So I went to Zurich two weekends ago with Shoshana(we were going to go to Munich but its a 7 hour train ride....yea right). We took a taxi to our hotel which was called The Zic Zac Rock Hotel, every room was themed with a famous American band or singer; We were in Status Quo. We got settled in, walked around town for a while. It was a beautiful day and there were a lot of people about. Zurich was is such a nice place, we loved it. That night we went to the co-op and bought some drinks. We got some wine in juice boxes, a bottle of wine, some smirnoff and snacks. Later we noticed that the club downstairs in our hotel was filling up with people so we decided to check it out. The place was packed and there was a cheezy red rope outside and a big bald bodyguard. We got in for free because we were staying at the hotel. We got in and met some guys and just started dancing. Shosh went back up and I kept dancing, about 1 I decided to go back up and this guy that I had been dancing with decided he wanted to come. Shoshana came down and rescued me. We spent the next day walking around down again, a lot of things were closed because it was Sunday so we went and saw Mamma Mia in a really small theater with an intermission. We left later that evening after 7 because we both have the Track 7 pass that you can ride on the train free after 7 o'clock. We went our separate ways at the train stops and back home again.
That following week I was getting ready to leave for Egypt on Saturday. When saturday came we loaded up a taxi van with 7 people and got on our flight at 7am. We flew through Egypt Air which was an awful idea because the planes actually resembled the ones in movies that end up crashing, old, dirty, and scary. We made it to Egypt Safely, the second we got off the plane we were sweating, it was about 100 degrees roughly. We got to the hotel in Sharm El Sheikh and went to our amazing hotel, The Sofitel Hotel. It was gorgeous, huge pool, huge site, right on the red sea. We spent 6 nights there, laying by the pool during the day, doing aqua gym in the pool, snorkling and scuba diving in the sea and just relaxing. This trip to Egypt was a vacation, it was not a site seeing one, so no ruins or pyramids... but I will some day. We went into town at night and got cheezy souviniers and ate dinner. My nickname at the hotel with all the staff was America and Snow White, it was ridiculous. All week we just relaxed, I actually got a little bit tan believe it or not. I got over 50 bug bites on my legs toward the end of the week, it was terrible, since I am mildly allergic. So all my bites swelled up half dollar size, were very bumpy and itchy. So I went to the pharmacy with Greet and they gave me a shot or as they called it "an injection" which sounded so much more scarier. The guy came around the counter while I was standing there and popped it in my arm, gave me some itch medicine and sent me on my way. I wish I would have taken a picture of the pharmacy... so sketch. At the end of the week, I was really sad to go, the resort was gorgeous and everyone was so nice. I want to go back someday for sure.
Everything else is great, the kids are picking up English so well, the four year old tries so hard and she is good. Tonight is Halloween so I helped Louis and his bestfriend Bazil dress up for their school's Halloween party as female vampires... actually hilarious. I was supposed to be going to Paris this weekend with Shosh but thats not happening so we shall see. I think I am going to a Halloween party in Geneve at same Irish pub with Fardau and Johanna.
Shoshana has gone home to America now, which totally sucks, but whatever. I plan to travel around Switzerland alone via couchsurfers.com which is a site full of profiles of people that travel and need places to stay, so that I don't have to pay for hostels and hotels. Well I'm off to see what plans I will make for tonight.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Neuchatel wine festival
So last weekend I hopped on the train to Neuchatel where Shoshana lives because of the wine festival taking place that weekend. She met up with me at the train stop and we walked back to her place, got ready, and left for the evening. We got there and there were thousands of people just standing in the streets. There was vendor after vendor, selling scarves, trinkets, and there were tons of food vendors. Shosh and I each got a drink and walked around for a bit. We then came across a little Mexican stand with all types of drinks. The crazy guy working there saw us and summoned us over, he gave us a free drink in exchange for a picture, which was fine with us because then we did not have to pay. We walked a lot and began seeing people with coconuts, we found a stand that was selling coconuts with alcohol in them. Shoshana and I think he mistakenly put all the alcohol that was supposed to go in hers, in mine. Here we met some crazy Europeans who just wanted to take pictures with us, and then began doing there best American accent. They wanted to 'hang out' but we quickly moved on.
As we walked further down we saw this huge lit up stage/bar stand and there were a ton of people dancing. They played all American songs, so there were just a ton of drunk Swiss people around us slurring their own version of Summer Lovin' from Grease. We had a few drinks afterwards and even went back to the Mexican stand. We had been there for like four hours so we decided to leave. As we were trying to make our way through the mobs of people, we met some friendly guys drinking wine and who spoke English. We hung out with them for a bit and exchanged numbers. We each had a glass of wine, which was our first that night, which was suprising because it was a Wine Festival. I do not remember much of the walk or the tram home, but Shoshana said a goup of French people were laughing at me. Hmm great.
