Mon Aventure

I’m 38,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean as I write this post. So far, the ride traveling West is easier than the ride traveling East. Making the long part of the trip during the day is far better than making the trip in the middle of the night. Nonetheless, I’ll be losing a full night of sleep by the time this 18 hour journey is over, if I don’t take a sleeping pill towards the end of the trip. We’ll see.

For the moment, I feel more compelled to write than sleep. As soon as our second plane touches down in Orlando, I will hit the ground running. Every spare moment between now and January 25th will be a piece of gold. I spent the first few hours on this plane making lists and lists and lists on the only paper available: the backs of our printed flight itineraries. Lists of all the things I have to accomplish if I want to return to Switzerland at the same time as my husband. I’m not sure how many times I will be able to write to you between now and then. So. Let’s enjoy this last leisurely moment together for over a month, shall we?

Don’t get me wrong… I’m going to enjoy this next month. I’m one of those weird people who LOVES packing. And I love a good challenge. Most of you know that I’m an artist. Artists are often stereo-typed as scatterbrained and messy. I dabble in messy clutter at times, and love that carefree feeling occasionally, but at my core, I adore order and organization. It’s the reason my painting career started with Realism and gradually branched out into Impressionism. For those of you who don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, check out my website at: http://www.artfortheimagination.com/

After only 15 years of painting in the U.S., can you believe I already have the opportunity to travel, explore Europe and find inspiration in another country!? This is an opportunity of which most artists can only dream. I once painted my imagination of Greece, but my Greek paintings will be far richer after I’ve been there in person. I’m “dizzy with gratitude,” to borrow a favorite quote.

I love the United States, but by leaving her for a while, I hope to gain more perspective and appreciation. I will also gain first-hand knowledge of, and appreciation for her brothers and sisters around the world.

I’m just scratching the surface of Switzerland and I’m already proud of her. I’ve learned things I didn’t know. On Saturday, Chris and I experienced our first celebration day of Escalades, a Swiss national holiday. I have pictures to show you and I’m bursting with desire to tell you about it, but I’m going to wait until I’ve researched the subject more thoroughly.

The most important matter resolved this week is the issue of where to live.

Our first three months, approximately, will be spent in a hotel until we secure an apartment (flat, as they call it). The rental availability rate in Geneva is less than 1%. It’s a popular place. We will have no choice but to use a relocation company to speed up the process, avoid mistakes and even then, a minimum 3 month wait is expected. Chris’ company is taking care of our hotel stay. That is a blessing. The part that was uncertain was which hotel to stay in during those first 3 months. Towards the end of our visit, it became apparent that the lovely hotel we were staying in this week also offers longer stay units and is within the budget. Just in the nick of time! We both heaved an enormous sigh of relief, and asked the front desk for a look at those units. We wanted to have a peek at the place we’d be staying to have any clue what to bring and what not to bring. While the hotel apartment is only temporary, it’s roughly close to the size of whatever place we will end up renting long term. We knew that European flats are smaller than we are used to in the US, but we wanted to see just how small, in order to make more informed decisions about what to sell , give away and keep.

We didn’t look inside of any long term rental flats. One week is not enough time to get that process started. I did, however, tour the majority of Geneva, to get a feel for which neighborhoods to focus our search in, keeping both Chris and my interests at heart.

We would both enjoy living in the Eaux Vives district or the Old Town. Both offer historic Geneva charm.

This is a picture from Eaux Vives. It’s close to the water and my swans, who, by the way, are not mean. We’ve all heard that swans are mean, but these swans will gently eat food from your hand. I saw a woman feeding them and I intend to bring bread next time.

But will he let me pet his head?

We’ll see. I’m told that swans only attack if they think you are threatening their babies. Understandable. I’m sure there have been many unfortunate misunderstandings. And I’m sure there’s the occasional swan who is simply having a bad day without reason. I can relate to that as well.

“Any animal who mates for life is enchanting,” said my Mom.

