Trains, trains, and more trains

This weekend we did a bit of inter-city traveling; we went to Vevey (where Swiss chocolate originated) and shopped at the open market on the water. Sophie had the privilege of taking her very first train ride ever! She did well--although she barked/demon growled at certain people (she hates people who wear fur hats or fur in general--which is a lot of the Swiss population). Below are some pictures from our weekend; things you will see include gigantic forks in the middle of Lake Geneva, stinky yet amazing cheese stands with more cheese than you can imagine (and tough to pronounce), Nathan enjoying an "express" and the International Herald in Old Town Geneva (we went to a Swiss military closeout expo...got some cool stuff!), Nathan and I enjoying the playground on top of the hill in Old Town, then our delicious dinner of white fish in a white wine sauce and the local wine called Fechy (I can include the recipe if anyone is interested!). Enjoy!

Squirty Cream?

"J'ai rendez-vous chez mon petit chouchou a Rolle"

["Ok, Tanya, sans "petit chouchou"]



-Me, proudly providing my sample sentence to the class
-My teacher, tired of me using "petit chouchou" in EVERY example, telling me I have to make up a new one

Oh what a week it's been! I started language courses on Monday so I officially made it ONE WHOLE WEEK! Woohoo! It was a bit of a surprise at first since the teacher spoke zero English--I mean, I know this is the intensive course, but I don't know an ounce of French! But by the second hour of the first class, I was so surprised to be following the teacher, and knowing the answers to her questions, regardless of the lack of language. So cool!

My classes go Monday through Friday, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. There are eight people in my class and I'm the only one from the States (2 Peruvians, 1 Spanish, 1 Australian, 1 British, 1 Austrian, and 1 Chinese). It's a great mix of personalities and ages--I just love it! We have two professors who are amazing and extremely patient (it's interesting because one is French and the other Swiss--and I'm beginning to notice the different French accents and pronunciations of certain words, i.e. for the number 20 [vingt], the French teacher doesn't pronounce the 'T' but the Swiss teacher does). It's funny because I never thought I would be able to use my Spanish here in Switzerland, but I find myself helping the Spanish speakers in class when they don't understand--I listen to the French, translate it to English for myself, then translate it to Spanish for my friends. I love it! It's gotten to the point where my friend Alejandra (who speaks a teensy bit of English) and my other friend Jesus (who speaks NO English), will wait for the teacher to stop speaking, then look at me and say, "Que?!" (WHAT?!). All in all, the left side of the brain feels pretty sore after leaving each day--but I love it.

After classes, a group of us usually go to coffee or lunch or just walk around the hilly shopping centers of Lausanne. It's amazing how quickly you become friends with people who are in the same boat as you! We've organized a 'night out' next Tuesday--should be fun. I've grown closest to the girl from England, named Katie, who is my age and her boyfriend works in the A-One Business center (same as Nathan) for Yahoo. She's very community-oriented like myself, and we're often the ones pushing people to come get coffee, or go out together. It's so incredible how international my friendships have become! I even notice myself saying words I would never say (mostly due to my friends from England and Australia)--such as "footpath" instead of sidewalk, "quite"--like, "that's quite right"--or, a new one I heard today was "squirty cream" instead of whipped cream. Now I don't think I'll use that one as frequently...but I still love hearing these new ways of talking, these new cultural insights...and making fun of my dear friends when they say them (don't get me wrong, they try to imitate my accent and it's frightening--I hope I don't sound like that!).


Here are some photos of the area I go to school. It's in an area called Le Flon which is a new, "posh" area with night clubs, restaurants, and ice rink, cinema, etc. I love walking to school each day and passing through this vibrant area (even during the day, there is a lot of foot traffic)!

Our City Sees the Sun

This is our city--Lausanne. This park is only a five minute walk from where we currently live. When friends come to visit, we will bring you here in the morning with a cafe renversé and pain au chocolat.


Sunday evening, after such a great day of meeting new friends (a German with no familiarity with the term "PC," named Matias, and an Italian from New Jersey who has already invited me to be in his wedding, Kevin), Nathan and I went for an early evening walk and saw such beauty. One word seemed to keep surfacing throughout our conversations that day: Encouraged.









Even Sophie has to stop and stare at the Alps once in awhile...



Chateau d'Ouchy. Come visit and we'll have coffee here on the terrace. It will be lovely!

Bon Weekend in Verbier!

We went to Verbier, a mega ski resort, to see the sun and scope out the skiing action. It was gorgeous!

Here's a quick photo journal of our weekend:






The chocolate chantilly...delicious!




