Hong Kong Weekend

So I made an effort to get to know my new home away from home this weekend. 

I walked around town on Saturday, engaging in the official sport of Hong Kong--shopping. In SoHo, the up-and-coming trendy district where all of the expat bars and art galleries are, there are some great little boutiques. I happened on some sales and bought a really cute dress and skirt. It's really odd to hear that your total comes to 600 dollars, but then I remember that it's Hong Kong dollars, which have a 7 to 1 ratio with US dollars (so 600HKD is about 85USD). It's difficult to adjust the mind to such an odd ratio--how often does one divide something by 7? I'm using the calculator on my phone constantly just to reassure myself that I'm not spending my life savings, because even knowing that the ratio is broad it still seems crazy to for over $70 for a cab ride. I suppose it will just take some time to adjust. 

I'm liking urban living--taking cabs and the metro line everywhere. It makes me feel very cosmopolitan :) The pollution in this urban center, though, is extensive. Just walking around outside for an hour or more, I feel my eyes and throat stinging. The smell of stale cigarette smoke in most of the cabs isn't very pleasant either. I think the idea of breathing so much pollution would really bother me if I was going to live here for an extended period. 

Today, Sunday, I went into the Central district to find some authentic Chinese food. I'm not brave enough to venture into the shops where the menu is only in Chinese--the cleanliness of those, and the source of their ingredients, is questionable at best. But I found a place in the mid-levels (between Central and SoHo) that had it's menu in both Chinese and English, so I thought is was a good compromise. I ordered Tsing Tao, the pre-eminent Chinese beer (really light; a lot like a Heineken), and Kung Pao Chicken. It was phenomenally spicy, which I had missed out on in all those weeks in France, and completely delicious. I managed to use chopsticks for the entire meal, which I was excited about--the rice is tricky; I need more practice. I've heard that Hong Kong has the best Chinese food in all of China, so I want to make sure that I go out and try a lot because I'm pretty much eating the same things with the family as we ate in France, which is kind of sad. An additional note about food: I am so excited to be in a place with proper customer service! I got used to the complete lack of consideration for paying customers that is displayed in most of Europe, but the service industry here reminds me what a dining or shopping experience should be like. Here, unlike in France, waiters don't act like you're inconveniencing them by ordering food, it doesn't take 20 minutes to get a tea at Starbucks, and I can ask for a different size in something without eyes rolling. How nice. 

One of the many super-cool sky-scrapers:

Typical street in Central:

After lunch, I took the metro (blissfully easy to figure out, clean, and cheap) over to Kowloon to see the Wong Tai Sin Taoist Temple. It's in the middle of a bunch of run-down, high-rise apartment buildings, which seemed to me an odd place for a temple. To be honest, it looks a bit contrived--more like what a bad Hollywood movie placed in the China Town of an American city would produce. It looks like a characature of what I thought it should look like. But what do I know? Apparently, it's genuine. People go to pray to buddha, lighting big bunches of incense sticks that make the whole place smell fantastic. They cup the incense and bow forward over and over again, wishing for whatever is on their list, and then leave the incense in big pots on the alter. 

