A few more updates

Hello all!  I've made a few updates recently!

My upcoming travel section on the right is updated.  You'll notice that it does not include a trip home yet.  I'm still working to get those flights confirmed with work!
I've created a Swiss Bucket List.
I re-vamped my Travel Log to go by place, rather than chronologically.
I'm also on Good Reads now.. come and find me!

Other things I've noticed

Hello all!  I'm blogging from the train on my way to Yverdon for work.  The train ride is only 42 minutes, and I've heard that the hotel I'm staying it is really nice, so I'm looking forward to reaching my destination!  In the meantime, here are some other tidbits from my first couple of months in Geneva:

1.  After my half marathon on Sunday, I was speaking with my friend Katie.  I was mentioning how this is now the FOURTH half marathon that I have done without adequate training, and it made me think – why can’t I stick with a training plan?  I always sign up for these races with grand plans of sticking with a training plan and seeing how I will fare, but inevitably, something happens and I fall of the wagon (if I ever get on it in the first place). Katie and I were talking about how I don’t lack self-discipline (refer to the vegetarian years and the gold star calendar of 2012), but somehow, it really doesn’t translate to training for races.  So I am going to try – really try- to commit to a training plan for the Geneva half marathon in May.  You heard it here first.

2.  This is my first time in years that I’ve had to cook meals for myself.  Even when I was living in Nashville, I probably didn’t cook at home as much as I should have.  And to be honest, I threw together a lot of salads and such that didn’t require much effort.  Here in Geneva, I think I’ve actually missed cooking so much that I’m almost overcompensating.  Plus, it’s getting cold out, so salad is not really what I want to eat for dinner.  Last week, I made carrot soup, pasta with butternut squash, leeks, and bacon (a la How Sweet Eats), homemade applesauce, spaghetti squash with tomatoes, feta, and olives, and two batches of stewed fresh figs.  And now, I have tons of leftovers.  But I don’t want any of them (except the applesauce, of which I just made another batch).  And the only thing on the list above that is suitable for freezing is the soup – which I devoured, because carrot soup is my favorite!  So I need to figure this out.  I feel guilty spending money on food when I have perfectly good food at home, but it is sucks to eat a meal that you are tired of eating.  (I realize that there are way too many people who face food insecurity and think that this is a ridiculous problem that I have.)  Anyway, I’m open to suggestions on how to remedy this situation.

3.  Apparently, we here in Europe have Daylight Savings Time before those in America.  I still don’t understand why we can’t all just agree on this concept!  (In Singapore, we didn’t have DST at all, so sometimes we were 12 hours ahead of EST, and sometimes we were 13 hours ahead!)

4.  Feta cheese goes with everything.

5.  It is so much easier to keep up with sports from Switzerland than from Singapore.  Honestly, it's a really great change!!

6.  The expat network here (at least the one I've gotten plugged into) has SO many more Americans than in Singapore.  And unlike Singapore, I haven't come across very many English people at all!

7.  My French classes are going alright.  I feel like I'm keeping up well while I'm sitting in the class, but then when I go out into the world and hear people speaking at a normal pace, it is super tough.  Also, it is very strange to have homework to do.

My first Swiss race

Bonjour everyone! How are things?  I know that I've been slacking on the blog posts lately.  I suppose that I've been either busy or just not really feeling like blogging?

Last week was fairly uneventful for me.  Aside from regular work stuff, the most notable thing that happened was that I had a coaching lunch where my coach (another American expat) encouraged me to do some soul searching to figure out what path I want to put myself on when my two years is up.  This was a semi-stressful conversation to have.. not only do I feel like I have only just arrived in Geneva, but I also have no clue what path I want to follow in 2016!  I know that in a way, he is totally right, I do need to think about things like that, but honestly, I just don't want to!

On to happier topics...

The weather has been really pleasant lately!  We hit a cold snap last week that made me definitely think that I do not have warm enough clothes, but then things turned for the warmer, and though it has been chilly in the mornings, the afternoons have been really pleasant.

Sunrise view from my apartment balcony

I bought a BuyClub (similar to a Groupon) for a yoga studio that was highly recommended by a friend.  I went to my first class there last Thursday  night (after grocery shopping of course!), and I loved it!!  My schedule this week is a bit nuts, so I don't know if I will make it back to another class this week, but I have already penciled in a class next week.  I am so excited to get back into a yoga studio!!