We slept in the next morning, went back to the wine festival for some lunch, came back, napped, went out again to the wine festival late that night. It was not as much fun because we were not really in the mood, but it was fun to walk around for a bit. We went home, watched The Office and went to sleep. I left later the next day. Shoshana's family was a bit weird, they were not very friendly so Shoshana and I just kept to ourselves.
As we walked further down we saw this huge lit up stage/bar stand and there were a ton of people dancing. They played all American songs, so there were just a ton of drunk Swiss people around us slurring their own version of Summer Lovin' from Grease. We had a few drinks afterwards and even went back to the Mexican stand. We had been there for like four hours so we decided to leave. As we were trying to make our way through the mobs of people, we met some friendly guys drinking wine and who spoke English. We hung out with them for a bit and exchanged numbers. We each had a glass of wine, which was our first that night, which was suprising because it was a Wine Festival. I do not remember much of the walk or the tram home, but Shoshana said a goup of French people were laughing at me. Hmm great.
We slept in the next morning, went back to the wine festival for some lunch, came back, napped, went out again to the wine festival late that night. It was not as much fun because we were not really in the mood, but it was fun to walk around for a bit. We went home, watched The Office and went to sleep. I left later the next day. Shoshana's family was a bit weird, they were not very friendly so Shoshana and I just kept to ourselves.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
One Jewish weekend
Friday night I took the train to Bazel which is a little over two and a half hours which was fine because half way we stopped in Nuechatel and Shoshana got on. We got to to Basel (pernounced Bazel) and took the taxi to our weekend home. The people we were staying with know Shoshana's parents because they used to also live in Seattle. The know them from the Jewish community, so Shoshana and I were not quite sure how religious they really were.
Well as the door opened we knew, there were menorahs everywhere and hebrew books and pictures with hebrew written all over. The people we stayed with were extremely nice and told us to come back anytime. Saturaday was Shabbat, so we had to go to the Synagogue which was very long and I did not understand what was going on at all. We were also supposed to dress up so Shoshana and I, (who mind you, we both packed in five minutes) pulled something suitable together. After the Synagogue we went to a bat mitzvah and then back to the house for lunch. After lunch Ilana, the girl who was 20, took us into town where she showed us the city of Basel and some really nice buildings, the town is really very nice. Afterwards there was not much to do so Shoshana and I took a nap because on Shabbat you are not aloud to use anything electronic or buy anything which was quite interesting, so sleeping was the only thing to do. We took a good nap, woke up and got ready. We went into town alone where we had some great pasta at a small place and Ilana met us in town. The city was alive, people were everywhere and having a great time. We decided to go to a lounge/bar and had a few drinks, we were all getting a bit tired of the place we were in so we headed and got ice cream and walked around for a bit. Ilana had a going away party to go to so we went, it was a bunch of Jewish people about or age drinking and dancing around and having a good time, it was really fun, especially when we were taught a Jewish dance. Afterwards we realized that it was 2am and we had to be up early so we headed home and went to bed.
The next day we met up with a bunch of kids our age from the Jewish youth group and we drove to Germany for Europa-park, it is basically a mini Disneyland expect that the place is themed, and everywhere you go is a themed of a different country in Europe. We went on a ton of rides which was good for me because usually I hate big rides. I wore sandles to the park, because I always wear sandles, which nobody here seems to understand, and I actually think I was the only one in the park with them on. My feet actually got like glared at because of it....so weird. By this time we had been persuaded to go with a group of the boys from the trip to go on more and more rides. I went on one of the biggest rollercoasters and even the one that spalshed into water at the bottom. Be proud, I have a fear of heights and that was definitely a challenge. They were all very nice, and extremely funny. They asked us a ton of questions which was fine because we were used to it. Sadly the day came to an end and we all got on the bus and headed back to Basel. Shoshana and I both took a nap on the bus to catch up on sleep the night before.
When we arrived back in Basel we said our farewells to both the youth group and the family that we stayed with and got on the train.
After about a half hour a girl got our attention and asked if we were from the States, her name is Lindsey and she is from Oregon. The three of us talked forever it seemed like, she too lives in Neuchatel with Shoshana so they both got off before me. Lindsey is a very nice girl and she is going to be at the wine fesitval this weekend in Neuchatel, where I'll be going so we will get to hang out with us. Who said threes a crowd?
I have started working on my online classes this week, and am stressfully hitting myself in the head for not ordering my books sooner. I still have no laptop of my own so I will continue to use greets. AHhhhhhh I still love it here.
Oh quick funny story:
On our flight from Chicago to Dublin the guy in front of me kept looking at my feet and Shoshana and I were like ok what is he doing? Right? And then he goes 'nice color' I had no idea what he was talking about until he pointed at my feet and he was talking about my bright pink toes. It was extremely awkward.
