Giving Thanks

I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  My year has just gotten better as time has progressed and I honestly cannot even believe I am where I am.

So this Thanksgiving, I'd like to let you all know who I am thankful for:

1. I am thankful for my family.  If anyone knows me, it's my family.  And if anyone has supported me through the thick and thin, once again, that would be my family.  It's not easy to just pick up and move across the globe, but my parents have done everything within their means to make it that much easier.  For example, this week, my favourite bronzer crumbled into little pieces.  After tirelessly searching Migros, Coop, etc. for it, I gave up.  But then my mum pulled through.  She bought two for me from Shopper's and is sending them to me with P when he is in Canada at the end of the month!  It's the little things.  Thanks fam!
2. I am thankful for my host family.  I've heard and read the horror stories when it comes to host families.  Luckily, I can't say anything bad about mine.  Instead, you get to hear me gush!  The second I arrived in Geneva, I was greeted with hugs and from then on it has been nothing but love. When I came down with a cold this week, Dr. P (seriously, he is a doctor) was quick to 'prescribe' me with a multitude of options to alleviate the symptoms.  As well, I have yet to feel unappreciated.  The family is quick to recognize extra effort and thank me for everything, from cleaning the sheets to making a minestrone that tastes good.  I appreciate their love and support so much, and it has made my time in Geneva feel like nothing less than home.  Thank you famille M!
3. I am thankful for my friends back home.  It isn't easy to keep in contact with someone who is on another continent and no longer sharing experiences with you.  But my friends have proved that it's possible.  As much as I feel that I am missing so much, at the same time I know that everyone is there waiting for me to come home and will greet me with open arms.  I do miss seeing them, but thanks to Skype and Facebook, it's almost like I'm there.  So thank you, mes amis!  
4. I am thankful for my friends in Geneva.  What would I do without you?  Especially Lu and Lo who have been with me from the start (almost), and are always there for me.  We've had some ridiculous adventures and it's only been two months.  I can't wait to see what sort of shenanigans (yes, I used shenanigans) we get into for the next 8 months!  And thank you, mes amies!
5. I am thankful for my extended family.  I literally would not be here and my car safely parked in a garage if it wasn't for all of you.  You all went above and beyond the duties of family, and I cannot thank you all enough.  The best I can do is bring home a suitcase stuffed with chocolate. And I have been sampling some for you guys (that's my excuse).  I definitely have some goodies coming!  Thank you!
6. I am thankful for the internet.  Without it, I would be completely cut off from Canada and everyone I love.  So thank you Tim Berners-Lee!

There are many more I am thankful for, and I hope that I have proven to you that I am.  

There are also some things that I am thankful for:

1. I am thankful that I have a roof over my head, a bed to sleep in, and a warm shower to take in the morning.  I wish everyone could say the same.
2. I am thankful that I have food to eat.  And not just boring everyday food.  I am thankful that I have access to food from across the planet, and have an abundance of foods from different cultures.
3. I am thankful that I live in (and am from) a country not stricken by war, famine, or civil unrest.  
4. I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to be educated and continue my education abroad.  
5. I am thankful that the van no longer stalls after every red light because I've remembered to breathe while driving.
6. I am thankful that I am having such a wonderful experience here in Switzerland, that I get to see all my family and friends again at Christmas, and that I get to return to this spectacular country again in January.
7. I am thankful that my total views has now surpassed 5000.  Thanks to all the readers!  

There is so much more I am thankful for, but I feel like you all don't need to read a novel.  I just want to thank each and every one of you that have helped me to be where I am.  Thank you.

This Thanksgiving, what are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

An Update on Driving in Geneva

Driving has become a lot better these days.  I am by no means a professional standard driver, but I get by.  I do get the few honking drivers, and today I had an angry French man swerve into traffic to get around me, but other than that, it’s going great!

I think my progress has a lot to do with me feeling more relaxed driving on such narrow roads.  The more I drive, the more comfortable I get with my surroundings.  And of course, there's the wonderful E who is always there with words of encouragement.

But just when I thought that I was doing well, fate decided to mix things up.

