resto but the guy was a total jerk and resistant to Bhav's charms. Then we tried for takeout (the resto was advertised as takeaway) and he told us that the other "customers" would be first and we would have to wait at least an hour. Funny enough when we asked if we could just get 2 pad thai tofu, it only took 10 minutes. Ah well.
Anyway the rest of the night we ate our thai and drank wine at the free apres-ski party in town called "Swatch Get Hot" and then made our way back to the hotel and funicular and train...alllll the while still in our snowboard clothes mind you and boots (I was SO happy I decided to leave my board at home). Of course on the train ride back to Geneva the loudest people in Switzerland sat right behind us. I moved half a car down and was able to sleep despite them.
Long story short...Crans Montana is cool. Another top trip in Switzerland!
Two fun facts
Hello gentle reader! Well I have much to blog about from my weekend. But 2 things first -
1) Brooks Brothers no iron fitted shirts are beyond my wildest dreams in terms of awesomeness. I recently acquired one (thanks Mom!) when I was home and gave it its first washing at my favorite place..oh you know it, yes the laundromat, last night. Directions say to wash, tumble dry, remove and hang promptly. Well I did just that and even schlepped it home in a duffel bag before I hung it and it looks perfect!! They are expensive but I think well worth the investment or at least add a few into your wardrobe. Since I moved to Switzerland, I stopped dry cleaning (wash and press shirts are 7 francs A SHIRT) and although I have become really expert at ironing and somewhat enjoy it, I would still prefer to not iron. And frankly this shirt looks even better just out of the dryer than my ironing job.
2) I found out that there has been a billboard of my belle-mere (Justin's mere) put up near one of Chicago's most historic landmarks. Now if you know where I used to live, it's over there, and you can find it and check it out. I think it's really cool, and honestly, has anyone out there ever personally known someone featured on a billboard? I'm not going to post the photo, you'll have to hunt it down yourself like a scavenger hunt! How's that for a fun fact?!
1) Brooks Brothers no iron fitted shirts are beyond my wildest dreams in terms of awesomeness. I recently acquired one (thanks Mom!) when I was home and gave it its first washing at my favorite place..oh you know it, yes the laundromat, last night. Directions say to wash, tumble dry, remove and hang promptly. Well I did just that and even schlepped it home in a duffel bag before I hung it and it looks perfect!! They are expensive but I think well worth the investment or at least add a few into your wardrobe. Since I moved to Switzerland, I stopped dry cleaning (wash and press shirts are 7 francs A SHIRT) and although I have become really expert at ironing and somewhat enjoy it, I would still prefer to not iron. And frankly this shirt looks even better just out of the dryer than my ironing job.
2) I found out that there has been a billboard of my belle-mere (Justin's mere) put up near one of Chicago's most historic landmarks. Now if you know where I used to live, it's over there, and you can find it and check it out. I think it's really cool, and honestly, has anyone out there ever personally known someone featured on a billboard? I'm not going to post the photo, you'll have to hunt it down yourself like a scavenger hunt! How's that for a fun fact?!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
It's sittin by the overcoat, the second shelf, the note she wrote
It's been a long day. It's been LONG week. I mean truly, from a work perspective, one of the longest in my entire career. And it's Thursday only. It's not that the days are so long - I am coming in around 8 and working till around 8 or 9 - I've worked longer. But the stress in my office at the moment is incredible, and everyone is just really streteched.
Anyway, tomorrow is the weekend and Bhav and I got in last minute to the Caprices festival thingy! So tomorrow we leave work around 530, hop on the train, get to Crans Montana where the snow is supposed to be AWE-SOME DUUUUUDE and then we check into our four star hotel (balla!!!), go to concerts and boogie all night long, then drag ourselves out of bed on Saturday to hit that pow. Yeaaaah!! I am super excited. I just washed out my ski clothes in the sink. It has to do for now.
Ok, gotta get some sleep so I can get up early and pack. But we got concert ticket, 4 star hotel stay, and ski pass for about 250 CHF each. Good right? Stay tuned gentle reader, I have a feeling we will get some stories out of this one!
