Happy holidays

I just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful holiday! Have fun, be safe and live up the fact that you're alive!

I'll be heading to Vienna for a couple of days, so I won't be posting for the next little while (my posts have started to become more sporatic anyhow).

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Loner and loving it

I am first to admit that I'm a loner. And I love it!
Sure, I love my quality time with friends and family, but sometimes it's just such a wonderful feeling to be on your own doing whatever you want to be doing, whether it be taking in the world, or just staying warm under a blanket in front of the TV.

This past Sunday night, after the Cirque Eloize, I dined out alone.

I have been waiting for the perfect moment to do this, and it just worked out that it would happen that night.
Some of you may think this is not a big deal, but I was anxious about this. It's the whole, "worrying about what people think of you" thing.
I wanted to conquer this fear. why should I care what people think? I'm enjoying good food and the company of...myself.

Now, when dining alone, you need to be prepared. I had thought the whole meal through, go to a familiar restaurant that I enjoyed, where I knew the menu and the ambiance and bring a bag full of tricks.

My pick, Brasserie du Theatre of course. I love this restaurant for so many reasons. The location, the feel, the food, the staff.
I picked a table sort of in a corner, where I'd have a great view of the rest of the restaurant (I'm a people watcher...plus, I wouldn't have anyone across from me to stare at).
I ordered, felt pretty good about myself, and let my mind wander. I did pretty good until my soup arrived. It was really hot, so I let it sit for a bit, and I started daydreaming again, but I was little bored of daydreaming. I'd already judged everyone in the restaurant (okay, I admit it, I sometimes judge people just by looking at them...what else am I to do? I'm getting a little bored.) so what else could I busy myself with?
Out comes the bag of tricks. I think...do I want the book? The magazine? Ah yes, I'll pick the marking. Marking's actually really fun for me. And you've got to do it sometime, so why not while you're waiting for soup to cool?
The rest of the meal went splendidly. I ate good food (moules were extremely salty for some reason that night...not a good thing) and enjoyed my chocolate Viennois. And I finished some marking, felt very comfortable dining alone.

[Sidebar: Along with moules & frites being my main course which I sample at each restaurant, I've also added chocolate Viennois to my arsenal. Do date, Brasserie du Theatre has the best moules - although, as I've said the cook seems to be making them more salty as of late - and a cafe in Bruges, Belgium that I can't recall the name has the best chocolate Viennois - tasted like they'd taken a piece of chocolate and just melted it in a cup for me.]

It was a lovely experience. One that I would like to have again soon. Therapeutic isn't the right word, but often when I'm doing stuff on my own, a really great feeling washes over me. I can't really describe it.

I've also noticed that many people here in Europe dine out alone. I mean, for some reason I remember ever seen people eating alone in restaurants in Canada, but maybe that's because I never noticed. I just don't think it's as widely accepted that people eat out alone in Canada, but here, it's not that big of a deal.

I've decided that I'm going to find a restaurant or cafe to become a regular at. Brasserie du Theatre and Cafe Floridita are both high on the list right now. I'm going to go there quite often to have a lovely evening where I can have some down time, watching the world and people go by as I enjoy the company of myself. It'll also be a nice place to do my marking (which is often therapeutic as well).

Ocean's Twelve

I saw Ocean's Twelve Tuesday night.
It was my first trip to the cinema here in Europe. First of all, it cost 15CHF. The seats in the theatre were really cushy though, so I guess I can't complain too much. And I think they're around the same price in Toronto at those huge theatres right? Oh, and the price was what is was because I got a ground seat (vs. balcony), I didn't pay enough attention to see how much balcony seats cost. Less I suspect.
Most of ads and previews were in French, a couple were in English with German and French subtitles.
The movie was in English with subtitles (German and French). It was a little bit distracting actually, because I'd start reading the French subtitles and miss out on the action that was going on in the background, or else, I was listening to the track and feel like there was always something blocking the bottom half of the screen (duh...the subtitles?!?). I noticed that anytime Yen talked, there were no subtitles for him. Good thing I understood what he was saying. But I guess that's the point right? They don't have English subtitles for him usually, so why would they have German or French?
Another thing they've got here in Europe is an intermission. It was quite ghetto actually, part way through, not necessarily at a good breaking point, the film went wonky and the curtains closed and lights came on. They literally pressed stop on the film reel. It did the old school flickery picture thing. A short smoke break. It's Europe remember? Afterwards, they just pressed play again. It was a little weird actually. Like you had to remind yourself what happened before the intermission, so for the first 5 minutes, you weren't completely paying attention to the movie but just trying to understand what was going on and get back into zoned out movie-watching mode.
I guess because it was a movie with so many big names and stuff, I was expecting it to be really flashy like the first one, so I was a little surprised that it wasn't. I personally would have liked it to be flashy, but whatever.
Anyway, I'm not here to ruin the movie for you, but I didn't like it that much. I didn't really look at my watch to time it or anything, but I've say that I predicted the whole final third of the movie. I don't always like that. For Hollywood lovey-dovey movies yes, you need a happy ending, but you're not supposed to be able to predict what's going to happen in a heist/thief/whatever-you-want-to-call-it thing. Just my beef.
It was okay though...I guess.
Any thoughts from others who've seen it?

Blackberry sighting

On Friday, December 17th, I spotted my first Blackberry in Europe. It was across the bus from me on my way downtown. Dark blue in colour.

Cirque Eloize

Last night, I went to Lausanne to see Nomade by Cirque Eloize.
You can visit their website yourself to find out more info, but in a nutshell, it's a performing company founded in Quebec that's quite similar in style to the more famous company, Cirque du Soleil.
Since I'd heard such rave review about the show and it's similarity to Cirque du Soleil, I was expecting something fabulous. I guess it was. Now don't get me wrong, it was wonderful, but I'm the type who'll get my expectations up SO high and then be overly critical about something. I think that since I'd also seen all of the Cirque du Soleil shows on TV, I'd seen all of the acts that were performed (or at least one that were very similar). The venue was also quite small, and our seats didn't bode well for the acts that were in the air, so that put a damper on some of it.
Honestly though, it was amazing. A little less theatrical and colourful than what I imagine Cirque du Soleil is like live, but I think that went with it's theme. Lots of muted colours and somber tones. A little bit "modern" in style, that some people I was with didn't really get it. It was still very impressive, and next time I know that I'm going to dish out the big bucks for better seats.
Speaking of big bucks, it wasn't too pricey at all. I mean, that's the thing with this company. I guess because they're not too huge (yet), their tickets are quite reasonably priced. So if you like to see Cirque du Soleil type shows without dishing out the cash, I would highly recommend Cirque Eloize. I'd recommend it either way, because it was a good show and it's Canadian.

In a strange way, watching the show made me miss cheerleading. At least the stunting part. (You know the acrobatic stuff that is often in those shows.) It's a LOT of fun being tossed in the air and standing on top of people who are holding you in mid air.
I also enjoyed the little comedic interludes to give the performers (14 members in the troupe + 4 musicians) a little bit of a break and to set up for the next act. At first they were a little distracting, but I really grew to appreciate their humour.

Anyway, message that you should get out of this post, become interested in Cirque Eloize.

Reference letters

A BIG thank-you goes out to all those who have written reference letters for me in the past (or for anyone for that matter). You've put in a serious amount of time trying to make someone else's life better.

I have now joined your ranks. I finished writing my first reference letter today. It was quite the experience.

Memorizing music and the holidays

I have often mentioned that I am enamored by holiday lights and sparkly things. This phenomenon has actually led to my ability to memorize pieces of music during my youth.
Let me explain.
The room in my house that I practice the piano in is also where we put our Christmas tree. December/January was prime time for when I was to be memorizing pieces for competitions or other events and so, what I'd do was, play my pieces while my head was turned to the left so that I could stare at the shining tree. Obviously if I had my head turned to the left and looking at the tree, I wasn't able to look at the score so I ended up being forced to memorize my pieces.
True story.

A musical evening

Last night, I went to a violin recital held by teacher at the local Conservatoire to let his students have some extra practice. It was VERY small scale, but 3 hours well spent. I'm SO glad that I'd heard about it.

All of the students were at a very high level of musicianship, so it wasn't completely like a recital that had all levels ranging from beginners to advanced players. All students played one movement from a concerto, and a few played two.
Most of the students must have learned their pieces rather recently because there were quite a few memory lapses. It's actually a phobia of mine that I will forget what I'm playing, and not know how to restart again. Some of the students covered up their mistakes quite well, others had to point out a bar to their accompanist to restart at and some needed to bring out their music. It was tough to watch at times because when you're on stage with spotlights on you and the room is completely silent, it's one of the worst feeling in the world. My heart went out to them.

There were 11 performers in total. I was only expecting six. Turned out that the first six that I'd seen the programme for was just the first half and during the break someone mentionned that there were still five more to go. Now, I'd actually had other plans for the rest of the evening, but these plans were maliable. I also noticed that a movement from a Tchaikovsky piece was to be played.

[Sidebar: On the programme, the piece being performed was listed only by its composer, the composer's life span and the tempo of the movement being performed. I thought it was a little odd that it wasn't mentionned which concerto by the composer it was and perhaps in which key it was.]

I must admit that I'm not terribly knowledgeable in violin works. I can only hum in my head one concerto by Tchaikovsky (No. 1 in D+), which happens to be my favorite violin concerto to date and the music I (finally, after months of listenning and narrowing down the choices) selected for my last skating program. I was keeping my fingers crossed that it would be that very concerto that would be played in the second half as I decided that I would throw my other plans out the door and stay for some more music.

As my perfect life would have it, it was the very same concerto that I was hoping for. And the violinist was wonderful. She had the score in front of her as a safety blanket, but didn't use it very often. I've only heard this concerto with a full orchestra behind it, so that was a little bit odd, and even worse was the fact that the accompanist was quite subpar. At one of the most dramatic parts (leading into a whole section for the "orchestra"), he completely stopped. I've never seen the score myself, so I don't know how difficult it was, but still, it was so bad that the soloist finished her big build up (with no accompaniment), there was an awkward pause of silence and then the accompanist came in again to bang away for a bit. It was so obvious and well, annoying, that the audience (though small in number, was mostly well educated musically) started laughing (I must admit that I couldn't help myself either). Some friends who didn't know the piece and I think little ins and outs of classical music later said that at the time, they couldn't figure out what the big deal was. One of the performers actually confided that all the musicians had some slight problems with this specific accompanist and didn't quite enjoy, umm, him. The soloist herself was incredible, especially given the challenge of having to play with an accompanist who well, you know.

