Cross country skiing

I am hoping that J doesn't sustain more damage in her efforts to conquer skiing.
She hurt her arm, just bruised it. I stocked her suitcase with Tiger Balm, hot/cold packs and other things in case of ski injury.
I am pleased she has the opportunity to do these new activities.
M's dad has been very attentive.    

 Is this the great abominable snowman?

 Bosse is just everywhere with a French twist

Now is this for real or is it a very good pose?

 

 Christmas Angel

Sunday 28th November

I haven't heard how she ended up keeping her Saturday evening but she did some things with the family during the day. I just love "James" the feline. They have spent some time in the shops looking around.
J has bought a couple of books. She says she has been wearing her thermals and jacket but is still cold.
Still loving the snow but over the slush. A lot of slipping and sliding and seeing cars crash because of it.

The smallest snowman in the world stands 2 inches high.

Who can stare the longest without flinching?!

J has a new hobby, disturbing the rest of each fallen snowflake.

She likes the layout of the school. Easy to find her way around.

With 3000 students, J says she's had classes with about 200 of them.

Surprising she doesn't remember their names.

This is a supermarket. Quite stylish.

Let it snow!

The photos are streaming in! She took the day off from school on Thursday so she could sort herself out.
Patrick gave her lunch and then took her up the hills on top of Mount Salve to get a good view and some shots in the snow/ice. Don't think she wore her thermals so was quite cold when she got home.
She tells me I'm a genius for providing her with waterproof shoes.
Well that is a first for public comment!!!!!
In a bit of a dilemma about what to do regarding a concert/party on Saturday night.
There was even a phone call over it. She doesn't quite have the inner strength yet to hold her own.

Looking over Geneva. Do you see Lac Leman??

You are looking West toward the Jures Mountains.

Patrick having the afternoon off!!

Below, J leaves her footprint in the slush.

She also has provided pics of the bedroom she sleeps in, after a lot of nagging from her mum.

I think I spot a lot of Ikea furniture.

She thinks the bed is very comfortable.

Too cold to take pics of the balcony, she said.

She couldn't be outdone with Nicholas' Lego advent calendar so Pauline bought the girls one each.

See which you think is better?

OR....

Its a toughie!!

Nicholas doesn't have chocolate behind the doors, it has Lego figures etc to assemble.

Tuesday 23rd November Report

Jocelyn says she has recovered from her lack of sleep and functioning again. Her mother is getting there too.
Trying to get the remains of the mascara out of her carpet.
She says the school kids are fiercely fashion competitive. She reckons no one can beat her hairstyles. That will be her contribution.

 J is very happy that she can have her favourite soda-ORANGINA -  "like meeting and old friend for the first time in years. Sooooo good and soooo welcome."  We won't tell anyone that a teenager is actually wearing her mother's top but hey, she looks great.

The Bishop called when she was fast asleep. 

She is set up with her SIM card so her phone is functioning.

She says the house is nice - kitchen, living, dining  downstairs, bedrooms and bathrooms on the next level and then a home theatre above my room. A bit different, but mostly similar.

J informs me she won't be coming back to Australia. Being there has brought back all the good memories from France and she simply love it too much. She doesn't want to ever leave Europe again. Sorry.

She says it is incredibly hard to go to a European country to learn the native language - "not because the language is hard, but because everyone always wants to speak to you in English. It seems that every time I meet someone, I have to try and explain to them that I actually don't want to speak English. I have actually started giving people the blonde-I-have-no-idea-what-you-mean look when they speak English just so they will speak French."

They put J in a Physics class. She only does Chemistry and biology.

--" They had put me in the ADVANCED physics class
- The class was in French
- I've never done science in French
- The teacher speaks way to fast, even for the French students
- The teacher's handwriting resembles that of another physicist I know..."

"In the second half of the class, some of it started coming together for me. Those who do Physics will laugh at me, though: the teacher asked me to read out a question, and I read out a part of it "1g" as "one gramme"... about 10 minutes later I realised that it was actually talking about G-force. Silly ignorant chemist-biologist I am."
He also has a weird obsession with cats, so somehow there was a cat on the spaceship that had 1G of artificial gravity. On a side note, does anyone want to explain to me the formula that has something to do with uniform circular movement??"

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire........Today I had the awesome chance to eat roasted chestnuts. 

The roasted chestnuts were also very cool (well, hot actually). I liked them, although they were a little expensive so I might keep them as a rare treat. But, it was still great to try them for the first time." J

Photos from Singapore airport below: The first pic is for the benefit of a school friend. They have a standing competition.

Group pic from singapore

The chaperones have sent us a pic of the exchange group in singapore.
J is down the bottom in the middle.
Took a while to find her.

J's report of her 1st and 2nd day in Geneva

I have added an entry from J.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Vegemite

Turns out that I needed Vegemite more than I thought... At the rate I'm going, I think I'm going to use up my 290g supply within the next week.

Salute tu le monde

 I'm at school right now

Zürich airport was an absolute ghost town - so quiet and empty! I got a cool photo there with a giant polar teddy bear,  I got a lovely, completely over-priced smoothie.

