Cows, Castles, and Ice Cream

So, sorry I haven't updated in a while, things have been blissfully busy. Rachel and I did a lot of traveling around and had a few good adventures:) Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a boatload of them because I don't really feel like typing all that much. Enjoy!

Actually, I'll split this up into 3 or 4 sections/adventures. The first one is our day in Geneva visiting the United Nations and the Red Cross Museum which are right across from each other.  On our way there, we stopped at this magnificent park that was facing Lake Geneva and ate lunch and talked about Harry Potter. Both of us were tearing up by the time we were ready to leave, which was really funny. I love Harry Potter! The park was actually owned by one of the original founders of the Red Cross, which was really cool! The UN in geneva is wonderful because one of their main focuses is humanitarian aid, which is what I would love to have a career in. Here are the UN pictures!

This is right outside the UN.

This statue of one of my heroes is on the way to the UN. Bless Ghandi.



So in the UN building, countries from all over the world have donated beautiful pieces of art representing their countries and I took pictures of my favorite ones. I think this was donated from Burma or somewhere like that.



I love this picture. I think Ecuador or Peru donated it to the UN.

Obviously Italy donated this beautiful painting.

A view of one of the courtyards.

This is a mural hanging up in a hallway that faces a large window that looks out into the courtyard. In the courtyard there is a memorial dedicated to Woodrow Wilson, another one of my heroes. This sister mural was painted by a french artist and it depicts war. The sister mural hanging next to it is a depiction of peace, but i didn't get a picture of it!

This is a set of doors that I thought were beautiful. They are of Adam and Eve, but they aren't really used anymore. I forgot why, but there was a couch in front of them.

The UN emblem hanging up in one of the Conference Rooms.

Nametags of countries in the same conference room. It was amazing.

Ok, now I'm going to talk about our visit to the Chateau de Chillon. It is this ginormous castle that is literally on the shores of Lake Geneva (on some parts it's kinda built on top of it), and it was the perfect mixture of creepy, educational, and lovely. It is found in the beautiful town of Montreux, which is a town that was basically built on a hill, really cool. Lord Byron wrote a poem called The Prisoner of Chillon, which talks about a prisoner who was locked up in the dungeons of the castle and could only hear the waves beating against the edifice and see the sunlight reflected off the waters of the lake through the window. Oh my gosh. Amazing. We actually saw in the dungeon a pillar where Byron carved his name into the stone. AHHHH! It was really cool. Pictures!

Le Chateau.

This is the prison part of the castle. It was on one of those pillars that Lord Byron carved his name.

See how close the lake was! This was an escape exit for the king or whoever owned the castle. There are mentions of this chateau as far back as 1100 AD.  

This is the dining hall.

These crests were painted on the walls, probably showing the different families that owned the castle.

A pretty window with something french written on it.

An ancient toilet. I thought my dad would especially appreciate this picture:)

Another view of the chateau.

This kind of shows how Montreux was built on a hill.

This is a highway right next to the castle, also built on a hill. It was beautiful there!

Ok this is the adventure that I'm most excited about! We went with the familyIi'm staying with to this  little festival called Des Alpes and they have them all over Switzerland. Basically, it's this celebration to bring hthe cows from the mountainous pastures in the Summer back home to the towns. They're really fun and a ton of people from all over Europe go to see these festivals. The pictures will explain better just how interesting it was:)

Oh, ok really quick, I had to take a picture of this because it was the most random thing in the world. At first I couldn't even tell it was a fake baby, but then i looked closer and realized that it was a doll. Why on earth someone thought this was necessary, I have no idea, but there you have it. I was totally creeped out.

As part of the Des Alpes festival, they dress up all the cows with flowers and it's really cool looking.

A lot of the cow herders will get dressed up too.

This is Tyler, one of the children I look after. He's the cutest kid in the world. And he loves cheese.

We had to be really careful where we stepped, as you can imagine. You cannot imagine the smell though. Actually, for the most part it wasn't too bad, but we really did have to tread carefully:)

This is Anna and Mariah, they are also wonderful:)

An artfully costumed cow herder. I appreciate him.