The last piece of the evening was Bela Bartok. I don't know if the right people are reading this, so know what I'm about to say, but I've got a love-hate relationship with this composer. Or this era of composer should I say. The piece itself seemed quite demanding and the soloist seemed to be quite good, but it was just nothing to me. I couldn't get into it. It was just sound. Slightly annoying sound at that. "List E" pieces as I prefer to call them just...yuck. Even after four years of being told to play a couple pieces of weird music in University, I still can't appreciate their *cough cough* beauty *cough cough*. I'll play them, and quite decently, but I don't get what I'm playing. It's the only time that I ever feel like I'm just playing a bunch of notes.

After speaking to one of the performers, I must say that I'm even more impressed with how musical Neuchatel is (classically, at least). For such a small town, it has quite an impressive Conservatoire and a vast number of performance groups and concerts.

Anyway, it was a wonderful evening. I really enjoyed the music, and am looking forward to going to the next concert.

Another thing I love about the Swiss

I love that the Swiss are as obsessed with stars as I am...at least during the holidays.

Swiss greetings and pleasantries

For your etiquette pleasure:

When there's a lady/ladies involved - 3 kisses on cheeks, starting on the right cheek.

Between two gentlemen - a handshake.

You may think that this all sounds pretty normal (except in France and Italy I think it's only 2 kisses), but people of all ages have this etiquette. School aged folk (ranging from middle to high school) even greet each other this way. I'm just not used to seeing two thuggy looking guys swaggering up to each other, and then shake hands in a very uppity manner. It's kind of neat actually.

Christmas trees

Christmas is a really big holiday here in Switzerland. Perhaps the biggest of the year, and boy do they go nutso with the decorations. Since I adore sparkly and shiny lights, I love it.
Along all the streets there are lights strung up...you know how on lamp posts on major streets in Canada they have tinsel candy canes, wreaths, trees outlines with lights? Well up that 10x and you've got Switzerland. There's decorations everywhere. It's so happy.
They also have huge trees lit up at every open area possible. I pass by a whole bunch of stars lit up and a big tree on my walk home from the bus stop, and downtown there's a crazy huge one as well. Like, CRAZY huge. They also have a countdown to the New Year that's lit up in lights downtown as well.
I've never really been into Christmas, but I just love looking at decorations. Everything just looks so happy.
Even the skating rink has a big decorated tree in the bleachers...super fun!

Some improvement

I'm now thinking that it's all the walking up and down hills that's just making my legs stronger, and thereby making my jumps easier without me having to actively do anything to improve them.
I finally hauled myself into the air again after landing on a thin piece of steel for a split second. The first 2T2T was completed on one foot. A little curly on the ending, but nonetheless, complete. It was a shock even to myself.
A couple more good attempts, and one basically there, just usual me, not having fast enough reflexes to stay on my foot.
I must have fallen pretty hard on my right wrist at some point on the session, because it hurts SO much right now. Ack, I'll have to apply heat to it (you know me and my anti-icing!) at some point. Mmm...heat...maybe I'll have some soup for dinner. Maybe some courge soup. Yum.

It's about that time of the year

Today, I officially came to terms that it's winter. I have donned my winter coat. It is complete with many Delilah hairs on it. I miss my kitty.
I also switched from my star bag to one of my Milano felt bags just to be different for awhile. It's puke green and orange and wonderful.

Transferring

All of my posts have been transferred over from livejournal (which I must say, that I really did enjoy), and I THINK I've managed to salvage some comments, but for some reason, I'm not allowed to post comments on some of the earlier posts.
If you look back to the first couple of days/posts you'll notice that in September I actually made an attempt to switch over to blogger, but didn't feel like putting in the time to try to transfer things over. So there's some weirdness in terms of order of posts at the beginning. I'm going to leave it like that for the time being, because I really don't think many people will care enough to go back that far to read posts that they've probably already read before on my previous site.

Third page

After an hour or so of transferring posts (I'm a pack rat, so I want to somehow keep all the posts from my old pages), I think I might have found my new - and hopefully permanent home.
We'll see if blogger really is as good as people say...

Must be something in the water...

I chickened out of doing 2T2Ts tonight.
Instead I "settled" for three 2Tf2Ts.

Fill in the blanks...

To the few people that read this, I'm wondering if any of you are willing to help me out. I just saw that Canada has new fifty-dollar bills, so it reminds me that stuff is happening there and I don't know about (remember, I'm not good at keeping up to date in world happenings).
What going on "over there" in terms of fluffy fashion trends, music, hollywood buzz, movies...feel free to throw in more "important" information like, news items...quirky stuff.
Any developments in Scarborough or Toronto itself? I'll go out on a limb here...Kingston?

Italian purchase?!?

I've already decided that I'm going back to Milan for a weekend in January.
Anyone have thoughts for what will be a perfect Italian purchase? Anyone know of any brands that haven't hit it big yet, but will in the near future, or any closet fab items that will make me truly Euro-chic?
As much as I'd love a fab Fendi bag, or that smashing Gucci coat with the Versace glasses and Armani pantsuit, I'm not sure I want to go in that direction.

Impromptu to Milano

This past weekend, I took an impromptu trip to Milan. It was the first time since being here in Europe, that I just took off at the last minute.
Although everything's so close, you don't actually get much time in the destination after all the time spent travelling. I guess I can't really complain though.
It was any shopper's dream come true. Too many stores to list here.

Some things I noticed:
- contrary to popular belief, I gotta say that not ALL Italians are stylish (although the non-stylish ones could have been tourists), but I will admit that there's a greater percentage of well dressed folk compared to Toronto, for example.
- older women love their fur coats.
- stilletos on cobblestones...I still think these ladies have super strong ankles.
- Italian men dress well. I do have some stylish men friends, but I have met many who have trouble in this area. The one truly Italian gentleman-friend I have is one fashion-savvy individual, and I'm sure that's just because he's uberfunktastic, but I'm starting to think it could also be genetic.
- men wearing headbands is a Thing.
- coats with poofy collars is a Thing. (I considered getting one...)
- THE Via Montenapoleone has Courtesy Cars that strangely look like golf carts. Fine, if you want to pamper those spending the big bucks in your fancy stores by saving them from having to walk themselves, that's all fine and good, but by putting them on golf carts?!? Where they look dorky and freeze their bums?
- sequined belts are great.
- European women love their yappy dogs, and Italians are no exception. In Italy however, I noticed that hot dog dogs are more the norm.
- I'm not sure how Italians stay slim. I'm always so full after the 1st pasta course. Or maybe it's just that it's so rich. The portion isn't necessarily big.

P.S. I have added two more bags to my arsenal.

L'etole

I wanted to buy something fabulous and European on my trip to Paris. My initial thought was a bag. Bags are a girls best friend...isn't that how the song goes? Or some sort of clothing/footwear that screamed Euro chic!!!
On my shopping adventures of Saturday afternoon, I eagerly went in search of my prize. First stop, not quite Parisian, but we stop at Zara.
One thing that I've noticed in Europe is that stores make me feel a little overwhelmed. For the seasoned shopper that I (thought) am/was, this is a little disconcerting. It does sorta make sense though. Even in Toronto, I don't like shopping in stores that are cluttered. I like organized racks that aren't too full and folded merchandise that isn't strewn about. I tend to have problems at factory outlets where everything's in disarray. As great as I know Winners is for deals and variety, rummaging is necessary, and I'd just rather not. European stores have what seems like the square footage of your average store, but then they pack in the merchandise, and then surprise, your square footage is tripled because a little boutique is actually a three leveled emporium. It's a little extreme.
So basically, what I was getting it was that Zara was huge and little scary. By the way, have you heard that Mango is coming to Canada? I predict it'll catch on like Zara and H&M did. It's a pretty good store. Some nice stuff.
I really wanted to go to La Fayette because I'd heard so much about it. It really was a Holt's on steroids. Going on a saturday afternoon near the start of the Christmas rush probably didn't help matters. I was in bag heaven. But for some reason I wasn't readay to dish out the cash. They all just seemed...there. Nice, but blah at the same time. I couldn't help laughing at the fact that there was a line up at the Louis Vuitton counter. Like, 30 people long. I think it was a whole tour group waiting to purchase their goods. After wandering through clothes, we passed the scarves and hats. I noticed what I like to call a "fling-thing". A wide scarf/shawl object. Something that I thought was sophisticated and somehow European (don't all Europeans fling things over their shoulders and look divine?) It was lambswool. Thick and cozy. A little bit more expensive than I wanted to pay. I hemmed and hawwed, but decided to pass. I could always return, and we were wasting precious shopping time.
Rue de Rivoli was really fun. Sephora's always enjoyable. Lots of crazy cluttered stores to shake me to the core. We stopped at La Samaritaine which was also a department store on drugs. Again, nothing really stuck out to me. More boutiques and other chain stores later (I wonder if Promod will also zoom to Canada at some point?) I haven't found It.
We happen to stroll upon BHV and I'm sort of close to buying a Sequoia bag. Nah, it's actually very similar to the Fushia Rugby North America, er, I mean m0851 bag I thought about buying fall line '03 so not that special. On the way out, we see, yet again, the fling-thing. I guess I left out the fact that ever since leaving La Fayette, I've been discussing the merits of purchasing this item. I hem and haw some more, but in the end, make up excuses why I don't want it. One being that it'd be so much more fabulous if it was cashmire.
The final moments in Paris (seriously, the last 15 minutes), and we're dashing around for the last minute perfect item. I'm now REALLY tempted by some bags in a boutique in the Marais, but decide to pass. I'm not sure why, but I did. I've given up hope, because not only have I not made my special purchase, but the fling-thing won't be happening because there's no time to go back to get it.
Just a couple minutes left before we really have to leave, so we wander a little further. We walk by a poster of the ISU Grand Prix event being held this year in Paris. I stop for a snap and thought how great it was that I got to see the poster up close before leaving. My eyes scan to the right and notice...fling-things in the window! I look up and see that it's the store of the main sponsor of the skating competition, Eric Bompard. It's a sign! Not lambswool, but cashmire. Now I have no excuse. I go in...look at the price...freak out a bit...model...worry when they might not have it in black (sorry, it's a staple item)...they do...worry about the price...so soft and dreamy...hem and haw...look at the price again, put my foot down..."I'm buying it!". The whole time, I'm speaking English with my friend, the saleslady hovers (this is one of those stores that gives you super personal attention) and we chat in French, I see out of the corner of my eye a North American (speaking English without an accent) father waiting for his wife and daughter to make a decision on a cardigan and glancing over at me every so often. As I pay the large sum of money, the saleslady mentions that I have just bought an "etole". Hmmm...I notice that it's only one letter away from "etoile"...how curious. Too many coincidences. I know I've done the right thing. We joke about my journey of the perfect purchase. The father also compliments me on my purchase, and only helps me confirm that it was all meant to be. I won't say how much it cost, but it was quite substantial. More than I'd imagined spending on such an accessory and even on a "splurge item". Yikes. But that's what I'm here for. To enjoy myself, and to treat myself to something special when I want it.
I'm very proud of myself and of my etole.