This past Friday, I drove E to football practice, as per usual.  We made good time, I believe I only stalled once (have I mentioned how much I hate red lights at the top of hills?), and I had everything I needed to go run errands during his practice.  After practice, with a smile on my face, E and I headed to the van.  I had had a great week, was feeling in my stride, and I was ready for the drive home.

Only problem was, the van wasn’t.

Now, I’m always a teensy bit nervous starting the van each time.  The whole having to have the clutch pressed while turning the key in the ignition worries me.  What if my foot slips off?  What if I forget and the van starts to go into a seizure?!  Well neither of those things happened.  In fact, nothing happened.  

You see, the battery was dead.

Dun, dun, duuuuuuuuuuun.

Now all you car savvy people out there are thinking to yourself: What’s her problem?  That’s an easy fix.  She just needs to find another car to get a boost from and she’ll be out of there.

I was thinking the same thing until I realized...everyone speaks a different language.

Thank god for E’s mum.  I phoned N to let her know the situation and she was very helpful.  She explained where the cables were in the van and what to say to the people I would be begging for a boost.  She also assured me that if no one could give me a boost, she’d come by.

After hanging up with N, I went to the trunk of the van, found the cables, and started going up to people in the parking lot.  Now picture this.  A panicked looking foreigner walking around with jumper cables thrust out in front of her, going up to strangers exclaiming, “la pile est morte!”  It’s no wonder everyone went running in the other direction.  

After a man in a BMW tried to explain that it would be too complicated with his motor, I turned to E for some assistance.  Thank god for E.  I had him ask one of his teammates if one of their parents could help.  Luckily, one of the fathers came to the rescue, and even switched to English after I failed at asking a question about the boosting process (you try asking a question about the mechanics of a car when you don’t even know how to say steering wheel in French).  

And finally, thank god for the father who knew where to put the clamps on the battery (I did know what was the battery thank you very much.  I just didn’t know what to do with it).  After a few revs I managed to get the engine to turn, I thanked the father profusely, and we were all set to go.

Only one problem: if I stalled, would the engine start again?

Both E and I gulped and then held our breath the entire way home.

And guess what?

We made it!  I almost kissed the ground when we did.  It was another successful trip in the van, and we definitely cheered when we made it home.

Un Jour Dans La Vie d'Une Jeune Fille Au Pair

E and his friend playing with the quicksand we made.

Since I am writing this blog while I am abroad working as an au pair, I feel it's only right to fill you in on what my day-to-day life is like.

Yesterday was the boys' first day back to school.  It was also E's first day of soccer...sorry football practice with a new team, at a pitch far far away (ok, only about a 20 minute drive).  But let's start from the beginning:

Monday morning I was up at 9am (since I don't have to get E off to school in the morning, I'm allowed to sleep in).  I probably should've been up earlier since the cleaning lady was vacuuming right outside my door at about 8am, but I kind of just chilled out in bed for a bit, and read a few chapters of The Help.  At 9am, I started a load of laundry.

Side Note: to those of you in North America, doing a load of laundry in Switzerland is nowhere near as fast as back home.  Just to wash a dark load (the shortest length of time) takes over 75 minutes.  Then comes the dryer.  To put a load on once through the dryer does not guarantee it will come out dry.  It is usually a warm damp.  I try to hang as much as possible since it's more energy efficient, and sometimes more time efficient.  


Just before 9:30am, I took the dogs (we were watching a neighbour's dog, Buddy) out for a walk in the vines, to avoid getting in the cleaning lady's way.  Getting back around 10:15am, I took some time for myself to shower and get set for the day.  At 11am, I started to prep lunch.  As I've mentioned before, lunch is the biggest meal of the day, so there's some pressure.  I made a shrimp pasta with zucchini, celery and peppers.  It was relatively easy to make and seemed to go over well with everyone.

Since it was the first day of school, E came home with a bunch of paperwork to be signed by his parents and a list of things he needed for school (pens, erasers, rulers, gym clothes, a cup, school shoes, etc).  Luckily his dad, P, was also home for lunch, so he took over finding everything to send back with E.

Once everyone left to go back to school and work around 1:15pm, I continued with the laundry and other tasks left for me to do.  This can be sweeping, ironing, wrapping presents, etc. I also use this time to pick a place to organize.  N (the host mother), suggested cleaning out cabinets of old items and reorganizing if I found I had some down time.  It's an easy task, and the results are always worth it.

