I landed in the evening and could not see the surrounding snowy
mountains. But driving home in the midst of fluttering snowflakes
drilled in this feeling of winter cold and fuzzy vanilla spice scents.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
15 days before Christmas, or before my days off
And so it begins, the rush for shopping, making list, then shopping for more things that are not on the list. This weekend it begins with a trip away from this shopping desert: I don't want any more chocolate, and I sure don't want any watch.
More than that though, I need to reset.
It's crazy how I managed to create new habits last summer, moving out here, but old habits are very hard to get rid off. I bite my nails again and have already changed the furniture arangement in the room 3 times.
New resolutions dawn every morning and dies everyday around 6pm. I am stucck on page 8 of my music sheet, and chapter 18 of my Japanese book. The only hope I have is that I keep having resolutions... I feel comfortably stuck in my life...and seeing the amount I pay for health insurance every month, I should live more dangerously and break a leg every 3 months.
Today was children's day at work and loads of tots and dolls came to attend a puppet show. They were all individually cute and sweet, but all together gave me a major headache and anxiety. They are scary in their innocence and freedom. And even scarier because a couple of them could easily irritate me (bless my godchild, lol).
What's positive lately?
I sleep better at night despite the neighbour upstairs walking with wooden cloggs on wooden floor every night and every early morning. The plants I bought last week are still green, and this week will be sunny.
I need my holidays and for my heart to go 'kyuuuuun'....
More than that though, I need to reset.
It's crazy how I managed to create new habits last summer, moving out here, but old habits are very hard to get rid off. I bite my nails again and have already changed the furniture arangement in the room 3 times.
New resolutions dawn every morning and dies everyday around 6pm. I am stucck on page 8 of my music sheet, and chapter 18 of my Japanese book. The only hope I have is that I keep having resolutions... I feel comfortably stuck in my life...and seeing the amount I pay for health insurance every month, I should live more dangerously and break a leg every 3 months.
Today was children's day at work and loads of tots and dolls came to attend a puppet show. They were all individually cute and sweet, but all together gave me a major headache and anxiety. They are scary in their innocence and freedom. And even scarier because a couple of them could easily irritate me (bless my godchild, lol).
What's positive lately?
I sleep better at night despite the neighbour upstairs walking with wooden cloggs on wooden floor every night and every early morning. The plants I bought last week are still green, and this week will be sunny.
I need my holidays and for my heart to go 'kyuuuuun'....
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Moonrise over the snow
This morning at 7:40am, I was riding the shuttle half asleep when my frozen eyeballs registered the view over the lake. It was going to be a cloudless morning and I could see the snow over half of the mountain's height as well as the huge luminous moon reflecting the sunrise. After fumbling in my handbag searching for my camera, I couldn't stop the curses when it ran out of battery as I tried to take a picture. So I ended up with the phone camera.
I cannot complain that: this place has a way to keep me in awe at unexpected times.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
A nice trip at the callanques with the baby
We drove to Cassis to get some amrine air and enjoy the view from the 'callanques'. It was windy, but we found a rock flat enough to settle the breastfeeding mum, and have a picnic. Time was flowing at a strange pace, with the rythm of his respiration and silence after some cries of hungry mouth.
All in all though, it was nice taking naps with him every 3 hours...gives a quiet comforting feeling to the landscape as well
Monday, November 16, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Friday 13th
Foggy weather and mild temperatures. It is past halloween and closer to black friday. I am off to the south of France for warmer weather and my first godchild.
The date will be memorable, not to eclipse his birth date.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Hurrah!!!Hooray!!
After nearly one month and a half camping in my apartment, the furniture are now finally assembled.
And finally as well, the books, photo albums are now shelve
And even the wardrobe in the entrance got assembled, to give me a mirror to look into before getting out. I have had so many wardrobe malfunctionning since I got here, hopefully this mirror will help prevent showing my panties to the whole office...
And finally as well, the books, photo albums are now shelve
And even the wardrobe in the entrance got assembled, to give me a mirror to look into before getting out. I have had so many wardrobe malfunctionning since I got here, hopefully this mirror will help prevent showing my panties to the whole office...
Friday, November 06, 2009
A blessing in disguise?
I happened to get the assignment opened last week at work, and now wondering if it is a good thing. I will be joining a team that deals with everything operational in the company. Let's just hope I won't be doing any telephone or halogen lamp repairs all day.
The main goal though will be to meet as many people in the company and know about their roles and business,as well as the kind of things they usually need: last minute webcams for executive training, automated tools here and there, a website or reporting site, etc...