Paris

I was really looking forward to going to Paris again. It was definetely a highlight of my 1997 Leysin experience.
We arrived to Paris on train and had to make our way to our hostel on the metro lugging our luggage the entire time.
For those of you wondering if I did a typo, no, I really did type hostel. More about that later.
I really love the metro system in Paris. It's so great. And I actually find it really easy to use! I also loved that as soon as I got to the metro, I immediately saw someone hopping the barrier and going in without paying. Sigh, memories of '97. A common occurence in Paris.
We make our way to our final destination after a little confusion (our metro map that we were provided wasn't quite accurate - it was quickly replaced upon arrival - and so some people were a little confused and worried because they had no idea where they were going) and creating quite a scene by parading down small streets towing our luggage and obviously not speaking French.
The hostel was really cute. It looked really nice. The rooms weren't bad either. Common toilets, but sinks and showers in our room. There was no door to the shower area...but luckily we were provided with a curtain. Still, it was a little weird. Seems like the room I was sharing was the only one lacking a device with a knob and hinges. All other rooms we visited looked pretty good. The pillows were pretty useless though. One person on the trip even bought his own pillow because he thought the one provided wasn't sufficient. It was pretty bad. It didn't remind me of a homeless shelter though, so I guess my preconception of hostels has been squashed.
The first night we were there, we ate dinner at Somo, the restaurant that a friend's son is the chef at. Delish with a great vibe.
After dinner, we wandered around the Marais, where we were staying. What a great little area with so many chic boutiques. A great cup of hot chocolate later, and time to call it a night. We were so exhausted.
Saturday morning, and a visit to the Musee d'Orsay. I'd been there before, but I really like impressionist stuff, so I didn't mind going again. Highlight of the trip: seeing an artist painting a Monet on site. Very Amelie-esque. At first I thought it was the same painting as from the movie, but after a quick look, nope. The Amelie painting isn't even in that gallery. I was pretty impressed with the artist. He has a huge canvas, and he was doing a really good job. It looked pretty much like the original, only 2 ft away. What a sight.
After lunch was free time. That could only mean one thing: SHOPPING!!! As I've mentioned before, last time I was in Paris, I didn't shop at all. I spent all my time zipping from tourist attraction to tourist attraction. It was crazy. Hop on the metro, come up for air and see the Eiffel Tower. Down underground again and come up to see the Sacre-Coeur, etc etc. I came to Paris this time armed with Euros and ready to spend! Before shopping, a quick stop to the Opera House (check one thing off my list of things to do - see a previous post) which was actually on the way to a mall. I hit up La Fayette and Samaritaine, both of which were pretty overwhelming. I'd compare it to a Holt's...on steroids! Rue du Rivoli and darn it, we ran out of time. Drat! If only we didn't have to meet for dinner!
After dinner and a short walk, we crash again. Exhaustion.
The next morning was a trip to Versailles. This I wasn't too excited about. I mean, I'd gone on the tour already, seen the Hall of Mirrors and walked the gardens...alas. I'm glad I was there though, because we were shown the Opera Hall. It was absolutely fab-u-lous! The king (not the original one) had run out of money by then, so instead of everything being made out of marble, it was made of wood and painted. It gave a really warm effect. I wished I could have gone on the stage and looked out at the audience. Apparently concerts are still held there. I'd love to attend one. It's weird, when I see a stage, I wish I could perform. I'm never sure if I'd rather play the piano of dance, but I was to be on that stage. I wonder what that means. I was a little sad for everyone else who was there for the first time. The Hall of Mirrors was basically closed for renovations, and we'd picked a pretty shoddy time of year to go, because the gardens weren't coiffed.
Oh yeah, highlight of the bus ride there and back was seeing the soccer/rugby stadium and a billboard for the Eric Bompard Cachemire ISU Grand Prix event (of skating, of course).
That afternoon was free time again, and instead of shopping, we (well I - and luckily there wasn't a protest) decided to Amelie it up. I HAD to find the Cafe des Deux Moulins. Quick snaps of the Moulin Rouge, and then we wander Montmarte for the place. Didn't have to look too far! WHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!
I was so excited. A little obsessed, maybe, but for some reason, this movie really gets me. Snaps outside, and in we go! So weird...darn it! His table's occupied...sit at another...wait...we're sitting where Gorgette's tabac counter...should be (but isn't there in real life)...facing the back of the cafe...and...the toilette...lit in green...glass window in the door...augh! It's all too much! Order some food...laugh with the waiter (who was super nice and laughed with us about my giddiness)...I giggle. I can't stop! Funniest was when part of our group who was actually on a tour of the town walked by when we were eating and half of them couldn't believe we were actually eating...there! Eeek! Whee! Boing! And a friend who knows Paris really well had heard me rant on and on about how determined I was to find the place turned into a punching bag because I couldn't help hitting him in my excitement to tell him that I was actually there! He quickly left the scene and rejoined the tour. I got a lot of excitement seeing the bartenders clean their glasses with the fountain-thingy that's built into the counter (the one you put the glass upside down on and press down...). Food was actually really tasty and quite reasonably priced. Creme brulee for dessert. Trip to the washroom (I really did have to go) but also a prime opportunity to check it out, and (sheepish look) take a snap. I would have taken more during the meal, but I got a little embarassed in my excitement. I was relieved to see that other people were also taking snaps the whole time we were there, and lots of people just walked in to take a snap and then walk out again. At least I was a paying customer. I was really jealous of the people sitting in His seat. Bah! Some more snaps, some more embarassement, some more laughs with the waiter, some more apologies for my behaviour, and we're off. It was the perfect time to leave, the sky was dark enough that the restaurant looked perfect. The neon lights against a dark grey/blue sky. Similar to the movie I'd say. Check more items off the list. I've already added some things to the list for my next trip to Paris. Still, I'm content.
A little bit of shopping and dinner before a trip to the Eiffel Tower. Spectacular. It's so beautiful at night. And the addition of the tower sparkling on the hour doesn't hurt. Fab. I want to live in this city. Dreamy. On the way back to the hotel, some stops for snaps, pretty much the end of a wonderful day. Smile.
The last day in Paris. I'm sad...and not looking forward to having to go to the Louvre. Honestly, all I need to see at the Louvre is the Mona Lisa, and it's already been done. Still, I soldier on and have lunch at the food court in the building. Great variety of food at quite reasonable prices! Highlight of the morning: buying a bottle of Perrier. Fluo. Does this exist in Canada? One's pink...so I bought it. I was going to keep it and not drink it, but on the train ride home, the lunch was apparently more salty that I'd thought, so I needed to quench my thirst (even after going through a whole bottle of Parisian tap water). Darn it. I haven't found it in Neuch.
We had a little free time before leaving to catch the train, and this is when I mad my extravagant purchase (I've left out all the details of the lead up to this purchase, because I will devote an entire post to this momentous occassion).
Last time on the metro and we're at Gare de Lyon. And my last chance to Amelie it up. On word: Photomaton. A trashcan worth photo (on purpose!), but a little too embarrassed to rip one up on the spot, so I decide to put my stuff on board (we were running a little tight on time) and then hop out to toss one photo in a garbage nearby. Ack! Almost time to go! And a look around on the platform...pas de poubelle! Mon Dieu! Qu'est-ce qu'on pourrait faire? C'est pas grave. Je pense que je peux...ah forget it. Basically, I've got all four of the pictures still...one is ripped off, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. Maybe toss it in the Neuch gare? Who knows.
We TGVed it all the way home. You can really feel the speed when you try walking. Arrival to Neuch and the busride to Hauterive gave way to utter exhaustion, and a very satisfied Miss Jao.
It was a fabulous trip, and it just made me want to return yet again. It's lovely to be me.

Creatures in the rain

I'm used to seeing earthworms come out from the ground and wander helplessly on the sidewalk and roads when it's raining, but I've noticed that here in Neuch, it's not earthworms that I see saving themselves from suffocating, but slugs. That's right, slugs. The 10cm long kind. Nice.

Two more...

************************

"The Power Rule" to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb

The Power Rule is very cool, very cool, very cool,
The Power Rule is very cool, it finds derivatives.

It only works if n is real, n is real, n is real,
It only works if n is real, now you can do it too.

So now just take the n value, the n value, the n value,
So now just take the n value, and multiply with x.

Now here is the tricky part, the tricky part, the tricky part,
Now here is the tricky part, just subtract one from n.

There you go you’ve done just fine, done just fine, done just fine,
There you go you’ve done just fine, you’ve used the Power Rule.

************************

"Product Law Poem"

How do we find the prime?
Just follow this little rhyme.

