BootsnAll Travel Network



The Blog Has Found a New Home

July 27th, 2007

I’ve finally found a new home for this blog.

Just comment or email me if you want the location. See you there.

Tags:

Hump Day 7 – ymoolG dna yerG

July 25th, 2007

ymoolG dna yerG… what does that mean? That’s the title of Monday’s post but backwards. That’s right, things are starting to pick up again now. After hitting the bottom of the barrel, my extra padding from all the chocolate I’ve been eating bounced me right back up. Once again, my friends and family were here, right by my side, even though we are on opposite sides of the world. You know when you just need that little assurance that they’re still there… well, they never fail me. Never. I don’t know what I did in the past life to deserve the life I have now but boy, I hope I can do something to “pay it forward”.

Anyway, so yeah, even if it was only through email, I got some support and wishes that just picked up my spirits…. so, to keep the ball rolling, I decided to confront the driver with my broken French. I’m pretty sure I asked him why he’s been so sad or mad and I think it caught him off guard…. then he started to talk really fast and I think he said it wasn’t aimed at me, his mind is just occupied because he goes on vacation next week. At least that’s what I think he said. I think he said a lot more but I didn’t really understand too much of it. From his body language, he seemed a bit distressed…. so, I decided to go get him a hot chocolate for the next time he came to the building. Sure enough, when he came around and saw me standing there with a hot chocolate (that’s what he’s usually drinking in the morning), he brightened up again and we’ve been chatty every since. So, for those of you who cheered me up, you can take credit for cheering Ali up too 🙂

Work itself has been busy busy busy lately… not much to say about that… the weather has been on and off. I hate it when it rains though because the snails come out in swarms (or whatever you call a group of snails) and if you aren’t careful when you’re walking, you get a REALLY unpleasant *CRUNCH* with the feeling of slime under your foot… it’s really something I almost gag about every time it happens. Ummm, other than that, nothing new here. I can’t believe how fast summer is flying by!

Tags:

Grey and Gloomy

July 23rd, 2007

Well, today started off promising… the sun was shining, the birds were singing… I thought it could be the start of a great week. But no….

FIRST of all, I have NO idea what the heck I did to Ali (the shuttle driver), but he like refuses to talk to me now! Honestly, he has really just given me the cold shoulder. And it’s kind of sad because I seem to be able to speak French the best with him… and now, well, now I have nobody to talk to :(. It was honestly a bit of highlight in my day to ride the shuttle to and from headquarters just because I could pretty much talk about anything and we could laugh about it. And even if I’ve only known him for like 6 weeks and see him only like half an hour a day, I feel like I’ve lost a good friend :(.

Secondly, the day progressed, the sun slowly disappeared… it got a bit cloudy… then it started to drizzle. Of course, it waited until the end of the work day to REALLY start POURING. Greeaaat. Luckily, Ali was nice enough to drop me right by the bus stop so I avoided getting wet for a little bit. The bus home was packed with smelly, wet people and it’s raining even HARDER in Ferney/Prevessin. Now there’s even thunder and lightning!!

Thirdly… well, there is no thirdly. I think this is the first time I’ve been bummed out for a long time now… and I don’t like it. I’m gonna go meditate.

Tags:

Only a Phone Call Away

July 21st, 2007

Well, I was pretty bummed yesterday but I’m feeling better today. First of all, of course, it’s Saturday so that means it’s Market Day! I didn’t need to buy too much but for some reason, I have a great craving for tomatoes so I REALLY stocked up this week. Today was an all fruit and veggie day…. mostly because I’m STILL working on that block of cheese from before.


IMGP4181.JPG
Peppers, Tomatoes, and Apples…mmm

I actually got home from the market by 10am today so I had a whole day to relax…. however, I ended up working for a good few hours… and cleaning. Man, I’m such a loser. I decided mid afternoon that I would go for a run but of course, with my luck I got caught in the pouring rain on the way home… darn Switzerland rain. I guess that can count as washing my workout stuff. So, with the rain coming down, I decided to call some friends. Boy, that’s just what the doctor ordered. It felt soooo good to catch up with some people… and hear familiar voices. I may be in one of the most beautiful places right now but man, I miss my friends… I can’t wait to see them again. So anyway, that was like a big warm hug for me… the last call I made really soured my pickles though… for those of you who know me well, you might be able to figure out who I called… as usual, he did his darned best to make me feel worthless and a lost cause… sigh. I feel like I owe him for making me strive to make something of myself but man, maybe I should have called him first and then called my friends so I wasn’t so bitter right now.

Anyway, all in all, it’s great to know loved ones (and not so loved ones) are only ever a phone call away.

Tags: ,

Vendredi Vendredi!

