Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was an interesting event here. I was determined to celebrate it on the actual day. Many ex-pats celebrate on Saturday since Thursday is business as usual. We invited some friends to come over for a quasi-traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I made two stuffed chicken in lieu of turkey. Turkey is pretty expensive, and thankfully the chicken and stuffing turned out great. The stuffing tasted just like my Mom's. I had to make my own poultry seasoning. Thankfully Jill, the mom of the girls I babysit offered up her spices. It worked out well! I kept smelling it to make sure it smelled right...I must have looked ridiculous. I also made sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, and spiced apples. My gravy, made from scratch, was a particular success. We didn't have a gravy boat, instead we had a gravy pitcher! We dream on a budget! Thanks to Slingbox, we were able to watch the Thanksgiving parade while eating some French canapes. Joe bought some Budweiser, the only distinctly "American" beer here, in honor of my Mom. It was my first Thanksgiving away from home and it was wonderful!

Lyon

Ronny and Brad on a very steep street in Lyon. You can tell it's old from the cobblestones.

Ancient theater dating to 15 BC.

The view from the Basilica.

The Basilica Notre Dame de Fouviere.

Brad Visits...Way Overdue

Blogger audience. November has escaped me. Last month I was in a bit of a funk and my blogging suffered. One of the best things to happen in November was a visit by my oldest friend Brad. We had such a great time! We went to Annecy, Lyon, and all around Geneva. Brad, always the comic, gave a thumbs up in all the pictures he took. He said he wanted it to look like he was photo-shopped into the picture. Ridiculous! Lyon was my favorite trip, although the ride home was scary. Highways in France do not have reflectors on the road. It was incredibly dark, raining, there was fog, and we were driving in mountains. Ronny was more than a little stressed during this drive. Still, Lyon is an awesome city. I would liken it to a small Paris. The Bascillica is amazing!! It was so great spending time with Brad. He couldn't believe he was in Europe and neither could I! Brad also got a mini-tour of CERN. He really had no idea what to expect. He thought the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) was much much smaller than it actually is. He also thought is was called the Large Halogen Collider:). I think CERN surprised him. I'll write more about CERN in the next posting...big things have happened!

Quite the View

This was the view from Thoiry on Saturday, November 14th. Views like this make living here absolutely amazing.

Getting Out of the House

Yesterday I hopped on a bus, then a tram, then another bus to go to the city. I went to the International Red Cross Museum near the United Nations. The museum was nice, the layout was strange but I'm sure I was the only one that cared about that. Then I hopped back on a bus and went to Starbucks. I tried desperately to like the Iced Gingerbread latte I ordered while I read a book. It was a rainy cold day, but it was really nice to get out of the house and explore. I don't do it enough, but I have promised myself now that babysitting has been cut back considerably I will do it more often. Today I am going to try to find the Library in English because they are having a book sale. Maybe I'll post up at another Starbucks (you can guarantee that English will be spoken). Regardless, I'm trying...God knows I'm trying.

Coming Home

We have officially booked our flights home for 2010, which will likely mark the end of our European (mis)adventure. We intend to fly home for the holidays on December 9th and we will stay in the U.S. through January 11th. Then we will be in France through May 30th at which point the lease is up in our current flat and we will be flying home.

Where will home be you may ask? This is something Jeannette and I will have to decide in the upcoming months. Why are we coming home May 30th? Well, there are a few reasons. For one, this is a safe date to choose because this is when our lease is up. We also recently came to terms with the fact that Jeannette is not, nor will be, allowed to legally work in either France or Switzerland in any capacity while we're out here unless her potential employer is willing to go through a bunch of rigormaroll (sp?) to get her an exceptional work permit. This is not a situation we were prepared to deal with...Its certainly not one that we want to perpetuate any longer than we have to. She has a fresh, crispy Masters Degree that she deserves to be able to use.

Of course there is a chance that circumstances will change which could allow us to stay longer, in which case we will move our return flights back and eat the $500.00 fees. But we have to book our flights back out to France now (for Jan 11) and it is cheaper to by a round trip then it is to buy a one-way international flight. Pretty lame isn't it? Its actually more than twice as much money to do a one-way flight.

Anyway, we thought we should let some of you know, especially those who maybe had some thoughts of visiting us out here. We still plan on having the most fun we can while we are out here. We are currently exploring the idea of taking a cruise from Venice to the Greek Isles sometime in late April or early May. Any takers?

Improvements to Quality of Life

On Friday, October 30th we got a dryer! It's a condensation dryer where the water is collected and physically drained after the cycle. It's awesome! No more drying clothes on a rack for three days because it's not nice enough outside to put the clothes out. This is a huge improvement and makes me happy!

Today, France Can Bite Me

Today Ronny and I tackled some necessary errands. The first being trying to get in contact with a doctor so I can get a check-up. CERN has a pamphlet with doctors in the area including the languages they speak. It isn't too helpful if the doctor speaks English when none of the receptionists speak English. We finally made the call (we've been having a problem with the phone number provided) and the receptionist doesn't speak English. Our French is definitely not good enough to convey what I need and when I am available, so road block.