This guy is just a local shop keeper in St. Cergue (the town that hosted the festival) and he was the hero of the day because he gave drinks of orange juice and white wine to the passing cow herders, who deeply appreciated it:)

Another cow.

A pretty cow named Sandra. A lot of the cows had huge bells with nametags around their necks, it was cute:)

This one says "For my 45 years" in french.

I love this picture. I think they were also cow herders.

I need more cow bell. Haha, these are the bell ringers, they have these huge cow bells that are supposed to go around the cow's necks, and they're playing them like instruments. It was really fun to see!

Very Swiss. I even heard some yodelers Aimee!  Sorry I didn't get a picture of that! 

The last thing I'll report on is also wonderful. Rachel and I went across the ferry to Yvoire, France and found the most amazing ice cream shop of all time. It was so good, we decided to make it our goal to get ice cream in every city we visited. That didn't end up happening (almost though), but nothing quite compared to our ice cream shop in France. We even made a special trip across the ferry again on one of the last days Rachel was here just to pick some up.  Yeah, we're awesome. We also got to visit some wonderful patisseries and boulangeries (bread and pastry shops) and even a crepe shop. Life was wonderful. Here are a few pictures of this beautiful town.

This is a view from the ferry.

This is a really pretty manor right outside the town.

Yvoire is a really old town, and this is a ruin encompassing the village. I want to go back, but a lot of the shops close at the beginning of October, which is a bust.

This is the street where we found the ice cream shop. I took this on our second visit, and as you can see, we're making a bee line for it!

Pretty floral decorations, which are very common all over the town.

Rachel made me take this picture because she thought this flower was incredibly beautiful, especially in her hand:)

Well, that should be enough for now. At least, that's all I'm willing to update at the moment. My back hurts from sitting here so long. Rachel left today, but she'll be back soon, so I don't feel sad:) It was a really good week!

VISITOR!!!!!!

I am so excited due to 2 things: It is a sunny, beautiful day, and I'm picking up my sister Rachel from the train station at 4:00 for her week long visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!

Rachel.

This one's for Myspace.

Interesting stuff, and stuff like that

Ok, normally I wouldn't post something like this, but I was by heckeled by Aimee and my mom threatened to put it in the Family Letter if I didn't blog about it. I suppose it is an amusing story though:)

So, let me preface this by saying that things like this NEVER happen to me, so that being the case I was completely caught off guard and unprepared in how to respond, which makes for an interesting tale. I was on my way to downtown Nyon to visit the lake again (I would be willing to build a shack and live out my retirement there:), and it was a completely gorgeous day with hardly anyone on the streets because it was a random Swiss holiday and most people were out vacationing or whatever. So anyways, I'm just loving life and smelling all the flowers I pass by, when I look over my shoulder and see a person riding a bike, and it's just us on the street. I smile in a reciprocal greeting (everyone says hi to each other here) and turn to smell a rose when out of my peripferals I see this person bike across the street and turn to head in my direction. I kind of get wierded out for a second, but whatever. It turns out to be this beautiful black man and he gets off his bike and starts talking to me, asking me how I am and stuff. Past that, I have no idea what he's saying because his french is rapid, so I tell him I don't speak much french, then he responds by asking if I speak spanish. I do, so I tell him so, and he starts babbling away in spanish and asking me what I'm doing here and where I live and where I'm from. I respond politely and ask him where he's from and how he knows spanish. He grew up in Paris and his mother is Cuban, so that's cool. Then he asks me if I want to go into Geneva this weekend to have drinks with him, and I tell him I'm busy this weekend (lie). He asks me about tonight and I tell him I have other plans (lie). He asks me about next weekend and I respond that I also can't because I'm busy (half lie), so he says that we can do something after that. Then he asks if I have a cell phone and I say no (yet another lie) but that he could email me. He doesn't like that answer, so he asks if the people I'm staying with have a home phone, and I say no (last lie, I promise). So instead he writes down his number and gives it to me while saying "When you are ready, give me a call." He was really attractive. To top the whole story off though, was the fact that I was wearing the ugliest pair of bulky, unattractive running shoes (Elisabeth, you know the ones), jeans and a t-shirt and my hair wasn't even cute. In short, not the best looking day by far, but of course that is the course of my life. It was an experience, let me tell you. Still, when a really good looking Parisian black man who's part Cuban hits on you, there's no way your ego doesn't inflate a little. I promise it will be back to its normal size when I come home though:)
On a more pleasant note, here are some more beautiful pictures!

