sajawata

I have a mobile now! The # is 079 299 8966 so if you want to reach me this is the best way.

Last week was very long due to the fact that the kids were not in school yet, so I was with them all day every day. Plus it was raining most the week so we were stuck in the house.

Tuesday Anita’s neighbor came over and we had Indian cooking lessons in French. A bit overwhelming but I now know more about Lentils than I ever thought possible. Yummy dinner.
On Thursday I went to the grocery store and they were having a wine tasting of the local vineyards. There’s actually 2 vineyards right here in Coppet! I splurged on a bottle thats a blend of Pinor Noir/Gamaret/Garanoir. I should mention that their grocery store is basically in a mall. It has an H&M (yay for cheap clothes!), Lacoste, Esprit, Benetton, and a host of other fashionable places that really are not affordable for an au-pair.

This weekend got off to a rocky start but ended up being magnificient.
So last week I got on Facebook and emailed several au-pairs that I saw in the Geneva area. Several emailed back and one asked if I wanted to hike the Saleve on Saturday. We made plans to meet on the border of France and Sharron would pick me up there. Well, I went to the wrong place, only I didn’t know it was the wrong place. And my cell phone died. So I had to walk back to Geneva from this wrong part of the French border to get to the Swisscom so I could call her and tell her I was lost. Poor thing had been waiting on me the whole time (several hours). She was incredibly sweet about the whole thing and even drove into town to pick me up. So then we went back to France to get to the Saleve. It was a wonderful hike with amazing views of the city. There were cows with bells around their necks all around in the pastures. I was just waiting for Heidi to come along to complete the perfect Swiss scene.

Sharron is wonderful. She has been here for almost 4 months so she has lots of friends and knows all the fun places to go. After our hike she took me to her house so we could change and then we went back to Geneva. She took me to her fav. Mexican restaurant, which has really good food and prices. Then we walked around for several hours with bottles of brew (You can drink in the streets here!) and she showed me all the fun places to go out and the reasonably priced places to eat and shop. Then we met up with several of her friends at this outdoor café in Old Town. So I met 4 au-pairs that day. Sharron (Michigan) Molly (Wisconsin) Anna & Catarina (Poland). The girls are very nice and we have started talking about road trips we want to take together so I am excited to have someone to talk to about more than poo-poo heads and scary monsters hiding in the toilets!

Sunday I went to Lausanne, a biggish sized city on the lake just north of here. I walked for what seemed like forever and I couldn’t have asked for a better day. i started on the lake which is beautiful. Walked around for a while, then stumbled on a photography museum. An amazing and extensive exhibit of Leonard Freed. There was even a photo he had taken on Johns Island S.C.

Nextdoor to the Musée de l’Elysée was the International Olympic Museum. The Modern Olympics were apparently started in Lausanne. I walked around outside and a little bit inside, but decided to come back some other time because it was a bit busy.

Found the museum of Design but decided it could very well take an entire day to soak it all up so will come back.

Walked up to the Cathedral area. Saint Francis Church (Franciscan Monastery), Chatuea (15th century), and Notre Dame Cathedral (Midieval pilgrimage site in gothic style)

Then walked over to the park area where everyone was basking in the warm sun. Gorgeous views of lake from above, plus impeccably maintained gardens all around. Esplanade de Montbenon (Belvedere’s vacation castle)

Finally walked down to Flon district which is famous for modern architecture, art & music.

This day is exactly what I envisioned when I decided to come to Europe.
Going to bed happy.

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