It's been cool here the past week, a welcome respite from the heat. Tonight R and I stopped by the neighbors' house to have an apero. R has known them for so long that neither an invite nor a call is necessary, even though we haven't stopped by their house in almost 3 weeks. Like always, neighbor P brings out a bottle of something (which he generally has made himself) and we have to guess what it's made from. Tonight, we drank a dark caramel wine called muskat that the neighbor had bought in Spain. It was quite yummy but I had to dilute it with water and even then, it was still quite strong.
A few exciting events marked this past week
On Friday I finished my first week of the 2nd session of French classes. R is not taking this session. Now that I have my resident permit sticker, I'm taking the train into Geneva everyday. The ride from my town into the center of Geneva takes 25 mins; if I catch the 8:04h train I'm in Geneva at 8:26h. The train is silent, comfortable, with bathrooms in each car. The only downside is that they don't sell food for such a short ride.
My classes are going well—I tested in B22 but after 2 days, I decided to change into a lower level class, B17, where I could learn more grammar. Every night my head is filled to the brim with new vocabulary, grammar, French songs, French idioms. Tonight I had a lot of homework, so I did it on the train ride home but on most days, I just sit back and look at the landscape past by.
After class on Friday, I hurried home to see my friend J who was visiting for a day. The visit was too short, but the weather cooperated and we had a great Friday and Saturday together. It was so cool to see her in my house in France. Now she knows exactly where I cook, sleep, and garden. She's my first visitor from Boston, and she even brought some pieces of Boston with her. Namely, my mail, a jar of peanut butter, and a can of baking powder. Before I arrived R had given her the grand tour of the house. When I got home, we immediately started talking about what to make for dinner and decided on a BBQ and Vietnamese summer rolls, one of our favorite foods to eat. Cooking together again reminded me of all the times we had in Boston.
On Saturday morning R and I took J to Mount Saleve, a French mountain overlooking Geneva. From the peak, there are stunning views of the city and jet d'eau. We drove up to the peak but another cool option is the Teleriphique cable car. In retrospect driving up was a great idea since the cable car is super steep and neither J or I like heights much. Saleve is a really popular place for paragliders—apparently, people from all over Europe come to Saleve to paraglide. After Saleve we drove to Nyon, a beautiful town on Lac Leman. R and I had driven by it many times, but this was the first time we had stopped to really walk around in it. J's husband's company is opening an office in Nyon and it would be really great if they could move here. But in reality if Julia and Mike move back to Europe, they would probably move closer to Germany where her family and friends live. After a nice afternoon in Nyon, we said our goodbyes at the train station and she was on her way back to Germany. I held in the tears until after she boarded and got a seat. I love hellos but I'm not so good at goodbyes. I have to plan a trip back to Boston soon.
Sunday turned out to be beautiful too. Back home in Boston, I had a huge framed print of Aix-les-bains and on Sunday, we drove there, stopping at several towns on the way. It was a bit surreal...I've always wondered what the place looked like..and yesterday, we had dinner there. Aix has a beautiful lake framed by cascading mountains—the farther the mountain, the darker it is. I'm not sure my camera did Aix justice, but I will try to post the pics tomorrow night.
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