Then we went to Val Thoiry for groceries and to get the oil changed in the car. Boy, did that go badly. We got the groceries no problem, dropped the car off to get the oil and filter changed, no problem. The problem came with the bill. It cost 70 euros! The dollar to euro is about $1.49, so you can do the math. Ronny and I were both bummed, but we're trying to let these things just roll off the back.

Finally, we purchased veal escallops and I decided to make Veal Marsala. We went to a store to find the wine. No Marsala wine in the whole place! They didn't even know what we were talking about because we did ask. So instead of Marsala I will be using Vin de Table, or Table Wine. We'll see how it goes.

So yeah, today France can bite me. I'm trying to be more like a duck though, so I'm letting this slide right off the back. I thought my blog audience would appreciate the story though!

October

I can't believe October is almost over! By my lack of posting, you can assume that we were either busy or up to nothing. Aside from the Paris trip we really have been working a lot. I babysat a lot this month. The bummer is that the hours are being cut back because the family is getting ready to move in about a month. Ah well. Aside from that I am also spending my weekends in Laconnex, a small commune in the canton of Geneva. The theater group I joined, GAOS (Geneva Amateur Operatic Society) has a barn out there for set construction. Somehow I have become the go-to painter. The show is an English pantomime with singing, dancing, a working water wheel, and a tree that spits wine. I like going. I'm the youngest one there, but apparently there are more young people that I just haven't met. They are pushing me to audition for the Spring musical, The Sound of Music. Well, I got the audition notes yesterday and all of the female parts are for sopranos. I'm not, so that's a bummer. I guess I'll just audition for the chorus and throw in that Lisel could be an alto.
In other news, we will have our first visitor on the 9th of November. My friend since the beginning of time, Brad Wallace, will be coming out for a fun-filled week. I imagine his visit will definitely be blogged about.
That's all for today. We have a big surprise coming tomorrow that I will blog about with pictures, so stay tuned...life is getting a little bit better!

Monet Part 2

Monet's Water Lillies

At Musee de Orangerie you can find Monet's Water Lillies under natural lighting. They are amazing. I took this video while we were there. I know that sometimes I go to fast around...hope you don't get dizzy!

On Strike

If you have never done a blog before, you may not realize how important comments are. They motivate you to continue doing what you are doing because you know that someone cares. We actually take pictures and stuff purposely for the blog audience, and yet we have received no feedback. So I'm on strike. I've been busy as it is, but this is ridiculous. Ronny gave an interview and he didn't even get a comment! Come on people!

The CMS Times

Here is a link to the newsletter that featured my interview:
http://cms.web.cern.ch/cms/Media/Publications/CMStimes/2009/10_05/index.html

Paris Slideshow..in no particular order.

The Top of the Eiffel Tower

This is a video Ronny took of the ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I did some deep breathing in the corner. Enjoy!

Paris, Friday October 2nd

We took off from Geneva at 9 am. We arrived in Paris one hour later. After a train ride from the suburbs to the city, we headed toward our hotel. We got lost, big shocker there. We ended up where we need to go, checked in, and went straight to the Eiffel Tower. We were really really close, so it was the most logical stop. The above video is from the second observation deck on the Eiffel Tower. Keep in mind I don't really like heights.

Paris...The First of Many

Hello All,

It's been awhile. This week I am babysitting all week and spending the night, so my time is limited. I will not be able to fully post about Paris until tomorrow or Friday. But I wanted you to have a sneak peak. We had such a wonderful time! Paris is a wonderful city. I wouldn't mind living there, and will at the very least, visit again. So here are a few pictures.

On our anniversary in front of the Eiffel Tower.

The Arc de Triumph

At the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Grossed Out

Just moments ago I returned from a small trip to the grocery store. We essentially had no options, now we have a few. I was putting eggs into the egg holder in the fridge. The first egg I pulled out of the carton had feathers stuck to it. I know where eggs come from, but geez! Can't they wash that off? I'm pretty grossed out. I put the egg back in the carton and went on to the next one. I will deal with it another time.

The US Economy (sigh)

Want to know how to convert swiss-francs (CHF) to dollars (USD) ? Just multiply by 1 ! Geez, it is not fun earning graduate student wages and then suffering through these terrible exchange rates. To give you an idea how expensive this place is, a small starbucks coffee goes for about 4 CHF in the city. Since we live on the boarder of France/Switzerland, we have to carry around both currencies (euros and swiss-francs). Click here to see the 3 month trends of the CHF/USD ratio. We would want this ratio to be high of course, which its not... Click here to see the 3 month trend of the USD/Euro ratio. Conversely, we would want this ratio to be low, which its not. Joe and I had a laugh (more of a cry) about this today, since we have to pay rent this week (i.e. exchange a bunch of USD to EURO). Sucks...

CMS Bulletin Interview

Every two weeks, my experiment publishes a bulletin (or newsletter). Every once and a while they try to interview a graduate student or research scientist for this thing, and I was recently asked to do this. The video of the interview is on youtube, and can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUasM4nhCVo

This video will be featured in a future newsletter two weeks from now. When it is published I will post a link to it on the blog.