Anyway, tomorrow is the weekend and Bhav and I got in last minute to the Caprices festival thingy! So tomorrow we leave work around 530, hop on the train, get to Crans Montana where the snow is supposed to be AWE-SOME DUUUUUDE and then we check into our four star hotel (balla!!!), go to concerts and boogie all night long, then drag ourselves out of bed on Saturday to hit that pow. Yeaaaah!! I am super excited. I just washed out my ski clothes in the sink. It has to do for now.
Ok, gotta get some sleep so I can get up early and pack. But we got concert ticket, 4 star hotel stay, and ski pass for about 250 CHF each. Good right? Stay tuned gentle reader, I have a feeling we will get some stories out of this one!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Wait for It...
I have to make a soapbox statement for this:
Does everyone out there watch How I Met Your Mother?
This is such a good tv show. And I don't have a TV here and have to make a real effort to download things, pay for them, etc so I really mean it. I am addicted to this show, LOST, 24, and Grey's Anatomy. LOST is finally good again, but we are in so deep now that if you turned it on randomly, you too would be...LOST. 24 isn't on yet as far as I know. Grey's Anatomy is off for a while as they are recovering from the strike, and does anyone else agree with me that Grey's is totally stupid now?? Are Meredith and Derek "seriously" over?? That show needs to "seriously" stop churning through the same 3 stupid storylines. Anyone else think Hann is trying to be the new (but not at all the same) Addison Shepherd??
Anyway, my point is, dramas get boring and stupid, and this show is consistently AWESOME. If you don't watch it, tonight's episode has Britney Spears guest-starring so should be worth a look.
5 reasons to watch HIMYM:
1. It's only 30 minutes, so if you don't like it, no biggie
2. It is really funny and I laugh out loud all the time watching it
3. Good guest stars (see above). Also had Bob Barker on one (when Barney went on "The Price is Right"
4. I think on at 7:30 central time Mondays - so you won't miss your other shows or bedtime. You can also watch it for free on CBS.com.
5: Three words: Neil Patrick Harris
I challenge anyone who disagrees with me on this to a slap bet!!!
Does everyone out there watch How I Met Your Mother?
This is such a good tv show. And I don't have a TV here and have to make a real effort to download things, pay for them, etc so I really mean it. I am addicted to this show, LOST, 24, and Grey's Anatomy. LOST is finally good again, but we are in so deep now that if you turned it on randomly, you too would be...LOST. 24 isn't on yet as far as I know. Grey's Anatomy is off for a while as they are recovering from the strike, and does anyone else agree with me that Grey's is totally stupid now?? Are Meredith and Derek "seriously" over?? That show needs to "seriously" stop churning through the same 3 stupid storylines. Anyone else think Hann is trying to be the new (but not at all the same) Addison Shepherd??
Anyway, my point is, dramas get boring and stupid, and this show is consistently AWESOME. If you don't watch it, tonight's episode has Britney Spears guest-starring so should be worth a look.
5 reasons to watch HIMYM:
1. It's only 30 minutes, so if you don't like it, no biggie
2. It is really funny and I laugh out loud all the time watching it
3. Good guest stars (see above). Also had Bob Barker on one (when Barney went on "The Price is Right"
4. I think on at 7:30 central time Mondays - so you won't miss your other shows or bedtime. You can also watch it for free on CBS.com.
5: Three words: Neil Patrick Harris
I challenge anyone who disagrees with me on this to a slap bet!!!
Snowberries
It has been snowing almost all day in Geneva. It was mostly what I would describe as "Lake Effect Snow," which my fellow Chicagoans will explain to you is big fat snowflakes that fall around the city due to the lake but don't really do much damage in terms of piling up. Since about 4pm though, it has really been coming down and now there is substantial accumulation. This puts a bit of a hitch in my plans to do laundry tonight as I refuse to put on boots etc and add to the annoyingness that is the laundromat. All the skiers I know are super excited about our recent cold and wintry mix streak. Everyone else (read: boring stupid people) is complaining. I have to admit I am not looking forward to walking in this to work tomorrow, but the colder it stays, the longer the ski season will last.
