Blogs from Geneva, South-West, Switzerland, Europe - page 8

Well, over the last week, I have to say that I have been feeling more at home. The cold has come - and stayed and the snow has stayed for longer than 2 days. The snow has been here for a week and it shows no signs of disappearing. To me, this is a welcome change. Finally, winter has come. To the citizens of the canton of Geneva, it is the worst cold spell since 1985/1986. I guess that they can blame this cold snap on me. I must have brought the Canadian weather with us to Geneva. For me it is normal winter weather. For my colleagues, it is colder than a cold-certified Coors Light can. Just to give you an idea, Saturday was -10 degrees with a windchill of -17 degrees. When I was ... read more

Made it to Switzerland bright and early on the morning of the 18th! The next three days were a whirlwind of orientation: all the nitty-gritty rules and regulations, program logistics (finally figuring out what sorts of academic work we will be doing while we’re here – there’s a lot of it), tour of the Old Town in Geneva, meeting with the homestay coordinator to learn all about our new families, and of course some free time to explore and get lost in Geneva. In some ways you can definitely tell that Geneva is an international city: just on the one street by our hostel you could find almost every different kind of ethnic restaurant imaginable. In other ways it is less obvious: everyone speaks French, even the foreigners (at least when they’re out in the city). ... read more

Well, we had a great weekend, but a busy one. Friday, I was able to go out with my colleague's for a cheese fondue at Bains des Pâquis - just on the opposite side of the Jet d'Eau on Lac Léman. It was a neat place. You place your order for the fondue and then the waiters walk down the restaurant shouting your name until they find the person that the fondue belongs to. Also, to help with digestion, while eating a cheese fondue, you shouldn't drink water. Supposedly it doesn't sit well with the warm cheese. Instead, you are encouraged to drink wine. Maybe, that's just another excuse to drink wine ;) Naturally, in true Swiss fashion, supper lasted 2 and a half hours and then my colleagues wanted to go out for after supper ... read more

Well, December 19th and 20th were filled with a lot of hope of having a white Christmas. It was beautiful to see all of that heavenly snow on the ground. The students came to school in their snowsuits and they were so excited for the snow. It reminded me of being back in St. Albert. However, by the weekend, the snow was all gone. What it left was beautiful greenary. So, we ended up with a green Christmas. We had a great Christmas. It was nice to have my parents and my sister here for Christmas. For Christmas day, we went to church and then we went to the place where mom and dad are staying to have a chicken dinner. A turkey would have been too big, so we decided to have 2 small chickens ... read more

I have to say that pretty much the only thing that I am missing right now is the snow. It rained most of last week, so there is now some snow on top of the Jura Mountains, but there is still no snow in Avully or in Chancy. We can't complain though, it has been plus 7 or warmer for a long time now. Today it was sunny and 13 degrees. It doesn't really seem like winter or Christmas. Well, I have all of my things packed and ready to go for my week with my students. We are going to the house La Grève in Versoix. I have to say that I am looking forward to my week, it will be something that I have never before experienced with my students. I have never spent ... read more