Friday night, my friend Lauren had some people over for fondue.  This was my first time ever having homemade fondue, and it was awesome!  Way more delicious than any fondue I had ever had before.  We ate it with bread and boiled potatoes, with some cured meats and pickles on the side.  A super fun evening, but in typical Swiss fashion, her neighbors were banging on the pipes to tell us to be quiet shortly after midnight :(

Mmm cheese...

Yesterday, I ran the Lausanne Half Marathon!  I had signed up for this race ages ago, thinking that it would motivate me to do some serious running when I moved here.  Unfortunately, that didn't really go according to plan, but since I was already signed up, I didn't want to bail on the race!  I took the train over to Lausanne (about 45 minutes away), picked up my bib, and then enjoyed the sunshine until it was race time!  The half marathon didn't start until 1:45pm, and my corral didn't actually start until about 2pm, so it was nice to run in the warm sunshine!  The course was beautiful, going along the lake, the Lavaux wine region, and through some cute cobblestone streets.

View from the train.. blue skies!!

Lovely Lausanne

And we're off!!

There were loads of spectators, as the course took us by people's homes, along the river, and through villages.

The Lavaux vineyards are actually a UNESCO World Heritage site!

As for the race itself, it wasn't my best!  I think that the longest I've run since moving to Geneva is 3.5 miles, so to say that I wasn't well prepared is definitely an understatement.  And of course, I felt it on the course.  After the first 10K or so, I had to take walk breaks fairly often, but I was in good spirits mentally, and I finished the race in 2:29!  Not bad for zero training haha.

This week is a bit hectic for me.  Tonight I have French class, tomorrow night we are welcoming a new expat by going out for burgers, Wednesday night I am travelling to Yverdon to teach a training there on Thursday, and then Friday, I leave for Munich!!  I am so excited to see Stephanie!  Have a good week my friends!

One day, three countries

Bonjour friends.  It is a beautiful weekend here in Geneva! The temperatures have gone back up for the weekend, and the sun is shining.  I've been over to the market this morning to pick up a few items, and I'll be heading out for a run in a little bit to continue enjoying this beautiful weather!

Things I thought I'd never say: yesterday, I took a day trip with some friends to do some shopping in Milan, Italy.  We left Geneva in the morning and drove over to an outlet mall in Italy that has a Salomon store so that we could pick up some stuff for ski season.  The drive is just a few hours, and there are incredible views of the Mont Blanc along the way!

Snow on the mountain top already!

I was pretty impressed with the outlet mall.  It seemed a lot like a regular American outlet mall, and it was nice to be able to pick up some things for reasonable prices!  After a fairly successful day of shopping, it was time to head back.  We stopped off in Chamonix, France, which is a nearby ski town, for a quick dinner at one of Courtney and Melanie's favorite spots.  A great Saturday in three different countries!

We're here!

This just makes me laugh

Things I've noticed so far

1.  People always say "bon appetit!" before eating.  Like, even in the cafeteria at work with your colleagues.

2.  Speaking of the work cafeteria - this is BY FAR the best work cafeteria I have ever eaten in.  It is also the most expensive, but today I had fresh pasta with clams for lunch in the work cafeteria.  I mean, that is a huge change from the economy rice I ate every day in Singapore.

3.  The transition at work has been less smooth than I expected.  Not to say that it's been bumpy, just less smooth.

4.  Spending ten minutes waiting for the bus without sweating is completely tolerable.

5.  I still have not figured out how to manage the food shopping situation.  Grocery stores are closed on Sundays (though I live near a Sunday farmer's market), and they close around 6:30 pm most days during the week.  On Thursdays, they are open til about 7:30 or 8 pm.  I try not to buy too much stuff at once because things spoil more quickly here (no GMOs!), but it's a tough balance between having enough food, but not having too much that it goes to waste!  Tonight for dinner I ate 2 roasted carrots, a pile of sauteed spinach, and a strawberry yogurt.  Not exactly a normal meal.

6.  I do not remember as much French as I wish.

7.  Public transport here is awesome. Maybe even better than in Singapore?  I feel like the buses come a bit more often here than they did in Singapore, but I suppose that time goes by much slower when you're uncomfortable in the heat.

8.  I took my first group exercise class tonight.  It was all in French.  I just tried to watch carefully, but I obviously couldn't follow any of the cues.