I was hesitant to pursue the assignment once after the interview, but change is good and challenging. I may be used like in th eprevious job, but I also have loads to gain in term of networking and exposure.
So I am building the shelves to hold my long unopened books, and prepare mentally for steep learning curve and to feel a bit lost and useless again: the assignment starts monday. It will be 50-50 and I keep my old role, but it will be enriched with the scary experience with the ops team. GO ME!
The main goal though will be to meet as many people in the company and know about their roles and business,as well as the kind of things they usually need: last minute webcams for executive training, automated tools here and there, a website or reporting site, etc...
I was hesitant to pursue the assignment once after the interview, but change is good and challenging. I may be used like in th eprevious job, but I also have loads to gain in term of networking and exposure.
So I am building the shelves to hold my long unopened books, and prepare mentally for steep learning curve and to feel a bit lost and useless again: the assignment starts monday. It will be 50-50 and I keep my old role, but it will be enriched with the scary experience with the ops team. GO ME!
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Autumn at my desk
with golden rays and 2 rainbows. It fascinated me for at least 15 min,
taking my head off work.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Halloween is near
Lately, I have had some anxious dreams.
For example, I dreamt that I forgot to pick up my Halloween costume before flying off to the murder party. My heart was racing like mad when I woke up.
Just the day before, I had this dream where I am running like mad to return to shelter because the person I was somehow following did a U-turn and started running after me. And for some reason I know that he was going to explode. Again I was panting like I had run for real a 60m sprint.
For the costume, I understand my impatience to get to the party. For the other one...
For example, I dreamt that I forgot to pick up my Halloween costume before flying off to the murder party. My heart was racing like mad when I woke up.
Just the day before, I had this dream where I am running like mad to return to shelter because the person I was somehow following did a U-turn and started running after me. And for some reason I know that he was going to explode. Again I was panting like I had run for real a 60m sprint.
For the costume, I understand my impatience to get to the party. For the other one...
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Tartiflettes and Génépi
About 1h30 by bus from Geneva, we got to Annecy, a pretty small clean old city with a pleasant paved old town area and canals that lead to the purestand cleanest lake in Europe: lake Annecy.
The idea of the trip was to window shop and eat. So we wandered about the Sunday market, making a mental note of the different cheese stands and the million types of saucissons. It was quite painful to walk past all the food and not being able to make a decision on what to buy. We were quite reasonable though and didn't even taste a single sample!!
Getting lost along the small streets, we were really looking for a place to sample the local fare: tartiflette. To those unaccustomed to the dish, it is not something you would eat if you were on a diet. Made of potatoes, and usually bacon and cheese (Reblochon) it is quite easy to make. I have made it a few times myself, because trust me, my pants size didn't increase by itself.
1-cook the potatoes and bacon a bit
2-put in a baking pan
3-put the cheese on top
4-cook in the oven until its melted and all gooyey
5-serve hot
We eventually found one restaurant calle the 'Munich' that served tomatoe tartiflette and goat cheese tartiflette. As you may guess, those were just additional ingredients....Imagine eating potaoes and bacon and 500g of melted cheese....feels good and heavy. We had to sit for an additional 30min chatting to digest and be able to move.
About 15minutes alter though, we stumbled on an ice cream shop that had yummy sorbet: I had a scoop of grapefruit and another one of passion fruit. We kept on walking in order to discover more shops, and so I discovered Génépi in one of those tourist trap shop. It was the perfect digestif after 800g of good food.
By 4pm we were by the lake and embarked on a 30min cruise. The weather was nice (about 16C) and no wind, so we sat outside, which was a mistake because once the boat picked up speed, the wind froze my face and the sight of the beautiful autumn leaves became secondary to protecting my eyes and nose from icy winds.
After that less than warm experience, nature blessed us with a beautiful sunset reflected on the white rocks and cliffs surrounding the lake. The setting sun reminded us of the time and so we hurried back in the shopping area for a crepe and cider before heading back to Geneva. We weren't really hungry, but it would have been a crime not to have one.
Annecy will definetely see a bit of me in the future.
The idea of the trip was to window shop and eat. So we wandered about the Sunday market, making a mental note of the different cheese stands and the million types of saucissons. It was quite painful to walk past all the food and not being able to make a decision on what to buy. We were quite reasonable though and didn't even taste a single sample!!
Getting lost along the small streets, we were really looking for a place to sample the local fare: tartiflette. To those unaccustomed to the dish, it is not something you would eat if you were on a diet. Made of potatoes, and usually bacon and cheese (Reblochon) it is quite easy to make. I have made it a few times myself, because trust me, my pants size didn't increase by itself.