Our view from the gondola (can you see the hang-gliding skier? the Swiss are crazy! these guys were EVERYWHERE--thinking Chad would enjoy doing this when he comes to visit):


Video of us taking off to go back down the mountain:

Meet Reuben

So my parents finally replaced the irreplaceable...Sophie now has some competition back home in Ohio. The name of the little peanut is Reuben. He's a four month old Fox Terrier who was born to the Amish but is now being tainted by city living. My hope: Reuben and Sophie will become best of friends, maybe even lovers (without the humping part).

If you like reading blogs from a dog's perspective generated by none other than my parents (shhhh, yes it's not ACTUALLY Reuben writing, sorry), here's the link to "Reuben's" blog:

http://reubensmission.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Nespresso. What else?

Ok. It's not because George Clooney is staring at me with those playful, yet sage eyes. And it's not because owning one of these things secures a spot for you in the "trendy elite" of Swiss society. And it's not even the fact that when you enter the Nespresso store in downtown Lausanne, with it's 40-50 foot tall ceilings, white marble floors, and beautiful people all smiling, as if knowing a special secret that you may have access to if you have enough of la Suisse within you, and it feels as if all of your worries are lifted away, one by one, by teeny multi-colored sleek espresso capsules that will cost you 2 francs a pop. No---is it wrong for me to just want to enjoy a tasty, delicious, piece of Swiss precision in every glass with my hubby? A small, beautiful capsule designed with such scientific meticulousness, like a Swiss watch, that you place in a gorgeous machine, and out comes a perfect, dark yet frothy piece of heaven, every time? Now that, my friends, is why I want a Nespresso.








...for only an upfront investment of a few hundred francs and 2 francs per capsule. I mean, that's it!


...aka...need to start saving my allowance! aargh!

The Apartment at St. François

We will put our application in, and hope for the best! There were several people at the showing today--so a lot of competition.

Pros:
Heart of the center city
Open floor plan
New appliances (first microwave I've seen here too)
Private Washer/Dryer
Cellar/Storage
Video Camera (we can see who is buzzing our apartment)
Elevators
Gorgeous!

Cons:
No Balcony
No yard for Sophie
Only one bedroom
No Parking

We'll see. Definitely excited about this one.

Pictures from a walk

Just thought I'd post a few pictures from a walk Sophie and I took around the Olympic Museum and the lake.

This is our temporary apartment from the outside. Very nice, quiet neighborhood, close to Ouchy and close to the center of Lausanne as well. Pretty ideal, but again, TEMPORARY.





This is the lake. Only a five or ten minute walk from where we are living currently. It hasn't been clear enough yet for us to see the other side (aka France).







The Olympic Museum "front yard" and these eerie trees that populate most of the lakefront and several sidewalks throughout the Greater Geneva area.







Some snow friends we met.

Our search for a flat and Tea Balls!

Today was a good day.

I went to my crazy Peruvian doctor in the a.m. (I'm talking LOONEY--i.e. he couldn't open my Coumadin pill jar; so apparently it's child-safe and Dr. Noetzli safe as well). Maybe he should look into one of these rubber pill jar openers from pharmacy.com:



My INR numbers were a little on the high side and I found out that I'm anemic (dangit!), but other than that, I'm confident that the clot is going, going, gone, and I won't have to worry about all this blood stuff anymore.

On a lighter note, Nathan and I checked out an apartment in the hills of Lausanne, a town called Chailly. It was a cute apartment (very European aka TEENSY) with a balcony, an attic, a cellar, a parking spot (extra 145 CHF). I didn't take pictures because they were totally renovating the inside--I'm talking walls were semi-intact, there was a hole where the toilet should've been, and kitchen was bare (no sink, no counters, nothing). There were pros and cons to this apartment, but we're going to put an application in anyway. Tomorrow we see the apartment we're really excited about in terms of location. Will keep you updated!

Chailly:


After the apartment viewing, we walked around the square and saw a little tea-to-go shop that had these tea balls (boules a thé). I've seen people walking around, eating these tea balls and have been on a search for almost FOUR DAYS for these coveted balls. Regardless, we found the balls. And they...were...delicious. They are basically doughnut holes covered in sugar, but I think calling them "boules a thé" not only makes me sound pretty awesome (and slightly pretentious) but makes them taste better too. Now I need to figure out when they bake the balls so I can get them HOT! mmmmm.



Finally, we made it home after a shopping errand (here in Europe, you shop NIGHTLY for dinner...still getting used to it) and made delicious chicken and cous cous with Moroccan Mint Tea!