Ready to get to work

Today, I spent a rather typical Sunday, sleeping in a bit, doing laundry and getting ready for the week ahead.  Unfortunately, every store in the city is closed Sundays, so that hampered my preparations a bit.  I am still lacking a dish cloth or dish soap to wash any of my dishes.

This morning I did a trial run of my walk to work.  I've decided to walk the 40 minutes instead of taking the bus, to get some exercise and to save the bus fare.  It's a good thing I did a test run, because I ended up getting a bit lost.  My walk to work should be an pleasant one, either along the lake and through a park or through the Palais des Nations.

WHO office.

Later in the afternoon, I went to check out the "Gratiferia" that I saw advertised on the Geneva Interns Association facebook page.  It was kind of like a garage sale, except everything was free!  The GIA does what they can to support interns in the city, knowing the high cost of living.  I found a laundry bag, and a pair of work shoes and got a cup of tea.

A free market!

This evening, I made some spaghetti and ate with some of the ladies from the Foyer.  I even helped one of them study for her criminology exam.

I am really looking forward to starting work tomorrow.  I have been feeling a little bit homesick, and having something to put my energy into and keep me busy will be very helpful.

Exploring Geneva

This was my first full day in Geneva.  In the morning, I got up and went for a run with the Geneva Runner's Group. They meet at Bain de Paquis, which is about 100m from my place.  We did a nice route along the lake, then turned inland and ran up a HUGE hill.  I struggled a lot on that hill, it will take some getting used to. 

In the afternoon, I met up with Natacha for a tour of the city.  She took me through the old city, and through some of the neighbourhoods.  She also took me to her workplace, the RTS (Radio-Television Suisse), the Swiss equivalent of the CBC.  It was cool to see the studios behind the scenes, and to get a view of the city from one of the tallest buildings.  She showed me her apartment and a bunch of old photos from her trips to Canada.  Kate, Heather, Scott and Pat all look so young in the photos!

The junction of the Rhone and Arve rivers.

I ate dinner in our common room here at the residence and met a few of the other women living here. There are people from all over the world living here, last night I met women from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Austria, Germany, Australia and Calgary.  The common language that everyone speaks is French, so I'll have lots of opportunity to practice. Most are students, and it is exam time right now so everyone is busy.  They are planning a trip to Bern next weekend that I might partake in.

In the evening, the Running Club was having a social at a bar that is 3 doors down from my residence.  It is a good group to socialize with, there are a number of Canadians and people who work at WHO. I even met my internship supervisor!  .

Settling into Geneva

A short update for today.  I took the train from Zermatt to Geneva and arrived mid-afternoon to check in at my residence.  My studio is cozy and has lots of room for my few belongings.  I haven't met anyone else yet, but there are 27 other women living in the building.

Sleeping area.

Almost immediately after checking in, I went to meet Natacha (Kate's friend and former exchange partner) for a drink and pizza with her friends.  They were very friendly and humoured me in my attempts to speak French.  I didn't do too badly for my first time in 10 years, but I still have lots of room to improve.  One on one is OK, but trying to understand group conversations is challenging.

Cooking area and bathroom on the right.

Tomorrow I am going to try and catch up with a local running club for a run in the morning, then go and get some groceries.  Natacha offered to show me around the city in the afternoon.  It is great to have a connection here in the city!

Zermatt

Last night after I wrote my posting, I went out for raclette with a woman I met on the train.  Raclette is supposed to be a Valaisian speciality, and I wasn't sure what to expect.   It consisted of a pile of cheese, two little potatoes, two pickles and two pickled onions.  It wasn't bad, but I wish there were some more vegetables!

This morning, it was cloudy in Zermatt, but you could just barely see the Mattherhorn. 

Matterhorn in the clouds.

I decided to go for a hike today, instead of paying the 95 CHF for the Matterhorn Gondola.  I hiked for about 4 hours, up to the mid-point of the gondola and then back down the other side.  I didn't really bring proper hiking shoes with me, so I was slipping all over the place and my feet were soaked when I got back.  Luckily it was pretty warm today, I didn't even need a jacket!

Hiking up to the gondola.

In the afternoon, I explored around the town of Zermatt.  I went on a free tour of the oldest hotel in town, and learnt a bit about the history of the area.  The tour took a long time, since the guide repeated everything in German, English and French.  There is also a big curling bonspeil going on in town starting today.  The rink is in a great location, in the open air and there are about 16 games going on at once.

