6 days :(

Tomorrow is Cody's 20th Birthday, but I will not be there.  HAPPPPPYY BIRRRTHDAYYY wittle brother, I miss you!  

Since the new kids came on Sunday, I have realized how much I really enjoyed the children from last week and the week before.  If I could teach all girls like Johanna, and Sophie and Emily, I would still want to be a teacher.  But... thats pretty unlikely.  

Haylee and I went to Lausanne today all by ourselves.  We had a conversation on the way there that seemed insignificant at the time, but now I find it something to hold on to, and be remembered.  I asked Haylee if she felt like being here had changed her in anyway, besides the obvious of missing family and what-not.  The revelation that we both came to is yes.  I don't feel like the ways that we have changed will be significant or obvious to others, but it is to us, or me atleast.  I always have a hard time explaining situations and feelings like this, but I shall try.  I'm sure that someone has already written and explained this in much greater detail and accuracy, but if I don't put it out in my own words and my own thoughts, it will be harder to apply it to my life.  Here's my feeble attempt;

I have mastered buying train tickets in French, and learned how to ask for the restrooms.  I have flown internationally by myself, and learned my way around a foreign city.  I have gone a month without crying to my mom over little things that do not matter, or my pretty much daily bear-hugs from my dad.  Aaron probably looks like he's 37 by now - it seems like it's been that long since I've seen him.  But all of these things feel like small hurdles and victories leading to a splendid accomplishment.  Lakeland is my bubble.  It's where I will always feel like I am on top of things.  Switzerland was a giant unknown to me, but it has squeezed and pushed into a part of me that I did not know was empty, filling all of the cracks and smoothing itself into something beautiful that is now mine, and only mine.  All of that wonderful Suisse warmth that has spread through me has, in turn, left less room for all of the not-so-important things that I gave entirely too much attention to.  I have already touched this topic on this blog before, but it's becoming more clear to me how important it will be to hold onto this when I leave.  I don't want to be the girl who tries and tries to be what that boy wants, only to finally win him and then realize you're stuck in the past.  And I don't want to be one of those who goes to the same hangouts every weekend, and sees all of the same people that she has seen since elementary school.  I want to value my relationship with my parents and my family even more than I do.  I want to spend my free-time exploring and learning and growing.

I want to get away so that I can appreciate the things about my life that I forget once they become routine.   I can drive past the Steak-n-Shake that I spent almost every Friday night of my high-school life at,  and then pass the fields that I played soccer on, where I still roll down the windows when I drive by, just to smell them.  There's the church where I was saved, and then baptized.    The children's museum downtown.  The public library and the swans on Lake Morton.  The sticky bar-b-cue joint that I love. The parking lot that I drove to after broken hearts with a milk-shake and cheesy french fries.  The lake I have spent so many hours on that it would probably equal half of my childhood, and the tree house where I'm pretty sure there is still a time- capsule buried.  All things that I remember like yesterday.  

The reason that I give all of these instances and places is to say this.  Lakeland and my life there will always be special to me, and I am sure that I have many more memories to make there.  But this experience has shown me that the world is so big.  It would be a shame to get so caught up in only one small city and the happenings there. My life can be as big or as little as I choose to make it.  Switzerland and this journey has painted that picture for me.  

And all of this reminds me how much I love Haylee, and appreciate her and the relationship that we have.

Of to bed where I am going to listen to Priscilla Ahn on repeat some more (she's wonderful, give her a listen!) and probably drift off to sleep a little sad that this trip has flown by so fast, but more than happy that I got to experience it at all. 

Today is a Sad Day

All of the girls just left.  And yes, I did get slightly teary-eyed.  Some of those girls we've had for 3 weeks.  

It's so quiet I don't know what to do with myself.    :(

Cereal and Beer

Things I have learned just recently here;

• I talk fast. And I do not open my mouth enough when I speak.  Or so say the Swiss.
• Cereal as a midnight snack is not as popular here as in America.  Tonight, we all went to the Buffet and had cereal, plus or minus some beer, around 11.  It was so yummy.  Not the beer, the cereal.  I don't like beer.  But everyone looked at us like we were crazy.
• Jam sessions and coloring around the fire-place while it rains outside, with all of the children I am growing to love, is one of greatest things I have done here.  I loved it.
• If you talk about baby seals in French, its a bad word in English.  That could really cause some trouble.  I mean, if you talk about seals a lot.
• And most importantly; this world is so much bigger than I ever imagined it was.  I look at things that I used to get worked up about, or things I thought mattered to me, and they don't seem important to me at all anymore.  There are so many people now that I think about, and I can't help but feel sorry for them, that they care so much.  My whole views on how I would like my life to turn out, and the things I would like to accomplish, are changing.  They've been changing for awhile now, but it finally seems right.  They uneasiness is gone.  I finally feel calm about it.