Although I'm surrounded by ski resorts, it's quite rare for Geneva itself to get snow. It only happened twice last year, and this is the first big one I can remember this year. The outlying areas can get a lot, but in the city it is not common. This weekend has been interesting. On Friday, a holiday here, I left my apartment in a light drizzle to head into work about 11am. By the time I was about 10 minutes down the road and exiting my tram stop, it was (conveniently) snowing. As far as I know my office building is at the same elevation as my apartment, so I thought this was really weird.
Saturday and Sunday I was snowboarding in the day so I don't know what the conditions were like in Geneva. In the mountains though, the snow was superb and some of the best I've ever skied in. Sunday I was in Flaine which is huge but there aren't many trees there, which makes it look like a big Artic tundra. The snow is always super, and I decided to take a lesson to refresh my snowboarding memory. I also had my bindings adjusted and felt much better on my board at the end of the day, so looking forward to next weekend already.
Saturday I went with my friend Bhav and a friend of hers, Cheryl, to Les Gets, part of the gigantic and awesome Portes du Soleil resort where you can ski back and forth between France and Switzerland. (Culture tip, gentle reader: pronounced "ley-zhay" and obviously not "les gets"). It started off as a beautiful sunny day, so after a few runs, we thought it would be a good idea to get some food for a picnic and enjoy lunch on the mountain. We went into the store and got cheese, bread, salami, chips and some strawberries and naturally, champagne. Except when we came out of the store, the sun was gone, and it was snowing. And when we got to the top of the chairlift, it was even worse and blowing around.
Call me uninspired, pessimistic, whatever - at this point, I was not keen at all on sitting outside in this snowstorm and having our "picnic." Picnics are not meant for bad weather and everyone knows the ski lunch break for us average sporty folk (as you know I am as self-described in my earlier posts) is meant to warm up and eat something good at a exorbitantly expensive price. However Bhav, ever the optimist, insisted we continue on down to find a nice spot and have our picnic, and surely the sun would come out. For the record, it didn't. She was carrying all the food in her rucksack except the strawberries, which were tucked neatly in my ski jacket right under my boobs. We couldn't find a good spot immediately and it was decided that we would just "pull over" to the side of a cat track and have the picnic. Sitting on our snowboards actually made decent picnic tables. The only problem was it was windy and freezing. So we ate with our gloves on and used the snow to wash off fruits and things. Although I was cold and grumpy, it did end up being a nice picnic and we were all giddy after drinking a bottle of champagne, surely as people skied by thinking "who the hell are those nutters?!" As a side note, my next two ski runs were absolutely horrible - I think half thhe bubbles went into my legs and the other half went into my brain. That's the last time I drink while skiing. Now apres-ski is a different story...
Anyway Les Gets was an awesome resort, beautiful ski area with lots of trees, views of the Mont Blanc and a really cute town, so we are trying to get back there for a weeken before the season ends. If the season holds up, my plans for the rest are as folllows:
This weekend: Snowboarding in Crans-Montana and Caprices music festival Saturday, Les Contamines Sunday
April 5/6: Les Contamines and Flaine
April 12/13: weekend in Les Gets
April 19/20: maybe Zermatt?
April 26: then the season is over at most places and I am going to Poland that weekend to see Abby & co! Yah!!
Here are some pictures from the picnic! Doesn't it look WARM
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Not one of my strengths...
Lucky for me, Justin is a fantastic cook. I'll never forget when we started dating and he would just whip stuff up in the kitchen. What a way to woo a woman! I mean nothing crazy but fairly simple meals that tasted really really good. He used lot of spices that we never had at home and I was amazed (me coming from a family of picky eaters, only my mom and I are not, and will in a goatlike fashion eat pretty much almost anything except olives).