9.  Out of all the co-workers that I've really interacted with so far, I think only one of them is actually Swiss!  The rest are from the US, Russia, Belgium, France, and Italy.

10.  I am very unfashionable compared to the other people I see in Geneva.

Reconnected

Bonjour all!  Sorry for the long silence, but it has been a bit of a busy time, and I haven't had a ton of connectivity during this time of transition.  Since my last post, I have:

- spent the weekend in London
- moved into my new apartment
- hosted my first visitor
- had my first French class in years
- finally gotten a Swiss cellphone number
- been to Ikea numerous times

When I moved into my new apartment, I had a really tough time getting my wifi hooked up, so thus, the long silence!  But finally, this past week, a kind repairman from Swisscom came to my apartment and helped get me hooked up.. hooray!!  Along with my Swiss cellphone number, I feel like I have reconnected with the world, so that has been a big help in feeling settled in here!

It's hard to believe that I've already been here a month.  Time flies!

Backing up... a couple of weekends ago, I headed over to London to meet up with my dear friend Mallory!  She and I hadn't seen each other since summer of 2012, so it was a LONG overdue reunion.

I love London!

The first stop on Saturday morning was, as always, Borough Market.  I just love this place so much.  So many delicious nibbles to be had!!

Green juice!

Grilled corn on the cob.. yummmm

 

My favorite coffee shop in London.  Sadly, the almond croissants were all sold out by the time I arrived :(

After a massive catch up session in the afternoon, we all headed back to our respective lodgings to get ready for a night out to celebrate Mallory & Keith's engagement!

Group dinner

 

Drinks!

 

Love these girls

 
It was such a fun night, and I was so happy to see Mallory and chat with her.  Since she lives in Bermuda now, it has been ages since we have been able to hang out together, but it was so great to pick up right where we left off!

The next day, there was an NFL game being played in London, so we wandered over towards Regent Street to see if anything was going on.

Picked up one of these on the way.. is this in the US yet?  I was underwhelmed.

Seahawks fan sighting!!

Of course, we grabbed some Chipotle for lunch!

Regent Street!

When we got to Regent Street,  I was excited by all the fun NFL banners, but other than that, there didn't really seem to be anything special going on.  Apparently, it all took place on Saturday?  In hindsight, I suppose it makes sense since most fans were probably over by Wembley on Sunday, but that thought didn't really occur to me while I was there!

I ended the weekend just relaxing in the park.  A beautiful day!

After I got back from London, I was able to move into my new apartment!!  I took some pre-move pictures for you guys.

Dining/living room

Kitchen

Bedroom

Bathroom.. Euro style

So, as you may be able to tell, this place is WAY bigger than the place I had in Singapore!  And it comes with an oven and a dishwasher!!  One thing that it did not come with - a shower curtain rod.  As you can tell from the picture above, my tub is kind of in the corner, so there aren't two walls that I can put a suspension rod up in between.  I am still working on a solution for this argh.

When I was researching apartments, I was warned that many Swiss apartments do not come with things that Americans are accustomed to - kitchen appliances, lighting fixtures, etc.  I had heard some nightmare stories about people purchasing a stovetop and trying to hire an electrician to help hook it up etc, so I was quite happy to buy some items from the previous tenant (including the furniture in the first picture) since it was all already set up inside the apartment!

One of the bigger items that I purchased from the previous tenant is the washing machine.  On moving day, I opened it up, and was totally puzzled by the way it looked inside!!

Even more puzzling to me was the lid.  I couldn't tell (and still don't know) where you are supposed to put the detergent?  So now, I just use the little pods haha.

As always, moving into a new place involves lots of Ikea trips.  It is a bit more difficult here because nothing is in English!!  Also, I take the bus to and from Ikea, so there is only so much that I can carry on each trip!  Thankfully, there is ice cream.

Other random happenings over the past two weeks have included some restaurant exploration, more city exploration, and a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner at an (American) friend's house last night.

Red curry chicken at Feuille de Banane

Beer and burger at The Hamburger Foundation

A tasty Swiss rose

Street parade

 

Gobble gobble!

There were only two Canadians at this party haha

And now, it is Sunday afternoon.  I got up this morning and went to the gym and the farmer's market, but since then, I've been pretty lazy around the house, which has suited me just fine!  I'm off to enjoy the rest of my weekend, but hopefully I will check back in soon!  A bientot!