Farniente with a sunset view

Geneve plage

Fete de la musique (music festival)

It was pouring rain most of the time but we managed to secure a dry spot under a huge tree.

I was still sober then, or at least protected by my huge dinner of pasta. The 4 fingers of punch was  slowly making its way to my head, and when we started bar crawling, I could no longer take pictures. We did sing a lot, taking a break in an Irish pub before ending up at the Alhambra for some old time music (grease, ace of base, george michael and boy george to name a few). After the Alhambra, it was the isle of something....My feet hurt and I have to drink 3 L of water to eliminate the mojitos and soothe my aching throat...

Err watching football or work?

Everyone is watching football

It's 4pm and no more seriousness at work. All eyes ar eon the TV screen above the PC monitors

Eating out at work

We had lunch outside the cafeteria at work, on the terrace, enjoying the much needed sunshine. The pond is very clean, and the mini waterfall nearby is relaxing...

Sun, wind, rain in Nyon

A visit from sunny south of France...being a good godmother is very tiring. But it was Mother's day so lil M. was blessed with flea market in Nyon...

Between showers, we got to see the flowery flanks of the chateau de Nyon.

 

It was sunny enough the day 

before to play with the reflections on his sunglasses.

Cool Mint crew dancing on shamisen music

Those are kids??? Amazing..

A year ago...

I landed in Tokyo.

Hopefully another trip is in the make and would prompt me to review some of the grammar. I have been lazy lately and not studying seriously. Maybe I should start blogging in Japanese sometimes just to practice writing and constructing correct sentences.
This year will be busy as well: trips to plan, exams to pass (a hard one, CCNA and a boring but necessary one, ITIL), a job searching (because I am bored of the current one), and money to save (the REAL challenge).

For now, I am revisiting my trip by re-reading my own blog, my personal pensieve...

Oi Oi, priviledged one!!

Yes, I should feel very privileged as I am among the few in my team to have a significant raise. My manager informed me in the form of a hushed conversation and a sealed letter that despite the negative inflation in Switzerland, I am among the very few to have an actual unit on my increase.
Well, I am glad it is a raise, not a salary contraction.

Imagine my surprise when I read the letter and saw that I will have a 1.50% salary increase this year!!!! Well, my feet remained grounded as I was looking for other digits that may have been invisible to the naked eye. But no, that was it. Cute boss was saying he was feeling anxious explaining to some that they have 0.7%  or 0.03% increase. So he looked very happy giving me my letter..LOL

So next month will be my biggest paycheck in my life, (actually, the second biggest*), as my bonus and my 'raise' will show up...
sigh...money makes the world go round?

*my biggest paychech was in September, when I received 200% of my monthly salary, as it included my  relocation bonus.

Open doors

This is where I meet old schoolmates (not sure that's really true), 15 years later. Maybe townmates or citymates is a more appropriated term. In any case amazing how time can change memories, perception and more. I witnessed a kind of happiness only palpable because they were doing what they loved to do or enjoyed to do. If you are in the area, be sure to check out their business: Tuscan wine and olive oil.

I spent a rainy afternoon in the painter's atelier turned kitchen/dining area, warmed up by fragrant pasta sauce and green tea, while wine connoisseurs were visiting and making orders for boxes of bottled Tuscan wine. It felt like a flashback voyage, but with a hint of awkwardness. It has been 15 years...Yet it was still comfortable and heartwarming.
Their warm welcome made you want to try the wine they offer, and their increasing business proves they have a fine collection of the liquor. I have only sipped a white wine, but due to my ignorance I am sure I failed to appreciate its quality. However the variety offered made me want to know more about wine.

Be sure to check out Vini Toscani website and their open doors every 2 months.

Tricked at work

I only wore some light summer clothes. A colleague asked me to be part of his fantasies. Lol.

When it's beautiful outside, work is not very productive.

Fluttering heart

A few weeks ago, I had the impression I was attracted by H. and may have fallen for him. However as days go by, it started to irritate me the way his presence troubled me and made me say and do silly things. Little by little, I forced myself to ignore his presence, even if in the morning Is till check if he has arrived at work. A simple glance above my monitor would show his straight back.

During the day, my interaction with him would be kept at minimum, but I still crack up at his private moments, like the time he started taking a picture of himself with a cigarette in his mouth and a beer in his hand at his desk. I could not resist to offer to take the picture for him...He might send it to his ex or his girlfriend, but at least it was a fun moment.

The positive energy that I am gathering from the crush is the drive to stand out in my work and be ambitious again. He offers some very kind and encouraging words at times, such as asking me what he should vote for to have my team activity accepted and to be realized. If he was on his own I would have hugged him, but cute boss and another colleague were there as well and there were nowhere to hide.