So when I moved to Switzerland, where there are not Penny's noodle shops or Heaven on Seaven or Zig Zag around every corner, and I don't have my super tall chef, I had to start cooking myself. I have gotten really really good at making eggs and omlettes. Of course, I was also doing that 8 years ago the summer I lived in New York and was super poor, and ate eggs all the time because they are cheap and versatile. Needless to say I really sucked at making eggs 8 years ago and it's been a long road. I am also pretty good at making veggies different ways and soups. I hardly ever follow recipes but just mix things up and see how it goes. Sometimes it goes well, and sometimes I throw it all out and make the eggs.
Tonight I was inspired to make these meatballs I found on my friend Tara's blog, courtesy of Ray-Ray (who incidentally, I love. Rachel Ray may be super perky and annoying and everywhere, but she is a cute little dork and successful and funny, so good for her). I was able to get all the ingredients basically no problem and started mixing it up.
Cooking in Switzerland is always an adventure. First, any American recipe I use involves a lot of math and converting, which is not fun. Why can't we just use the metric system??? Seriously, it would make things so much easier. Then, any Swiss thing I have to cook has the instructions in French so I have my dictionary by my side to look up every word. So my kitchen, while worldly, is overly complicated when it comes to using recipes. Anyway, I made the meatballs and then as instructed, drizzled them with olive oil. I am not very good at "drizzling" which is something I have known for a long time. Can someone advise of a technique for this? Preferably an idiot proof one??
I put them in the oven and all seemed to be going good until I noticed it smelled a bit like burning in my apt. I opened up the oven which was full of smoke and smelled like a greasy barbeque. Great. A huge puddle of olive oil was in the bottom of the oven and I suppose causing all the trouble. So I took out the meatballs, cleaned the oven, and put them back in. Five minutes later more burning, but what do I do at this point?? They need to brown!! So finally I take them out and open all the windows to un-smoke myself. Meanwhile I take my tomato sauce and add my store bought pesto and the zest of one lemon to it, as per Ray-Ray's suggestion.
Well, the meatballs were ok, but they tasted a little like a burnt hamburger, and the tomato sauce tasted like lemon. So not really that good. Also maybe it was because I used low-fat mozzerella, but it didn't melt that well and then the inside of the meatball was just kind of gross. Anyway, not very successful. I think it could be but it's fairly involved and for just me, I am not sure if I want to bother again. I really have been trying to be a better cook and don't know why if you follow the directions, it doesn't work out as planned. I always seem to have some major mishap (grease fire, huge spill, etc) that also doesn't help.
But at least my man can cook.
So when I moved to Switzerland, where there are not Penny's noodle shops or Heaven on Seaven or Zig Zag around every corner, and I don't have my super tall chef, I had to start cooking myself. I have gotten really really good at making eggs and omlettes. Of course, I was also doing that 8 years ago the summer I lived in New York and was super poor, and ate eggs all the time because they are cheap and versatile. Needless to say I really sucked at making eggs 8 years ago and it's been a long road. I am also pretty good at making veggies different ways and soups. I hardly ever follow recipes but just mix things up and see how it goes. Sometimes it goes well, and sometimes I throw it all out and make the eggs.
Tonight I was inspired to make these meatballs I found on my friend Tara's blog, courtesy of Ray-Ray (who incidentally, I love. Rachel Ray may be super perky and annoying and everywhere, but she is a cute little dork and successful and funny, so good for her). I was able to get all the ingredients basically no problem and started mixing it up.
Cooking in Switzerland is always an adventure. First, any American recipe I use involves a lot of math and converting, which is not fun. Why can't we just use the metric system??? Seriously, it would make things so much easier. Then, any Swiss thing I have to cook has the instructions in French so I have my dictionary by my side to look up every word. So my kitchen, while worldly, is overly complicated when it comes to using recipes. Anyway, I made the meatballs and then as instructed, drizzled them with olive oil. I am not very good at "drizzling" which is something I have known for a long time. Can someone advise of a technique for this? Preferably an idiot proof one??