July 20th, 2007

Normally, Fridays are a great thing… they signify the end of a work week and the beginning of a weekend…. I guess I’m just in one of those slumpy kind of moods. I guess it seems really lonely when you can’t make any friends out here. Sigh… my dog, my friends and family… I miss having them around. I mean, I try to speak French with my Friend, Ali and I go for conversational French lessons with Monsieur Habel every Friday but I think my French is hopeless… it’s just really bad. Personally, I don’t think they even understand what I’m trying to say most of the time… And it’s so embarrassing tying to speak it because I know people are thinking I’m stupid. So, I will spend yet another weekend by myself 🙁 However, I seem to be able to really entertain myself these days so I’m thinking it will still be a fun weekend…. so fun, that I’m going to attempt to translate this blog post into French. If you are offended by what will be a horrible attempt to write in French, please look away. I figure this will be good practice for me….

En Francais:
Normalment, chaque Vendredi est tres bien… c’est la fin de la semaine et c’est le début du week-end… mais je trouve que je suis deprimee. Il semble que je me sens seul parce que je ne peux pas trouver/faire des amis ici. Sigh… ma chien, ma famille, mes amis… je les manque. J’essaye de parler français avec mon ami, Ali et je vais aux leçons françaises conversationnelles avec Monsieur Habel chaque Vendredi mais je trouve que mon Français est absolument nul. Personnellement, je pense que ils ne me comprennent pas souvent…. et c’est embarrassant parce que tout le monde penser que je suis stupide (this attempt probably proves them right:) ). Alors, je vais passer du weekend seulement… Facon que, Je peux m’amuser, ainsi, le weekend sera bien.

I hope I came remotely close to getting some of that right. Please please please feel free to correct my mistakes in the comments!
Corrigez mes erreurs, SVP!

Tags:

Busted! (Day after Hump Day 6)

July 19th, 2007

n834245222_828999_2743.jpg

So I guess someone actually asked the driver what was going on with me and him?!?! Which is funny because my friend Richa was the only one with me when I joked about having a boyfriend in each Country…. so, since I suspect somebody saw the picture of Ali and me in a previous post, I’m going to clear things up on here so there is no more confusion… there is nothing going on! I just like to joke around… we all know I like my Tanzania boyfriend best 🙂 Ali (the driver) is a very nice person and it’s fun to practice my French with him… so there.

Anyway, I think I haven’t posted since Sunday! Wow…. K, Monday, nothing happened… Tuesday… Oh Tuesday, we went out to a Japanese restaurant for a co-workers retirement party (again)… but man, this time… GEEZ, Japanese food here is EXPENSIVE. I basically had 6 pieces of cucumber roll and 3 pieces of a chicken roll and that cost around $12! For the people who actually got the meal there, it was like $80!! I must say though, it was quite fun (like the Fondue night) and the restaurant was really nice.
IMGP4168.JPG
Wednesday, was pretty uneventful… I went to play tennis with my aunt after work… it’s probably the first time I’ve played tennis in a realllly long time but I was surprised that I could actually hit the ball! And Thursday, well, today is Thursday. Had kind of a normal day but we did make a run to headquarters to drop off some publications…. and while waiting for the shuttle to return and take us back to the other building, we took the opportunity to take some pictures out front….
n834245222_828999_2743.jpgn834245222_829000_3444.jpg
We actually do work hard but we had to wait for the shuttle anyway so we thought we’d have some fun. And, on the shuttle ride back is when we tried to figure out what Ali was trying to tell us but it got confusing… I just hope my joking about him being my Switzerland boyfriend didn’t offend him….

Oh, one more thing, I’ve had a few comments about this so I thought I’d clear this up too… HUMP DAY means Wednesday (the top of the hill for the week), NOTHING ELSE…

Tags:

Tour De France!

July 15th, 2007

Wooo!
IMGP4089.JPG

Well, this weekend has been quite awesome. After Chamonix yesterday, I didn’t think much could top it… but something did. On the drive back from Chamonix, we saw a bunch of Tour De France cars on the highway so we looked up where it was… turns out it was quite close so we went down to a little town called Thones to catch stage 8 of the Tour De France.

We left first thing in the morning so we actually arrived in Thones quite early. Since we had time to kill, we spent the day quite lazily, enjoying cappuccino while reading the paper and soaking up the sun. The little town of Thones is cute and has an amazing setting as it is nuzzled in between a range of mountains.

IMGP4075.JPGIMGP4080.JPGIMGP4085.JPG

By about 11:30 the caravan had started and car after car of advertisements starting coming down the road throwing everything from key-chains to cheese at the crowd… it was actually kind of exciting even though most of the stuff would end up as garbage as soon as you got home. After what seemed like a long time, all the advertisement cars had passed and the crowed kind of dispersed…. a Tour de France souvenir car came which of course I bought a goodie bag from, and not long after that, the sirens and helicopters could be heard, letting us know that the bikes were coming. There was quite a lot of build up and what not as they drew near… and exhilarating when they passed… but it was over in a flash. And just like that, I had “experienced” the Tour De France. Very cool.

IMGP4089.JPGIMGP4117.JPGIMGP4128.JPGIMGP4129.JPG
IMGP4130.JPGIMGP4131.JPGIMGP4132.JPGIMGP4135.JPG

We then spent the afternoon in a beautiful town called Annecy… Man, what a great year.