Sometimes though I am wondering what I could offer him, to thank him for inspiring me daily. I have forgotten the feelings of caring for someone: it can be a selfish feeling to make me feel worthwhile, and a braking element to prevent any change...For now though, I am glad I can still blab silly things such as ' I don't want H. I want D' when someone said I could have H. (to get me to D.)...He was not around this time but I got a curious stare from D's dad..

Strolling in Lausanne

Originally, I had planned to go to Annecy on a fine Saturday for a shoping trip. But because I had a tennis game in the early evening, and a dinner later on, I decided against it and opted for Lausanne instead.

Morning flew by as I cleaned the apartment and unpacked some of my summer clothes (very optimistic), encouraging the summer and myself to the warm temperature. It was only about 20C but it felt really comfortable.

Eventually, after a nice chat in the train, we got to destination and started climbing the hilly streets of Lausanne. The buildings are much prettier than in Geneva, and the shops are more varied and cater to all incomes. After a nice hike we stumbled on the cathedral. We followed the right of the building and ended up in really quiet streets with beautiful street details.

And we could get a nice view of the city from the 'place du chateau' next to what remains of the castle. There are many old buildings around that square, and university buildings were converted in offices.

They would not let me drive my car near it though!
But we found our way back to the shop I was looking for (almost the sole purpose of the trip): Nature et decouvertes

N. and I met with S. int he shop, and I got out with only a ladybug breeding kit and a vase. We settled on a late lunch at the Manor restaurant nearby, and rolled down the hill to the lakefront, passing by the town hall, grabbing ice cream and chatting on a bench like longtime friends.  Unfortunately the view of the mountains were blurred by the haze and we missed the last boat for Geneva.

Around 16:00 we saw the runners for the 20km Lausanne run, and could not take the bus to go up the hill to the station, so we took the metro. But before that, the boys convinced me to get the massage cushion and a hammock from the shop...I was not hard to convince, and they were more than happy to go play in the shop again.

So after all, I visited one shop, walked a lot, got drunk on 2 mojitos while watching runners go down the hill and managed to take pictures of the 4 leading runners and the first women.

I didn't get home before 21:00. In fact I decided to stay longer in Lausanne because my tennis partner found someone else to play with, and the dinner got canceled. So I could enjoy a full whole sunny day outside, getting to know 2 really geeky colleagues.

Springtime in Geneva

After a much stressed out week, it was nice to wake up quietly and walk 30min to play tennis. We booked 2 courts for 2hours and played in the sun and slightly chilly breeze. But it was very enjoyable to sweat a bit and see so much sun. Going back home we settled on my terrace and had lunch while sunbathing. It wasn't too hot but warm enough to be wearing short sleeves and drinking cold soda and beer.

I can't wait for next week to try out the small golf place close from work. It is in France but barely 5min from work. We visited the place on Friday and they have a practice area, a putting area and even a cute 9 hole circuit. No need to have a whole golf equipment: they lend you the golf stick (hmmm, maybe club?)  for free!!! So next week if the weather holds sunny, we will hit some balls at lunchtime...

This is the life...

Curtains at last

Walking and crossing river Arve on the way to tennis

At work on a bank holiday

We worked on Holy Friday and Easter Monday. It was quiet so someone brought their Wii and weplayed all sorts of games while staying close to our desks: super mario, just dance, ping pong, brain quizz, etc...
They look like a TV panel, but they are actually playing Super Mario..hihihihi

Happy Easter

Brussels

It was supposed to rain all weekend, but I forgot my umbrella. All in all, we had 3 drops of rain in 2 days. The Saturday trip was stressful as it was raining cats and dogs in Geneva and I was stuck in the streets waiting for a cab at 05:30am, for a plane leaving at 06:50am. Luckily I got another taxi company on the phone to rush me to the airport.

I also discovered the pride of the country: chocolate and beer. I was aware of the beer culture, with its fruit beer and monastery beer. It makes me smile how many abbeys are also breweries. I suppose they had to get high one way or another, those monks.

This time though, I nonchalantly asked where to get some good Belgian chocolates: my friends al offered different answers, but also pointed me to the right place to go shopping: place des Sablons.  Imagine the Place Vendôme in paris, where the big names of jewelries have their flagship stores. Well, the chocolatiers have their own territory around this little square on top pf a hill and between 2 beautiful churches: Godiva, Pierre Marcolini, Whittamer, Leonidas, Neuhaus were conffronting each other on that square. 

Of course, next to the old grand Place, there are a lot more chocolatier and touristy places to buy chocolates. But this was the place to get the grand cru of chocolate and to admire the easter season windows settings.

After much sampling and walking around, I also explored much of line 3, 2, 6 of the metro, crisscrossing the old town and doing antique on Rue Haute (Hoog straat). Getting lost int he old town and stumbling on pita street (a whole street of pita restaurants), seafood street (another one with only seafood restaurant, including Leon de Bruxelles), and italian street (yes, only italian restaurants) was fun, and although the country is very flat, the old town has some nice paved hills that made me earn those chocolate bites.