I put them in the oven and all seemed to be going good until I noticed it smelled a bit like burning in my apt. I opened up the oven which was full of smoke and smelled like a greasy barbeque. Great. A huge puddle of olive oil was in the bottom of the oven and I suppose causing all the trouble. So I took out the meatballs, cleaned the oven, and put them back in. Five minutes later more burning, but what do I do at this point?? They need to brown!! So finally I take them out and open all the windows to un-smoke myself. Meanwhile I take my tomato sauce and add my store bought pesto and the zest of one lemon to it, as per Ray-Ray's suggestion.
Well, the meatballs were ok, but they tasted a little like a burnt hamburger, and the tomato sauce tasted like lemon. So not really that good. Also maybe it was because I used low-fat mozzerella, but it didn't melt that well and then the inside of the meatball was just kind of gross. Anyway, not very successful. I think it could be but it's fairly involved and for just me, I am not sure if I want to bother again. I really have been trying to be a better cook and don't know why if you follow the directions, it doesn't work out as planned. I always seem to have some major mishap (grease fire, huge spill, etc) that also doesn't help.
But at least my man can cook.
Hangin around
Hello gentle reader! Well I apologize for being gone awhile, especially to one of my loyal readers, Chris, my semi "beau-frere" as they say in French. Yes Chris, I DID get my clothes out of the washing machine. I had to go back at 7am all bleary eyed and confused to get them out. The waterproofing totally worked by the way!! So if you have GOREtex outerwear that has lost a bit of its oomph, I recommend you try Nikwax Tech Wash and TX Direct.
After this little incident, I was supposed to go ice climbing the following day which was also a wash out due to the fact that it was raining. This was a real bummer as it is now too late in the season and too warm to be able to go again until next year. However the day after that was an awesome day out of spring snowboarding which was really fun and a nice treat after all my studying.
So then what? Well then I worked 3 days, went out to dinner with my boss, drank a lot and listened to hilarious stories about how the Swiss do job interviews...then went home, packed, slept 3 hours, went to airport, flew to London, flew to Dallas, tried to fly to San Antonio but flight was cancelled, got a ride, drove there, got there, saw two of my best friends from school, watched 1 get married, saw Justin and snuggled, flew back to Chicago, said bye to Justin, saw my mom and dad and sister and kitties for one day and then flew to Brussels, then to Geneva and had another crazy 3 days of work and NOW I am done with that. I had a great time in the U.S. but all this running around left me exhausted. So last night I decided to just come home, relax with some wine and catch up on LOST. It is soooo good this season! Anyone else agree?
Today I have also allowed myself to be extremely lazy. I slept late, watched LOST again, only leaving the house to get some hangover remedy (McDonalds). Guess who I saw when I was out? My French professor, the dirty old man from last year. Remember him??
OK, another story on Professor...I saw him earlier this summer with Justin and his mom, when we were going to Yvoire. Being the social little butterfly that I am, I went over and called "Professor! Yoo hoo!" and thought he didn't hear me. When I called his name, he turned and looked really angry/embarassed to see me. Huh?? He was also with a WOMAN. Interesting! He gave a gruff hello and that was it for the rest of the day. Totally weird. So today I saw him and tried to avoid him in order to avoid a similarly awkward situation. He passed me while I was heading into McDo. I was wearing sunglasses - as everyone knows, sunglasses are an excellent disguise and people can't really see you when you are wearing them. I went in and ordered my food and as I was walking out, he was there again!! Not sure if he saw me or not but I didn't say anything this time. Totally weird. I do run into people I know quite frequently in Geneva - and I don't know very many people - so this gives you an indication of how big the city is.
More random thoughts on my recent trip...
London Gatwick is AWESOME. I highly recommend if you need to travel through London to choose this airport. It is super nice with lots of good food, shopping, a starbucks! (I abstained) and is clean and easy to get around. I bought some fun things at the pharmacy, a shirt at mango and a fun little travel mouse for my laptop.