This is in the garden right below the castle.

Also in the castle garden. There are a lot of grape vines and flowers. That pretty much sums up Switzerland:)

In all the places that there was nothing planted, there were wild flowers. I love it when people let wildflowers grow!

 One more thing. I don't think I've talked enough about the immaculate food here. Let me give you an example. Roberta, the mother of the family I'm staying with, recently had a baby, so the ward got together to bring meals over (not unexpected or out of the ordinary). What was out of the ordinary, though, was the quality of those meals. Let me tell you, they were AMAZING. The first sunday here the lady who was supposed to provide the meal completely forgot about it, so she ran home and whipped up a casserole. I know you're thinking 'oh, that's kinda not anything to be excited about'. Permit me to correct you. It was the best, most delicious casserole I've ever had, full of frest vegetables and delectable chicken (they were probably begging to be chopped up just so they could be thrown into this meal) all covered in a sauce that was just the perfect mixture of creamy and brothy. To. Die. For.  While back home we think it's a good idea to throw some pastaroni in a can of cream of mushroom soup and call it edible. Come on America, shape up! Thank goodness my mother had the good sense to not really experiment with casseroles too much when I was growing up, therefore I wasn't forced to eat some of the nastier stuff that's out there. Besides that, almost  every meal that was delivered came complete with artisian bread, fresh fruit/vegetables of some kind, and a dessert of unbounding possibilities. One night we even had authentic African food. Ok, I'm finished:)

So sorry I haven't updated in a while, things have been super busy around here. Last week was kind of a struggle because I was tired and the kids were having a rough week, but thankfully that passed and things are better again:) I still haven't really met any friends yet, but the ward I'm going to is really great and everyone is super nice. I already have a calling and I don't even think my records are there yet. I am a primary teacher, and I'm really excited about that! I met this woman who works for the UN and WOW, and she's basically awesome, so I want to start volunteering with her or something because she is doing so many great things for Women's rights all over the world. I'm uber jazzed about Rachel coming next week to stay with me! It will be nice to have someone to travel around with. I plan on taking her to the institute, which will be a first for the both of us. This truely is a beautiful country, and I love being able to explore it. The town of Nyon is quaint and well kept, and the more I get to explore it, the more I fall in love with it. I have gone down to the lake almost 3 times a week just to sit there and eat my lunch and write stuff and appreciate peace:) Yesterday there were some street musicians playing close to me and they were really good. One was playing the guitar and the other was on the accordian, they both had dreds and their sound almost reminded me of Gogol Bordello. I gave them 2 franks, because I read once that you should always reward street musicians. All in all it was a beautiful day and the lake was beautiful, and since it was balmy, there were waves that almost reminded me of the ocean.  I am so very lucky!  Here are some pictures:


This is the ferry that goes across the lake to France.



This is one of my charges, the oldest named Anna. She's cute, isn't she:)



So this is super wierd. This is the parking lot in our church building, and as you can see, the parking spaces are covered in grass. Below is a better picture.

Yeah, that's right. The swiss park on the grass. And this isn't the only place I've seen this. It's really pretty, but I bet the upkeep is a beast. I wish I had an explaination for this, but I don't. It's funny though:)

So that's about all for now, but I'll try and be better at posting in the future! Peace and blessings.

Loooooooook at what I found!

Here are some pictures of my wanderings so far! 

They have these really beautiful water fountains all over the city, and you can just cup your hand and drink right out of the fawcette. The water is wonderful!