Jeannette tells me that our blog audience may be interested in learning more about what I do here at CERN. I will try to dedicate some blogs in the near future to my activities here, and what our experiment is trying to do.

Here is a photo of the portion of the University of Florida's group that is stationed at CERN.

P.S.

I finally found some curtains at IKEA. They are great because they don't look like someone urinated down them! I also bought bar stools. Things are looking up!

It's Cold and I Have One

Today at 2:30 p.m. the temperature is 61 degrees. I'm NEVER going to make it through winter. I need more sweaters. Still haven't found a jacket that isn't a snow jacket. We found one, but they didn't have my size. I love the jacket I have, but I will get made fun of for wearing a winter coat in September. Apparently, it snows in November! This is very traumatic for a girl from Florida. Last week I wore shorts and now I'm thinking about putting my scarf on. This is RIDICULOUS. Want to know what else is great? We took our comforter to the dry cleaner...so I can't even snuggle under my covers. I also happen to have a cold. I can't breathe...I'm pretty miserable. I've got so much congestion that my teeth hurt. I whipped up some chicken noodle soup. Thank God for boullion cubes. It wasn't fancy, but the steam was helpful. Well off to go watch some kids! Yahoo!

IMPORTANT: Regarding Mail

We love getting mail, but there is something you need to know. When you write our postal code, 01710, make sure you cross your seven. In Europe an uncrossed seven is a one.

Remember to cross your sevens!

Pictures I Forgot We Took on the Jura

It just kept going up...this was acutally an easier leg of the trail.

Ronny wouldn't take the picture unless I was smiling. This was one of many breaks...a mountain climber I am not.

The view from the "not quite top". You can see the Jet D'Eau (water jet in Geneva) in the very back.

We made it! Let's go home!

The benefits of working at CERN

One of the great things about working at this lab is the high profile guest speakers that come from time to time (fairly often) to give seminars and visit the experiments. Yesterday, I went with Joe (roommate) and Didar (another colleague) to see a colloquium entitled "The Creation of the Universe". The colloquium was advertised to start at 3:30. We decided to go to the auditorium right after lunch to ensure that we could get a spot. At about 1:40 we arrive there to see that the house is nearly packed in anticipation of this very famous guest speaker. We were able to find seats (about 20 rows up). About 20 minutes later, there were no more seats, and we still had an hour and a half to wait for the talk to begin. It was mayhem. There were 4 rooms set up for the audience overflow, where the talk would be broadcast.

Finally, the moment came, and it was quite the experience. What an impressive human being! It would have been nice if the subject matter was a little more thought provoking...I kid, I kid. It was freaking awesome. Here is a clip of this legendary scientist entering the auditorium. You should recognize him.

Okay, Okay...

I realize that the last few blogs haven't been the happiest. Okay, so I had a bad week. These things happen. I didn't work that much last week and just hit some road blocks on the way to making this place feel more like a home. Things inevitably aren't always cheerful. Nevertheless, life here is not all that bad. I don't know where to find snow boots...I really want some Lands End boots but the shipping cost is too much, and I need to get an in-between jacket, something that isn't a winter coat. It is difficult not knowing how to solve immediate needs.

Last night Ronny and I went to a local event, the Salon de Vins. It was amazing! There were two spaces, one tent and one indoor room, full of wine vendors. We tried so much wine and ended with brandy. I had awesome real champagne and bought a nice bottle of Pinot Gris. People were buying cases upon cases--I've never seen anything like it. I guess a lot of people have wine cellars here, so they just stock up. We ran into one of Ronny's colleagues who speaks French, so that was very helpful with interacting with the vendors. It felt kind of weird drinking wine and then moving on. We felt a little bad...I guess it's an American thing. The Director of CERN was there. Ronny knew then that this was a big deal. There were a lot of wine snobs around too. One guy in front of us at a booth insisted that the vendor toss an entire bottle away because it was bad. He did the whole nose in the class, swish, and spit into a bucket that looks like a hat. It was very funny. Ronny had this really fancy, really expensive brandy and I tried this drink that was wine and brandy. Apparently, long ago a monk accidentally put wine in a barrel that still had brandy in it, he sealed it and the drink I had was the result. The walk home was chilly! We were there for about three hours. We had not planned on that at all! It was dark and windy when we were walking home. The temperature was about 53 degrees, which for those of you from Florida is cold. It is clear that winter is going to be interesting...fall might be interesting for that matter!

Fed Up

That's it! I've had it! Why does everything have to be such an ordeal or an adventure over here? Even the most mundane things like trying to find curtains. I have been on a mission this week to try to find curtains for the living room. We have a large back door that currently has the ugliest curtains I have ever seen. They are organza probably, and they are sheer but also tinted from the sun. What were once maybe white are now the color of urine. Looking at them makes me angry, so I'm trying to solve this problem. My new problem is I can't find a store that sells curtains that fit into two categories: a) look decent and b) aren't outrageously expensive. I have been all over, and I can't seem to find anything. I'm so angry it isn't even funny anymore. Where in the hell is the Bed Bath and Beyond of Europe? Why is everything so much easier back home? Everything so much more convenient? Back home I don't have to plan a script of what to say on the off chance I need help in a store. God forbid the store clerk speaks back to me because I didn't script the possible responses. I don't have to walk down every aisle because I can read the signs that direct me to the aisle I need. I don't have to go to four stores to find two things because back home there is one store that has everything! I'm tired of everything being an "adventure".