First find the multiple
And prove that they’re differentiable

Find the prime of the first part
Leave the second true at heart

Multiply them out
Do the reverse without a doubt

In the end you have the derivative
Of the first function in its definitive!

************************

Belgium

Our Belgium trip consisted of mainly three parts.
1. Brussels
2. Ypres
3. Bruges

Part 1:
We arrived to Brussels and went on a tour of the centre of town. It was rainy and we'd left Switzerland at 6am, so most of us weren't really into the tour. We'd actually travelled by bus, plane and train (in that order) that morning. And of course being the last minute packer I am, I didn't get much sleep.
The town square was quite grand and it seems (as my adventures in Europe so far have shown) that every European city has it's own grand square. This one was quite impressive.
Highlights of the tour included standing in the main square in awe, the Mannekin-Pis (the pee-ing boy), smelling the wafting waffle goodness, drooling over chocolates displayed in windows, a really big clock that's sort of hidden and gives a history lesson with it, and walking through a narrow street lined with stores and restaurants displaying their selection of seafood. Yum! I loved how each restaurant had a host, all dressed to impress who would haggle you to take a seat and eat at their restaurant. That was kind if interesting.
After the tour we had a little free time and I dutifully went on my way purchasing extreme amounts of Belgian chocolate. So busy was I making purchases for loved ones, that I never sampled the local yum yums myself. Waffle or moules. I did manage a piece of chocolate only because after blowing substantial Euros in one store, the sales lady (whom I had an interesting conversation about the little differences in French sayings depending on if you're in France, Switzerland or Belgium) offered me a truffle that I had just purchased. Super rich...definetely needed a glass of milk to go with it.
All told, we only spent an hour and a half or so in Brussels, but of course I'd like to return on my own at some point.

Part 2:
November 11th, was a day in Ieper (local name). I wasn't sure how the day would pan out, but I was interested to experience it. Remembrance Day has never really effected me very much. My personality (perhaps a flaw, depending on how you look at it) is very flighty (can't think of a better word) in terms of world issues and ancestral facts. I take an interest when someone tells me a story, but I don't seem to retain. And often, even if related to me somehow, I never really take any of it to mean something to me presonally. My memories of Remembrance Day is standing in the gym of CHPS and listening to two people play "The Last Stand" and listening for mistakes as it is hard for an amateur musician to have the right embouchure and switch from 1st to 5th and 8ve with ease. During the moment of silence, I always thought about what it was that I was "supposed" to be thinking about, or feeling, but it's still pretty emotionless. I hope you don't find it disrespectful of me, as I don't mean it as such. I do understand what it means, and what happened in our past, but it's just who I am. I was wondering if being at the source would create different emotions.
Menin Gate was quite impressive. There was a huge crowd and so I couldn't really see most of the ceremony, but of course I heard it all. The speeches, the commands by the commanding officers and most importantly, the music. Music seems to touch me most often. One French speaking gentleman beside me who was on a bleacher was nice enough to take some pictures of the ceremony for me and sometimes I would catch a glimpse of what was happening. I was surrounded by many British people, and I spoke with some men who were I'd guess at least 50 who said that they came to the ceremony every year. Another elderly couple echoed the same sentiment, and the group was nice enough to explain what I would have seen as it happened had I been at a better vantage point.
There were many different people from many different places. Many cars lined the street as well as tour buses.
Highlights of my time at Menin gate include: talking with the friendly people around me, hearing the choir sing, noticing a large media contingent filming the ceremony and realising that it must be a big deal, watching "poppy petals" being dropped from the top of the gate, feeling like I was at something important, the playing of "The Last Stand", noticing the extreme amount of names that were carved into the walls of the gate signifying the soldiers who's bodies were never found, seeing blood red wreaths and breathing in the crisp air.
After the ceremony and exploring the Gate we were taken to a variety of sites. Some highlights follow. Mass cemetaries of British and Commonwealth countries as well as a mass cemetary of German soldiers. We listened to a reading of "In Flander's Fields" by a descendant of John McCrae. Reading tombstones. Imagining now farmlands and industrial areas being sites for war. Walking through original trenches. Observing large craters formed by explosives and realising that small curvatures in the terrain could be due do past events. Listening to an informal ceremony at the largest mass cemetary (name escapes me right now) which consisted of many hymns/songs and short words in between.
One stop stands out. The Canadian Memorial at Vancouver Corner. The Mourning Soldier itself was I believe the most moving monument of the day. Our group layed a wreath at its feet and a hushed rendition of "O Canada" was sung impromptu. It was elegant.

Part 3:
Throughout our time in Belgium, we were staying in Bruges. It was quite lovely. Again, a large square and beautiful old buildings were in our midst. Canals snaked through the town and wonderful restaurants and stores to explore. I did have a dinner of Moules and Frites (lovely), but did not have room in my stomach to sample waffles. I did have a hot chocolate which was far superior to any other I've had previous (not including the white chocolate variety). It was like they took a piece of gourmet chocolate and melted it down. On a completely unrelated note, while in Bruges, H&M launched it's Karl Lagerfeld line, and I must say I wasn't too impressed. It was pretty generic I thought, but I'm sure the store in Bruges only had a small sample of the line. Bruges did have a nice line of boutiques to wander through. Yet another place I would like to return to. Our hotel had a great variety of tv stations to choose from, and I have learned that Flemish is completely foreign. Oh, and hotel had a fat cat that didn't like to be picked up. I know this because it slapped me (sans claws) in the head. Cats who slap are hilarious. My cat at home (whom I miss bunches) slaps vacuum cleaners. That's some crazy fast twitch muscles in effect.

All in all a wonderful trip. A good first exposure to Belgium and as mentioned before, I'd like to return. Also some experiences that I wouldn't otherwise get to experience or even have thought of participating in. Fab.

Weather update

I forgot to mention this but it snowed for the first time in Neuch exactly one week ago.
I'd heard from someone that we were so expect 6cm of snow, and didnm't really think anything of it. It was kind of exciting actually. The first snowfall in Toronto's usually really pretty. Fluffy flakes onto a green sea of vegetation. Even while flakes landing on black asphalt is so contrasting an beautiful.
It's when the snow stays on the ground and becomes slushy that it's not so nice. And then there's that whole mystery substance that lasts until April. You know what I'm talking about. The ice/salt/dirt mixture that never seems to melt from the edges of the roads. Yum.
I'd actually vaguely remembered hearing something about snow on the radio that morning, but I'm never sure if I'm tuned into a French or Swiss station. And even if it was Swiss, the climate's so different depending on where you are.
I also thought I hallucinated little white flakes walking to the bus stop that morning. They just looked like squares rather than flakes, so I dismissed the idea that it was snow.
The day carried on, and when I was leaving a friend's house late that night to go for crepes (a standard practice as of late) I noticed the ground was wet. It'd been yuckily raining for the past little while, so my heart sank knowing that it had been raining yet again. But wait...what did I see?!? White clumps in corners and on cars?!? Snow!
So I didnm't see it falling, but the evidence remained. It was fabulous. I noticed though that the snow seemed more clumpy than in Toronto. Perhaps due to being near the lake and the air being more damp, flakes tend to clump together more and melt more readily, but then semi-freeze in clumps as well.
I hasn't snowed since that night, but I guess it's a sign that winter is coming. Apparently it's snowing pretty regularly a little higher up, but here in Neuch so haven't gotten anything again since.
In general, the weather varies. It's still quite cold early morning and late at night, but in the middle of the day, depending on the cloud coverage, if the rays of sun can get through it warms up a lot. It's really really really foggy today, but it's hasn't been too bad otherwise.
I'm still wearing my fall coat, but wearing thick sweaters underneath. I'm always wearing my special homemade mittens which I love, and have gotten many compliments with. Oh yeah, and of course, one of my made scarves too!

This makes me happy...

I didn't ask permission, but:

*********************

"The Product Rule" to the tune of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas

‘Twas the night before the Calc test, and all through my brain,
Flew images of equations both good and lame;
There was one equation so hard not to forget,
So I read it and read to ingrain it in my head;

I repeated h to the prime of the variable x,
Equals f prime times g, hold on what comes next?
Oh yes, now I add f times the prime of g,
Then solve by expanding, that was easy…

Dong, Dong clangs the clock 12 times in a row,
My comfortable bed is calling me, this much I know;
So, off to bed with a skip and a jump,
I feel relaxed for my throat has no lump;

Now all nestled all snug in my bed,
The equation of the Product Rule danced in my head;
I was ready, so ready for that Calculus test,
I knew, I just knew, I could do best.

*********************

Sometimes the smallest task produces masterpieces.

Crutches

Something I noticed awhile back...
Swiss don't have crutches like we usually have. You know, when you break your leg and they give you those things that kill your armpits?!? They don't have them here.
Instead they have those ones that you stick your arm through and sort of prop yourself up on cane/walking stick thingys. Ok...bad description. Forgive me if I'm politically incorrect, but I associate this type of crutch to those who are crippled.
So when I first arrived here, I thought it was odd that there seemed to be so many "cripples" in town, but then I came to figure out that some of these "cripples" have just sprained their ankle or broken their leg or something.
Ooops.

Improving by diffusion

Hmmm...can you improve by diffusion?
My spins tonight were FAB. I don't know what it is. I mean I haven't been working on them more than usual or anything. I think it's the ice. Or maybe it's the "first-time-back-on-the-ice" after being one and half weeks off syndrome.
My camel spins were bang on. It was weird. I suck at camel spins!

P.S. Not all Swiss spin well...so maybe diffusion doesn't make much sense afterall.

Step in the right direction

So I'm back from the Belgium/Paris trip. It was, of course, FAB.
I will write a separate entry at some point telling all about it, but for now, I'm in recouperation mode until further notice.

Two quick things:
1. I Amelie-d it up this weekend
2. I made my first extravagant purchase. (Yes, yes I did.) Une etole. Cashmere. There's a long winded story behind this one...but I'm very happy.

I like being happy.

Gotta love a "b"-girl

Thanks go out to a special "b"-girl who sent me some good Canadian warm fuzzies recently. I usually leave the "white hot chocolate, skim milk, no whip" to the professionals, but I will try to fend for myself this time.

