Vive le suburbs

Some picts of skiing/snowshoeing and the little monster in my ski boots is Kellen (4years old this month)

I thought Paris was international, but Geneva is REALLY international. Chances are someone will be speaking with a perfect French accent, then turn around and speak to me in a perfect American or British accent. I met a teacher from Belgium at the playground the other day whose students spoke both fluent French and English. And I think I’m getting better at this nannying thing or maybe I’m just in a better situation. Probably a bit of both. Anyway, I made shadow puppets the other night and found that I wouldn’t want to spend my evening any other way. Sometimes I like to play with them, but sometimes I just would prefer the kids just watch TV, so that I don't have to expend any energy.

Other things I am pleased about: I can find cottege cheese here, I’m starting French lessons again, I got a library card, I am meeting tons of new people my age who like to go out and or be outdoors through Couchsurfing, another site called glocals, and through my class, I can be outdoors and in the mountains very quickly, The Larys are letting me use their car, the ski boots I rented for the winter are really comfortable, I now have a kitchen I can cook properly in, I can have clean and or hot water whenever I want, getting around is pretty easy, I am living in a 6 bedroom/4 bathroom house in the middle of Europe...

Things I'm not too pleased about: Everything is REALLY expensive, it is going to be difficult to find another job like I had hoped to do, feeling lonely sometimes and questioning my reasons for being here, really wanting to get experience doing other things, and constantly learning and re learning to be patient and not expect things to be just one way or the other...

I’m starting to realize that there are several layers to Geneva. When I first came, I just saw the side with lots of money and I thought there wasn’t much depth, but I’m finding that there are lots of young people here going to school, working for the UN, working for a bank, but who also love to do outdoor things and go to bars at night.

I realize that I’ve just been here for almost a month now (wow, the time has been going by really fast), but the more I stay, the more I feel pretty comfortable here. The Lary family has been really great also. The kids are pretty easy going care of compared to the last few places I’ve been. I’m having a great time just playing with them, though they definitely have more energy than I have and keep wanting to play long after I do.

I also realize about myself that I really need/unconsciously try to be in the middle of things whenever I go somewhere new because I really want to feel what those other people are going through. I also really want to just be apart of the place that I travel to. Anyway, a la prochaine fois...