Category Archives: Life in Geneva

Mr. Edible

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Post by Lauren

If you love animals, you might want to stop here.

So, as a beginner in French, our first week here, I took notice of a menu posted on the street with “cheval”.

 

“Hmm” I commented to Gabe, “ I thought that cheval meant horse! Ha, my French is really awful….Rosetta Stone really didn’t pay off, huh?”

A few weeks later, I saw it again. It must be some sort of goat cheese…..like fromage de chèvre. Sort of sounds the same, right?! So, thirsty for French knowledge, I looked it up.

Oh no.

And, I found that I was accurate the first time.

Yup, as confirmed by the meat labels in our local store, people here like to eat Mr. Ed.

Riding or eating. Either will work!

I was shocked and brought it up on our next women’s hike. My friend M noted that usually this is served prior to fondue, as a dried meat. Bleccccck!!!!


Horse steaks on sale in Carouge!

If you don’t believe me, check out the little animals on the packages they have at the Co-op to help people identify the meats. I should dedicate a Gratitude Friday to these labels so that I haven’t mistakenly eaten horse.

Speaking of mistakes, when we were in Chamonix a few weeks ago, I was eating the dried meats they served with raclette until I remembered M’s fondue advice mid-bite of a really tough piece.

Getting upset thinking about what I might be eating

Don’t worry, we asked the waitress and it was a false alarm – all jambon, or ham. I couldn’t eat any more after that though.

Our first Geneva dinner party

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Post by Lauren

When packing for our big move, it was hard to know what to take and what not to take. Some things got packed we don’t need, and there are other things that we totally wished we had thrown in to our shipment since they are either hard to find in Switzerland or 4x the price. Anyhow, it is not an exact science, so we figure its okay.

I remember specifically standing in our Charlotte dining room figuring out what serving dishes and table we should take (Gabe and i were combining households at the same time). In the end, we under-packed in this area as Gabe and I assumed that we wouldn’t know enough people to have more than 6 over for dinner!

We feel so blessed that in Geneva, this has actually not been the case. We have met lots of great people and had our first dinner party as a married couple. However, I’d like to point out what happens when you don’t bring the leaf pieces to your dining room table…..yup, we are “bringing back” the concept of kids table by using our entry table as an extension.

I think many of our new friends are in the same boat with improvisation though, so luckily I don’t think anyone minded!

Fun fact : Most of us are Swiss newbies. The combined time in Geneva at this table = 23 total months counting Gabe behind the camera. A & A are the experts, being here 4 months. They are throwing off the “curve” with their tenure 🙂

European Fashion: The Man Scarf

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Post by Lauren

One of the really intriguing things about living in Geneva is the incredibly International fashion scene here. Geneva has quite a selection of luxury goods available on the main rues – consisting of watches, jewelry and couture fashion.

The stores are so high-end here that after 8 weeks living in Geneva, I still have yet to walk into one. It is best not to tempt myself as my clothing budget in one of the top 5 most expensive cities in the world would not get me very far.

Gabe and I were amazed on our visits. We’d peer into the beautiful windows and see ski jackets, leather boots.

“Really, nice,” we would comment.

Then we would take a closer look at the price tag and see a Columbia jacket that would be $200 in the US at 999 CHF ($1200 USD) and the boots I adored at 800 CHF ($1000 USD). It was then that we decided that most of our clothing shopping would need to happen back home in the US. In fact, if we needed to buy 4 pieces of clothing between the two of us, it would be less expensive for me to book a flight home to DC and purchase it at Tyson’s Corner and fly right back to Geneva.

While everyone dresses to the nines (except moi, who tromps around Rue to Rhone in my gym clothes on – gasp – my way to the gym ) , Geneva has quite a varied fashion scene as 40% of its residents are foreigners. It is one of the things that I really enjoy – the exposure to different ways of dressing and people watching while waiting for the tram or bus.

One of the fashion trends for European men is the man-scarf. This is not commonly seen in the US unless it is the dead of winter, but it is very popular here…in fact, all of these shots were taken in one July weekend. It is so much more a fashion accessory than a necessity for warmth that many sport it with short sleeve tees. Anyhow, I think the guys pull it off well.

So, we need to decide if we are going to get Gabe on the scarf-train.

Please leave a comment below with your vote – scarf for Gabe? Or leave it to the European men?

Photo Moment : The Swan

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Post by Lauren

Maybe I just wanted an excuse to take Gabe’s fancy camera out, but I joined the Photography Group at the AIWC. The group which meets monthly to shoot, discuss and share work on a particular photographic theme. This month’s was “water”.