It's also the place to go to have your fortune told. In the main temple, you pick up a cup of bamboo sticks, kneel at the alter with a question in mind and then rock back and forth, praying, shaking the cup until a stick falls out. The stick has a number on it, which can then be given to one of the fortune tellers outside who will find the corresponding fortune paper and interpret it. I went to a women who read my palm and my face for an overall picture of my future, and also explained my fortune from the bamboo sticks. Of the sticks I asked, separately, whether or not law school would go well for me (number 55) and whether or not my time in Hong Kong would be enjoyed (number 11). She said that law school would be rocky at first, but that by January or February of next year it would smooth out. That makes sense I suppose--rocky in the first semester, smoothing out in the second. She said my time in Hong Kong will be well spent; that I will develop some good relationships. Reading my palm and my face, she first said that I am very independent, I like to make decisions on my own, I'm a bit stubborn, but (based on the depth of the center of my palm) I am deeply loving and caring with my friends and family. The plumpness of the sides of my palm indicate that I will make plenty of money (yay!), and apparently I should invest more in property than in the stock market. Until the age of about 28, money will be kind of easy-come-easy-go, I won't be very good at saving (accurate for the moment). But after 28 my career will become more steady, I will be better at building wealth, and the money will flow in. I should not get married until age 26 or later (certainly wasn't planning on that any sooner anyway). I can have 3 kids if I want to. After age 30, I can start my own business and prosper if I so choose, and it would be beneficial for me to take on a partner (this is so because my index and ring fingers are the same length). I should continue to move around, either within the US or abroad, because that will bring good fortune to my career. I will bring my husband good fortune, too, so he will apparently also make plenty of money, which the fortune teller told me I can spend (that's how she phrased it: "you can spend your husband's money" Awesome). Around 38 or 40, I can stop working as hard, maybe retire. My life line is long, though I will have some trouble around age 55. She said something about not driving by myself around that time, and that I need to have regular check-ups so that whatever problem is going to come will be dealt with and not get too big. Lucky years for me are those of the horse, the dog and the pig--my husband, my kids, my business partner should all be of these years, and I should undertake important decisions in these years. Bad luck for me are years of the snake and the monkey--but I try to avoid those anyway :) 

The Temple:

Funny random side-note:

On Friday we (me, Victoria, Henry and Alessio) got into the elevator along with a Chinese man. As are most of the older Chinese people, he was quite short. Henry, my infinitely curious 2 year old, asked Victoria "why is the man tiny?" She tried to ignore him, because he had spoken pretty softly, but he's endlessly tenacious so he asked 2 more times until Victoria clamped a hand over his mouth and hurried out of the elevator on our floor. We burst out laughing hysterically. We can only hope that the man didn't hear him...gotta love kids. 

An American in China

I can’t believe I’m in China!

I’ve been here for 4 days, and it’s still incredibly surreal to think that I’m in Hong Kong. This was so unexpected, but I’m so glad that I’m taking this opportunity. So far, my impression of Hong Kong is pretty good. I can’t say that I had a really good look at it when I was driven from the airport in Kowloon to our apartment on the opposite side of Hong Kong island—following the 15 hours or so that it took me to come from Geneva, my mind wasn’t really open to taking in the sights. What struck me most was the apartment buildings surrounding downtown—there are dozens and dozens of high-rise apartment buildings, in blocks of 5-8 completely identical buildings, which makes me think that development must have been very rapid here, with companies undertaking massive construction projects all over the city. The apartment buildings look incredibly run-down; the humidity here plays havoc with everything, making it all look kind of deteriorated and rotten, except for the places with enough money to refurbish every couple of years. From what I’ve been told, the local Hong Kong citizens prefer to spend their money on ridiculously expensive designer clothes and cars, and live in really cramped, kind of dirty housing. To each his own, I suppose.

My apartment complex is basically like a hotel. It is a series of 7 identical, 25 storey buildings in a circle around the common facilities—the pools (outdoor and indoor), gym, children’s playroom and tennis courts. I have a studio apartment, including a big comfy bed, sitting area, bathroom and kitchen, connected to the family’s 2 bedroom apartment. I have more space here than I did in the house in Geneva, plus housekeeping service, so I really can’t complain. Everything is incredibly convenient—the gym is just across the street, the supermarket (with a wonderful selection of American and British goods) is next door, and there is always a line of taxi’s waiting. I’m incredibly excited to have proper customer service again in restaurants and from staff here, as in Europe they always act like they are doing you a favor by selling you a product or serving you food. Really, everyone here has been incredibly friendly and helpful. We had a great cab driver yesterday—he spoke French, in fact, and informed us that he can say ‘I love you’ in 10 different languages. He taught me how to say ‘I love you,’ ‘thank you’ and ‘hello’ in Chinese.