At 3:30pm I headed out to the recycling centre down the street.  The Swiss are very big on recycling, and you need to separate all your different recyclables into different containers.  There's even a container for Nespresso cannisters, since that seems to be the only Tassimo/Keurig-like coffeemaker in Geneva.  Probably because it's made by Nestlé in Lausanne, Switzerland.

From the recycling centre, I was off to pick up E from school for 4pm to take him to football practice.  Have I mentioned before that his school kind of looks like a mini Hogwarts?  I'll have to take a picture tomorrow.  It's really unfair.  I want to go to Hogwarts!

E was great about getting out of school and not chatting too much with his friends because I think we were both a little nervous about getting to practice (for him: first practice with a new team, for me: it was far!  And the van's manual!  And it's far!  And did I mention the van's manual???).  So just after 4pm, we loaded up his bike into the van, got him settled with his gouter (snack) and slowly began our adventure to the football pitch.

Now I love to know where I am going.  My mum brought me up to be a girl who can read a map and know exactly where she's going.  It's been ingrained in me to research everywhere I'm going, and know different routes (in case of construction, parades, etc.), and to have said different routes printed out on a variety of differently scaled maps.  Case in point: yesterday, during my down time, I Google Mapped the football pitch and checked the different routes to take.  I also checked out the traffic level around 3pm.  I checked out websites warning about construction in the city, and I double checked that the preloaded location of the pitch was correct in the GPS.  Oh, the GPS*.

Finally I was off.  About 5 minutes in, I missed the turn to get to the highway, and my troubles started.  A little flustered that I missed the turn, I explained it to E.  He answered nonchalantly in between sips of juice, "Don't worry.  We have time!"  That put a smile on my face.  It's amazing what reassurance from a nine-year-old can do for your confidence.  But then I stalled.  And then I stalled again.  And a third time, just for good (?) luck.  My patience was wearing thin.  And then that angelic voice from the back seat: "Oh don't worry.  It happens all the time.  The last few au pairs stalled ALL the time.  My dad even stalls."

What a lifesaver.

We eventually found a parking lot to turn around in, after that magical box (the GPS, if you haven't followed the star (*)yet) recommended I pull a u-turn right in front of some trams (I think NOT!).  We never found the highway again, but did make it to the football pitch, a good 15 minutes early.  E was able to finish his entire gouter before we got there (we did drive around for quite a while), so he was able to quickly change and join his team for practice.  I, on the other hand, got to collapse in a chair and finally take a breath.  It had been a long 20 minutes.

P met us there and took me over to the mall that was across the street.  Since E's practices are an hour and a half long, and run all year long, the mall might be a good option for me.  At the mall, I looked into the train pass I want to get to go to Interlaken on Saturday.  Tomorrow, when I return to the football pitch for another practice (eeks!), I'll go back to the mall and purchase the pass.   This pass gets me all fares for half price, as well as free travel between 7pm and 5am.  I think it's well worth the price, since it will save me a lot of money over the year.

After practice, I navigated us back home, this time finding the highway and gliding safely into the parking spot.  Gosh it felt good to be home!

I then helped to prepare dinner, and I helped P cover E's books for school.  The rest of the evening I spent catching up on emails and making hamburger patties for the next day (which turned out great.  I even hid mushrooms and spinach in them.  Shhh, don't tell E.  He HATES mushrooms).

Overall, I love my job.  There can be some stressful times, and some amazing times.  I still can't believe I'm here!  Next post, I'll let you know about my epic, and I mean epic, weekend.

Until then, thanks for checking in.  And welcome to the life of une jeune fille au pair!


*When I arrived in Geneva on the 13th, the first stop the family made was to the local electronics store to buy a GPS for the van.  At first, I thought they had taken one look at me and assumed I couldn't read a map (which I would have taken offence to, in light of my upbringing and all).  But it has turned out to be a godsend.  For some strange reason, possibly relating to how old the city is in comparison to the invention of the automobile, roads here are very difficult to maneuver, and are not on a grid system (geez!).  So unless you know Geneva like the back of your hand (my goal before I leave), a GPS is mandatory for a newcomer to navigate the city.