Business class is also really AWESOME. I treated myself to an upgrade since my travel time on Thursday alone was like 20 hours or something ridiculous like this. So from LGW to DFW I was in AA biz class and I loved every second. I have only flown business twice before, when I went to India. I will tell you - I upgraded for 300 bucks and 25k miles and it was worth every cent. It's like flying in a little baby hotel. The fact that you have more room and can choose which movies you want to watch instead of being subjected to "Bee Movie" with the rest of the plane is cool in itself. But the food is also really really good and they bring you whatever you want, whenever you want it. Also the pillow and blankets were snuggly and my bed folded flat (not like lie down flat, more like sleeping on a 45 degree angle flat but still not bad). We also got noise cancelling headphones which I now want to buy. I chose the good route to do this on as we were on a 777 to Dallas and the Chicago to Brussels flight was a 767...those biz class passengers did NOT have their own tv screens. That is a joke. Even a lot of economy class flights offer this now to passengers. This was a pretty good experience but my favorite of all the airlines to take is Swiss. They have the individual movie consoles in all seat classes (although they break sometimes) which you can even rewind and fast forward which is cool. The food is very good, they let you drink and don't charge you, and the attendants are very nice. I'm so easy to please, I know.
Last is a travel tip which I credit Abby with! I started doing this after she told me and it's the best travel tip in a while I have come across: bring an empty water bottle with you through security and then fill it before you get on the plane. International flights especially are SO long and you get majorly dehydrated...a tiny cup of water is NOT going to help. And buying water in the airport as we know is a major rip off. I bring a 1L Nalgene with me now and it works out great. Most airports do have water fountains or I have even filled up from the bathroom sink in Switzerland (hey, it's Evian water in Geneva that comes through the tap - it's the same water source). Obviously in India you can't do that, but it works in a lot of places. If you can't find a fountain, an airport bar or resto will usually give you some tap water if you ask politely and say "sorry to trouble you" (this is a British saying that I have picked up and I found it really helps getting people to do things for you).
Well, this is a nice long random post. Tomorrow I am working but I might encounter some interesting bits of Switzerland on my way out and about. You never know when that will happen!
After this little incident, I was supposed to go ice climbing the following day which was also a wash out due to the fact that it was raining. This was a real bummer as it is now too late in the season and too warm to be able to go again until next year. However the day after that was an awesome day out of spring snowboarding which was really fun and a nice treat after all my studying.
So then what? Well then I worked 3 days, went out to dinner with my boss, drank a lot and listened to hilarious stories about how the Swiss do job interviews...then went home, packed, slept 3 hours, went to airport, flew to London, flew to Dallas, tried to fly to San Antonio but flight was cancelled, got a ride, drove there, got there, saw two of my best friends from school, watched 1 get married, saw Justin and snuggled, flew back to Chicago, said bye to Justin, saw my mom and dad and sister and kitties for one day and then flew to Brussels, then to Geneva and had another crazy 3 days of work and NOW I am done with that. I had a great time in the U.S. but all this running around left me exhausted. So last night I decided to just come home, relax with some wine and catch up on LOST. It is soooo good this season! Anyone else agree?
Today I have also allowed myself to be extremely lazy. I slept late, watched LOST again, only leaving the house to get some hangover remedy (McDonalds). Guess who I saw when I was out? My French professor, the dirty old man from last year. Remember him??
OK, another story on Professor...I saw him earlier this summer with Justin and his mom, when we were going to Yvoire. Being the social little butterfly that I am, I went over and called "Professor! Yoo hoo!" and thought he didn't hear me. When I called his name, he turned and looked really angry/embarassed to see me. Huh?? He was also with a WOMAN. Interesting! He gave a gruff hello and that was it for the rest of the day. Totally weird. So today I saw him and tried to avoid him in order to avoid a similarly awkward situation. He passed me while I was heading into McDo. I was wearing sunglasses - as everyone knows, sunglasses are an excellent disguise and people can't really see you when you are wearing them. I went in and ordered my food and as I was walking out, he was there again!! Not sure if he saw me or not but I didn't say anything this time. Totally weird. I do run into people I know quite frequently in Geneva - and I don't know very many people - so this gives you an indication of how big the city is.
More random thoughts on my recent trip...
London Gatwick is AWESOME. I highly recommend if you need to travel through London to choose this airport. It is super nice with lots of good food, shopping, a starbucks! (I abstained) and is clean and easy to get around. I bought some fun things at the pharmacy, a shirt at mango and a fun little travel mouse for my laptop.