Hmmm...b should become a b-girl.

La Boheme

I went to see my first opera last night. La Boheme by Puccini.
Sure it wasn't at La Scala or the Paris Opera, but it was still enjoyable. For a small town like Neuchatel, it's got quite a nice theatre and a good selection of concerts/events to attend. Much like Kingston. Small town, but with great performances. I really liked taking off on my own to go to the Grand Theatre and listen to the KSO.
I've got a lot of brochures for Swiss companies, so I hope to carry that on while I'm here.
Anyway, so a couple of us went to the opera. It was pretty good. Not really fancy, but nice nontheless. I mean, I don't have anything to compare it to, so maybe it was really crappy, but I enjoyed it. The opera itself is in Italian (which I only know some words from piano scores) but the French cheat notes were projected above the stage. That helped a little, but I obvious didn't understand every word. Opera (and any theatre I guess) is pretty easy to figure out even if you don't know the language. You can basically follow along to facial expressions and physical interactions. Or you can know that there's going to be two people falling in love, or some miscommunication about who loves who and someone's gotta die. The rest is just extra filler.
After the opera, moules and frites! Yum!

Dancing

In an attempt to keep active, I've looked into taking dance classes here in Neuch. Last week, I finally attended one.
It's supposed to be a jazz class. Intermediate/Advanced level. It's pretty good. Different from what I expected. The class has been going on since the end of the summer so I just had to follow along to the exercises that the students were already used to doing. The teacher has a really good warm up. Pretty thorough. She seems to do sorta modern-jazz stuff. Lots of contractions, flexed feet, funky arms. I totally wasn't expecting it when the class broke out into a whole Capoeira thing, well I had to laugh. I was doing pretty well at following, but crazy flipping and rolling wasn't going to happen on the first day. It was really neat though. After about an hour of warming up, we did two exercises across the floor and then worked on a dance for about 20 minutes. The class was just an hour and a half long, so the warm-up seemed a little extreme. I would have liked more technique or more time to work on the dance. Although I WAS really warm. (It was a hot studio though, so you couldn't help but be warm.)
I had no desire to take a ballet class although I've done ballet since I was a little kid. It's one of those things that I need time away from, or am just going to put it behind me. I relaly like ballet, but somewhere down the line, the technique just made me not enjoy it as much. Whereas some people like the technique, and work to perfect it, I felt constricted by it. Like I couldn't just enjoy the dancing, all I could worry about was my turnout. I guess that's why I enjoyed "Free Movement" so much. I could just dance and not worry as much about the little things getting in the way. I could feel the music without worrying about my alignment. I also stopped dancing towards the end of high school, and while I danced a little bit in University, my technique is completely gone. In my head, I still see myself as the dancer that I used to be, and so I can't face myself in the mirror while I do ballet anymore. I'm just not satisfied with the reflection that I see. It's almost embarrasing. My mind also remembers what I want my body to do, and how I want it to act, but unfortunately my body's not quite cooperating. I think that for now, I'm only happy doing ballet in the privacy of my own room or surrounded by others who know nothing about me and are at a similar level as me, technically. Sort of like how I really enjoy skating with adults now.
This may all change in a couple years, but for now, I feel like I've completed my time as a ballet dancer. I want to do other styles of dance.
I'm happy that I'm still dancing though. I really do love to dance. Music just gets right inside of you.

Accessories

I like accessories. I think it's my only way to spruce up my black outfits (becuase who am I kidding, as much as I "try" to branch out, it's not really working out too well).
I like looking at shoes, but always have a hard time finding ones that fit.
Bags are lov-er-ly. If I could have a new bag each day, it would be FAB.
Hats crept in during university...
and now the obsession is with scarves. Yes, you read right, s-c-a-r-v-e-s. Last spring I embarked on a frantic pashmina journey. Some may know of the desire to obtain a specific plaid scarf from a specific British company. I've wanted a touching-the-floor scarf for awhile (recently obtained on a *gasp* impulse buy). I'm looking for a wide (basically shawl-like) scarf. I'm also searching for this shawl/wrap thing that has sleeves (hard to explain - just trust me when I say it's cool).
I just can't seem to get enough of scarves right now...they're everywhere, and all so tempting!
But still, bags have a special place in my heart.

Cell phones

Seems everyone here has the cell phones that you can take pictures with. I don't remember it being popular in Canada yet. Has that changed? Or is Switzerland ahead of Canada on cell phone technology?

Belgium and Paris

In exactly one week, I'll be arriving in Brussels.
I'm so exctied for this trip because I've never been to Belgium and I LOVED Paris.
We're flying in to Brussels, doing tourist things like walking tours and visiting the European Parliament, but the highlight of the Belgium part of the trip will be attending the Remembrance Day ceremony in Flanders Fields/Ypres. I'm thinking the experience will be Dachau-esque.
We take the train to Paris and hit up every single tourist go-see possible. I've bascially seen them all, so I'm not as excited about this, although as mentioned before I loved Paris SO much the first time around. I have a couple goals for the Paris portion of the trip:

1. Shop (last time, I spent my whole time visiting all of the monuments and Museums, that I didn't get to shop at all)
2. Find the Paris Opera House (the one tourist place I didn't get to last time)
3. Find the Amelie cafe
and
4. Have a drink at a cafe while watching the world go by. All by myself.

I'm proud to say that I actually like spending time alone. That's not to say that I don't like spending time with others as well, but sometimes you just want to be doing your own thing and not having to worry about anyone else. You know? (Insert one of zillions of "strong-independant-woman" songs here as Miss Jao walks, no wait, *struts* towards the horizon.)

Cassis

Cassis is a pretty popular flavour here. Cassis = black currant.

Word association time!

Cassis = roll of gummies found at cashier of Chinese supermarkets.

Someone tell me that they have this memory too?!? I'm positive the only reason I've heard of black currant is from reading the wrapper and eating those wine-gum-ish things.

Clarification on Red Bull

To save the thoughts of Miss Jao becoming a rebel in her freedom, let me clarify a couple things:

- Red Bull's illegal in Canada because it's a caffeinated non-cola beverage
- I did NOT drink Vodka-Red Bull

I don't feel the need to drink it again...so I'm not addicted to the stuff! =)

In all seriousness though, click for more info on Red Bull.

A super BIG public sorry goes out to anyone who got really worried about me.

I only "experiment" with safe substances! =) Sinalco, Fanta, various brands of bubbly water...and don't even get me started on the weirdness that is Rivella.

Cronch, it's 1.50CHF per can here.

Red Bull

Red Bull is an "energy drink" that is not sold in Canada. I believe it's actually illegal. My only exposure to it before coming to Europe was hearing that some pop stars from the States take it on the road with them and love the stuff.
Red Bull is very accessible here. I finally tried drinking the stuff last night. It's very medicinal tasting. Cough syrup-esque.
My favorite is the fact that on the can there is a warning that states that Red Bull must not be mixed with alcohol. Good thing that Vodka-Red Bull is one of the most popular drinks in the area.
I don't know how much of an effect it had on me. I felt pretty awake all night, but I also didn't wake up that day until 11:30am. I didn't necessarily feel more hyper or anything, but maybe I was and just couldn't tell.
It was ok though...I'd drink the stuff again.

Happy Halloween

I hope everyone's having a wonderful Halloween however you're spending it.
Here in Switzerland, they don't really do much. Only recently have businesses realized that it's yet another way they can make excessive amounts of money for almost no good of a reason. Right now they're at the "decorating" phase. That's the extent of how they celebrate Halloween. Trick or treating is basically unheard of.
I went to a Halloween party last night. So much fun. We ended the night out at a local extablishment and danced the night away. It was my first time out to a Neuch club. It was really small, but fun. A nice atmosphere with an older crowd. I guess that's what you get when you're not in a University town eh? Luckily one of the people I was out with had a car, because the bus I needed to get home stops running after a certain time, and cabs are very expensive here. Part of me wishes I lived closer to downtown (sort of like University days). Alas.

A fancy outing

Friday night, we were invited by some local collegues out to dinner. This was a 6 hour affair. That's right, a dinner party for 6 hours.
It started out as a visit to a museum, where we learned about the history of Neuchatel and were introduced to the archives of the city. I think it would have been more interesting if it wasn't friday, and I wasn't exhausted from a long week. My French is so-so, but it still takes effort to listen to someone talking at you for 2 hours. Effort wasn't something I had on a Friday evening. I tuned out rather quickly, because I decided it was worth the minimal effort that was left in my body to focus on staying upright because I could feel my body swaying from fatigue. Also, I'm not very good at standing still for long periods of time, so it took effort to ensure that I wouldn't break out in a song and dance from boredom. I tried though...I really did.
Next was a tour of the city wine cellar. And a 2 hour wine tasting session. I feel exhausted just thinking about it. You'd be proud, I did taste two wines. The first was some random white wine that they served us first. Tastes even worse than I remember wine being. I really felt like puking after a small sip. Luckily there was bread near by to get rid of the puking sensation. On the tour of the cellar, we were offered some 2004 white wine. I know nothing about wine, and how to appreciate it, so the next part will be expremely funny to those who actually know what they're talking about. I like young wine better. Let me explain. First, I was thrown off by the fact the wine was so cloudy, but was told that it just hadn't been filtered yet. I prepared myself with a Tic Tac for afterwards, and took the smallest sip you could imagine. I was darn scared that I'd puke in the middle of our fancy affair. I was prewarned that it would taste acidic. Whatever. So it wasn't as bad as the other wine...I think this is because my brain registered sour (which it can stand) before the aftershock of wine flavour. So my body could accept this wine a little bit more because there was a first sensation that it was willing to deal with. I'm still very thankful that I had that Tic Tac handy. After two hours of small talk and being amazed at the amount of wine consumed, we finally got some dinner.
This is the fanciest restaurant in town aparently. Hotel du Payrou. Does it strike you as odd that the meal only cost 35CHF (taken care of) and a bottle of water with the meal cost 10CHF (not included)? All courses were absolutely delicous. If it was served 4 hours earlier, I'm sure I would have appreciated it that much more. It was still a nice evening and a good chance to work on my French listening and speaking ability.
It was also yet another day that I didn't have to cook dinner, but along with that, not get home until the wee hours of the next day. Being an adult is tiring.