On Sunday I went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art—I’ve decided to be super cultural and cool here in HK. They had some really nice exhibits; the one showcasing calligraphy over the centuries was amazing, and it made me wish that I knew Chinese characters so I would have some idea of what was written. I’ve been told that the SoHo district here has all of the really cool bars and restaurants, along with some great vintage shops. I’m hoping to check some of that out this weekend.

I think I’m going to really have to make an effort to meet people here. From what I can tell, most of the people in the complex are young married couples with small children—not exactly the friend set I’m looking for. I think I’ll look into some local classes—cooking or exercise or the like—to see if I can meet some people that way.

The kids have been as good as can be expected the last few days.  Alessio has had a lot of trouble adjusting  to the time change, I think. He keeps waking up during the night, then sleeping late and not taking his afternoon nap. He’s been a bit tired a grumpy. Henry started school on Monday. That was a bit more dramatic than I expected.  He was so cute, with his little backpack and lunchbox. I could tell Victoria was having a hard time letting him go. He’s generally willing to go to a play group or school, but I guess he’s feeling a bit disoriented so he threw a fit when we tried to leave. Victoria talked to him for about 20 minutes, he still cried when we left, and then he was apparently fine about 10 minutes after we were gone. Today was a national holiday, so there was no school, but we’ll see how it goes tomorrow. It’s odd, but both of the kids seem younger to me here than they did in Geneva. I think it’s because they are out of their comfort zone, so they strike me as more vulnerable.

We went to see the house that we will be moving into in mid-November. It is being completely re-done, so there was a lot of construction going on. I find it oddly funny to see the scaffolding made from bamboo. It’s a nice area, just about a 10 minute walk from Henry’s school. It’s built on 3 levels; a traditional townhouse. We looked at a house that is finished out in a way similar to ours, and from the looks of it the house will be really nice. I’ll only live there for about 3 weeks before I leave, but I always look to live in comfort J There is a pool and a playground just outside the house, so the kids should never fail to have entertainment. 

Part of the Hong Kong skyline:

This is the view from my current apartment:

The outside of the house we will move into in mid-November:

The Inside, first floor:

The view from the living room:

Oktoberfest!!!

I survived Oktoberfest!! You will all be happy to know, I’m sure, that I returned to Geneva safe and sound last Monday after a weekend of debauchery in Munich, where I celebrated the ## Oktoberfest beer festival. Truly, it was an adventure.

 

I and 4 other nannies rented a car, drove 6 hours from Geneva, through Switzerland, to Munich, where we camped in an old stadium with hundreds of other festival-goers for 2 nights. The drive wasn’t bad. I made sure that I was the one driving when we crossed into Germany so that I could experience the thrill of driving on a highway with no speed limit. To be honest, that was a little scary—the highway is very poorly lit, and while I was travelling quite fast there were others who sped past like I was standing still; I hope they were experienced enough not to kill themselves.

 

Anyway, we arrived at the campsite around 3am and settled down to get some sleep before waking up at 7:30 to go get in line with the rest of the alcoholics at one of the dozen or so “beer tents” set up on the fairgrounds. These beer tents are not actually tents; they are enormous barn-like halls with wall-to-wall picnic tables and (thank goodness) indoor plumbing. Because it was the first day of the festival, it was necessary to line up early to make sure that we managed to get into a tent and get a table. Despite that we were seated by 10:15, we did not actually get our first round of beers until about 12:30—first we had to observe the parade of beer-maidens, horses, traditional German bands and so on, all leading to the ceremonial tapping of the first keg. Only then did our waitress (“beer-wench” as one guy next to us put it) come bearing 10 liter-size glasses of Paulaner beer (Paulaner was the sponsor of our particular tent; a local brewer).  Seriously, I felt like a kid with a sippy cup because the huge, full glass was too heavy to support one-handed. The very nice foursome of British people who we had allowed to take the unused end of our table bought the first round, which was a nice bonus. After a hearty ‘Prost!” we all commenced drinking.