Well as the door opened we knew, there were menorahs everywhere and hebrew books and pictures with hebrew written all over. The people we stayed with were extremely nice and told us to come back anytime. Saturaday was Shabbat, so we had to go to the Synagogue which was very long and I did not understand what was going on at all. We were also supposed to dress up so Shoshana and I, (who mind you, we both packed in five minutes) pulled something suitable together. After the Synagogue we went to a bat mitzvah and then back to the house for lunch. After lunch Ilana, the girl who was 20, took us into town where she showed us the city of Basel and some really nice buildings, the town is really very nice. Afterwards there was not much to do so Shoshana and I took a nap because on Shabbat you are not aloud to use anything electronic or buy anything which was quite interesting, so sleeping was the only thing to do. We took a good nap, woke up and got ready. We went into town alone where we had some great pasta at a small place and Ilana met us in town. The city was alive, people were everywhere and having a great time. We decided to go to a lounge/bar and had a few drinks, we were all getting a bit tired of the place we were in so we headed and got ice cream and walked around for a bit. Ilana had a going away party to go to so we went, it was a bunch of Jewish people about or age drinking and dancing around and having a good time, it was really fun, especially when we were taught a Jewish dance. Afterwards we realized that it was 2am and we had to be up early so we headed home and went to bed.
The next day we met up with a bunch of kids our age from the Jewish youth group and we drove to Germany for Europa-park, it is basically a mini Disneyland expect that the place is themed, and everywhere you go is a themed of a different country in Europe. We went on a ton of rides which was good for me because usually I hate big rides. I wore sandles to the park, because I always wear sandles, which nobody here seems to understand, and I actually think I was the only one in the park with them on. My feet actually got like glared at because of it....so weird. By this time we had been persuaded to go with a group of the boys from the trip to go on more and more rides. I went on one of the biggest rollercoasters and even the one that spalshed into water at the bottom. Be proud, I have a fear of heights and that was definitely a challenge. They were all very nice, and extremely funny. They asked us a ton of questions which was fine because we were used to it. Sadly the day came to an end and we all got on the bus and headed back to Basel. Shoshana and I both took a nap on the bus to catch up on sleep the night before.
When we arrived back in Basel we said our farewells to both the youth group and the family that we stayed with and got on the train.
After about a half hour a girl got our attention and asked if we were from the States, her name is Lindsey and she is from Oregon. The three of us talked forever it seemed like, she too lives in Neuchatel with Shoshana so they both got off before me. Lindsey is a very nice girl and she is going to be at the wine fesitval this weekend in Neuchatel, where I'll be going so we will get to hang out with us. Who said threes a crowd?
I have started working on my online classes this week, and am stressfully hitting myself in the head for not ordering my books sooner. I still have no laptop of my own so I will continue to use greets. AHhhhhhh I still love it here.
Oh quick funny story:
On our flight from Chicago to Dublin the guy in front of me kept looking at my feet and Shoshana and I were like ok what is he doing? Right? And then he goes 'nice color' I had no idea what he was talking about until he pointed at my feet and he was talking about my bright pink toes. It was extremely awkward.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
More food
Today we had pancakes, the family ate them with sugar and squeezed a lime over them.... where as all the maple syrup gone?
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Conticap
So last night Shoshana and I went to this club called Bypass, we were a little hesitant because we could not get in contact with any of the other AuPairs to come with us. So we got there and it was a two story club, the second story looked over the dance floor of the first story, and it was huge. There was a great DJ, dancers, sparklers on top of Grey Goose bottles, it was definitely a rowdy place, and there were a ton of people. We bought a drink which was 20 franks so we decided to not buy anymore. We were being approached by several guys, non of them interesting enough to talk to at all, so we walked around a bit. Two older guys approached us wanted to know if we wanted a drink, we said yes because they seemed nice and we didnt want to spend any of our own money. They took us with them up to the second floor where it was a VIP only and an open bar.
Ok now just think about this, these people throwing this party rented out the second floor and had an open bar. This is the hottest club in Gevéve and so obviously it had to be very expensive. They introduced us to all there friends and it was actually really nice having normal conversations with these people. The heard we were from America and they wanted to know if we were for Obama or McCain and if we like Starbucks since we were from Seattle. We had a great time and did some dancing downstairs, and left the club about 4:30....yes I know, very late, but in Switzerland (like most places in Europe) the clubs dont really start till 1:00 anyway.
They said their company was called Conticap, so today Shoshana and I googled it and found out.... it is basically like a multibillion dollar company, so basically we were clubbing in style and it was one of the best nights I have had in a long time. Im really glad Shoshana came this weekend to see me and hang out, and hopefully I will go to where she is next weekend.