Open air bonspiel in town.

Tomorrow, I take the train to Geneva and finally get to settle into where I'll be living for the next 12 weeks.  I am looking forward to being able to cook for myself and having a home base.

Glacier Express

Today I took the Glacier Express train from St. Moritz to Zermatt.  It was a very beautiful journey, and I was able to get some school work and letter writing done. I took a lot of pictures out the window, but most have pretty bad reflections in the glass.

The train crossing one of many bridges.

According to the brochure, the train passes over 291 bridges and 91 tunnels.  The train uses a rack and pinion system to pull itself up some of the steepest gradients.  One of the cheesy souvenirs they were selling was a crooked wine glass.

View inside the train.

The train is a "panoramic train" with windows on the roof so that you can see the mountains.  There was also some narrated information about the towns and mountains as we passed, so I learnt a bit about the history of the area.

Glacier just past the Oberlap pass.

Tonight I am staying at a hostel in Zermatt.  I am feeling a bit overwhelmed right now, trying to make sure my deposit went through correctly to reserve my accommodation in Geneva and trying to work out some practicum details with the University of Waterloo.  Luckily, even though he is 6500km away, Pat is helping me in dealing with the bank at home.  It's our regular pattern, Kristin freaks out, Pat works things out.

Skiing in St. Mortiz part 2

The conditions for skiing today could not have been more different than yesteday.  I woke up to blizzard-like conditions outside my window, but I had already paid for my lift ticket and my ski rental, so off I went.  When I was the only one on the 50 person gondola at 8:30am, I started to get worried.  Turns out no one skis here on a Tuesday morning, especially in a snow storm. 

The view from the top of the mountain. Where did the Alps go?

 When I got off the lift at the top, I couldn't even tell where the run started.  After a few minutes of trying to figure out which way to go using my trail map, I once again heard some people speaking English, this time Australians.  I one again asked if I could tag along for the run, and ended up spending most of the day with them.  They were a dad and daughter and two friends of the family who travel to St. Mortiz every year to ski.  So, despite being Australian, they were great skiiers and knew the mountain very well.  I was very greatful for the company, and for not ending up lost in the snow!  They even insisted on buying me lunch, when I pulled out my cheese sandwich picnic.

Chairlift to nowhere...

The powder was incredible to ski on, but by 3:00 my legs were toast, so I called it a day.   I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening wandering around St. Moritz Dorf, the ritzy part of the town.  The streets are lined with Chanel and Maserati shops and apparently the Prince of Thailand is currently staying in one of the hotels.

 As I was walking around, it stopped snowing and the skies cleared.  I'm very happy that the weather cleared, since tomorrow I am taking the Glacier Express to Zermatt.  It is supposed to be one of the best train journeys in the world, but today the view would have been the same as the view out our living room window last Tuesday.

Church in St Moritz Bad at night.

Skiing in St. Moritz

Today, I hit the slopes in St. Mortiz.  I was trying to go to Corviglia, the closest hill to my hostel, but I got lost on the bus and ended up one town over at Corvatsch.  I was worried, since I didn't know the trails and I was by myself. 

On the way up on the gondola, I heard some people speaking English (pretty rare here), so I asked if I could tag along with them for the first run.  It turned out, they are researchers from SickKids here for a conference.  They had already been skiing for 3 days, so they showed me the best runs and helped me get my bearings.  In one of the glade runs, I got lucky and found a 100 Euro bill on top of the snow! 

Top of Corvatsch ski area, 3303m altitude.

After lunch, I headed back out on my own, did a few more runs ant Corvatsch and ended my day back at Corviglia. 

Selfie with the Alps in the backgound.

I went to the local co-op grocery store to grab dinner.  Luckily, grocery prices aren't as high as restauraunt prices here.  There are some foods (cheese, nutella, yogurt) that seem to be cheaper here than at home.  Whenever we travel, Pat always likes to check out the alcohol prices.  Beer seems to be somewhat cheaper here than home, with the cheapest one I saw 24 500mL cans of "Ankor" for 12 Francs (about $14.50 CDN).  Imports like Corona seemed pricey, at 15.50 Francs for 6 bottles of Corona.