 

Looking around at the time, I couldn’t help thinking that the atmosphere of the place was truly wonderful—everyone was drinking, yes, but no one was being rude or obnoxious, everyone was so obviously there to have a good time. Every so often the band in the middle of the room would start a traditional song that all of the German people knew and the everyone in the tent would stand up and sing, pretending (in my case, at least) to have some idea what we were toasting/singing about. It was phenomenal. The afternoon was a little bit ruined when someone stole my purse with all of my money, but after a little time I philosophically decided that it was just money and not the end of the world, and I moved on. We were at the beer tent until about 8pm—a hearty 7+ hours of fun, not including the time waiting in line that morning. We left to get meter-long bratwursts at the food stands outside, and then somehow managed to get on the right subway to go back to the campsite. In the bar set up at the campsite (yes, there was a bar there too—just in case one needed to drink even more after leaving the fairgrounds), I was forced to dance—literally dragged from the table—by an Italian guy named Flavio. He and his friends were the worst dancers I have ever seen, but my girlfriends and I decided to just run with it and dance just as badly as they did. It was great fun, even though Flavio spoke no English and so could only say my name, which he yelled over and over again to no one in particular.

 

The next morning, none of us really felt like drinking anymore. We wandered around the fairgrounds a bit in the morning, and then went off to explore Munich a bit. Truly, it is a gorgeous city. My perception of German culture as utilitarian, harsh and to the point made me think that a German city would be kind of bland and stark, but Munich has so much romanticism, so many beautiful buildings. We started at the Glockenspiel, which is an amazing example of neo-gothic architecture—though I must say the world-renowned clock in it is a bit of a let-down. We happened to get information for a free bike-tour of Munich; and American guy founded the company 6 years ago, and he runs it, quite well apparently, just on tips from the participants. I’m so glad that we did the tour. Not only did I face my long-standing fear of riding a bike, but we got to see far more of Munich than we otherwise would have, and our tour-guide (the founder of the company) was great a telling history in an entertaining and fun way. We stopped half way through the tour at the Hoffenbrau beer garden—the second largest in Munich, and in the world, seating more than 9000 people, while the largest (also in Munich) seats 14.5 thousand. I know that on first thought, stopping for a (or several) beers in the middle of a bike tour sounds like a bad idea, but all’s well that ends well and no one was seriously injured. My friends and I all had a conservative half liter beer, so we were fine, if a little giggly, after that.

 

The bike tour ended, and so did our time in Munich. We hopped back in the car for the drive back to Geneva and all of us safely, if exhaustedly, made it to work the next morning. And that was my Oktoberfest experience. Here it is in pictures:

These are the "Beer Tents" on the Fairgrounds:

Hofbrau Haus is the oldest, and most famous, brewer in Munich

Here we are waiting in line at 8:30am to get into the beer tent:

First Round:

We all thought this was just about the funniest thing we've ever seen:

Day 2:

We formed a biker gang to tour Munich:

This is Lauren, in front of the central government building erected by the Nazi's--notice the glass siding, which demonstrates the "transparency" of the Nazi regime.

The guy in this statue looked like John Belushi:

Counting Down to HK

Hey All. 

So, 2 weeks to the big move!!! We're steadily getting ready around the house--going through things, boxing up, selling half the furniture. Personally, I'm trying to figure out which pairs of shoes I absolutely cannot live without for 10 weeks in China. I'm only allowed 20kg in baggage on the plane!! I think my suitcase itself probably weighs 5kg, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. At least I'm able to leave stuff here with Victoria's parents that I won't need there. 