This was taken today only 1/2 a mile from where I'm living, which is funny because we live in a townhouse right in the middle of suburbia.

Here's a really pretty house. They are all about decorating with flowers here, (almost to the point of snootiness) and I applaud that.

Here in Switzerland they recycle their bathroom equipment into planters:) America, take note.

Really pretty apple orachard right next to the random corn field and highway.

This road is right next to the immaculate house and the apple orchard:) I wanted to go further past the gate, but then some crotchety man came and locked it. I bite my thumb at him.

Pretty view from the road.

Another pretty view.

This is the castle I found earlier this week. It looks right out over Lake Geneva, and on the opposite shore is France:)

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Here is one of the views from the castle.

I walked through a garden path right down to the lake shore. You can see France from this view! All you have to do is buy a ferry ticket and you can sail right over there! Mabye I'll do that next week.

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Look how pretty the water is!

This bench is right next to the dock. I sat here and wrote a poem, it was heavenly. Except for the gang of tween boys that came over and ate their lunch loudly next to me and completely threw off my groove. It's ok, I still mostly finished my poem:)

Here is another one of those public water fountains that is completely safe to drink out of.  

This is a house on the same street as where I'm living, I thought it was pretty:)

The Arrival and Such

Ok, the baby is sleeping and the kids are at a playdate; I finally have time to update this:) I arrived in Switzerland almost exactly 1 day after leaving California. That was precisely 4 movies, 3 hours of sleep, 2 nasty plane meals,  and 1 layover later. I spent about an hour and a half in France at the Charles de Gaulle airport. It seemed like a nice enough country. For example, right in the middle of the tarmac they had patches of wildflowers. I was half tempted to hop right off the tram that was taking me to the plane and pick a boquette of them, they were that beautiful! Let me tell you right now, there is nothing like that in the LA airport. That is the one great difference between Americans and the French.

When I arrived, right off the bat I was put to work helping the kids get ready for dinner. They were amazingly energetic and willing to like me, which was wonderful. Anna, the oldest at age 5, is fun and happy most of the time, but sometimes has an almost solemn and pensive attitute. Mariah is 3 and always happy and a bit of a princess:) She has this really funny habit of talking really loud for no reason. She also likes to blow on everyone's dinner plates, which isn't so funny. Tyler, age 1.5, is simply adorable. His favorite word to say is "happy". He can also say my name, and it's ridiculously cute:) Natasha is just over 2 weeks old and she is a very good baby. She mostly sleeps though. So far we all have had a lot of fun playing and making up stories. The older ones are letting me read Peter Pan to them, and they like it when I do voices for the characters. They are so loud and fun and energetic, and I am truely surprised at how much I like my job:) Not to toot my own horn, but I think I'm an awesome nanny, haha. We like to go to the park (there are 3 to choose from within walking distance), play red rover type games in the backyard, read and make up stories, draw pictures, watch Planet Earth, and they love when I give them piggy back rides. We also discovered the Silent Game to play during dinner, which has helped a lot!

Ok, one more thing and then I'll end this post, because it's already super long. The yogurt here is AMAZING. It's not like American yogurt. The consitiency is very different, more like the consistency of sour cream, but thicker and creamier almost. It's to die for. I haven't had any chocolate yet, but when I do, I'll be sure to say if it lives up to it's reuptation. Ok, so long for now!

P.S. I discovered a castle in town yesterday that overlooks Lake Geneva, and has an amazing garden walkway. I think it houses a Museum now. Life is good.

I'm here!

So, I made it to Switzerland. It was definitely an adventure, and man do I have some stories to tell, but it's late and I'm jetlagged, so I think that's all I'm going to say for now.

P.S. Can I just say how annoyingly hard it was to post this? My whole computer is in German for some reason, which doesn't even make sense because I am living in the French district. So I have been fiddling around with the settings completely bewildered because I know .01 % of the german language (pankuken, which means pancake) and have been pressing links that completely sabotaged all my efforts.  Annoyed. The end.