Back to Eaux Vives..... It’s a 10 min. walk, or a short tram ride from work for Chris, and there is an enormous, enclosed park nearby where I can take my dog and let him off the leash. The park is enchanting. Trees are so tall and thick along the outside so you feel as though you’ve just stepped into the country.

The Old Town is another lovely option, also close to work and close to the water. This section is exactly what I picture when I think of Europe. It’s the stuff we’ve all seen in paintings. I’ll let the following pictures speak for themselves.

This photo is one of several entrances to the old city.

I’m assuming these used to be used as horse troughs?

I bought a charming, pocket sized, hardback French/English dictionary at this Librarie. Bookstores are called Libraries.

This water fountain is the official “Center” of Geneva.

I LOVE the pharmacies in the old town, still true apothecaries, with old exposed beam ceilings and medicines stored in real wood cabinets.

Moss growing on the stairway leading up to the most magnificent building in town.

Walking back down the stone stairway.

You can see why we would enjoy living in the Old Town. However, there is quite a bit of tourist traffic through here all the time and getting in and out involves huffing and puffing up and down cobblestone hills. There are tradeoffs with each neighborhood.

One option some people love, is to live just outside the city in a town called Nyon, a 15 min. bullet train ride to work. It's a 45 min. commute when you include walking to and from the train. On Saturday, Chris and I rode out there to check it out. Beautiful countryside and distinctly Swiss farms, neighborhoods and estates wizzed smoothly past on the bullet train. The minute we stepped off the train, we wanted to get right back on and return “home” to the city. It was the strangest thing. Both Chris and I felt it….. a sense of belonging in Geneva proper. This came as a surprise to us. Neither of us have ever lived in the city. We’ve always been town or country people and we’ve never had a serious longing to live in a big city. So why do we feel we belong in the city right now? Only time will tell.

We boarded our plane for the United States, looking forward to spending Christmas with family in Virginia, but also looking forward to our return to Geneva in a month. We already have a sense of belonging in Geneva. Isn’t that amazing? On the one hand we feel strange and foreign and on the other hand we feel it’s exactly where we’re supposed to be right now.

Destiny even set me up with an American friend from the mid-West. Her fiance works for the same company as my husband and I met her at a work Christmas party this week. We were all supposed to come wearing fun hats. An immediate bond formed with her when she walked in wearing a Chicago Cubs baseball cap. You’d have to be in Geneva for a few days to know how out of place a baseball cap is, let alone an American baseball cap. I have no interest in sports whatsoever, but she was AMERICAN. In so many ways, our lives are opposites. She works at Proctor and Gamble and I’m an Artist. If we met in the states, it’s entirely possible we would never have felt any special connection. But we both share the same story… the wild, fun and scary experience of moving from the U.S. to Switzerland. She had loads of helpful advice for me since she went through this just a year ago. When I’m in the states, I often get caught up in how different I am from this person or that person. But throw us all in a foreign country together and so many externals get stripped away and we find that we have much more in common than we realized. Being born in America comes with a mindset, like being born in one family verses another.

Speaking of friends, living at La Cour des Augustins for the first few months means I will get to see my friend with the curly strawberry blond hair in the breakfast room on weekends. His name is Simon. I don’t think I told you that before.

This morning before hailing a taxi to the airport, Chris and I ate in the breakfast room and learned lots of new things from Simon. I proudly held up my glass of water and said, “Eew?” The word for water in French is “eau.” I wanted to know if I was pronouncing it right. There was a moment of profound silence and then he said, “Ooh.” Ooh is the correct pronunciation. We both laughed. I have no idea what I said when I butchered it so terribly, but I have a feeling it is considered a bad word in French, or at least something VASTLY and hilariously different than what I meant. He started to explain what I had said and then thought better of it. Thank God for a cheerful and understanding breakfast man who speaks many languages and is eager to be one of my teachers.

I will be buying Rosetta Stone online first thing when I wake up in the morning.

Three days have elapsed since my last post.