My favorite photo moment of the day was this swan checking out the grocery cart.

I could interpret it as this strange paradigm between nature and pollution. However, I think he is trying to figure out a way to return it back to the Co-op grocery story. Since you have to pay 2 CHF to use a cart in a grocery store, a cart is worth big money when you return it. Heck, I might put on my swimsuit tomorrow and fish this out myself if he doesn’t figure out a way.

A fantastic 4th of July with Henry Birmingham

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Post by Lauren

Sorry for the tardiness of this post, but Gabe and I have been trying to recuperate from the weekend and it has taken us some extra time to get back in the swing of things, due to its epic proportions.

As most have caught on, we give our friends abbreviated names often times to protect their privacy. So, instead of a simple abbreviation, our fun-loving guest chose his alternate name as Henry Birmingham. It is a combination of the street he grew up on and his first pet or middle name. Some of you are catching on….

Anyhow, Henry was in Europe for work and we were quite excited when he announced he was coming to see us at the end of his trip for the 4th of July. We had so much fun, we have dedicated this post to…..

Top 10 reasons why we love to travel with Henry Birmingham

#10 – The flower clock reads 3:30 on Friday July 2. Gabe would normally be at work at this time but motivated by his buddy being in town, he took off and we were able to have an incredible Friday afternoon spent exploring Geneva and lake-bar-hopping. Awesome!

#9 – He is always up for Donor Kebabs and trying new beers!! Exactly what Gabe likes to do best so I am glad he had someone to do it with wholeheartedly!

#8 – Ingenuity – I mean, who else can create a cup-holder so resourcefully in a country known for no cup-holders in cars!?

#7 – His appreciation for art – he got some amazing shots at Jazz Festival

# 6 – Love of adventure. I mean, this guy just had knee surgery like 3 weeks ago and he scaled the wall for this photo. However, along this same theme, I may need to deduct some “awesomeness” points in this category as his encouragement of a third bottle of wine on the train may have given the author a headache the next day and prevented the timely posting of this entry.

# 5 – It would have been anticlimactic if Gabe and I saw T’s doppleganger by ourselves

#4 – We haven’t made late night food in a long time. Thanks for re-igniting the magic.

# 4 – We couldn’t have justified ordering both raclette-for-two AND fondue if there weren’t three mouths to feed.

# 3 – We finally have photos of both Gabe and I in Switzerland, not just one of us taken by the other one. Thanks for all the incredible shots 🙂

# 2 – His interest in snow & ski led us to pick this 2nd day trip to Chamonix / Mt. Blanc which is only 45 minutes from our house. Keep in mind folks, this is June. Outrageous!

# 1 – It was just awesome to see a great friend and have the luxury of spending a nice weekend catching up and making new memories. Thanks for coming — we had a blast !!

Canadienne Buffet: USA Style

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Post by Lauren

This week, we had a patriotic Canadienne Buffet. Not to celebrate Canada Day which was Friday I think, but a potluck picnic to celebrate the Fourth of July. If you are just catching up with our blog, my French teacher taught me that the best way to say potluck in French is “Canadienne Buffet”. We love the phrase and I plan to use it until you are tired of hearing about it. Sorry in advance.

And here is the birth story of the CB: In Switzerland, we read in our Swiss Rulebook that if you make plans for dinner with people in a restaurant, the tradition is that you should always pay — the concept of “dutch” on anything simply doesn’t exist. This wouldn’t be a big deal back in the US. To treat friends to dinner at our favorite restaurants – Alexander Michaels, The Penguin, Big Daddy’s, etc. – would be no big deal and could cost us 50, 75 bucks – maybe $100.

However, when the average decent meal out with friends in Geneva could be 250-350 CHF (300-400 USD), we found that the “potluck” allows for the social aspect of a dinner out with friends but without having to refinance the house to enjoy a night out. Plus, we think the food our friends make is better than 95% of the restaurants in Geneva.

This weekend, in honor of the holiday, we decided to grill out in the park beside the lake. We are pretty sure we aren’t supposed to grill out, but we figured it was 4th of July and that could be our excuse if we were apprehended – in our country, it is actually ILLEGAL not to grill out on 4th of July. Also, we had our friend Henry Birmingham visiting from the US, so if all else failed, we planned to blame on him and act as innocent Swiss bystanders to these crazy American ways of lighting fire to food.