Business class is also really AWESOME. I treated myself to an upgrade since my travel time on Thursday alone was like 20 hours or something ridiculous like this. So from LGW to DFW I was in AA biz class and I loved every second. I have only flown business twice before, when I went to India. I will tell you - I upgraded for 300 bucks and 25k miles and it was worth every cent. It's like flying in a little baby hotel. The fact that you have more room and can choose which movies you want to watch instead of being subjected to "Bee Movie" with the rest of the plane is cool in itself. But the food is also really really good and they bring you whatever you want, whenever you want it. Also the pillow and blankets were snuggly and my bed folded flat (not like lie down flat, more like sleeping on a 45 degree angle flat but still not bad). We also got noise cancelling headphones which I now want to buy. I chose the good route to do this on as we were on a 777 to Dallas and the Chicago to Brussels flight was a 767...those biz class passengers did NOT have their own tv screens. That is a joke. Even a lot of economy class flights offer this now to passengers. This was a pretty good experience but my favorite of all the airlines to take is Swiss. They have the individual movie consoles in all seat classes (although they break sometimes) which you can even rewind and fast forward which is cool. The food is very good, they let you drink and don't charge you, and the attendants are very nice. I'm so easy to please, I know.
Last is a travel tip which I credit Abby with! I started doing this after she told me and it's the best travel tip in a while I have come across: bring an empty water bottle with you through security and then fill it before you get on the plane. International flights especially are SO long and you get majorly dehydrated...a tiny cup of water is NOT going to help. And buying water in the airport as we know is a major rip off. I bring a 1L Nalgene with me now and it works out great. Most airports do have water fountains or I have even filled up from the bathroom sink in Switzerland (hey, it's Evian water in Geneva that comes through the tap - it's the same water source). Obviously in India you can't do that, but it works in a lot of places. If you can't find a fountain, an airport bar or resto will usually give you some tap water if you ask politely and say "sorry to trouble you" (this is a British saying that I have picked up and I found it really helps getting people to do things for you).
Well, this is a nice long random post. Tomorrow I am working but I might encounter some interesting bits of Switzerland on my way out and about. You never know when that will happen!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
C'est le comble!!
I learned a good expression in French class tonight - "c'est le comble," which translates roughly to "that really takes the biscuit" or some other equivalent of, a lot of stupid things happened, and that's just the cherry on top. So I ask you, what would be more sad than having to do your laundry at 11pm at the laundromat?
I know! How about YOUR CLOTHES GET LOCKED IN THE WASHING MACHINE??
I have to go to the laundro even though there is a washer and dryer in my building. Why, you ask? Because to use the washer and dryer in the building, you have to have a time slot. Between 9am and 6pm. No Sundays. Oh, and it's like YOUR slot after you sign up, so if you get 3-6pm on Tuesday, you better damn well get your washing done in that time because all the other times belong to someone else. So, since my available laundry slots are oh so conveniently located during the time that 99% of people WORK, I have to go to the laundro down the street.
I used to go on the weekends but it's a total fight to the teeth for the dryers and too many randoms going in and out with annoying children. So now I go after work or French, which can be a bit dangerous because it closes at midnight. And there is no attendant - it's video survellianced. Last time I made it out around 1150 and there was one poor sap still in there. I didn't know what was going to happen at 12 and didn't care to find out. Would all the washing machines turn into white horses and the giant industrial dryer which is 1 extra franc turn into a pumpkin?
I should have stuck around.
Tonight I was on a mission to re-gortex my ski clothes for the weekend and also wash my work clothes, as my personal responsibilities to anything but studying had been put completely on hold the past 2 weeks (and the efforts did pay off, thank you very much). The re-gortex required 1 wash to get the clothes clean with some special stuff and then another with the actual waterproofing crap in the wash. So about 1145, cycle 2 is still rinsing and my other clothes are in the dryer. I speed through one rinse cycle in order to get it onto the spin, so I can take them out around 1155. At 1155, I am over at the dryers pulling out my clothes, and thinking that I should probably open the door in case it automatically locks or something. HA! Technology techschmology. I walk back over to the dryer and was just about to then get out my ski clothes when
the lights go out.