Attempt at happiness foiled...again

I was really looking forward to starting to skate at the local club. Monday and Wednesday nights of this week were my chance at happiness. Foiled!
Monday...I was so excited that I was giddy. It's hard to explain how much I am obsessed with this sport. It also has to do with the fact that I need to be active or else I will go crazy. Equate it to the weirdo people who are addicted to going running or to the gym. I'm a weirdo person who needs to skate (or dance - stay tuned for this installment next week). Anyway, I was ready to go skating, when a 1h45min staff meeting foiled my plans. Alas, 'tis the destiny of a teacher.
Wednesday...keeping my fingers crossed. Getting really antsy. Looking forward to going. Ate McDonalds. Go to the rink half and hour early, only to learn that I'm actually half an hour late. So I missed the session. Darn 24hour time. It's just too confusing. Miss Jao was a slightly annoyed girl.
Some redemption. Today, at the rink skating on the Jr. Synchro Worlds ice surface. Fab. Up until now, I've been skating on the rink in the adjoining building. So I guess the Jr. Synchro Worlds practice rink. Almost better than the big rink beacuse it has a big window wall that looks out at the lake and the alps, but the rink is reminiscent of the Galaxy and big 'ole drippy speed bumps. Oh how I miss the Galaxy.
The plan from now on: skate three days a week. Monday and Wednesday nights as well as Fridays at lunch.

I'm so ashamed

I finally succumbed. I bought McDonalds.
A Big Mac Meal.
I had good reason too. I stayed at school because I'm going skating (more details about that tomorrow, after the fact) later tonight, so I needed to eat a little something, and the bakery that I usually go to ran out of dinner-ish food, so I turned to McDonalds as my only other close-to-school alternative.
I'm trying to take something positive out of it. Now I can say what Swiss McDonalds tastes like. It's actually different. The sauce is more mustardy or something and the veggies are fresher.
I do enjoy McDonald's food though, so it wasn't hard to eat. I just didn't want to come to Switzerland to eat McDonalds.
Oh, the fact I paid 10.90CHF for the meal makes it even worse.

Munich/Salzburg

Let me say that the trip was FAB-u-lous.

Bringing a pillow on the bus was definetely one of the smartest moves I made in my life. 9 hours in a stuffy bus is deadly. I was lucky enough to get two seats to myself, so I could stretch out every so often.

First touristic stop:
Neuchwanstein Castle. For the original "Sleeping Beauty Castle", it was a little disapointing. Only becuase it's not complete, so the tour seemed pretty weak. The parts that were complete though were so overly ornate. I guess much like all of castles I've seen in my life (the ultimate being Versailles, so no comparison there). King Ludwig sure liked his swans. Each room had a Wagner opera in it somehow. In the carvings, in the paintings...it was pretty cool. I wish Music History taught me more about them. Grade 4 right? Meh, it was too long ago.

We arrive in Munich in time for dinner at a traditional German restaurant. Props go out to the waitresses who can hold 4 or 5 full one-litre beer mugs (in each hand) without breaking their wrists. (At the Hofbrauhaus some wore wrist braces.) Dinner was a soup, pork and a baseball of doughy stuff, and apple strudel. How are German people not 5-gazillion pounds? The pork and baseball was the best. The pork was much like roast porc you can buy at a Chinese BBQ shop where the skin was all crunchy and stuff and the baseball was like eating a sticky rice pyramid wrapped up in leaves. If was weird. Two completely different cultures, but the same-ish food. The baseball really did look like a baseball. Except it didn't have red stiches.

The next morning, we headed to Dachau. I wondered how I or the others around me would react to it. It was a grey and rainy day which added to the vibe of what I was expecting it to be like. It was quite powerful, and I wasn't too surprised by anything I saw, but it really hit me when I was standing in the "shower room". Dachau was a work camp, as opposed to an execution camp although people did die there. It is thought that the shower room was not used for mass extermination, but instead for testing of substances. It wasn't a surprise, I mean, it was just like I'd imagined it would be. The white walls, dark. The low ceiling really added to " ". I walked through by myself, and there were a couple others around me, but it still felt " ". Seeing the German words for "shower room" above the door and looking up and seeing no pipes. It was really interesting though. The pictures, the words. Hearing the tour guide talk. Just seeing the buildings themselves was a good experience. I don't consider myself outwardly emotional, so it didn't hit me in that sense, but like with how I take everything else in my life, I'm glad I experienced it and all the thoughts that came with it. I guess I'm very internal. Schindler's List is an amazing movie, and since I don't really study history, maybe I don't know as much about the subject as I would have liked, but I still feel like I saw and learned a lot of things, and I'd actually like to get back again to spend more time reading every single placard/graphic/text thingy. I'm not sure if I'm getting my point across, but I really enjoyed the experience and having seen Schindler's List, what I was expecting Dachau to be like turned out to be very much what I saw.
I'm finding it hard to put into words what I experienced, because...well, I don't know. It's just one of those things in life that you can't put into words.

In the afternoon, we took a walking tour of the city. I was so exhausted by this point that I didnm't really have the attention span to take everything in. Also the fact that the streets were SO crowded completely threw me off. I don't know if it's always like that in Munich, or just becuase it was a Saturday afternoon. I felt very bewildered and lost because I hadn't been in a crowded area in such a long time (remember, Neuch is pretty small - I'm predicting a little bit of shock upon return to Toronto). Munich has some amazing buildings. Old European buildings, that I can't relate to history (sort of wish I could) but are amazing on their own to look at in awe. It seemed like such a contrast that in a city full of culture, I was also surrounded by so many modern and FAB shopping!!! It was mayhem. I didn't really get time to shop very much, but imagine my excitment/happiness/smiling on Bloor St. magnified by 10. FAB.

That night, after another dinner of traditional German fare (same as yesterday, plus pigs feet and duck - although mine came with chicken for some reason) we head to the Hofbrauhaus. It was FAB. It made me wish I enjoyed beer, just so that I could partake in the fun-ness. Lots of happy (often drunk) people. So friendly, so much enthusiasm, so much energy. I love that if you were a regular, you had a special beer stein that was locked in a personal locker for you to use whenever you were there. Live music, lots of people, FAB. I was ready to order a beer so that I could say that I did so in the Hofbrauhaus, but there was no point. I just don't like the stuff. I like the fact that the most famous German beer hall is right across the street from the Hard Rock Cafe. Leave it to the American to invade a cultural gem's space.

Sunday morning, we get back on the bus and head to Salzburg. I couldn't believe it...I'm sitting on the bus heading towards snow covered mountains. Is this for real? It was absolutely ______. Speechless...you're all missing out. As with most of Europe, things are pretty dead on Sundays, but luckily, there's some stuff going on, because Salzburg is maxing on its tourist stronghold. I, Miss Jao have now skipped (yes, skipped) down the vine covered arched tunnel-y thing that was used in the filming of the Sound of Music (forgive me, for I haven't seen the movie in over a year, I don't quite remember if it's the part where Maria's skipping with her bag singing "I have confidence" or when Maria and the Von Trapp kids are riding their bikes singing "Do Re Mi". I think it's the former). I didn't have time to see Mozart's house though. So I need to go back there at some point. Salzburg is totally maxing out on the Mozart factor. And I happily jumped on the bandwagon and purchased multiple Mozart-something brand chocolates. Souvenirs, check. At night we went to a concert. For some reason, I was under the impression that Eine Kline would be on the programme, but I was wrong. One piano four hands was on tap. Of course there was the one obligatory Mozart piece, and a couple other composers that I canm't quite remember off of the top of my head. Bach, Dvorjak, some others. 5 pieces in total. The small concert was held in a hall that Mozart once performed in, so that was quite special. The room was rediculously ornate. Lots of bling. I was in Salzburg and attended a concert. FAB.

Monday, we're on the bus and stop at the "Eagle's Nest" on the way home to Switzerland. I had so much fun. We were worried that we wouldn't get to go, because the day before it had snowed (yes, I said snowed) so much that they couldn't clear the roads sufficiently. Since the Eagle's Next is so high up, you have to take a bus up a winding road (with yet another breathtaking view) up to a point from which you get into a huge brass elevator that finally takes you up to the actual lookout point. Anyway, the roads were cleared, and we were given the go ahead to visit the place. It was sprinkling snow. FAB. I tossed snow in the air, climbed around rocks, was jealous of the birds who soared above, I was so happy. I wanted to make snow angels, but wasn't brave enough when I saw everyone rolling their eyes at me. I was still satified with the whole experience.

Sidebar: I still can't comprehend how I've gone from being SO upset one year to where I am now. And it takes me A LOT to get that upset. I feel like a bird.

Finally, back on the bus and 7-ish hours later, we arrive in Neuch.

In just two weeks, I will be in Belgium. Jealous? =)

More on pants

Another thing I forgot to mention is that when I buy pants in stores, they're often too long (short legs disproportional to waist/bum/thigh ratio!).
In Europe it's been even worse though, becuase not only is my bum too big for European standards, but I don't wear pointy toed stilettos on a regular basis needing my pants to be longer to look appropriate for the footwear. (Don't even get me started on how happy I am that ballet flats with rounded toes and comfy for teaching are coming back with avengence.)
Props to the Neuch ladies who have super strong ankles and can walk in their stilettos on cobblestone roads.

