Good news!

L got some great news this past week and then more good news today.

His employer has decided to let him take the remainder of his vacations days instead of getting them paid out. This is good news because we now have 31 days of vacation to take. We are going to take a couple of long weekends this coming month to make a couple of 'local' trips. Spain and Italy are first on the list. THEN we are going on a safari!! We figured that we would go on safari for about 7 days and then L could start his new job early since he is such an eager beaver.

Now for even better news. It turns out that per Swiss law L cannot be on vacation (even though he is leaving) with one company and work for another. You know what that means?? He can't start his new job until June 1st which gives us 1 MONTH to vacation! Whohoo! Now we are supposed to get the puppy on May 18th but I think that I can push that back a week so that we will have 3 weeks off and 1 week to regroup before L starts that new job of his.

I have such planning to do!


Oh, we just came back from Budapest last night...very late last night as our sleazy jet flight was delayed almost two hours. We got to Geneva airport around 12am and the bus dropped us all off at the wrong place. We have to wait a good 20 minutes for them to open up our side of the airport so that we could enter! Unbelievable.
Anyway, we had a great trip. Budapest was so interesting, I highly recommend it. Will post more on the trip with some pictures later.


Did I mention - when we arrived it was SNOWING. I never thought I would be happy to see snow but snow means ski which makes me happy. It has been snowing since we left for Budapest and should continue snowing this week. I am going to try to go skiing if the weather permits tomorrow or Thursday and definately L and I will be taking a weekend trip to the mountains to ski, ski, ski! I need to work off all of that Hungarian food! :O

Easter!

This weekend is Easter and we are going to Budapest. A friend of mine and her boyfriend are going and they asked us to come along. Sure, why not??! I have never been and cannot wait to go exploring. It's been awhile since we took a little trip to explore another city in another country. Of course, it is supposed to rain the whole weekend - just my luck - but it still should be good fun!

I have been having some fun lately. We all went out last Friday night and had a great time. Then last night for the first time that I have been here I did a girl's night out. It is nice to be able to do that again. It's been way too long.

Skiing was good this past week as well and we are supposed to get a lot of snow in the mountains while we are away. Which will make for a great ski outing this coming Tuesday.

What else - well, our puppy was born about a week ago and we will be able to pick her up on May 18th!! We are now getting a female instead of a male, which is just fine by us considering we originally wanted a female. Now the dilemma is what to name her. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Have a wonderful Easter Holiday!!

Bored!

Yep, that's right...I am bored. I skipped the 2nd half of my french class today and got my eyebrows waxed. I almost got through the whole 'procedure' in french until at the very end the lady starts talking some sort of gibberish (french) and I had no f'ing clue what she was saying. I was totally busted..she said to me - you didn't understand a word that I said, did you? And of course I replied - Nope! Oh well. I try (a little). I don't do my homework and I don't practise, and I wonder why I still SUCK at french. As I said before, I think that it is a mental block.

I do have a reason to continue to study though - we rented an apartment in Cassis (South of France)for the month of Sept. I will get lots of practice that way! ;)

Let's see, what else......well - Lars and I took a drive to explore Lausanne last weekend. It is def. less pretentious than Geneva. I am freaking out a bit because I am finally settled here and to move again is going to be difficult. Yes, I know that it is only a 45 minute drive away from Geneva but it seems like a million miles. To be honest, I really don't like Geneva that much - it is a bit boring - so maybe Lausanne will end up being better for us.

Last Friday I went on a hike with the women's club and we saw some great animals. Here are some pictures:






Aren't they the best? I love going for walks in the country here in Switzerland. People have horses grazing in their front yard. I have never seen so many cows, sheep, donkeys, etc in my life. This excitment is a true sign that I am getting old!

Killer Cat

I came home last Tuesday after a long day of skiing (I know, it's a tough life) and this is what I found in our foyer:



It appears as if somehow a dirty, nasty, pigeon fell down the Chimney shoot and ended up in our fireplace much to the delight of Jojje. I walk into the house and immediately spotted the dead bird. I walked into the different rooms of the house and I could clearly tell that there was a massacre.
There was a trail of blood all over the house. It was everywhere.....Disgusting! It took Lars and I a long time to clean up all of the blood and the millions of feathers.

The cat was in his glory. I think that he thought it was Christmas time. It's the most fun he has had in years. I am just glad that I wasn't home to witness the slaughter. Every now and then I catch him looking longingly into the fireplace waiting for his next victim to arrive.




We thought that we had gotten all of the feathers but it seems as if Jojje has a secret stash hidden somewhere. I found him playing with one yesterday - so busted!

New Job

Well, L has gone ahead and gotten himself a new job. I am not sure how I feel about the company itself but it is going to give him what he needs to advance to the next level. The company is Phillip Morris International. Yes, I know, it's a horrible tobacco company BUT the opportunities for him there are limitless. Besides, he got such a good package with the job offer and a ridiculously large signing bonus.
The location of the job is in Lausanne. Lausanne is a city about 45 minutes from Geneva. For now he is going to commute but I think that we might start looking for a new place to live, closer to his job. They will pay for our moving exp. and give us 25k cash to settle into a new house if we move anywhere within 30km of Lausanne.

I go back and forth on moving. I now have a routine and I have made friends. Yes, Lausanne is only 45 minutes away but to me it seems like a land far, far away. It's like living in Boston and finding you have to drive to the South Shore for a dinner party. IT seems sooooooooo far away. It might be a better place for me though. I am already getting bored with Geneva and it hasn't even been a year since I lived here. It is such a quiet city. Then again, maybe it is time for a house and a family. Who knows.....stranger things have happened.

I will keep you all updated!

More pictures....

Mallorca - this past November.

I wanted to jump in....
Look closely - do you see the dogs??!
The stone window
Green door self portrait
The Finca where we stayed

Pool at the Finca
ripe fruit
posing for picture
pet me....please

Antsy

I have been antsy lately, bored, inquieta (as they say in spanish)......Don't ask me what the word is in French - no clue. Actually, I think that I have learned it at some point in time but these damn French words just go in and out of my head. I have no retention when it comes to the French language. Maybe it is a subconscious advertion (that is really not at all that subconscious)to learning the language.

I feel like this (by the way, this is jojje....our cat. i think that this is his first appearance on this blog. congrats to jojje!):

Anyway, I am not really sure why I am bored. I am busy pretty much every day of the week. Could it be that it's because I am finally gettiung settled and I don't have some crazy story to share about my day or maybe it's because we haven't travelled anywhere since we have been back from our Christmas/New Year's vacation. It's crazy how hard the travel bug can bite you. We have been staying in Switzerland every weekend to go skiing in France and I love it but I am starting to miss the adventures of a trip. I do have a weekend trip to Sweden next weekend to visit the in-laws and then a trip back to Boston in late feb/early March. So that should calm me down. L is also trying to arrange a safari for us sometime in April (yeah!) which I have been dying to do. Speaking of Africa - here are a couple of pictures from our trip to Zanzibar this past October. I am missing the ocean so it should cheer me up to share a couple of these pics.