Needless to say, things have been a bit hectic while we get ready to move across the world. I took the boys to stay with Victoria's parents for a few days early this week, just to get them out of the house so that she could get some things done without them screaming 'mommy mommy mommy' every 2 seconds. That was fine--kind of frustrating to be cast out of my own house for 3 days, but otherwise fine. The boys have been a handful lately, mostly because their napping schedule has been constantly messed up as they are shuffled around relatives houses (everyone wants to see them before they leave). Alessio is really moving into the toddler stage--he doesn't look like or move like a baby anymore. He's learning so many new words, and he's becoming more assertive, by which I mean there is a lot of bad-tempered crying when he doesn't get his way. He's moving quickly toward those Terrible 2's, and I have a feeling he'll be a handful when he gets there, but he's still just about the cutest kid I've ever seen. 

The weather has turned cold. It's been in the 40s or 50s every day this week. Everyone says that it's unusual for it to be this cold this soon--it just makes me a little bit happier that I'm going to be in Hong Kong, where it's in the 80s, for a few of the colder months. It will probably be quite a shock when (if) I come back to Geneva in January. Speaking of coming back, I'm still looking for a family to work for in January. I've met with a couple of nice families, but all I keep hearing is that people are looking for someone to stay an entire year, and I can only stay until June or so. It's really frustrating to hear that when the family is saying that otherwise they really like me and blah blah blah. I'm sure that I'll find someone; I just have to keep looking. 

Law school applications are going steady. I'm writing all of my personal statements, and that hasn't been as bad as I anticipated. It will be a few weeks before I can submit any because I have to wait for my final letter of recommendation to be processed, so that takes some of the time pressure off of my mind. 

One way I'm going to relax--I'm going to Oktoberfest in Munich this weekend!!! I'm taking a road trip (5 hours!!!) in a rented Mazda with Pamela, Sharron, Isa, and Lauren, and we are camping (yes, camping) for the weekend. I'm really excited. It should be a great adventure, and I'm sure that I will have pictures to post when I get back. 

Until then...

Fun Things Lately...

Above and below, this is the lovely little 15th Century church just around the corner from my house. In Europe, it seems like there is history just everywhere. Note: Victoria's sister lives in a 600 year old house--that's nearly 3 times older than the US.

Here is the lovely town nearest to my village, where we do small shopping and little stuff like that. Just wanted to give y'all a visual of my existence...

I had to stop on the road (safely of course) and take a picture of this sunset. Seriously, it's picture-worthy most nights, I just don't always have my camera.

This is Montreux, and absolutely beautiful Swiss town about an hour from my village.

Hey, long time no blog (surprise, surprise, I'm really bad a keeping up with this kind of thing).

I've actually been doing a lot of fun things lately--nothing gets you motivated to start taking advantage of your surroundings like an impending exit to Asia. Speaking of that, I'm super excited about moving to China!! We leave in about 4 and a half weeks, which is amazing to think about. Ben just left for Hong Kong, so we won't see him until he comes home right before the big move. His absence will probably make this next month trying at some points--the boys tend to start acting out when he's gone for a chunk of time, especially Henry, so I anticipate some tantrums and a constant (incredibly frustrating) attachment to Mommy Mommy Mommy. We'll deal with it, but I'm sure there will be moments where I just want to tear my hair out. However, I have a truly amazing trip to look forward to, so maybe I'll use that as my happy place--Chris is going to come to Hong Kong in November, and we're going to take a 9 day trip from Thailand, through Cambodia, and into Vietnam. How incredible is that?!?! Really, I can't wait.

Today I took a lovely day-trip to Montreux, a town about an hour away in Switzerland, with Pam, Lauren and Christine. We're quite the United Nations of friends--a Chilean, an Australian, a German, and me. The day was gorgeous--the weather couldn't have been better this weekend. Montreux is one of the most beautiful places that I've ever seen. It's situated at the very end of Lake Geneva, and is nestled inside all of the surrounding mountains. The lake is so huge, and so calm there--it looks like you should be able to step on the water like glass and walk right over to the nearest peak. I really wish that pictures could do it justice, but it's so huge, so expansive and awe-inspiring, that my pedestrian photography efforts can't capture it. But believe me, it's a sight to see.