Ranting

I am so tired of spiders! I'm not afraid of them, I am just sick of them. They are in every corner, and they are HUGE! I guess this is a product of not having screens on the windows here. It makes me feel like the house is dirty. No matter what I do, I cannot keep this place looking very clean. The walls are dingy, the floors show every bit of dirt or speck of anything (I never want hard wood floors again), and I think we might have some problems with moisture in the walls. If this really is a 200 year old building, I don't think it was built with the most up to date moisture barrier. But back to the spiders. They really make me mad. It doesn't matter how many times we kill them, they keep coming back.

Not much to talk about...this is a pretty slow week. Only watching the kids on Wednesday. I am going to go to the CERN microcosm, a museum at CERN.

Sorry...things have been boring

Sorry guys, things have been pretty boring lately. I've been working from 8 to 6:30 and when I get home I'm spent.

Some highlights:

Ronny and I went on a date to a nice restaurant in Old Town, Geneva. I had salmon! Haven't had fish in a long time (for me at least) so it was great!

Went to the "beach" on Sunday. It was packed. We were literally laying on towels on paving because there was no room.

See...pretty boring. If you have questions about stuff here, feel free to ask. I seem to be running low on material. I'll try to fix that.

Sans l'air conditionné la vie n'est pas bonne.

So, I got this email while I was at work yesterday. I had just been wondering if sweating to death while doing physics at the world's most prestigious laboratory had ever actually happened. I took a snapshot of it so that all of you can read. It doesn't really need too much explanation.


They can collide protons at the speed of light with energies reminiscent of the Big Bang. Most of the accelerator operates at almost absolute zero Kelvin (colder than the emptiness of outer space). But they can't seem to cool an office down below 88 degrees, and they have to send out friendly reminders like these to people warning them not to sweat to death. "Don't wait until you're thirsty"? What a joke...

Worst Day in Europe

Yesterday was my worst day in Europe. It was my first day babysitting and I was trying to take one of the girls to horse riding camp. I was driving the family car, and almost immediately I got lost. While trying to turn around in a parking lot, I reversed and accidentally hit a parked car. This was my first accident ever in life. I've never even been pulled over by the police. Tears were popping out of my eyes, but the woman whose car I hit was very nice. She didn't speak English, but someone at her work did. They felt bad for me because I was so upset. First two hours watching these kids and I get in an accident...how could I not feel bad?! The family was very understanding too and not mad at all. The best part was when the nine year old told the woman whose car I hit that this was my first accident. Oh yeah, she told the woman in French! I was completely useless!! So that was my worst day ever.

Oh yeah, I also lost 4 games of Candyland in a row.

Highly Anticipated Pictures of Farmer's Market

The much talked about rotisserie cart.

The crazy cheese guy. He's crazy because he wears funny hats. Sorry it's blurry, I had to take the picture without him knowing I was taking it. I don't want to insult people too much.

Pictures from my Birthday!

Me and Ronny, his eyes are not closed it was sunny.

Me and Joe easing into the water.

The banner Ronny made me...it's still up!

My birthday cake with wobbly candles.

Joyeux Anniversaire à Moi

Thursday was my European birthday! We had a really great day. When I woke up Ronny had a banner made for me and a nice card! We will be shopping for a second time today for a gift. Everything was so expensive that it was hard for me to be okay with the amount spent on me. Anyways, Ronny and Joe took the day off to celebrate my birthday! We went to Lake Geneva and Ryan and Shaleena, our new friends, came too! It's basically a jetty that you have to pay to go on (2 CHF, what else is new?). It's nice but it's really rocky/pebbley. It was a lot of fun! The water was cold and there were giant swans, but I still went in the water! For those of you who really know me...that's a big deal. There was an amazingly large man in a speedo with jelly sandals and a bunch of naked babies. After the "beach" we went to an English bar and then back home for some grilling out. I had an awesome cake. It was strawberry shortcake with a filling that's kind of like Boston Cream Pie filling. Delicious! Ronny took a video of the lake and it's pretty funny...check it out!!

Funny Stories

On Sunday Ronny, Joe, and I decided to get out of the house and go play bacchi. Back home you may know this game as bacchi ball. I've been told here in Europe adding "ball" to "bacchi" is superfluous and a very typical American thing to do. Armed with this knowledge and our 6 euros multi-color plastic bocce set, we drove to a bocce court. Yeah, it's that serious here. When we arrived we immediately felt out of place. The court was full and everyone had fancy metal balls. They were doing much more than rolling balls down the court. There was tactic and special throws that are used to land perfectly on top of an opponents ball. One lady even had a special magnet device so she didn't have to bend over to pick up her ball! It was impressive. And yet here we were with our plastic set that has water in it for weight. After three games, someone got on an intercom and started talking to the various bocce lanes in French. Suddenly, we wondered "Do you have to pay to play bocce here?" We had just walked onto the court. We had enough! The stares, the inferiority complex, and now French! We ended up going to the CERN Rugby field where no one could judge us. I won.

The other funny story happened yesterday. I was trying to figure out what to eat for lunch because I'm not a huge fan of sandwiches. I decided to have some bread with peanut butter on it. Let's not talk about how that isn't really lunch, and how it's sad and pathetic. Anyways, I get the jar of peanut butter out, spread, and eat. It's really good and yet really familiar. It's not familiar as peanut butter though. Because it's not peanut butter. It might look like it, have the same consistency, and even be in the aisle next to the jelly, but this is not peanut butter. It is the "butter" of a cookie (or biscuit). Poor Ronny has been making PBJ sandwiches with it wondering why it doesn't taste quite right. It was an "Ah Ha" moment that was really kind of sad.

I Got Stopped by Border Patrol

Yesterday on my way back from CERN, I got stopped by border patrol. This is actually a much bigger deal than one might think. The border patrol have rarely (never on the French side) been there when I've driven through. I had no frame of reference on what to do. I thought that I was supposed to drive by slowly and keep going. That's what I had been doing when no one was there! Apparently, that is not the proper procedure. There were no cars in front of me to mimic, so I did the wrong thing and drove by without the nod of approval. As soon as I realized my mistake I stopped. A fairly nice (I mean I was in trouble) patrol officer told me that I was to stop at the border. ( I have never seen anyone stop.) Then his co-worker, a woman in aviators, came up and scowled at me through her sunglasses the whole time. I was so frazzled I forgot that yes, I had something to declare, which he quickly noticed in the back seat of my car. Thankfully, I just got a stern talking-to. But for those of you who know me, that was enough to ruin my day and make me feel like I was bad. I've never been pulled over in the States before, so I take these things hard. When I do something wrong I feel bad. Needless to say, you should stop or at least go super-duper slow at all border crossing.

Funny thing though, when I returned to the border about 3 hours later to pick up Ronny there was no one on the French side. I got a stern look from the Swiss side, just for effect, and that was it. I came to no stop. Ridiculous!

Everything Costs Money!

So, today I went to a pool in Geneva. I didn't go in the pool. I was sunbathing in the grass with a towel that I brought. Just to get into the "pool" area I had to pay 4 CHF. That reminded me that everything here costs money. Perfect example. When we went to Bern I really had to go to the bathroom. We were still driving and I thought there would be a rest stop, but alas, none to be found. By the time we arrived things were bad. We parked at the train station and I anxiously looked for signs for a bathroom. We finally found one inside the station. To use the bathroom I had to pay 2 CHF. I felt like I was being taken advantage of. This is a bodily function not a frivolous want! Alright, so it was the nicest bathroom experience ever. The stall smelled like a rose, the seat was clean, and everything was a pristine white. That's besides the point! Just think about that the next time you use a public restroom in a mall or train station...

Swiss National Day

Yesterday Ronny and I, along with some friends, went into Geneva to celebrate Swiss National Day at the Fete de Geneve. We had quite an experience, so this blog may be wordy. The festival website highlighted two things for yesterday: water sports (rowing and water skiing jumpers) and a 500 kilogram fondue. We hung out around Lake Geneve to try to catch the water sports. The entire circumference of the lake is filled with carnival rides, street food vendors, etc. We had Kebabs and then later found another tent that served drinks. It was a really nice tent with a disco ball. For some unknown reason we left that awesome tent and made our way back to the water. (Oh, I remember the reason, we wanted to get some fondue.)

We noticed that the water ski guy was finally jumping so we gathered along with the rest of Geneva it seemed to watch this guy. What a disappointment! Perhaps our American standards were too high since we are used to extreme sports and people water skiing in a pyramid or through a flaming hoop. Regardless, we proceeded to make fun of the water ski guy. All he did was jump off a ramp. No tricks, nothing. A couple times he didn't even land. Apparently, not everyone appreciated our heckling. After a little while, some woman yelled at us "I'd like to see you do it." Now she said it from a safe distance on her way out of the crowd of onlookers so as not to really be confrontational. For me, this was a great lesson. Just because I don't understand when people speak in French does not mean they don't understand us when we speak English. We were definitely heckling about how in our country the water skier would defy death...American performers are just better.

Now, for the major disappointment...500 kilograms of fondue. I don't even have a good picture of it because there were so many professional photographers crowded around the large fondue pot. How many pictures of cheese do you need?! Anyways, it took us forever to find it, and it ended up being right on the Pont du Mont Blanc bridge. Online they did not mention that the fondue would be 10 CHF, so that was a bummer. It was also really hot. No one wants fondue when it's hot and sticky. It also didn't help that large sweaty men were stirring the fondue. We decided not to indulge in the fondue. On our way home we walked by hundreds of people eatingg the fondue and some still in line two hours later. The website advertised a "new and innovative way to eat fondue"...BOLOGNA! Essentially, the fondue was served in a hollowed out baguette end. In America, at all Panera Bread's, we call that a bread bowl. New and innovative my foot!