On the plane from Zürich to Genève, we got some free chocolate (only four squares - don't get excited) and water. The flight was nice an short, only half an hour. By that time, I was so excited that the fact I hadn't slept for nearly three days didn't bother me. It was certainly nice to arrive at an airport that was a final destination, and not just another lay-over.

We freshened up a bit and colected our bags, which thankfully arrived safely, and then went to meet our families.

P and M met me at the airport. We went and bought a cake for P's birthday at the airport, then went home. I freaked out quite a few times on the way home, since I had completely forgotten that they drive on the other side of the road, and kept having split-second fears that we were going to have a car accident.

It is great to be back in Europe - the lovely European road and buildings and everything. All of it has been sorely missed since I went to France over two years ago now. It's definitely great to be back. After spending so long on planes and in lay over, it was a bit like waking up from a dream, and finding yourself awakee in a different, but more comfortable bed. Sorry Australia, but I'd rather be here.

We got home, and I said a brief hello to James (the cat) and the family. Pauline and Maryline showed me around the house and helped me bring my things up to my nice bedroom. I'm very happy because I now have a desk and a balcony, although given the cold (and my nerdiness), I think the desk will be put to far greater use.

I had a very welcome shower and then went down for lunch. Pauline's mother was there, along with Aurélia (Mayline's sister) and her boyfriend. We chatted for a bit and ate, had cake and Pauline opened her presents. Lunch was lovely - plenty of new things. I did try one vegetable which wasn't great, but I don't remember the name.

We caught the bus to school - nice and early, so it was still dark when we arrived at 7.30am. The bus ride was about 40mins - a mere nothing in comparison to my normal travel... We had to go through the city, I watched longingly as Gucci, Fendi, Hugo Boss and many other cherished stores went past. Too many good clothes and shoes and bags and not enough money... (take the hint people and send me money NOW)

French was pretty interesting - they are studying a play by Molière (the French equivalent of Shakespeare) which I understood, but having not read the first half of, didn't make much sense.
Having missed dinner and having only had a rushed breakfast, I was pretty hungry by the time the first short break came around. I only had time for an apple, so needless to say, English grammar was the last thing I was in the mood for.

During the big lunch break we went over to another school (because, yes, over here you can just go wherever and no one cares). Maryline spoke to some of her friends and we ate - finally.

The update of J's first day in Geneva - Sunday 21st November

The following is an email from J's host family.

J has arrived in our home. 

We are very happy to have her with us.

We had lunch together and then she went to sleep, she was very tired.

I am impressed by her very good French.

Tomorrow J and M will get up at 6 and I will drive them to the bus.

I hope it will not be too hard for Jocelyn with the jet lag.

If it is too difficult we will discuss to find the best solution.

More Sunday 21st November

The Geneva aiport is the pale line in the middle of the picture. You can see the French Alps beyond.

Geneva airport to the West of Lac Leman. 

This map shows you the location of Zurich and down in the Left corner to Geneva.

The Swiss Temple is in the capital of Switzerland in Bern, halfway between.

In touch Sunday 21st November

Received a reply to my email. J says she's doing ok in Singapore. As of this moment she has 5 hours in the air until she reaches Zurich then a lay over and will arrive in Geneva by 7pm our time tonight. Just when
we are sitting in the EFY fireside.

Zurich airport is partially in Kloten,[1] partially in Rümlang,[2] and partially in Oberglatt.[3] 

All said and done. Outside of the scale, the type of domestic airlines and the extreme modern buildings, it is still just another airport.

She's GONE Saturday 20th November

It is 3:40pm in the afternoon and J is on her way to Singapore.
She was so ill we almost had to dress her ourselves and finish packing her suitcase.
The weight came in at 27kg. So she decided to wear the heavier shoes and we had to take out some toiletries. It still weighed over 25kg at the airport but nothing was said.
Her hand luggage is a little bit over too. I had to take out my Christmas present to her. She said she would survive till she returned.
Well I had a big cry!!
With the help of M and W we finished scanning the textbooks.
We arrived at the airport dead on 11:30am and everyone was already there and anxious to get moving.
Jocelyn sat on her suitcase while I went in hunt of Gatorade to hydrate her.

We had an hour to kick around before they were to meet, get boarding passes etc and go down into the abyss of customs. She managed to eat a salad roll and down another bottle of Gatorade. Colour started returning to her cheeks. After 3 hours sleep she was still the worse for wear. She wanted some nail polish from the duty free shop, so that became her Christmas present.

Plenty of tears on my part. Looking around I was the only parent with tears. Ok so everyone else has got it together. I'm a big SOOK!

W was not keen on staying to see the plane take off. I managed to wangle some extra time out of him so I could at least see her come through customs. She didn't turn to look and wave goodbye. She looked very tired. 

The cabin crew..................

 Come on darling look....mummy is sending out the vibes....

come on darling...up here...ooo hooo!!!...

ok! one last chance!! come on!

AND GONE!

It's time for bed. The house can wait for another time to set in order.