1-cook the potatoes and bacon a bit
2-put in a baking pan
3-put the cheese on top
4-cook in the oven until its melted and all gooyey
5-serve hot
We eventually found one restaurant calle the 'Munich' that served tomatoe tartiflette and goat cheese tartiflette. As you may guess, those were just additional ingredients....Imagine eating potaoes and bacon and 500g of melted cheese....feels good and heavy. We had to sit for an additional 30min chatting to digest and be able to move.
About 15minutes alter though, we stumbled on an ice cream shop that had yummy sorbet: I had a scoop of grapefruit and another one of passion fruit. We kept on walking in order to discover more shops, and so I discovered Génépi in one of those tourist trap shop. It was the perfect digestif after 800g of good food.
By 4pm we were by the lake and embarked on a 30min cruise. The weather was nice (about 16C) and no wind, so we sat outside, which was a mistake because once the boat picked up speed, the wind froze my face and the sight of the beautiful autumn leaves became secondary to protecting my eyes and nose from icy winds.
After that less than warm experience, nature blessed us with a beautiful sunset reflected on the white rocks and cliffs surrounding the lake. The setting sun reminded us of the time and so we hurried back in the shopping area for a crepe and cider before heading back to Geneva. We weren't really hungry, but it would have been a crime not to have one.
Annecy will definetely see a bit of me in the future.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Jazz a Geneve
I was surfing for concert venue when I stumbled on AMR. Got to the concert page and saw a trio playing Thursday night. I tried to talk some of my colleagues into joining me in an evening of jazz, when one of my colleague pointed out he was going because his brother was playing there on that night.
I guess Geneva is such a small town that it was worth it after all to ask if he knew the saxophonist who bear his name...LOL
It was a night of magic, in a cute non smoking (*) venue. The saxophone was at times whispering, then exhilarating in a fugue, Bach style, with unimaginable sound. The bass was consistently melodic, with classical guitar and Segovia inspired touches, and the drums were just as punctual and supportive as ever, with its own melody and breathing sounds.
They played all kinds of atmospheres: from children's sounds, to melancholic views of a traffic packed bridge on a sunset, a beautifully sad remembrance to an old friend...
I also found some known tunes among the improvisations: oscar peterson's night train, Satie's gymnopedie's tones played as a bass line.
It made me travel through time and through my emotions, and mad eme relax from an uneventful day, bringing me home smiling with a peaceful satisfaction, and 2 CDs.
Soundbites here.
Steve Swallow – www.wattxtrawatt.com
Ohad Talmor – www.ohadtalmor.com
Adam Nussbaum – www.adamnussbaum.net
(*)Geneva once voted to ban smoking inside public places. But then the referendum was apparently unconstitutional or toor esticting, so the result of the vote was cancelled. This weekend, they will vote again for all sorts of things. As a results, some venues are smoke free by putting a sticker at the door advertising so, and some are just smokey, by putting a sticker outside claiming prohibiting smoking is limiting liberty...so much propaganda everywhere...that will be topic of another post!
I guess Geneva is such a small town that it was worth it after all to ask if he knew the saxophonist who bear his name...LOL
It was a night of magic, in a cute non smoking (*) venue. The saxophone was at times whispering, then exhilarating in a fugue, Bach style, with unimaginable sound. The bass was consistently melodic, with classical guitar and Segovia inspired touches, and the drums were just as punctual and supportive as ever, with its own melody and breathing sounds.
They played all kinds of atmospheres: from children's sounds, to melancholic views of a traffic packed bridge on a sunset, a beautifully sad remembrance to an old friend...
I also found some known tunes among the improvisations: oscar peterson's night train, Satie's gymnopedie's tones played as a bass line.
It made me travel through time and through my emotions, and mad eme relax from an uneventful day, bringing me home smiling with a peaceful satisfaction, and 2 CDs.
Soundbites here.
Steve Swallow – www.wattxtrawatt.com
Ohad Talmor – www.ohadtalmor.com
Adam Nussbaum – www.adamnussbaum.net
(*)Geneva once voted to ban smoking inside public places. But then the referendum was apparently unconstitutional or toor esticting, so the result of the vote was cancelled. This weekend, they will vote again for all sorts of things. As a results, some venues are smoke free by putting a sticker at the door advertising so, and some are just smokey, by putting a sticker outside claiming prohibiting smoking is limiting liberty...so much propaganda everywhere...that will be topic of another post!
Sunday, October 04, 2009
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