Despite my grumblings here, we did have a good time. The Fete continues for the entire week and culminates with a giant fireworks display next weekend set to orchestra music. That should be really entertaining.

I have a Part-Time Job

Today I got a part time job with a great family in Geneva (Vessy to be exact). They have to girls, ages nine and five. It's not everyday, which will allow me to maybe volunteer at a cultural preservation organization or something. The family is American and British which means they speak English! I think it's going to be great and I am really excited!

Crepes Rule!

I had my first crepe today. I know, how could I have missed out on the deliciousness that is crepes for this long?! No longer will I live in the dark. In the little town next to us, St. Genis, there is a family owned creperie. It's really cute. The husband serves the food and his wife makes it. They also have a daughter, but really she just looked bored. I think we will be going there often. The husband even helped me with my French pronunciation. For some reason when confronted by real-live French people I freak out and forget all the French I know. According to Rosetta Stone my pronunciation isn't that bad, but put me in a restaurant and I lose it! Oh well, he was nice about it. I'm sure in some way, my stupid American bit was entertaining to him.

Regardless...everyone should eat crepes!

Morale is Low...so is the Internet Signal

We are very dependent on our Internet over here. It's how we talk to family and entertain ourselves. We have very very basic TV, and one shouldn't wait all day for an English programme. For some reason, the Internet has been SUPER slow. It has significantly impacted our quality of life. Morale is low. The Fete de Geneve, a week long party in Geneva is coming up so hopefully that will boost our spirits. Hopefully, I will be able to report that 500 kilograms of fondue tastes awesome.

Anyways, some of you may be asking...What can I do to help? How about a care package? I'm not pushing anything here, just tossing it out there. A care package or even a card would make my day! I feel like I've reached a new low...panhandling for mail!

Bern!

On Saturday we took a day trip to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. Bern is a really awesome place and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Bern is a German-speaking town with a lot of history. Throughout the city there are carved statues of nursery rhymes and Bern folklore. The mascot of Bern is the bear. Unfortunately, Pedro, the bear of Bern, died on Thursday. We didn't get to see any bears, but we did see the bear pit. Joe was really bummed by the death of Pedro because he really loves the Bern bears. A hidden gem in Bern is the Rosengarten located up a very steep hill. It offers an amazing view and about 200 varieties of roses. We ate some traditonal German food, think a Farmer's skillet at Denny's. Mine had cheesy potatoes topped with two eggs and bacon. The bacon was not that great because it was European bacon, which is fatty. Ronny and Joe had locally brewed beer too! We got to see Einstein's apartment where he worked as a patent clerk. Bern is definitely an awesome place, and if you come to visit the chances that we would go there are high.

New Layout New Attitude

The blog has a new layout. It's a little girly, but I'm okay with that. I'm sure Ronny is fine with that too. Yesterday I did about 3 hours of French on the Rosetta Stone. I was yelling into the computer and looking stuff up in a dictionary and the internet. It was like I was in school. This is part of my new attitude. It is incredibly frustrating to not be able to articulate needs because you don't speak French, but I can fix this problem by learning how to speak some French. I'm really going to make an effort.

Something I don't really talk about on the blog, because it's a downer, is my day-to-day life. As many of you knew would be the case, this transition is hard. Ronny has a job and I don't. I'm not too thrilled by that. I am often lonely and bored. I have read all the books I brought and some of Joe's. I can't seem to find any in English here and it costs a lot of money to join the library.(Like 50 CHF at CERN and 100 CHF in Geneva). I have applied for about 7 jobs and set up an au pair profile to be a nanny. Today I got a nibble on an au pair gig. We are not getting overly excited, so just calm down. I'll keep you updated on the job search. It's tough right now, it would be tough back home too (thanks economic downturn), but I am hopeful that "this too shall pass".

Grillin' Machine

What does that look like? Does that look like meat on a grill? We are officially smater than a gas grill.

I Made a Pound Cake

I made a pound cake. No easy feat because I don't have a hand mixer or anything. I creamed the butter and sugar together with a whisk and my brute strength. So far it looks and smells like a pound cake. Hopefully it will taste like a pound cake too!

UPDATE: It tastes like pound cake!

Grill 2 points - Joe, Ronny, Jeannette 0 points

The grill beat us again. Joe bought a very nice butane tank today. We brought every manual the grill came with and gave it to the man that sells gas tanks. He read the directions in French and promptly suggested a small 6 kg butane tank because it's not as heavy as the 13 kg tank. Thrilled with the purchase and the prospect of grilling, we quickly returned home.

When we tried to set up the grill to the tank we realized that there is a connection we are missing. It didn't come in the grill box (I can attest to that) and it didn't come with the butane tank (Joe can attest to that). Another night with no grilling.

Our best guess is we bought the grill in Switzerland and we bought the butane tank in France. You may remeber our probelm with electrial outlets regarding Swiss and French products. We're pretty sure there is a similar problem with the gas tank to gas grill connection. We lose again. Tragic.