Interactive art

In front of the building across the street from school is a piece of interactive art. Well, today, they’re taking it down. The day that I had my camera ready to take a picture of it. Darn.
I don’t really GET art…I just make up what I think it means, so this could all just be nonsense.
It’s a big metal crate that you find on transport trucks or on trains with rectangular holes cut into the sides. So the crate is sitting on the pavement, and the sides (not the top or bottom) have these rectangles. In the rectangles, you can reach in with your hand and touch a roll of packing tape that’s fixed to the inside. About 5-10 paces (depending on which side you’re at) is a metal grid fence.
The art was prepared during the weekend I was in Munich, so I’m not sure how it started. I just remember that before I left, there was a big, blue metal box, and I just thought is was there because they were doing construction in the area (which they are doing). After my return from the trip I saw the “art”.
Basically, you’re invited to take the tape, pull it out (still attached to the roll) and tape it to anything. The fence, the ground, the box, a tree and/or other pieces of tape.
It looks like a metal box in the middle of a web of packing tape. That’s fenced in.
I participated twice. On time I lost the end of a roll of tape…I thought I ruined the art, but the next day when I walked by, someone must have found the end because a long piece came out and was attached to a pole. Attached to each rectangular opening is an edge that you can cut the tape on, so you can cut off the piece that’s already been used and repull your own piece. Kind of sucks that the “art” you created could just as easier be ripped off by someone else and be replaced with their own. Maybe that’s part of the “message”?!?
I read/heard something about how it’s supposed to symbolize immigrants or something like that? My French is far from perfect, and the billboard wasn’t too descriptive.
There’s another crate about 20 paces away from the original one, but there’s nothing special about it. There’s just an advert/billboard sitting on top of it for Migros grocery stores.
A lot of the teachers don’t like it. They think it looks like garbage and is environmentally friendly. I, of course being me, think it was cool and as mentioned, participated in the project.

Clothes and body shapes

Don’t think that I’m going to rant about me being too fat here, too fat there…I just tell things as I see them.
European sizing is still a little bit of a mystery to me. Here in Switzerland, I’ve been anywhere from a 36 to a 38 to even at 40. Sometimes I’m an 6 or 8. Sometimes I’m a S or M. When I crossed the border to France, I was a 1 or 2.
I’m finding buying tops is pretty much the same. In other words I seem to have a pretty standard upper body.
Bottoms are different. I have a skater’s bum and thighs. My bum and thighs are disproportionate to my waist. I also have a long torso in comparison to my leg length. It’s hard for me to buy pants that fit well in Canada as well. Some stores fit alright. Jacob’s pretty good for my body type. Club Monaco’s sometimes ok. It used to be the reverse. That Club fit me and Jacob didn’t…obviously my body’s been changing. Capri pants are a nightmare. They're always too long for my legs, so they just look like weird, short, pants. For capris to look semi-flattering, they need to cut off just below my knee (which gives the semi-impression that I have legs for days). Anyway, I wasn’t sure of how European cut pants would fit me. I’m finding I’ve still got the butt/thigh problem. I’m saying, someone out there would make a fortune if they made pants for skaters. Let me give a crude description…I don’t have a bubble butt, but a long butt. Laugh if you want, girls, you may sympathize. I find that a lot of the pants here go for short, flat bums. Like, they cut in again halfway down my bum. The tight pants syndrome is in full effect here in Neuch though, so maybe I’m just not used to (nor will I embrace) the act of wearing skintight pants. As always, if you look hard enough, you will eventually find a pair that fit. Or at least I hope(d) so. I did find a pair of pants that are ok though. Nice fall teachery looking pants.

Weather

Neuch has been pretty on and off recently. Two weeks ago, it seemed that fall had arrived as all of a sudden, from 20 degrees Celsius, it dropped to around 5 degrees, complete with wind and some rain. Last week was beautiful. Cooler at dawn and dusk, during midday, temperatures would reach 15-20 degrees. On Sunday, I soaked up some rays on my balcony.
The days seem short here. I always wake up between 6:30-8:00am on weekdays and it’s always pitch black outside. So hard (for someone like me who needs a lot of sleep) to wake up to a dark sky. Reminds me of early morning Varsity practices. I’m used to waking up to the bright sun outside my Scarborough home. When leaving my apartment, I seem to always be walking into a fog. I arrive to school in darkness, and when I leave the building for lunch, it’s bright sunshine and warm rays. Night time settles pretty normally.
Apparently, since Neuch is in a valley, and on the water’s edge, we get weird weather. Similar to Kingston actually. Often cloudy, rainy and windy. Similar to Leysin, being in a fog, is more like being in a middle of a cloud. If you take the funiculaire up, it’s clear and sunny skies since you’re above the clouds. Those were some of my greatest memories from Leysin. Standing in a cloud, and being able to look down on them.
Today, (at around 1:10pm) there was a short thunderstorm. It came from the West. It was incredible. You could see it coming, and you could see it move along the water. Looking south, you could see the grey mass of clouds move towards the East, and faintly see the rain coming down in sheets. Weather’s a pretty wonderful thing.

Joy

I’m very content with my life.

On Saturday, I went downtown to the hussle and bussle of the market. Bought fresh produce, and smiled.
I continued my day by discovering different stores in the area. Wandered into the unknown, picked up catalogues (which I love to flip through), pondered, and smiled.
I tried on clothes, modeled, and smiled.
Walked through the narrow alleys, on the cobblestone roads, hopped over the stream in Rue de Seyon, and smiled.
Looked at the sky, breathed in the wonderful air, soaked up the sun, and smiled.

Who's a big shot now?

It's taking me awhile to recouperate from the trip last weekend, but I have to say it was absolutely amazing!

Anyway, the point of this post to say that I, Miss Jao am a serious big shot. Who knew, I'm a Department Head!

Head of Mathematics.

I'm special.

A serious trip

This weekend, we're going to Munich and Salsburg. We leave tomorrow morning at 7am to sit on a bus for 6-ish hours. Why not a train you ask? Because some of the places we're visiting aren't easily accessible by train, so instead of taking the train and then renting a bus when we arrive, we're taking a bus the whole time. I'm planning on biding my time by doing my marking.
It will be an eye opening trip as we are visiting Dachau. We are also visiting the Eagle's Nest.
On a happier note, we are also visiting Neuschwanstein and of course will stop at the Hofbrauhause. We will also be attending a concert in Salsburg. How perfect would it be if it was Mozart?
I'm looking forward to the trip. I'm sure it'll be one I won't forget for the rest of my life.

Milk

I like to drink milk. Skim milk. It is good for you.
I planned on drinking a lot of milk here in Switzerland to maintain healthy bones. I have now given up on this plan.
Let me explain.
I vaguely remember milk in Switzerland tasting weird in '97.
I came, drank so milk and found it really really creamy. I thought it was just the fact it wasn't skim, so I didn't relaly think too much of it.
I went to the store and bought "lait ecreme" (skim). It tasted like mothballs.
I bought more skim milk, but a different brand that someone mentionned that they drink. It still tasted pooey.

I've decided to give up and eat lots of yogurt (Z was right afterall...it's really good) and try to get used to eating cheese (at Hyper U I bought some BabyBels and La Vache Qui Rit - they're both pretty tame, and honestly, who could say no to the "laughing cow"?).

I've noticed a couple little white spots on my fingernails (why does that happen), so I'm worried about my calcium consumption. I'm still plotting my next move.

Grocery stores

Grocery stores are a BIG deal here. Not just a place to buy your groceries, but also a place to purchase clothes, appliances, furniture, games, sporting equipment...everything. They also have restaurants and run schools.
There are a couple major grocery stores in Switzerland.
Co-op and Migros are the main two.
Co-op is more expensive than Migros and also runs the Walmart-esque store EPA.
Migros is enjoyable. I like to purchase things for cheap. Migros offers pilates, language, art, dance, sporting classes and more. With a Migros card, you can accumulate points which can get you gift certificates for the store. There are three levels of Migros stores. M, MM and MMM. (Small to big)
There's also Denners. The Denners near the school doesn't have any fresh produce, but they're dirt cheap for alcohol, bulk packages and meat.
It is key to keep your eyes peeled for "Action" signs. Action = Sale! Denners has amazing sales on meat products.

Across the border shopping

Much like Canadians near the border flocked to Buffalo to go shopping, the Swiss near the border go to little towns in France to do their shopping.
It works both ways I've been told. The French come to gas up their cars, and the Swiss go to do their grocery shopping.
This past weekend I took the half-hour car ride across the border. There was no toll-booth, and they did not ask for my passport (good thing because another border hopper had forgotten hers at home).
We visited a small town called Pontalier. It was nice to not have to worry about switching to yet another language (a day trip to Bern was confusing - German part of the country, but everyone there spoke every language). Clothes were reasonably priced, especially since for the whole trip I was confused about the exchange rate of the Euro (I thought the reverse of what it was - I've always had a problem with this. My parents will attest to this fact.) So I went a little shoping crazy. I deserved it though, and in retrospect, sure I wouldn't have bought everything that I did (maybe just one or two items), but I'm happy with my purchases and I came to Europe to let loose and enjoy myself. Spending a little more money than I'm used to (which, as most people know, I'm TOTALLY a cheapskate) is fine. And honestly, the prices were still very affordable.
"Moules et frites" are my new "calamari". Calamari is my test food. I order it to determine how good the overall restaurant is. I like to call myself a calamari snob. So now that I'm in Europe, I've switched to "moules et frites". For the French challenged, that's mussels and fries. Yum! The only catch is that for the most part, mussels are cooked in wine sauce, and I'm not big a fan of that taste. I'll have to work on that.

I think I'll also become a "water snob". People don't tend to drink tap water here (or at least don't serve it at restaurants. One reason for that is that people tend to drink bubbly water. "Avec gaz" (or gazeuse). In Canada I hated that frou frou San Pelligrino stuff. But it's really growing on me.
They also sell "sirops" here. Syrups I guess. Like, flavourings. Red orange, strawberry, pear, grapefruit, etc etc. You can add the syrups to bubbly water. I guess it's similar to "italian sodas" that they sell in Second Cup and stuff. I guess I was thrown off by bubbly water because everything tasted like pop, and my mom has brainwashed me into thinking that pop is bad because it's full of sugar. So then I'm thinking that I'm just drinking sugar all the time instead of realising that it's just fancy water. The syrups are sugary though. Still, the bubbly water cause some mental issues.
There is the option of getting non-bubbly (sans gas/non-gazeuse) water, but most people get the bubbly. Often non-bubbly is more expensive, and if I'm already paying a whole bunch of Francs for water, I might as well get the bubbly stuff. Makes me think I'm at least getting something extra for my money.

As usual, I've gotten off topic.

