Presents for me!!!

I'm now the proud owner of:
- Camper boots (it worked out so well...a sale - 22% off because it's December 22nd...and boots that actually fit my weirdo feet - stupid bunions...and Camper...swoon!)
- two fleece tops with thumbholes!

Unfortunately, the Bally store didn't have the 3000CHF bag for me to get tempted by.

Thank goodness the French train company is still on strike or else I would have missed all this good shopping fun! Although, after two attempts and now possibly not being able to ever go, I haven't experienced the Strasbourg Christmas Market.

Freakin' ostriches

Yesterday, after a day of judging in Dubendorf (chatted a bunch with Sarah Meier's mom) I went back to Zurich to wait for my train. I noticed that the stores were open (on a Sunday...gasp!!! Actually, it's just pre-Christmas shopping, so they opened the stores specially on a Sunday) so in my half hour before I had to catch my train, I journeyed down to Bally to look for a bag. I really want to buy a Bally bag sometime soon. I only saw one bag that I liked, and the total shocker was that it was on sale. Sigh, 2950CHF still isn't a good enough sale for me.
By the way, Zurich is dangerous for the shopper. Last time I was there, I went into Burberry and fell in love with a black coat that was on display. Sigh, they didn't have my size and consequently, couldn't drop a four figure amount on a beautiful item of clothing.
Oh and by the way, if you need someone to pick out the most expensive item of clothing in a store, I'm your girl. Sigh.

<happy>Sigh</happy>

Remember a couple minutes ago when I posted that I missed lights and decorations and stuff? Well, just now there was a huge fireworks display by the port and I got a great view from the staffroom window. I had no idea why it happened except for the fact that someone out there knew that it would make me happy.
I took a video of it and my batteries died before I could take any good photos, because I really wanted to share them here.
I wonder what it is, but I feel like I need evidence of everything wonderful that happens in my life. Is it because I want to share it with everyone else once I get back home? I think it's also because for some reason I think I'm going to forget about all of these things when I get older, my memories will fade and that I will need these pictures to remind myself about just how lucky I am.

I used to love a hectic lifestyle

Ok, I guess I still do, but this is a little bit bonkers. What I want right now, is to take a couple days off work and just go Christmas shopping. To see lights and trees. To drink hot chocolate in Second Cup. To visit Holts and CM and windown shop in Yorkville.
No, I swear I'm not homesick. I just need a little breather. I was the one who decided to be all crazy busy right now, but I wish I could just hit the pause button for awhile.
I hope everyone else is enjoying ther hectic-ness of the approaching holidays. Being out here really keeps that stuff to minimum, which is a little nice. I do miss those lights and decorations though. There's a huge tree downtown, but I don't get there very often. Sigh.
Just four more days of classes and then I get a day off before going to Tunisia.

Sassafraz

I can't believe that big yellow Sassafraz burned down. Thank goodness a week before I came to Neuch Laura and I went for lunch there to be "spotted".
Strange how when I told someone here in Neuch who still has a house in Yorkville that it's gone, she imeediately thought that someone had done it on purpose. She predicts that all the nice boutiques and restaurants in the area will be gone soon becuase all they want to do is build condos. She thinks maybe the mafia torched Sassafraz. I wonder.