Knitting in France

What an ordeal it is it knit in France! I brought two sets of knitting needles with me. I figured I would knit myself a blanket to protect me from the winter I am going to face. For some reason there is no Michaels craft store here. Instead you have to find speciality shops for the crafts you would like to do. There are scrapbooking stores (although I still haven't found them) and I imagine there are other hobby stores. I have been looking online for about two weeks for stores that sell yarn in Geneva. After 30 minutes of web browsing I found a blog posting on a knitting forum about yarn in Switzerland. From there I found two stores that carry Laine yarn. I'm not picky about yarn, and I don't know what's so great about Laine. I google map searched the distance between my house and the shops, searched on the public transportation website to see what tram I needed to take, and finally searched to see if any of them had a website. The one that was the furthest away did, so I decided to go there because I knew the hours of operation.

Ronny worked the night shift (midnight to 7) all last week, but he wanted to go with me into the city. If you aren't used to it, which neither of us really are, it's hard to navigate the streets of Geneva. The street signs are really small blue squares with white letters that may or may not be in an obvious location. We went on Thursday. It rained all day Thursday and the temperature decreased from 90 degrees to 65 degrees. When we reached our stop my directions told us to "walk 12 minutes". It did not indicate a direction. It's pouring down rain, we have one, broken umbrella, and we have no idea where to walk. By some act of God we ended up finding the place, but not before I started crying that I couldn't even ask for directions and all I wanted to do was knit a blanket.

At the store, Claudine, the owner, greeted me in French. She doesn't speak English. As a result of our communication barrier I am now knitting a shawl. It's almost a blanket. Claudine was very helpful and quickly showed me how to knit the shawl. She copied a picture of what the finished product should look like and wrote out some directions for me...in French. She even encouraged me to come to her shop and knit with her if I needed help. When I got home I tried to translate her directions, but she used abbreviations. Therefore I searched online for "knitting in French" and found a glossary of French knitting terms and abbreviations translated into English. (You can find anything on the Internet). And now I can knit! I knit 4 rows and on the 5th row I knit 5 stiches then knit two together, yarn over, knit two together...and repeat.

Who knew that my "simple" knitting project would be such an ordeal or such a long post?!

Biking To Work

So our roomy, Joe, is an avid bike-to-worker . He just bought a nice bike for this purpose. Its a pretty cool bike, and its definitely a scenic, albeit at times treacherous, ride to work on country roads with sub-par, if any, bike paths. Anyway, here is a paraphrasing of what Joe had to say when he came in the door Friday evening after his first experience riding in to work:

Joe (jovially) : "Hello Roomates! How are you all?"

Ronny & Jeannette : "Good. How was the ride in to work. Did it suck? It must not have been too bad judging by the cheerful spirit you seem to be in...?"

Joe (somber) : "Actually... it did suck. I fell off my bike on the way in"

Joe displays a few boo-boos on his arms.

Ronny : "Jesus! How did that happen?"

Joe : "Well...I took on a curb at too shallow an angle and I ate it. The worst part was that my chain fell off my bike and I had to walk my bike the rest of the way in, which was not-awesome. Then some French guy who saw me bust my ass came running over to see if I was okay. That was awkward. I would have preferred if he just laughed at me from a distance. I don't mind falling off my bike if it gets someone a good laugh out of it."

end of story

Joe had us cracking up. He told the story better than I can convey here. It was quite a testament to his cool attitude - that he came home in a relatively good mood (via the bus and not on his brand new bike) even though he had that wonderfully awful experience in the morning. Just to give you an idea of how long of a walk it was for Joe with his broken-down bike, I google mapped it. The path is in red. The place where Joe busted ass is marked in a blue "x". Joe is played by Peter Griffin from Family Guy here.

We have toast!!!

After much anticipation the day has arrived we have toast! It was glorious, not burned, crisp to perfection.

We have a grill

Joe bought a grill from Jumbo and some awesome kababas from the Migros. I set to work building it because I like to build things and I was hungry. About thirty minutes into construction I started to worry that perhaps this was not the charcoal grill we thought it was...rather perhaps it was a propane grill. Ronny read the special care and it said under no circumstances are you to convert this grill into a charcoal grill. The world will open up and you will be sucked into a vortex. Okay, maybe that part didn't happen, but we certainly felt time stand still as we looked at the grill in pieces and the 10 kilogram bag of charcoal. Anybody need charcoal? We'll trade you for a propane tank.

Conforama and Jumbo

Yesterday I took Joe to Conforama, a store that sells everything from a TV to a noodle strainer. It's similar to IKEA in that it has just about everything you need to spiff up a house. However, it seriously differs from IKEA in the amount of English-speaking persons they employ. Joe tried to buy a chair. It was blue. It did not make it with us. Ordinarily you fill out a card, you write down the product number and the price, you give it to the cashier, then you go to a garage type place and pick up your chair that's in a million pieces that you have to put together. We had enough French to say "We dont' speak French" and then came the hand signals. We think the cashier may have said that we could take the display, but we have no idea. We were holding up the cashier lane, I was behind Joe buying a fan and a clock. I had to try to explain with slow English and hand signals that Joe and I were not paying together, she could ring me up. Joe came back after hunting for the chair with no chair. He decided the chair was not worth the humiliation he felt for the poor cashier that couldn't speak English.