I yelp.
A light flashes.
I freeze.
the lights go out again.
Now I am panicking, in the dark, trying to get all my clothes out of the dryer. I lose socks between taking them out of my drawer and getting over to my shoes, so I am not too pleased that I am now trying to retrieve all those little guys with only the streetlight from outside and this freaky ass light in the laundro blinking on and off like some kind of beacon on LOST.
Then it hits me. No electricity can't mean that my clothes are stuck in the washer, can it? Oh YES. What the hell?!!?! Who designed these things or triggered them so they would all LOCK at midnight. I mean what am I going to do, put a shirt in there and spin it around all night? I pulled and kicked and yelled and swore but I could not open that washer door!!! So, I wrote a terse note en francais (I realize now I conjugated 1 verb wrong), and left my poor ski clothes in the washer for the night.
I guess this is what happens when you live in a country where things always run on time. When they say closed, they mean....ferme.And now that I think about it, sitting in a wet washer for 7 hours probably totally ruins the 2 hours I spent trying to waterproof them.
C'est le comble!!!
I know! How about YOUR CLOTHES GET LOCKED IN THE WASHING MACHINE??
I have to go to the laundro even though there is a washer and dryer in my building. Why, you ask? Because to use the washer and dryer in the building, you have to have a time slot. Between 9am and 6pm. No Sundays. Oh, and it's like YOUR slot after you sign up, so if you get 3-6pm on Tuesday, you better damn well get your washing done in that time because all the other times belong to someone else. So, since my available laundry slots are oh so conveniently located during the time that 99% of people WORK, I have to go to the laundro down the street.
I used to go on the weekends but it's a total fight to the teeth for the dryers and too many randoms going in and out with annoying children. So now I go after work or French, which can be a bit dangerous because it closes at midnight. And there is no attendant - it's video survellianced. Last time I made it out around 1150 and there was one poor sap still in there. I didn't know what was going to happen at 12 and didn't care to find out. Would all the washing machines turn into white horses and the giant industrial dryer which is 1 extra franc turn into a pumpkin?
I should have stuck around.
Tonight I was on a mission to re-gortex my ski clothes for the weekend and also wash my work clothes, as my personal responsibilities to anything but studying had been put completely on hold the past 2 weeks (and the efforts did pay off, thank you very much). The re-gortex required 1 wash to get the clothes clean with some special stuff and then another with the actual waterproofing crap in the wash. So about 1145, cycle 2 is still rinsing and my other clothes are in the dryer. I speed through one rinse cycle in order to get it onto the spin, so I can take them out around 1155. At 1155, I am over at the dryers pulling out my clothes, and thinking that I should probably open the door in case it automatically locks or something. HA! Technology techschmology. I walk back over to the dryer and was just about to then get out my ski clothes when
the lights go out.
I yelp.
A light flashes.
I freeze.
the lights go out again.
Now I am panicking, in the dark, trying to get all my clothes out of the dryer. I lose socks between taking them out of my drawer and getting over to my shoes, so I am not too pleased that I am now trying to retrieve all those little guys with only the streetlight from outside and this freaky ass light in the laundro blinking on and off like some kind of beacon on LOST.
Then it hits me. No electricity can't mean that my clothes are stuck in the washer, can it? Oh YES. What the hell?!!?! Who designed these things or triggered them so they would all LOCK at midnight. I mean what am I going to do, put a shirt in there and spin it around all night? I pulled and kicked and yelled and swore but I could not open that washer door!!! So, I wrote a terse note en francais (I realize now I conjugated 1 verb wrong), and left my poor ski clothes in the washer for the night.
I guess this is what happens when you live in a country where things always run on time. When they say closed, they mean....ferme.And now that I think about it, sitting in a wet washer for 7 hours probably totally ruins the 2 hours I spent trying to waterproof them.
C'est le comble!!!
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