sajawata

Again I have been a major slacker about updating my recent activities but so much has been happening that there hasn’t been time.

One reason for being so busy is that I have switched host families and am now working for a wonderful British family in the village of Begnins (pronounced Benya), just north of Nyon.

Today I woke up to the first snow of the season which made me smile from ear to ear. Am psyched for an amazing winter here situated between the Alps and the Juras. On a clear day you can see Mont Blanc over the lake. This is going to be an amazing snow year according to scientific data (The 4 year old I’m watching after.)

Ok now for catching up on the past few week’s outings…

A lovely hike with Austrian Eva and Atlanta Molly in the French Alp village of Mt. Saxonnex. One of those days that makes you grateful to be alive. Perfect temperature, sun gently warming the crisp air. Precious fluffy sheep roaming the hills. Hallelujah.

Next day with Eva and Milwaukee Molly to Montreau, on the other side of Lake Geneva. Visited Chateau Chillon, perhaps the most picturesque of the Swiss castles. The highlight of that trip however was finding a cafe in Montreau that has a baklava buffet bar. Who knew there were so many types of Baklavas? mmmmm! That night went to an Austrian dinner party and and had the most amazing dinner, pork and canoodle. Seriously my life has to stop revolving around food.

Spent a day wondering around Lausanne and finally made it to the Design museum. An exhibit by the Dutch graphic designer Mieke Gerritzen which I found interesting but too conceptually overwhelming to be absorbed.
The exhibit showing the winners of the Swiss Annual Design Awards was TERRIFIC. Although how could it not be, Le Corbusier and Alberto Giacometti are on the Swiss Francs! The highlight of this exhibit for me (geek, geek, geek) was the font designing interface that 2 Zurich designers created. It is a vector based program that allows you to adjust line widths, heights, serifs, oblique positions, etc… to create your own font that can be exported to other applications. They hope to develop it further and make it available commercially within a few years. Designers beware.

Have fallen madly in love with the area surrounding Interlaken. Can’t wait to spend more time exploring the Alps there. Arrived at Balmer’s Hostel (party central) Thursday night and made friends with 2 backpackers there (Jenn and Andy). Hiked and took the cable car to Murren with them the next day. The Geneva girls arrived that night and we rented scooters and rode to Grindelwald on Saturday. Unbelievably beautiful but also unbearably cold on bikes. Sunday we went to Trummelbach Falls (glacier waterfalls inside mountains). Then back to Grindelwald for a hike. The most amazing weekend anyone could ask for. Go to Interlaken at some point in your life.

This past weekend was much more low-key just hanging around Geneva. Sharron, Theresa and I found a small village (Peissy) that was hosting a wine festival so a handful of small vineyards were opening the first bottles of the year. Yay. Chasselas. Fruité. Aligoté. Pinot Blanc. Pinot Gris. Chardonnay (At this point things started to get a little fuzzy) Gewurztraminer. Sauvignon Blanc. Blanc de blanc (huh?). Gamay rosé. Pinot rosé (Getting fuzzier.) Gamay. Gondebaud (its a Gamay and Pinot blend.) Diolinoir. Gamaret. Garanoir. Ampro (its a gamaret and garanoir blend.) Merlot. Pinot Noir. (Full on fuzzy) Was wonderful time mingling with the locals who pulled out all the stops for their annual festival. Even managed some horrific french.

I’m happy.