Then we went to Jumbo. I'm not quite sure what the extent of their products are, but it's a cross between Lowe's and a place that sells pillows. I was equally confused. Here Joe found a chair. He got some help from an employee that understood the universal language...the point and grunt. He also bought a grill. That will require it's own posting since I'm still putting it together. I like to build things and hey I have nothing better to do!

Honestly, there is nothing like the sting of not being able to communicate a need in French. You immediately want to go home and start the Rosetta Stone...this was our initial thought even if it didn't translate into action.

Tomorrow, our wolfpack grows by one

At first it was just me and Jeannette in the pack, and now Joe joins will be in it. Our roommate (or flatmate as they say here) and good friend, Joe Gartner, will be finally be arriving tomorrow. We pick him up to from the airport tomorrow at 2:30 . For those of you who haven't met Joe, here is a picture of him from a few days ago on the 4th of July. Welcome to the pack!




Note: If you are lost with the wolfpack references, you should see the movie that recently came out last month called "The Hangover" - its hi-larious, albiet very, very filthy as well. - Ronny

Only a few of you will get this...

"We meet again at last. The circuit is now complete. When I first arrived to France, I was but the learner. Now, I am the master!" - Darth Vader to Obe-Wan Kenobi referring to his training in driving stickshift.


I now possess a jedi-like mastery of the manual transmission - Ronny

Five Things That Stink/Are Annoying About Living in Europe

1. People on motorcyles and scooter bikes.

I'm from Daytona Beach. I thought I could handle bikers. No sir, I cannot. The "bikers" here (and I use that term loosely) are ridiculous! Without fail when we are stopped at a red light bikers will weave in between cars until they are at the front of the line in a "new lane" they just created. The biker gangs back home obey more rules of the road than these wanna-be's here. They are maniacs, and one day I will see a terrible accident involving a motorcycle and a driver that has had enough and just hits the biker. There is a thing called kharma.

2. Electrical outlets.

Moving here I knew electrical outlets would be an issue. What I didn't realize was you don't just need a converter for our US products. Example: We bought a toaster at a store called Conforama in Siwtzerland. Upon arriving home I feverishly opened my new toaster ready to toast to my little hearts delight. Nto quite. We bought the product in Swizterland, we live in France. Even though I can get to Switzerland in 10 minutes, I cannot plug my Swiss toaster in without a converter. I still haven't had toast.

3. The weakness of the US Dollar

This week we read an article on CNN that kicked us in the stomach. Geneva is the 4th most expensive city for expatriots that live in Europe but earn US Dollars. Everything is expensive here, and the euro is kicking the dollars ass. Geneva, which uses swiss-franc as currency, is full of investment bankers and people who don't care if dinner is equivalent to $30 per person. Back home Ronny and I would have a date night at Chili's or somewhere every 10 days or so. There is no analogue of Chili's here...we are literally picking one restaurant over another because of a $3 difference in prices.

4. The price of gas

Gas here is purchased by the liter. In Geneva at the BP station gas is 1.57 CHF per liter. There is so much math involved (that Ronny does because I need paper to do the math and he does it in his head) in trying to convert CHF to Dollars and then liters to gallons. When all is said and done, gas is about $6.00 per gallon or more.

5. Drying Clothes

This is something that mainly bothers me because I do most of the laundry. There is no way we will ever get caught up on laundry because it takes two days (if the weather is bad) for clothes to dry. We don't have a clothes line, we have clothes racks. It doesn't work that well. You can only do one load a day, and the washing machine is very small. I now know why Europeans iron everything. It helps ensure clothes are dry. Turn off the steam feature and you have a drying machine! A clothes dryer is something I really miss.

Dear Followers...

Believe it or not, blogging is hard work. When this project first began I received so many questions about how to comment on our blog. I'm pretty sure those issues have been resolved, but alas...no comments. It is difficult to come up with stuff to blog about on my own. Believe it or not, sometimes living in Europe is down right boring. Therefore, I would like to request that people start commenting. Ask questions, start a dialogue, make me feel like this isn't the most boring blog ever!

Thank you,

Jeannette

Lake Annecy pictures

Top: First fondue ever! Clearly I thought it was an action shot.

Middle: A historic preservationist has an eye for pictures like these...HA! It looked to me like a backdoor heading right into the water.

Bottom: Does it get any better than this?

Lake Annecy

On July 5th we went to Annecy to go swimming. Lake Annecy has the clearest water I have ever seen! It is a pristine lake admist the mountains. The old town is so awesome! There are winding canals and backdoors that open into the canals. The most surpising part of our visit was the topless bathing. We're in France...that's what they do. You get used to it after a little while, but the first sight is a little shocking.

Farmer's Market Part II

We went to the Farmer's Market this morning. Bought some peaches, cherries, mushrooms, tomatoes, avacados, and bread. We also got some free plums for being repeat customers. We decided that we would not be buying raw chicken from the farmer's market because the claws and the heads are still on the birds....no I'm not kidding. The top picture is from a wicker basket stand, and the bottom picture was supposed to show you the depth of the market. It is a lousy picture...I'll try to do better next time. Honestly, I think I was so upset about the chickens with claws that I forgot to take more pictures.