Ok now just think about this, these people throwing this party rented out the second floor and had an open bar. This is the hottest club in Gevéve and so obviously it had to be very expensive. They introduced us to all there friends and it was actually really nice having normal conversations with these people. The heard we were from America and they wanted to know if we were for Obama or McCain and if we like Starbucks since we were from Seattle. We had a great time and did some dancing downstairs, and left the club about 4:30....yes I know, very late, but in Switzerland (like most places in Europe) the clubs dont really start till 1:00 anyway.
They said their company was called Conticap, so today Shoshana and I googled it and found out.... it is basically like a multibillion dollar company, so basically we were clubbing in style and it was one of the best nights I have had in a long time. Im really glad Shoshana came this weekend to see me and hang out, and hopefully I will go to where she is next weekend.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Toilets
I took my own personal tour of this place we call a house.... we have 8 toilets. Yes 8. So basically everyone in the house could have their own... inlcuding Molly the dog.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Food and more
Every meal seems to be bread, cheese and oil. Now I don't mind the bread and cheese because I love both, despite their carbs. But there is oil on everything, which I am slowly getting used to, but with these food habits I'm going to have to skip a few meals to not gain five pounds a week.
Yesterday was wednesday so the kids do not have school...why? I could not say, but it is also the most chaotic day of the week. Louis has school from 8-11:30 because he is taking bilingual courses, Henri has tennis at 9, Marie has tennis at 10, Henri always has soccer matches on wednesdays usually around 2 or 2:30, Louis has Tennis at 3, Marie has Piano at 3, then Louis has piano at 4:30..... being a human taxi, in a new city, natuarally I got lost... twice, and when I say lost I mean, how did I get here? There are so many roundabouts and they are all surrounded by trees or houses surrounded by trees, its very frustrating. But I think I have it all down... I hope.
Oh and I did not mention that we went to a bbq at Suzanne's on Sunday with a bunch of families, it was vary fun. I met a ton of new people. They had this thing hanging from the ceiling with pictures and sayings in like 10 different languages... one I found interesting:
Stupid people talk about stupid people,
Smart people talk about facts,
Intelligent people discuss ideas.
Louis' friend Bazil is staying with us till sunday which means we have 8 people in the house now at all times, 9 if you include Molly. Today was Genéve holiday, for what I couldn't say, but there was no school, and just a house full of children. Today we went to huge outdoor pool, with a huge water slide next to Lake Genéve, where the kids swam and I got to read. 100 more pages left in my book and life is good. I got comfortable in the grass with my book and my view was the fountain in the lake... the highest fountain in Europe and it is beautiful. There are colors in it periodicaly, blue for the holiday, rainbow for gay pride. The sun was shining and it turned out to be a great day.
Shoshana is coming by train tomorrow, and we are going to go out. I'm excited for the weekend, since last weekend I ended up watching the kids and helping to move, not ideal. But nevertheless I'm happy.
Oh and Louis and his two friends, Bazil and Peter have a very attractive Australian tennis trainer named Will, he introduced himself to me. Lets just say I'm looking forward to tennis next week.
Yesterday was wednesday so the kids do not have school...why? I could not say, but it is also the most chaotic day of the week. Louis has school from 8-11:30 because he is taking bilingual courses, Henri has tennis at 9, Marie has tennis at 10, Henri always has soccer matches on wednesdays usually around 2 or 2:30, Louis has Tennis at 3, Marie has Piano at 3, then Louis has piano at 4:30..... being a human taxi, in a new city, natuarally I got lost... twice, and when I say lost I mean, how did I get here? There are so many roundabouts and they are all surrounded by trees or houses surrounded by trees, its very frustrating. But I think I have it all down... I hope.
Oh and I did not mention that we went to a bbq at Suzanne's on Sunday with a bunch of families, it was vary fun. I met a ton of new people. They had this thing hanging from the ceiling with pictures and sayings in like 10 different languages... one I found interesting:
Stupid people talk about stupid people,
Smart people talk about facts,
Intelligent people discuss ideas.
Louis' friend Bazil is staying with us till sunday which means we have 8 people in the house now at all times, 9 if you include Molly. Today was Genéve holiday, for what I couldn't say, but there was no school, and just a house full of children. Today we went to huge outdoor pool, with a huge water slide next to Lake Genéve, where the kids swam and I got to read. 100 more pages left in my book and life is good. I got comfortable in the grass with my book and my view was the fountain in the lake... the highest fountain in Europe and it is beautiful. There are colors in it periodicaly, blue for the holiday, rainbow for gay pride. The sun was shining and it turned out to be a great day.
Shoshana is coming by train tomorrow, and we are going to go out. I'm excited for the weekend, since last weekend I ended up watching the kids and helping to move, not ideal. But nevertheless I'm happy.
Oh and Louis and his two friends, Bazil and Peter have a very attractive Australian tennis trainer named Will, he introduced himself to me. Lets just say I'm looking forward to tennis next week.
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