Things I need to remember to bring next summer;

• My own markers.  Swiss girls do not like to share their markers.
• A small fan.  I've been sweating since I got here.  Other than the times I had frostbite.
• Lots of socks.  I've given away almost all of the socks I bought before coming here to the girls.
• More converters.
• Pictures.  There is stuff all over our room but without pictures, it can be so lonely.
• Cups.
• Hand-soap.  
• Earplugs.
• My own pillow.  I didn't think I was that picky about pillows, until now.

Tuesday we went the Castle of Chillon.  I have pictures and will post them.  I really enjoyed it, although I might not have a few years ago.  It's so amazing to me that people from centuries ago stood in the very rooms that I stood in.  Can you imagine all of the tales you would hear if it had all been recorded?   Tales of love, and romance?  Or even murder and what not?  Oh history, so interesting.

Yesterday some of the girls pretended that they were sick so that we wouldn't take them to a classical music festival.  They didn't realize this also meant they couldn't go to the pool.  It was a win/lose situation.  We didn't have to go to the public pool again, but we had to occupy 10 teenage girls inside for most of the day.  It was death.

Today was my day off.  Which really just meant I didn't have to wake up early or put the girls to bed. Poor Haylee.

Tomorrow we are going hiking from 10 in the morning, to 7 at night.  And we are milking cows.  Oh joy.  But I bet not too many people I know can say that they've milked swiss cows....

Bonne Nuit

Im not sure if it’s just me, and I know this is going to be stereotyping and probably way off base, but sometimes I feel like French people can be extremely unfriendly.  And with that off my chest…

Yesterday and today were wonderful.  It’s strange to me how last week some of these same girls were causing so many problems.  I think that it has a lot to do with that fact that they saw how close we got with some of the other girls last week, and they are now seeing that Haylee and I are not all rules and bossiness.  Last night and the night before we were able to have girls time before bed and I think that it really strengthened the bonds between everyone.  Its exciting because that means that hopefully there won’t be anymore cat fights and hair pulling and screaming matches.  Okay, so none of those really happened, but there were some arguments and some minor raising of voices.  I’m really looking forward to spending time with these girls this week, though.  

Today one of the girls, Johanna, was leaning on my shoulder and she just leaned over and gave me a hug, and it really calmed my spirit.  These past few days have been somewhat rough between someone very close to the boss and I, and it has been weighing and weighing on me, but her embracing me out of nowhere really showed me that we are doing well, and the kids are all that matter.  It was something that I was not expecting, and I told her how sad it made me to think that everyone would be going home on Saturday, and she agreed. But it was a really special moment to me.  She is such a kind and special girl.  Her spirit is so gentle and calming, and I have never seen her do anything negative, even in just a look or gesture.  It's a subtle reminder to me of the good in people, especially children, and I hope that I can gain something from her and take it with me.

Emmanuel had a kidney stone (I don't know if I should post that for everyone on the internet) but he is out of the hospital now.  I'm sure he doesn't look at it this way, but I think it was a relief because it took him out of the picture for a little while and has forced him to take it easy some.  The reason I say that is a relief, though, is because he can be overbearing sometimes.  I think I'm starting to understand him more now.  This is my take on him, but it's only an opinion and I could be completely incorrect, but... I think that he is a brilliant man.  He is somewhat lacking in organization skills though.  He has such a free mind that sometimes he comes off as loopy.  But he realizes this, and so he tries to work on it, but instead he makes it worse.  It's like he's going downstairs. There are 3 stairs, and he is on the top (the major details), but he is focusing so much on the bottom step (the smallest details) that he misses the middle step all together (just being there, and taking it all in) and he stumbles.  I just wish he would see that step because it makes it hard on all of us when we don't see those little things that he does,  or when we are not able to just enjoy what we are doing.  Tough.  Oh well.

My mother has informed me that I need more pictures, so here are a few to hold her over.  The internet here is pretty slow, so I can only do a few at a time. But, for all of your viewing pleasure, some pictures...

This is the city of Montreux from the train that we take to get there.  The Jazz Festival is on the water front and on all sides of Lake Geneva are mountains.   It's even more beautiful at night. 

This building is in Evian, France.  And this water came from Evian, France... I know, I know, it's amazing.  We ate chinese food in what I like to call Chinatown-of-Evian.  And folded our napkins into pretty things.  It was a good day.

These are our beautiful girls.  Sophie is in the left corner, Eva and Lou and Aurelia are in the right corner, and Emily is hiding somewhere in the back.  I love these girls.  They shine something amazing.  

Flowers! Yay!  There are flowers everywhere in Switzerland.  And they are always so vibrant. They make me so cheerful.  Yay!

