On Friday, I went to the cantonal office of Geneva in Onex (a suburb of Geneva) to file and finish my paperwork to be registered as an official Swiss resident. I took the train in the morning with Daniel and then had to take the Tram to another stop, get off there and catch a bus to go to the office. I got a little lost, walked the wrong direction on the street and got myself somewhat turned around, but by 9:30 I had made it to the bureau and got my ticket for service. I then had to wait about an hour to be called upon. When I finally was called upon I handed over my papers, finished filling out one section and paid 190sfr to be registered. But the good news now is that I am official and am allowed to stay here for a year. :D Then I got back on a bus headed for the city center. Unfortunately, that is when my troubles started. I got off the bus and somehow was so turned around that I ended up somewhere unknown to me and unable to locate on the pathetic map I had. I did find a Starbucks though! And for the first time since my arrival had what I consider a real coffee (none of that out of a machine crap! jk)
Yay for a familiar face! :D
After the Starbucks I tried getting on a tram headed to the Rue de Marché where I had been told all the good shops were and there was lots to see and feel but somehow ended up even more lost and confused. I made it back to the train station eventually and decided that while I knew where the hell I was that I should get out of there. So that's what I did. I was also starting to get a headache at the time, so it was a good idea to return to the house and rest until I had to pickup the kids at 4. Friday evening was a tough one. I picked up Ben & one of his classmates who was going to spend the afternoon with us, and then drove to Gland (about 15 minutes away) to get Kiki. The car ride was not my favorite. Hair pulling, blaming, thinking one got more cookies than the other... your typical 4/5 year olds acting out. We finally got back to the house and they went nuts. It was the first time I really felt somewhat out of control. And with the headache I was battling it was a rough night. By the time Daniel & Solveig came home I was ecstatic. I took a long bath, had a glass of red and went to bed.
Yesterday, the whole family went to Nyon together to do a little shopping at Migros (a giant supermarket that also owns: a bank, a school, a gym, restaurants, etc. - but get this - is not-for-profit), I bought shampoo, nail polish remover and a red bull, and then went for a bite to eat (at McDonalds.... seriously yuk! Actually, it's not nearly as bad as it is in the states... it was a timing issue more than anything). Then we went back to the house to drop off some things and Daniel, the two boys & myself drove to Geneva. I had decided that I wanted to go out to a movie on my own last night since they had a business dinner at the house, so I hitched a ride with Daniel to la Rue de Marché and got out and wandered around Geneva again. I spent most of the day walking between the Rue de Marché and the Gare Coravin (train station). I walked on the Pont du Mont Blanc (the Mont Blanc Bridge) and up and down the rue de Marché. I did a little shopping... bought some new socks (how exciting!) and a scarf (which was fun, and like 75% off! yay!) and then I went into a bookstore called Fnac where I found the English section and bought a book by one of my favorite authors - Bill Bryson. I spent a surprising amount of money yesterday. But I so rarely do that, that it seemed ok. My movie was at 6:30 (18:30, sorry I got to get used to using military time) and I had been in Geneva since 14:00 so I just kept wondering. I went to this exhibit that was on a little island in the middle of the river that was "entree libre" (free, so I went!) It turned out it was an exhibit about the human genome. While the exhibit was in French they had a guide in english so I grabbed that and walked though, looking at live animation of DNA replicating itself and these little displays of pivotal moments in genome history. (You can see photos of the exhibit here: http://www.unige.ch/450/expositions/genome/presentation/genome-photos.html) The website is all in French, so unless you're really good at translating, the photos are the best way to see it).
After the exhibit I still had an hour & half to kill so I walked back towards the station (which is also where my movie was) and went into a bar and had a martini called "fire dragon" (I remember it having absolut citron or mandarin, contreau and some cranberry juice (I think)... I sat and read my new book and drank my cocktail while waiting for the movie. Then I went and got some popcorn and a Pepsi Light (diet) and some sour candy. :D It's definitely my guilty pleasure... I went to see a movie called "I Love You, Phillip Morris" (in English with French & German subtitles). It hasn't come out in the states yet because (according to the reviews I saw & http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1045772/) of the homosexual nature (it had trouble finding distribution. The premis is actually a true story. Jim Carrey stars as a man who was "living a lie" married to a woman and had a kid but actually was gay and after a major car accident he decides to be true to himself so he moves to Florida where he starts to live the high life until he realizes in his words "being gay is expensive" so he becomes a conman. Once he gets caught, he goes to prison and meets Ewan McGregor's character (Phillip Morris). The majority of the movie follows how he (Jim Carrey) cons his way into becoming a CFO, pretends to be a lawyer, etc. It's a great movie, a little crude and definitely "R" rated (that is in the states, here it's 14...) But, I highly recommend it. If you liked "Catch Me If You Can" you'd like this one.
The movie got out at 8:15 and I rushed across the street to the station to buy my train ticket, then ran and just barely made the 8:21 train for Coppet. Then I hopped on the bus for Céligny and was home by 9. I spent the rest of the evening watching some tv and talking on Skype. It was a busy day. I was scared, but I'm really proud of myself for going out and doing it. I took a few pictures with my iphone (below) and tested my ability to communicate.
I look forward to doing more of this in the future. It really was the first time I had ever gone out, totally alone and functioned well... :D
I miss Seattle, but know that when I return, no matter what it is I end up doing I'll be a wiser, more adept person because of my self determination not to be sad & lonely.
Love to all of you.
Taken Friday while terribly lost in Geneva... don't ask me where the heck I was, just know that this is one of the sights I saw... the Rhône
On Saturday, some sort of protest was going on and they had put out this display of ice sculptures... I thought it was pretty interesting, even though I had no idea the reasoning behind it.
Me, on the Pont du Mont-Blanc (Most of the buildings behind me have large signs: Rolex, UBS, Credit-Suisse, Louis Vitton, etc.)
On the Mont-Blanc Bridge looking out over the lake.
Inside the bar I went to while waiting for the movie on Saturday.
This was Friday, when it was snowing like crazy it is some park, but again, I was lost beyond all recognition so I have no idea where exactly it is.
Also taken Friday, on some random bridge crossing the Rhône (no idea which one exactly...)
LOL! I love your place descriptions! :)
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