I enjoyed the lake in a more physical way on Friday morning. Ben wanted to go skiing one more time before he left for Hong Kong, so we took the whole family out on the boat. The water was surprisingly warm. By which I mean that it was definitely cold, but not nearly as cold as I expected a Swiss lake to be. My skiing, unfortunately, did not go well--I think Ben's ski was too big for me, so I had a lot of trouble getting up. My forearms are still (nearly 3 days later) incredibly sore from my efforts. Still, though, I have now skied (sort of) on Lake Geneva, and I think that's pretty cool.

Activities here tend to revolve around the lake, so the other cool things I've done lately also involve Lake Geneva in some way. I went to a jazz festival in Hermance called Jazz Sur Le Plage (Jazz on the Beach). Hermance is a tiny village, the first just over the border into Switzerland, so it was a small festival with one stage set-up next to the water, and some food and wine vendors set up. Sharron, Johanna and I packed up a pic-nic of baguette, gruyer cheese and wine, and sat down for a few hours on the shore to watch the music, which was fantastic--there was a guitar player who did amazing things on the Spanish guitar, and a lot of the songs bordered on blue-grass more than jazz, I thought. I had just about the most cliched French thought possible (I must be converting) when I found myself annoyed that the night had become colder and it was making my Bordeaux cooler than it should be to be enjoyed properly. I warmed it up in my hands as best as I could and laughed at my wine-snobbery. 

Later in the week I went to the outdoor cinema to see the new Steve Carrell movie (the name is escaping me at the moment). Thank goodness they show movies in English, though apparently even the French aren't a big fan of French movies. The massive screen is set up in one of the harbors in Geneva, with the lake at its' back so that the audience can watch the sun set on the mountains right before the movie begins. Truly, truly amazing--the view more so than the movie, but the movie was good too. And you get free ice-cream with your ticket!! Could it be any better?

That's about all of the blog-worthy things I've done in the last couple of weeks. There may be some exciting things coming up: some girls and I are planning to take a road trip to Munich in a few weeks for the opening weekend of Oktoberfest (I'm not sure why it opens in the middle of September, but who am I to question?). That should be interesting, and I'm really glad that I'll get to do it. I'm also trying to find the time for a weekend trip to Interlocken, in Switzerland, which has been highly recommended to me. Time is going quickly though--4 weekends left before China, but more like 3 since I'm sure I'll be running around crazy trying to get ready on that last one. God, isn't life interesting?

A Weekend in Paris

So I finally took a trip! I went to Paris for the weekend. Lauren, a new friend of mine from Australia who has taken an au pair position on the other side of Lake Geneva, and I took the train from Geneva on Saturday morning and were in the center of Paris by 10:30 am. Here is a photographic chronology of our time there:

As with any good tourist in Paris, we began with a trip to the Eiffel Tower. The number of people there was incredible--I heard more languages than I have ever heard in one place in my entire life. The line to go to the top was ridiculous, so, both Lauren and I having been before, we didn't go up. But there is this fantastic spot just a short walk away with this amazing, full view of the tower. As you can see, the day was absolutely perfect--the weather couldn't have been better, making the entire day seem like something out of a movie.

This is the Luxembourg Gardens. Absolutely beautiful. It looked like a lot of locals come here to read or sun bathe on a nice afternoon--that's what I would do if I lived there. There was a pond where kids were sailing little boats, and, for some reason, donkey rides around the park...There is also the Luxembourg Palace there--grand and very French--where I assume at some point a small group of rich people stayed and kept all of this splendor to themselves.

This is the Pantheon. This place is truly amazing, breath-taking, especially when you consider that it was all built by hand hundreds of years ago--how is that possible?!

A picture can't really capture the scale of this place--just consider the average height of the people in the bottom of the picture, and imagine how large and impressive this place is. 

I was so amazed that I had to take a video to try to share this with others and remember it forever for myself. Sorry it's a bit shaky--I'll never be a surgeon :)

Following the Pantheon, we moved on to Notre Dame. Again, the lines were crazy so we didn't go inside, but, even though I've seen it before, I just have to marvel at the architecture. 

Can you imagine how long it took to carve each of these figures? And apparently, each is the face of an actual person--a rendering of a saint or someone that the artist knew. This is just one of the doorways--the entire building is covered in this much detail.

Okay, look at the 4 figures...what's amiss here?

On Saturday evening, we made the trip to Mont Marte--where the original Moulin Rouge is--and climbed the many, many steps up to the Sacre Coeur. The church itself is obviously incredible, but it's position on the hill gives an amazing view of the Paris skyline.

This was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. There was a band of Senegalese men playing random songs on the steps leading up to the Sacre Coeur. It was just getting toward evening, the weather was perfect, and we sat on the steps facing the Paris skyline and listening to them play. It was truly, truly wonderful.

After dinner in Mont Marte, we took the Metro back to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up for the night. It was even more crowded that it had been during the day, but it was absolutely worth it. I'm still not sure what the circle of stars is for--French national day was a few weeks ago, so maybe for that? Whatever the case, it sure is purty.

In a moment that everyone waits for, the tower lights up for about 5 minutes. Lauren and I sat on the grass in a park next to the tower, ate chocolate crepes, and enjoyed.

The next morning it rained, but a rainy day in Paris is better than a sunny day most anywhere else. Lauren went to the Louvre, and I walked over to the Musee D'Orsay. This is a bridge on the way--quite impressive--leading toward the tomb of Napolean. 

I will spare you the many, many, many pictures I took of French Impressionist paintings at the Musee D'Orsay--Van Gogh, Monet, Pisarro, Rinault, etc etc, which I stood in awe of for a couple of hours. But here's a picture of the museum inside--a work of art in itself. 

Not having to go far, I next walked over to meet Lauren at the Louvre. This is the entrance. It's housed in a former palace, so it is quite large and impressive.

The Obelisque, just a few hundred yards from the Louvre. If you look behind it, you will also see, along the Champs Elysee, the Arc de Triomph. I had a lovely afternoon strolling along the Champs Elysee with a ham and cheese baguette.

Unfortunately, at this point my camera battery ran out, so Lauren has the pictures from the rest of our afternoon. Following this, we went to the Rodin Sculpture Gardens--one of my favorite spots in Paris, and another place where I would probably just go hang out with a book for an afternoon if I lived there. After that, time was running short, so we had a quick cup of tea at a sidewalk cafe and then checked out of our hostel and caught the train home. 

So that was my weekend in Paris. Honestly, it could not have been better. Contrary to popular belief, the French people there were, for the most part, very nice. I tried to practice speaking French, but in an effort to make things faster and easier everyone would respond to me in English, which was a little bit frustrating. I bought some art at one of the street vendors along the left bank of the Seine--I even haggled in French, and, I think, managed to get a pretty good price. I will have to return to Paris sometime, I love it too much not to; and if I can manage to live there, just for a little while (sorry, Mom, I know how that prospect terrifies you), so much the better...

Evian, the Kids, the Fete, recent pics, etc.

Here are some recent pictures of what I've been up to:

Sharron and I went to Evian last weekend--yes, the actual place where they bottle Evian water. It's about 45 minutes from my house. It's a cute little town, but there wasn't really much going on. The bottling plant was closed, so we didn't really get to see it. We had some great Morrocan food, walked around the lake a bit. This picture is from when we saw some guys randomly sleeping beside the lake, and we thought it would be hilarious for me to lay down next to them and take a picture. We giggled about it for about 10 minutes. I'm also still laughing over the idea that people (myself included) pay so much money for Evian water when it's pretty much what comes out of the taps at my house.

This is a car that I saw on fire. I had Wednesday afternoon off, so I went into Geneva to wander around a bit. I happened to wander into the Red Light district--I knew that's where I was when I saw several poorly kept women in really really cheap, incredibly revealing clothes standing on the street at 3 in the afternoon. Prostitution is legal here, but it's heavily regulated and kept in this one area near the center of Geneva, so it's easy to wander into. I'm told that it's a perfectly safe area, and that there are even some trendy restaurants around there. When I realized that I was looking at aging hookers, I just kind of laughed to myself and turned around. That's when I happened to see this car on fire--just another odd twist to that section of the afternoon. The fire department came and I assume all was taken care of and the ladies got back to work :)

This is just a picture I took out of my bedroom window. It stormed a bit last week, and I've seen some great rainbows. 

That's Henry, my older one, on the left, and on the right is Louie, the boy Sharron takes care of. Aren't they adorable?! We took them to the baby beach for an afternoon. The weather has been really great, for the most part, lately, so we try to take full advantage and occupy the kids outside. It has the added benefit of wearing them out so they nap/go to bed really easily. I never thought I'd so look forward to nap-time every day--no matter what has happened in the morning, sanity can be restored if they just nap well and give me a couple of hours to regain sanity before it all starts again.

Alessio, my younger boy, is just about the cutest kid I've ever seen. He really thinks he's older and bigger than he is, though, so he tends to try to jump in water or climb ladders or go down slides all by himself--he has no fear. We have to keep a very close eye on him or he would hurt himself several times a day. 

Other than all of that stuff, things have been pretty low-key. The Fete de Geneve is in town--basically there is a carnival set up along the shores of the lake, including rides, stages for music, and bars. I have noticed that the Swiss do festival food really well. At an American festival, you're pretty much going to only be able to get hot dogs and hamburgers, or other variations of fried or barbequed food. Here, I guess because Switzerland is so international, there are booths with every type of food imaginable--Thai, Chinese, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Brazilian, Mexican, Morrocan, Russian, Polish, Czechoslovakian, and the list goes on. It's amazing. There was even a Tex Mex booth!--I had just eaten, so I didn't try it, but I was very impressed that it was there. Summertime is notoriously great here weather-wise, so they take full advantage and there always seems to be a festival going on. Another odd thing resulting from the good weather is that there are tons of Arab people here--it's too hot in the Middle East in the summer, and Switzerland is a very neutral, welcoming country, plus Geneva is an expensive city with all of the finer things that these rich Arabs expect, so they bring their entire families for the whole summer. It is interesting to see all of the women in their various forms of dress--some just have to cover their hair (some get to use bright scarves while others seem to only be allowed to use black cotton), some cover hair and face, I've seen a lot of them in full burkhas with only their eyes showing. I wish that I could ask each of them where they are from so I could learn which country each dress-type comes from.  

I'm really hoping to take some trips very soon. Time has seemed to fly by, and suddenly I've been here over 2 months and haven't really travelled yet. I may take the train to Paris next weekend, and some friends and I are considering a trip to Portugal in September. I leave for Hong Kong on October 2nd, so time is quickly running out. I'm hoping to travel a bit in Asia as well, though, so it's not as if I won't see anything interesting come October. I'm still really excited about Hong Kong, but it's a bit surreal. Who ever thought I'd move to Hong Kong?! It just seems like such an odd thing, but it is my current reality. 

I've been a bit homesick, but nothing too bad. I really enjoy being here, and I don't at all regret coming, but still there are times when I'm homesick. I've realized that homesickness, for me, comes mostly from a want to be in my comfort zone--to be where I know the city so well that I can always figure out what I want to do and where to do, and to know my best friends and family are always there for entertainment or support or whatever. Being in a foreign place, with a foreign language, and none of those comfortable people around can be very uncomfortable.  But, I've also realized that this discomfort is a major part of why I'm doing this--I think there is growth in discomfort. I think I'll be a better person for having faced it. And, of course, a little discomfort is nothing compared to the opportunity I have right now to see the world. If only I could just get a little bit of proper mexican food...