And P.S. I'm sorry to everyone that received an email that I sent to my mom.  She told me she accidentally forwarded it to quite a few people.  Whoops.  Just a little embarrassing.

Festival Time

I am a horrible blogger.

This last week my feelings and emotions have jumped between both sides of the spectrum. But I’ll just recap this past weekend. Saturday Connie and Rick were in Switzerland so we spent some time with them. It was the definition of a perfect day off. We took a train down to Montreux and met with the others for a bite to eat. Best pizza I’ve ever eaten. The weather was beautiful which was great because we took a boat to Evian, France from Montreux. It’s the same Evian where the water comes from. It’s a charming little city with shops and cafes and little parks. I could spend hours just taking it all in. In some ways, the shops in the alleys reminded me of a clean and not-so-scary Chinatown. There are times when you forget where you are, and all of the sudden you realize that you are in this new and amazing place and you almost feel bad for forgetting, because those few moments when you weren’t thinking about it, you might have been taking it for granted. I don’t even feel silly for saying this, but a couple times I even said aloud to myself, “Hey, this is Switzerland. You are home for now.” Or “This is France!” It’s a feeling that I’m not ready to let go of yet.

After France, we returned to Montreux for dinner. We ate at the Festival again and I’ve come to the conclusion that people watching in Europe trumps any people watching in America. Dylan and I counted 25+ mullets. Apparently that’s a trend here…?

Haylee’s dad was able to get tickets to the Sheryl Crow concert that night. Miss Crow has never been one of my favorite artists, but after her show, it made me appreciate her quite a bit. I have strong respect for anyone who can overcome being in the public eye so much and going through breast cancer and horrible break-ups and still remaining a classy lady. Not to mention she is wonderful in concert. A truly talented woman. It was a beautiful experience.

It very well could have been the last concert I ever saw though, because our taxi driver to the chalet was apparently not aware that cars and people are not resilient. Especially when driven off of cliffs. I am not exaggerating at all when I say that he drove 80 most of the way up the mountain, curves and all. It was one of those times when all you can do is laugh, because if you stop there is a good chance you will vomit. Or cry. Whichever comes first.

Sunday was the start of a hectic week. 5 children stayed from the previous week and we added roughly 20 more. This is the day that I met the children who, later, would make me want to scream and lock myself in my room. Little divas. One night, Haylee and I had to literally stake-out to make sure that the girls were not sneaking out of their rooms. It’s not even just being disobedient, but being rude and malicious. The good thing, though, is that we also met some girls who really and truly reflect everything beautiful about little girls. Sophie, Emily, Eva, Lou, and Aurelia. 4 of them left yesterday, and I miss them already.

Wonderful weekend. Wonderful places. Wonderful life.

Poubelle

Yesterday we had to dress in Medieval clothes to greet the children.  I think it scared them.

Today we took 26 children to the Montreux Jazz Festival.  It scared me.

Happy Fourth of July...?!?

Haylee and I made it to breakfast this morning, even though we did not have breakfast duty.  We only did it for the Nutella.  So Emmanuel likes to put on plays and make big productions out of things.  Today, we were all playing outside when he comes out beating his big drum and dressed in a Medieval outfit.  He makes us follow him in a line, and march around the chalet.  Then we had a ceremony to the magic head.  Yea.  It's a face that has been painted on a tree.  The kids enjoyed it, and although it was somewhat creepy, it was eccentric and kooky and made all of us laugh.  But thats Emmanuel.  Surprisingly, we were not around the children too-too much today because they were all preparing for their Final Spectacular before and after lunch.  Which reminds me.  I am not fond of Salmon and Spinach lasagna.  Apparently David is not, either.  He tried to hide it on my plate.  I am, however, very fond of Movenpick ice-cream.  It's probably the best thing I've ever had in my life.  I tried Caramel today at the Jazz Festival and I could have cried when I finished it.  The Montreux Jazz Festival was fun.  I can't wait to explore it without any children.  When I took the 3 little girls to the restroom, a man touched my heiney.  Very aggressively.  In the ladies restroom.  So I pretended I needed to check on one of the girls in the stall to get away from him.  He said he likes Americans. I'm thinking he likes them a little too much.  As I'm leaving the restroom, I'm holding all of the girls hands, steering through the crowd with them and he yells something in French.  I guess it wasn't nice because Amira, one of the girls, turned around and stuck her tongue out at him.  I love her.

I have so many pictures that I do not know what to do with them.  Today, I just walked around outside taking pictures.  My camera died for a few hours and it was killing me not being able to take any.  