Back to France. Shopping was great. I bought a bag! A good sized purse that's brown (not usually a staple colour for me, but good for fall) boucle type material.
Bags are FAB. I'm looking forward to buying more.
Lunch was moules and frites at a cafe that didn't want to serve hot food outside (it was a beautiful day) for fear that we'd complain the food was cold. We promised that we wouldn't. And yes, the frites were cold, but only because the pot of moules was so huge, it took so long to get through.
Then we make the trek to the grocery store (the main point of most Swiss' trip). Hyper U. HUGE!!!! Like, bigger than the huge Loblaws' that have been popping up all over Toronto (and in Kingston). It was actually overwhelming. (Perhaps because I haven't been to anything big since I left home?) Stuff wasn't too much cheaper, but of course the selection was tremendous. I stocked up on heavy stuff because I had a car. It's horrible walking up the hill home after grocery shopping. Reminds me of the 88 Wellington days when the trek home (on the weeks when it was my turn to buy the milk) was painful.
Bottom line is that it was a beautiful day, a beautiful little town, a fun trip, new clothes, a new bag, yummy moules, fun times, being in France, grocery selection overload...good times.

I hope to go again soon.

Dancing boys

I gotta say, I love boys who can dance. Da-amn.
One of the 4 English channels I get on my tv is MTV Europe. On weekdays at 7pm (repeats on weekends) is the Wade Robson Project (I'd create some kind of link, but I'm afraid I'll ruin my suspense in who wins. You can look it up yourself, just don't tell me who wins/won if you find out).
I know that is was on the US MTV sometime last year, but I think it's showing here for the first time.
Anyway, it's a dance contest. Right now they've gone through the prelims, quarters, and now we're at the semis. They've had to freestyle, dance to contrasting genres of music, create routines and learn quick choreography.
Boys who can dance sure look good.

-- bus is coming. head is hurting. time for bed.

Report cards

If you're a teacher or know any teachers, they always complain around report card time.
By my Flik Flak, it's now 10:29pm and I have just finished writing report cards for my three classes.
Sure, I had to be here at school to supervise the kiddie's movie night (they watched "Old School"), but it's still late and it look a lot more effort than I was expecting. All that was needed for this set was a letter grade and a short comment.
It was brain-numbing and having a headache during the day didn't help matters.
I'm fried so I want to go home, however my bus doesn't come for another 15 minutes (late night service) so I'm going to post more.

More smells

At the beginning of this week, the city gave the official "go ahead" for the Vendanges to begin.
As the local school students have last week and this week off from school, some get jobs picking grapes to make some extra pocket money. Many families end up going on vacation for the two weeks.
It's interesting...the fact that in the newspaper (and I'm sure somewhere else) it was formally announced that the Vandanges could begin. Makes it sound so...I don't know, like there should be a town crier walking through the streets ringing a bells and shouting "Hear ye, hear ye!" I like it.
Anyway, before this week, on the trek from the bus stop to my apartment, there's this one little moment where you get a whiff of grapes. It's such a nice smell. Smell association: my first piano teacher's Thornhill house. Wine grapevines in the backyard and a little pond with big fish.
This week however the smell a little more wine-esque. I don't like the smell of wine. It's just not as fresh smelling or something. Like, more acidic? Maybe it's just a too concentrated of a smell this week and it's throwing me off.
On the walk/bus ride home I'd see people in the fields picking grapes. I felt like asking if I could volunteer to pick grapes for a little bit, just to say I've done it during the Vendanges. I never ended up doing it.

Cars in Neuch

Cars are tiny here...and people are fab at parallel parking. Obviously SUV-itis is a North American disease.
There's the standard VW Jetta-ish car, and then Alfa Romeos and Peugeots.
I noticed that the area where the license plate goes is long and narrow to fit the European sized license plate. I can't seem to recall if the license plate area in Canada is the same shape? I mean, I know that car companies make different North American and European models, but does the license plate area differ? Some license plates are the same size as Canadian ones however.
Most cars that I've seen are hatchback-esque with small bums.
I've also seen a lot of Smart cars which are super small. For some reason I was impressed because I thought it meant the Swiss were all up on the enviro-healthy cars, but I've been told that I'm thinking of the wrong thing. What's the one that runs on electricity or something?
Anyway, I still think Smart cars are cool. With a name like "Smart" you can't go wrong.
Last friday I saw an Amelie pedal-bike (can't wait to go to Paris in November and search out the "Cafe de deux Moulins").
The coolest thing I've seen in Neuch is the BMW C1. Canadians have to jump on that bandwagon. You'd be fab in my books if you got one.

Thanksgiving

The Swiss do not celebrate Thanksgiving, however there was a specially dinner for us "Canadiens".
Kids look fab all dolled up. Mature. Confident. Makes a teacher happy to see them this way.
We did have turkey, however is was only two small slices. It came with mashed potatoes (which I find revolting due to experiences of last year), a delish sweet potato puree and chestnuts in a wonderful glaze sauce. Dessert was a more-ginger-than-pumpkin pie.
I think the Swiss just don't get the "eat until you have to unbutton your pants" idea.
Even still it was a fabulous meal at a lovely venue.

Happy long weekend to those in Canada.

Math is fun

When your students enthusiastically ask to decorate your classroom by sticking a sign that says ZY (they didn't do it alphabetical) and then a picture of an airplane (ZY Air) breaking the sound barrier on the front wall (along with the corresponding XZ one and the X, Y and Z axes), you know you've done a good job.
We started 3-space in Geometry today.

Fete

Fete was FAB. It was one heck of a street party. Very crowded with music blaring. I was still really sick that weekend, but I was told that there were lots of great smelling things too (food stands were everywhere).
I tried eating a deep-fried Indian thing. The funniest was that I could feel the texture and consistency in my mouth (it was crunchy), but I couldn't taste a thing. So I experienced what it was like to lose one of my senses. I mean, I couldn't taste ANYTHING. Usually when you're sick you can taste a little something, but I coudlnt' taste anything at all. I found it funny because I knew it was supposed to be spicy, but I couldn't taste any spicy flavours. All of a sudden though my mouth started to burn, but it was weird because my brian wasn't recieving the usual signals that my mouth feels that way because I ate/tasted something spicy. Anyway, it was a weird experience, and yet another one of those things that most people wouldnm't care about, but I found completely interesting.
There was a whole amusement park with games and rides set up by the water too. So fab.
Many cultural groups were represented. Food and craft stands from Brazil, China, Thailand, India, Mexico. Musicians and street performers. I ate kebabs, roasted chestnuts, Indian food, Portugese food, crepes, mmmmmmmmmmmm! And of course drinks were flowing freely.
The whole city was out having a great time. Lots of non-Neuch people too. From Switzerland...other countries too. My bus was packed going home at midnight. Even at the last stop. This NEVER happens. What a great time.
It's too bad Fete is only once a year. Neuch is pretty quiet the rest of the time. Every city needs a good raucous party every so often. I guess that's why the Neuchateloise party so hard the one weekend they can.

Desalpes

The same weekend as the Fete, was the Desalpes in a nearby town just east of Neuch.
Desalpes is the descending of the cows to lower altitudes after they have been grazing at higher altitudes during the spring/summer months.
There was a little parade with floats, bands and other entertainers as well as of course the cows and other animals (sheep, goats). Along the main road, booths selling food, drinks and hand-made goods were set up. There was some fab lemon pie and even a "Canadian booth" set up by a Quebecker. (He was selling maple syrup products.)
You may know that cows here wear cowbells (I bought quite a few as souvenirs last time I was here).
Cows enter contests. The "Best in Show" cow gets a MAMMOTH cowbell as a prize. It seems sort of backwards though. You're great Mr. Cow, but now you have to lug around a heavy bell all the time. And it's so huge that you can't pick your front feet up because it'll hit the bell.
I guess it's more bragging rights for the farmer. Or maybe we underestimate cows and they like parading around all-macho and stuff moo-ing about how great they are with their big bells.
Anyway, basically, the cows in the parade had some big bells. Some had little ones though. I guess they didn't win any contests.
Some of the cows also had branches of fir trees (with ribbons tied on the little branches) tied to their heads. Decoration? I don't know.

The real raclette

In a previous comment, I mentionned that a fondue where you dunk potatoes instead of bread is called a raclette. I was wrong.
Apparently that's still a fondue, just with potatoes instead of bread. No other special name for it.

A raclette machine however, may be the contraption that W was refering to in a comment in the same thread.

Imagine a grill. Under the grill is a heating element. Under the heating element is a tray that you can put little spatula/spoons on. On the grill you put pasta, potatoes, veggies, meat and anything else to keep warm (directly on the grill or in pots to put on the grill). In the spatula/spoons you put a slab of cheese. The cheese melts in the spatula/spoon, you remove the spatula/spoon and pour the melted cheese onto the food that you have put onto your plate from the grill.

This is raclette. (Which I experienced this past friday night)

Swiss watch

On September 18th, I purchased a Swiss watch. It's my second Swiss watch bought in Switzerland (last time was a Swatch - 1996 Atlanta Games special edition by Katarina Witt with an alarm and random skating stuff on the face and bands - purchase in 1997 in Leysin).
Surprisingly for me, it was a complete impulse buy. I wasn't planning on buying a watch that day...I knew that I'd be buying a watch here in Switzerland at some point. I'd actually been considering (and still am) buying a nice "professional looking" Tissot.
Anyway, it's a Flik Flak. In other words, the children's equivalent of Swatch. It's fab.

It's called "Dancing Mouse" and it's under the "Pre-school" section. Yes, I have a pre-schooler's watch. I am also on the second last hole on the band, so I can't get any fatter (although I do wear it a little loose).
Notice the rhinestones on the band and face and how perfect this watch is for me. The buckle part is sparkly as well. It's pink, it's got ballet slippers, it's sparkly...what more could a Limin want?
I guess I need to find a piano-ish watch so that I'll have a watch for each hobby.

Also, did you know that Swatch made a special ICQ watch? Like, it has the little flower, yellow message icon, etc etc on it.

And this season, Swatch has a Karma Sutra watch with rabbits demonstrating, well, you know on it? Appropriately named "Bunnysutra".