Every day I waited, listening and wondering what I would be inspired to share with you next. "How long will it be til my next post?"

A few of you are out there, just as eager for the next post as me..... like my mother, dying for an update on the whereabouts of her little girl. Others are anxious to know if we've found a place to live, a flat to rent, etc.

I thought my next post would be about my apartment search and more about my exploration of the city. I've got a heap of material piling up to share with you. I'm going to have to sort through pictures and thoughts to find the best stuff to give you.

All of that is still coming very soon, but this blog would be empty if I didn't share with you what happened to me yesterday evening. I need to pause and give this the weight it deserves.

Yesterday I reached the point in this trip where I had my fill of exploring the city alone. Not only was I alone during the day, but for two days in a row my husband had to work late into the night at the office, leaving me cozy in the room. The first night it was fun. A change of pace. Many of you know how much I love my independance and alone time. For me to have my fill of alone time is a tremendous accomplishment.
By the third day of the trip I was getting tired of it, but hanging in there. Practicing a handful of French phrases out on the street does not satisfy the need for social interaction. By the time Chris came back to the room each night, I was babbling a mile a minute in English.

By the fourth day (yesterday) I was completely fed up with the amount of alone time. I could feel a female adult temper tandrum coming on and I didn't want to go there. It was 5:00pm. I skyped Chris and asked if it was going to be another late night, trying to brace myself. He estimated an earlier return of 7:30pm. I was ready to make him sign it in blood, but I didn't go there either.

I turned to the computer to send an e-mail to my Mom. God has provided for me countless times through her company, even across the miles. I wrote about 2 paragraphs and about 400 words before it happened. It was good stuff too. I was venting all my loneliness, filling her in on everything I just told you. It was when I got to this next part that it happened..................
I said, "Ginger (my French tutor when I was 8 years old) e-mailed and told me that some of her best times with God were when she first moved to France, and felt alone and isolated. Mom, would you please pray for me that I would write to Him more often instead of just writing to you?"

That's when the computer shut off.

Computers shut off all the time for various scientific reasons. It's not plugged in. The battery died. It overheated. Etc. I checked everything. Everything was fine. I pushed the power button. It started to boot up and then turned off again. I tried this several times with the same result. I was starting to get the picture. So I said, "fine." I turned away from the computer, wondering what to do next. The room was very empty without my computer. It was dark and cold outside, so I wasn't about to go out there. Then I saw the TV. That monstrous thing that my husband loves so much. (Yes, I see the irony and my hypocrisy.) I had not turned it on once in 5 days. But I thought, "what's the harm? God can speak to me through something on the television and voices talking on TV would help with the lonliness."

I turned on the television. It was on for about 5 seconds and it shut off. "What in the world," I said aloud. All other types of electricity in the room were working fine. And my computer is not on the same outlet network as the TV. I turned it on again. It shut off. I smiled. This sort of thing has never happened to me. It's happened to other people but not to me. I was pleased, but a little perturbed. I looked around the room. "What?" I said indignately, "Am I going to hear an audible voice next? This is nuts," I said aloud. Or something to that effect. I might not have said "this is nuts." I was feeling a little too reverant for that. I sat down on the bed. "So, what do you want me to do next?" I said. I got the sense that I could do whatever I wanted and He would stop me if it didn't serve the need of the moment. He just wanted my attention. In a sense, I had talked to Him through my e-mail to Mom and told Him I wanted to learn how to BE WITH Him. He was giving me what I asked for.

What I did in the next hour is besides the point. The variety of actions and stillness that met the need in that moment will not be the same every time I have a moment like that with Him. Over the course of the next hour I lost my lonliness and found fullness in His company. I could have read a bible (I didn't, because I didn't have one with me. I've been relying on the online bible.) I could have reviewed scriptures and sayings hidden in my heart. I could have danced or listened to music. I could have riden the tram to the Paquis district to give cash to a woman on the street because I didn't have any cash on me to give her the other day. I could have done a hundred different things.

I could even have watched TV, if it had been working.

The point is that I needed to listen more closely to Him. I needed to find my fullness in Him. I do listen to Him. He has always directed my steps on some level. But last night I decided to walk closer. To listen even more carefully.

I'm reminded of all the couples I see walking arm in arm down the streets of Geneva. It's been refreshing to be in a city where the cultural norm is for a woman to take her husband's arm as she walks down the street. I love doing that with Chris, but I feel silly doing that in an American city where it stands out as so old fashioned.

I'm getting sidetracted. The point is, I took Jesus' arm last night and I moved in a step closer to Him.

I know, I know... He's everywhere. He's beside me, He's within me, He's all encompassing. It's confusing. But I like this analogy for today.

The danger in sharing this story with you is that you might be jealous and desire to have an identical experience. You might want God to turn things off in a spooky way. My heart has been in that exact same place when I've heard others tell a story like this.

But God shouldn't need to do weird things to get my attention. I want to learn to give Him my full attention every moment of every day, when everything seems normal.

(My computer is working just fine now, by the way, as you can tell. No explanation.) If you have a scientific explanation for what happened there, DON'T write and even attempt to burst my bubble. Whether God used science or not is besides the point.)

I shared this story with you because it's an important part of MY little story. The discussion of renting a flat would ring hollow without this account.

Before we move on to anything else, I want us to stop and savor this moment.

Immanuel.

God with us.

He's right there in the room with you. Did you look up from your computer? Yep, I caught you!

The only thing I want you to take away from this blog post is that He's REAL. And He's HERE. Most of you already know this. But are you going to ENJOY Him today?

Thank you to everyone who posted comments. Thanks for the encouragement. You are all so dear!

It's a wonder what proper sleep and sunshine can do for the human spirit.

Today the sun came out and I was ready to explore the city. It's my job to accomplish the majority of research needed to pick a place for us to live. Trusty map in hand and notations from the cheerful man yesterday in Human Resources, I started out using the public transport system, but soon abandoned the tram for a slower pace with my feet, which allowed me to fully absorb everything passing by. It also allowed for deviation, backtracking, and stopping at unexpected places.

The most delightful and unexpected surprise is the presence of swans at the mouth of Lake Geneva.

Several swans allowed me to sit only three feet away from them.

I sat, snapped pictures, closed my eyes for a minute in the sun and drank in the restoration I always experience as I watch the play of sunlight on water.

My diamonds.

This is what I've always called them.

They are as beautiful and peaceful in Geneva, Switzerland as they are in Sandestin, Florida and Front Royal, Virginia.

I now have another reason to love a moment in the sun. When I sit in the sun at 2pm in Geneva, my Mother and Grandmother, and many of you, can sit in the same sun at 8am on the East Coast of the United States.

I reluctantly left the water and swans to continue my journey. I will return to this spot many times during my stay in Geneva. My confidence in this pending move has renewed. If I have the diamonds on the water, I will be fine. Perhaps my confidence should rest on something more stable than a cloudless day and my ability to walk down to the water. But it's what God provided for today. A rainy day will come and He'll provide a cup of something hot to drink and a warm blanket. And when all else fails, there's always the song He put in my heart.

Walking down the street and away from the swans, I had to take a picture of this tree for you. Surely it's distinctive to this region. I've never seen the like of it anywhere. It's a classic example of the curious and unfamiliar to this American girl. It's unique shape is laid bare at this time of year with no leaves. I look forward to Spring. I anticipate that leaves will be more flattering to it's figure.

I appreciate the difference between the Geneva cityline and a typical U.S. cityline. Some may notice uniformity. Some may value variety over uniformity. In the case of a cityline, my judgement remains neutral. I appreciate both. What I especially love about the Geneva cityline is that the majority of buildings are 7 or 8 stories high. I haven't seen a taller building yet. Some shorter, but none taller. There are variations in decorative architecture from building to building and variations from window box to window box, but the basic frame of most buildings is similar. The only buildings that stand out above the rest are church steeples. I'll admire a church steeple over a skyscraper any day. But that's just me.