IMGP4156.JPGIMGP4164.JPG

Tags:

Yvoire, Evian, Chamonix, Mont Blanc… and of course, the Saturday Market!

July 14th, 2007

Wow…
IMGP3885.JPG

Boy oh boy… what a great last couple of days… the sun has come back with a FORCE and has made for an incredible couple of days… I guess I left off on Thursday so I’ll start on Friday.

Friday, I started my day by going to the Permanent Mission of Canada in Geneva to get my passport renewed… hopefully all goes well and I’ll be able to get it done. On the way back to headquarters after handing in my application, I ended up stopping by the United Nations and visiting the big broken chair monument outside… I’ll have to actually take a tour of the United Nations building one of these days. I made my way back to work with my driver who I actually got a picture with this time around… hehe. We have now classified him as my Switzerland Boyfriend 😉

IMGP3747.JPGIMGP3760.JPGImgp3777.jpg

After work on Friday, my Aunt and I went on a mission for John (the one I traveled around the world with). Last time we were in Switzerland, It was pouring rain and Evian had turned off their fountain where you could get free Evian water… so I promised to go back and get a picture actually getting free water from the rock outside the Evian fountain. Mission Accomplished… and I even had time to check out a neat little historical town called Yvoire on the way to Evian. It was quite a nice enjoyable evening and my aunt and I enjoyed a nice dinner watching the sun set over the lake.

IMGP3787.JPGIMGP3800.JPGIMGP3812.JPGIMGP3827.JPG

Today, today was awesome. First of all, I got to sleep in 🙂 . Then, of course, being Saturday, it was time for the daily visit to the market. BOY oh boy, you should see the loot today. To continue in the tradition of taking a picture of my Saturday market gets, I have posted it here… man, I can’t believe how much of a loser I am… haha.

IMGP4072.JPG

After picking up the plethora of fruits, my aunt and I went to a town called Chamonix, which lies right near the base of Mont Blanc. DAAAMN…. I mean, today was a perfect day. The sun was out, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky… and man, the scenery here… wow… that’s all I can really say. I wish I could say that I actually climbed the mountain but that would just be crazy… I took the little cable car thing up.. but perhaps one day I will try to climb it. I really can’t say much but here are some pics:

IMGP3986.JPGIMGP3997.JPGIMGP4037.JPGIMGP4051.JPGIMGP3951.JPGIMGP3965.JPGIMGP3885.JPG

Tomorrow, we hope to be able to catch some of the Tour de France which is passing nearby!

Tags:

Oops, Day After Hump Day 5

July 12th, 2007

Ooops, I meant to write every Wednesday but I forgot to yesterday… nothing much to report as usual. The sun FINALLY came out today… it was a beautiful sunny day all day and it’s supposed to be nice all weekend!

Ummmmmmmmm…. oh, I’m not the biggest fan of the cheese but I’m managing. I’ve now also developed an addiction to chocolate so there goes the weight loss plan.

Other than that, nothing to report. My aunt and I are planning to go explore this weekend. Hoping to get up to Mont Blanc and Evian or something like that. I’ll for sure have more to report for this weekend… unless it rains… but I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a good weekend. Hope all is well with everyone!

Tags:

Brrrr…. and I Thought I’d Get A Tan Here….

July 10th, 2007

Wow, it feels like it’s fall here. There’s kind of a crisp mountain air blowing down from the mountains or something… I hope it clears up at least for a bit so I can go enjoy the sun once in a while. Rumor has it that the Fete de Geneve is starting soon, which is supposed to be a great time so I hope the sun comes out.

Anyway, I just wanted to report on a highway robbery here…. I want to get my passport renewed because I don’t have any blank pages left in it… so, I have started through the process of applying from overseas. There’s nothing really hard to do but there are little finicky things that just make urked about the whole thing.
1. The application has to be printed on 8.5 X 11 paper… well, for those of you who don’t know, the paper of choice here is A4, which is skinnier than the paper we like in Canada.. so finding a printer to fill out the form was pretty much impossible. If it wasn’t for my Aunt making a trip to Canada last week, I don’t know where I would have printed it.
2. Passport photos. For us Canadians, there is a certain format of photo that must be taken and it must include the photographer’s name and all that stuff…. There are only a few places here that do the Canadian passport photo so you know what that means? Yeah, they JACKED the price. For 4 passport photos, I had to pay 40 CHF… that’s almost equivalent to $40!! Now, if I new this ahead of time, I probably would have reconsidered it but I didn’t even think about it… so when I went to pick up the pictures it really blew me away… not to mention it took more than a day to do!!

That’s about all that really bugs me about the whole passport application process… hopefully the rest of it goes smooth. Who knows, maybe with a new passport I’ll just head home the long way around… (perhaps through South America? hehe). Not that I have any money to do that.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’m going to go think warm thoughts.

Tags: