Blogs from Geneva, South-West, Switzerland, Europe - page 10

Well, week 2 at school is over. It felt like a funny week. We had school with the students Monday and Tuesday and then we had our customary Wednesday off. Thursday was also a day off because of the Jeûne genevois. Friday felt weird. I kept thinking that it was a Monday and I got mixed up a few times with the students. All in all, it was another good week with the students. There is still a lot to learn and sometimes I feel like I am just keeping my head above water - kind of like my first year teaching! Anyways, last Thursday we made another trek and drove into France to see le Lac d'Annecy. It was a very pretty area, with the lake, the Alps in the background and the old town ... read more

Well, today we made our first trek in Switzerland - we didn't even get lost! We went to see Château Chillon just outside of Montreux. It was a beautiful castle, built on a small rock island that is located on Lac Léman. There were 40 something different rooms/spaces to see in the castle, so there was a lot of information to take in, which also involved a lot of walking and stairs. I had to carry Myles in the hiking backpack, strollers weren't allowed. We discovered why when we were doing our self-guided tour. There were some extremely narrow passage ways and some short door frames. I had to hunch down quite often to get from one place to another. I felt like the hunchback of Chillon. After our time at Château Chillon, we went down ... read more

Well today I had my first day with my new students in a new country at a new school. I had a good day, and I felt a lot like a first year teacher. The students were educating me about various procedures at the school. I have to say that there was a lot to take in on the first day. I am glad that the first day is over. I feel more confident and I am eager to start again tomorrow. School in Chancy starts at 8:00 am and I arrived by bike this morning at 7:10 am. Therefore, I didn't have much time to be nervous this morning. However, I was a bit nervous for the first 5 minutes of class and after that, the whole teaching thing started to feel normal. The first ... read more

We are used to having people ask us, "Would you like a cup of coffee or tea?" However, I have been asked at my school, "Veux-tu du sirop?" This translated literally means, do you want some syrup. It's not like Aunt Jemima syrup though. This is a type of liquid syrup that you add to water to make a type of juice. It actually doesn't taste half bad. I didn't know that syrup was a drink choice. Today at 4:00 pm Avery picked me up from school and we went to the IKEA in Geneva. We ate supper there and then we went and bought a few rugs for Denis' place to go beside our bed and Isabelle's bed. The best part of the trip to IKEA was that Myles finally met his match. By the ... read more

Man it was a good feeling to get back to Avully last night at 9:45 pm. We arrived later than we would have liked because we had another annoyance on our trip. Looking back on our time in France we had a little annoyance, a little problem or a big problem every single day. We did not have one day where all went smoothly. Maybe God is testing our resolve. Anyways, we saw many beautiful things in France, however it was so sweet to see our apartment. We all breathed a sigh of relief. Anyways, Wednesday started out beautifully. We woke up and drove to the home that Paul Cézanne lived in during his painting days. It was a neat place to see and the property was absolutely peaceful. At his house, I felt like one ... read more