This church steeple photo is taken from my hotel bedroom window.

I love the strength of these buildings. They are made of stone and very OLD..... hundreds of years old. Our hotel is renovated with modern fixings, but the basic shell is over 150 years old. I asked at the front desk because the tell tale smell is faithful every time I choose the stairs instead of the elevator. Old stone is exposed in the spiral stairwell. If these walls could talk...

Towards the end of my day outdoors, I looked off into the distance at the Swiss and French Alps with longing and wondered what adventures await me there. Just how many months and days will it be til I find myself on those familiar skis, traversing taller mountains than ever before.

And now I am cozy in my bed, under a big, white, feather comforter. I returned at 5pm as darkenss fell early. Four hours of non-stop walking and there's no more walking available from my feet today. I haven't eaten much since breakfast since few places along my route accept credit cards. Tomorrow I'll have to bring cash. It's 8:30pm and I'm waiting for my beloved to return so we can eat something together. Yes, we had traditional Swiss Fondue at a warm and lovely place last night. I'm getting used to the farm fresh taste in all the cheese here. It's good, but I'm still getting used to it.

There are promising locations for renting a flat. Details will follow in a later post.

Until next time...

Bonne Nuit!

So I am here. After 5 weeks that felt like 5 months, I arrived in Geneva, Switzerland to begin my new life here. I currently live in Orlando, Florida, and desperately desire to move closer to family in Virginia. Nine years ago I married my high school flame, moved hundreds of miles away from family to marry him and have spent the last 9 years planning to return to the mid-Atlantic states to live close to family. Instead, I'm moving further away than I've ever been, across the ocean, to another country and culture. I've never even visited Europe!

So, I am here for one week to make preparations for our permenant move in January.

I've been beside myself with excitement these last 5 weeks, ever since my husband learned that he is losing his current job and a job might be available within the company at headquarters in Geneva. Excitement at the prospect of adventure. This is the story of my life that I embrace large adventures only to be met with more challenges than I foresaw.

The flight over here was a ride from hell. I expected certain standards to be standard when you are couped up on a plane for 8 hours in the middle of the night, even in the economy class. Small, hard, painful seats that don't recline were not what I expected. OK, they reclined, but by about 5 inches of difference from sitting bolt upright. The right was bumpy. I was nauseated the entire 8 hours. I was also unprepared for jet lag. I thought I was a pro, because I stayed up all night with my mother during the labor and delivery of my last 3 brothers and sisters. Lose a night of sleep? No problem. Jet lag is quite another level of trauma altogether.

I only agreed to this adventure on the promise of several trips back to the states to visit family each year. I'm no longer looking forward to those trips. I feel trapped on the other side of the ocean by 8 hours of misery. I am face to face with the reality of the comfortable life I have lived until now. I've been tested and it has been revealed just what a wimp I am.

I awoke in the middle of the night and told God that I needed new reasons to move to Switzerland. Adventure and fun are no longer sufficient. I need to know that this move is EXACLY what He wants me to do. That it will be good for me. That it serves His greater plan for the universe and His Kingdom. I'm now on the lookout for those reasons. I'll keep you posted.

Yesterday the strangeness and unfamiliarity of my surroundings was overwhelming on my first day here. Not to mention the non-stop rain of December and the many people who don't speak English and the European architechture. The very things I looked forward to with eagerness. The unfamiliar is exciting and full of adventure one day, frightening and cold the next day.

Today I am improving. The fun is returning. My very first friend in Geneva, Switzerland is a small young man who oversees the breakfast room each morning at my hotel. He is short and slender with strawberry blond hair and buzzes around the room as though he's short on time even though there is no one else but me in the diningroom. He reminds me of a wasp until he lands for a few minutes to converse when I ask a question. He's full of helpful, friendly information, and then he's off again as soon as I appear to be more interested in my breakfast.

The bread here is delicious. Perfect blend of soft and crispy.

Now I am off to continue my exploration.