I have this story that I want to tell, and I'm scared I'm going to be the only one who finds it funny, yet I'm going to post it anyway;

A few days ago, we went to a museum in the park and then to a public pool.  Never again.  Dylan and I were in the water with the children, when Dylan looks down and says, "I think thats poop in the bottom of the pool." I look. Yeah, looks like poo to me.  So we start to move away from that area.  Dylan says to Guy, "Hey Guy, whats that on the bottom? Check it out."  He's just kidding.  But Guy goes to the bottom, and flies back to the surface.  "IT'S SHEEEEET!!!" He yells.  Dylan and I both start laughing hysterically.  I haven't laughed like that in a long time.  I've never seen kids exit a pool that fast before.  It wasn't so funny that there was poop in the pool, but the way Guy flew up and shouted it.  Oh my.

I had to bandage his knee today and was looking for antiseptic.  Only all of the medicines are in French.  Can you see where this might be a problem?  

I'd deal with a little uncomfortable groping and some Salmon lasagna anyday to be able to stay in Switzerland, though.  Maybe even some poop in the pool, too...

Kids + David

Before I talk about the kids, here is a picture of them. 6 this week and then next week Emmanuel wants to kill us so there are 27.



Week One Kids + David

Vittoria, Marilou, Amira, Guy, Sebastian, Tania

Petits Mots

Today is Thursday.  So let me start about, hmmmm, Monday...?  Okay. Not a lot. Just little things I remember.  Wait. Scratch that. Just a few things I've learned/observed. No days.  

• Looking down on Montreux during the day from the chalet is amazing.  Looking down on the lights of Montreux at night is even more magical.  There is no other word to describe it.  
• 'Enfants' whining in French still sound cute. Whining in Italian? Not so pretty.  It's weird.
• The swiss do not refrigerate their milk. Especially not their milk for cereal.  Its almost ruined my love for cereal.
• Swiss cows wear bells. Big, loud ones.
• They don't have AC here.  Or they don't want us to know that they do.  
• Being at such a high elevation that you literally walk through clouds makes you feel special.  You can't help but be amazed and smile inside.  
• The flowers are brighter.
• And they are everywhere.  
• I just love my life.

When it's night-time in Caux and there are no clouds, you look up into the sky and it's like the stars are raining all around you.  Not just above you.  It's like you are that much closer to something miraculous.  Indescribable.  Completely.  

I'm in awe.

Bonjour

I wake up to breezes in my room, and birds chirping, and little girls running in and out and in and out.  Its amazing.  Maybe the last part doesn't seem so, but they are beginning to grow on me.  At some moments I may not believe it, but I will miss them.

So it seems like I have a few days to catch up on... Day one and day two deserve their own detailed section;  Can I just start by saying that getting here was the biggest adventure/misfortune/nightmare of my life.  I left Tampa at noon, arrived in Philly at 2:30 and waited until 6:30 when my plane was supposed to take off.  After 3 departure delays, 2 plane switches, taking off and coming back twice, and finally leaving for good at 6:30 AM the following morning, I was officially out of the country and on my way.  I said that all in one sentence, but one sentence does NOT do it justice.  As we sat on the runway for 2 hours the final time we took off, I called my mom and had a mini-mental breakdown.  I think it was the fact that I had not slept in already 2 days, and had a full day of traveling.  My nerves were shot.   And then, instead of getting to Geneva at 10 in the morning, and catching a train to Montreux, then a train to Caux, I get to Geneva at 10 at night, find out my luggage has been lost and then try to buy a ticket to Montreux at the train station where the ticket counter has closed. Oh my. However! I did manage to buy a ticket through a vending machine, find the right platform, and get on my train without having to speak French, which I'm sure would have been incorrect.  And then comes the second breakdown of the trip.  As I'm sitting on the train, a bunch of kids my age get on who I am assuming just returned or were going to go clubbing.  Apparently I looked lonely because they were trying to talk to me.  I'm sure they were not nice things though, and I'm sure I'm just being naive when I say that the reason they were talking to me was because I looked lonely.  I'm sure it was because I was alone.  And a girl.   Little ole' me getting off the train in the mist of drunken kids has just realized that the train station to Caux is either hiding, or I'm so tired that I just cannot read anything. Inside, I know I am going to die.  And no one will know.  Sad story.  But wait! I see a familiar face!  Haylee!  I literally cried tears of happiness.  She had gotten worried when I hadn't showed up after 12 hours and decided to have Emmanuel drive her to the Montreux train station to wait and see if I would be on one of the last trains.  I have never been more scared, and then more relieved in my entire life.  

Maybe I should think of it as a blessing in disguise that because they lost my luggage, I did not have to carry my 2 suitcases down to the train station, then on and off the train that is not very user friendly.  Only a little sacrifice to be able to live in a Chalet in the Swiss Alps overlooking the city of Montreux and Lake Geneva.  

Well, theres day 1 and 2, and it's only taken me how long?  I will catch up, I promise!  Haylee and I are going into town right now, but pictures/videos will up tonight!

Au revoir!