Getting to the big leagues

So, something new to this post. I judge figure skating. I may come to edit this post if I really want to leave out almost everything possible to trace my existence, but right now, I think it's pretty safe, and plus, this story is interesting enough to tell so I don't really care.
Last weekend, I was in Geneva judging the Swiss Senior National Championships. For those of you not into the skating scene, this is a BIG deal. Well, okay, I wasn't really judging. I was trial judging. By the way, this is still a BIG deal.
Ever since I came to Neuch, I tried to get into the Swiss judging system and to be able to trial judge at the Nationals is really exciting. Judging is something really important in my life right now and I hope it will be for some time to come.
Sure, it's nowhere near the calibre of Canadian Nationals, but it's pretty exciting. It was actually overwhelming at some points when all of the press decended (namely when Sarah Meier and Stephane Lambiel skated) and when the audience (amazing turn out to the competition...admission was free! Can you imagine that in Canada?) got really rowdy at times...and booed the scores for one of the skaters. I actually found it hard to concentrate on the skater's performance and was in awe of Stephane and Sarah's skates that I momentarily forgot to write stuff down on my paper. Oops. Wow, this post is making me sound like a horrible judge, but honestly, I'm so glad that I had this experience, because I learned so much from it in terms of what my future (hopefully) holds. Yes, yes, I want to make it big in the judging world...we'll see what happens with that.
In case you're wondering, Swiss Nationals are divided up into different competitions. In Canada, there are Sr. Nat's and Jr. Nat's, but here there's Nat's for every level.
For those interested, the ladies event was very lackluster. There was Sarah Meier, and then there was everyone else. Sarah was gearing up for the Grand Prix Final and was therefore in top form. She's still pretty young, but she's really developing into a great skater. She's got great spring in her jumps and a wonderful air position. Good eyes and her projection's getting much better. The rest of the girls were at best landing triple toes/salchows. What a difference.
In the dance event, there was actually a Canadian. I'm not sure why he decided to come to Switzerland...better chance of going to the next level? Who knows.
In the men's event, the big buzz was that Stephane wold be unveiling his new long program. It was incredible. He's coming off being sick (missed his last Grand Prix event and consequently the Final), so he wasn't in the best of shape and that along with the fact that it was a new program made it a really tough skate. Great artistry and passion in his skating, I think that he really needs to work on his speed. Hoepfully it's just his endurance that's down, but eitherway, he's got to work on that some more. Of course he's got great spins, but his footwork was really amazing. Great musicality and character of the music. Fabulous.
Anyway, I'm still so happy that I had this experience. The judges were really really welcoming and observing their behaviour during the competition was so beneficial. Here's to the future!

Oh, and apparently I was spotted on TV. Sitting on the panel in the background as Stephane Lambiel skated. Wheeee! I made it on TV!

Holiday trip

Last year I went to Kenya, this year, I will going to Tunisia. I know it's a little last minute to be spreading the news, but it's only because I decided rather recently about this trip (due to many reasons). Sadly it means, I won't get to see a fab girl get married in Zimbabwe and I won't get to explore more of Spain (Madrid and Seville) and see the super huge Christmas tree in Lisbon that E told me about. I guess I'm excited to go to Tunisia...part of the trip include a couple days camping (uh, oh) in the desert. I just don't know enough about this country to be excited. I have to do some more research, but I'm been so insanely busy and btw, I need sleep desperately. Sure, I'm great at falling asleep on trains, but it's taking its toll. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry, I'll probably talk about it rather soon. Obviously it has to do with skating in some way. It always does. I just love that sport so much that it's ridiculous, but when do you draw the line. When is enough vague-wishy-washy-situations enough? Hopefully I'll have the answer soon. Maybe it's a sign that I'm just not meant to be a part of this branch of the sport.

The Departed

So I guess this is what people with lives do. Go watch movies on a weekly basis. This past Friday, I went to see yet another movie - The Departed.
Apparently, this is based on some Chinese movie, which I've never seen before...except strangely enough, supposedly I flipped by this movie on a hotel TV in Krakow, Poland.
This movie is about New York cops trying to bust a mafia guy (Jack Nicholson - good at playing creepy guys) by putting in a guy (Leonardo Dicaprio) with Nicholson's gang undercover. At the same time, Nicholson's already got a mole (Matt Damon) on the force. So it's the story about who can get whom first.
It felt like a LONG movie. Many parts didn't feel like they were going anywhere and I was really really bored towards the end.
I enjoyed the part with the Cantonese speak, probably only becasue I haven't heard Cantonese in a long time. And it's always nice to hear Chinese guys yelling at each other.
I thought that there was an extraneous number of killings. People were just being shot for no reason. Lots of violence. It wasn't like I cringed at the violence, it just got too over the top and I was like, oh, there goes another guy.
Oh and the little thing at the end was definitely a groaner. How annoying when they put in things like that.

- picture courtesy of www.thedeparted.warnerbros.com