It was a pretty lovely evening spent with fun folks. Happy Birthday, America!! And thanks to Henry for the fabulous photography!

My first Swiss Painting

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Post by Lauren

So, you may have noticed on our post about our new home that our water closets have an “interesting” tile color.

I took some inspiration from the Friday hikes I do with the American International Women’s Club to try to improve the situation. Two weeks ago, we hiked through some wheat fields from Jussy to Vesenaz and some of the natural yellows in the wheat fields and paths were similar to our the bathroom. So, I figured it might help our visitors not concentrate on the tile-work. Let me know what you think on the “match”.

Also, I thought you might want to check out a few photos from the hike that provided this inspiration and also see the faces of some of the wonderful women who have helped me feel more at home here in Geneva.

Gratitude Friday: Our New Home

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Post by Lauren

First of all, I can’t believe its July. That is incredible. Where did this year go? Wait…I remember, getting engaged, getting married, moving across the planet, learning a new language and acclimating to a new culture!!

And since most of the first part of the year was living out of boxes, today’s gratitude Friday post goes out to…..our new home and everything about it. We are so thankful for our place. We love the serenity of the flat and are enjoying feeling settled – finally! In fact, just in time, as we have our first guest coming to Geneva this weekend!

Here is a peak at the flat….still some artwork and photos to be hung, but starting to feel “like home”.

Bon weekend, everyone!

La chambre des invités (for guests), La studio / La bureau, La cuisine, La toilettes invités, La chambre

 

La salon, La salle á manger / La bar


Zip-Pity do-da (excuse the pun)

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This week is a really fabulous week. Not only did it start off with a Canadienne Buffet, continue with a washer and dryer delivery, but now the icing on the cake….I have actually found out where exactly we live.

In Switzerland, the sections of towns are broken up into four digit zip codes. It has been quite a saga to find out which one we actually live in. This adventure started when we found out we got our apartment, at the end of March. And we have hopefully found the answer, only 14 weeks later. I’d like to share a chronological timeline of our experience with this:

March 2011: The agency calls to say “Congratulations! You got the apartment after 4 weeks of waiting on pins-and-needles! It’s official!”

March 2011: Lauren instantly takes address from house-hunting documents and enters them into TinyPrint.com to make wedding thank you cards. Hits Order. Second guesses realizes that she forgot to put an actual apartment # as it wasn’t listed on house hunting documents. Emails agency and asks whether she should stop the order to include the apartment #. Agency writes back that the address IS in fact correct, people don’t list their apartment #s. There are none – just your building number. Note: don’t apply for mailmen positions in Switzerland, this would be not fun to figure out for 16-20 apartments in every building.

April 2011: Beautiful Tiny Print thank you cards come

May 2011: Move to Switzerland. Carry one of the little thank you cards everywhere – to get TPG pass, to register for things, as it has the proper address and it is easier than butchering our address or spelling our names aloud in French. Note, registration people also appreciate such effort.

May 2001: While in temporary living, learn how to use TPG (public transportation of geneva) site to map out daily transportation. Curious to what buses come to new permanent apartment and try that. Realize that our Zip Code Original doesn’t work. It suggests our address, but with Zip Code 2…..hmm. Houston, we may have a problem.

May 2011: Email Agency. WTF? Agency advises to in fact, start using Zip Code 2 moving forward. Give out Zip code 2 when doing the rest of home-set-up. Figure that eventually people with Zip Code 1 will catch on. Realize that most people in the US won’t send us mail, so not a terribly big deal all our wedding thank you cards have the wrong address, right?

June 2011: Go on “familiarization” tour of neighborhood with agency.
When we get to the post office part, agency advises that they called prior to our day together, and actually Zip Code 1 is correct. Revert to using it. Yeah, all those Tiny Print thank you cards aren’t a waste after all!

June 2011: Go to women’s club luncheon. Have new member kit handed back to me as it was rejected when sending to Zip Code 1. Has a very clear note from La Post saying to start using Zip Code 2. Start using Zip code 2 again since they said so….

June 2011: Use Zip code 2 when ordering train tickets. Days later, train office writes me a personalized email (in English!!) saying my tickets were sent back to them. Advise them to use my husband’s name (I am not legally converted yet – story too long for this blog post) and re-send to Zip Code 1. Thank them profusely for their amazing customer service.

June 2011: A brilliant idea occurs to me. Our neighbors must know where we live and actually have the right address on their mail. Since the neighbors don’t speak English and we don’t want to confuse them hoping they’ll give us lenience on noise and all the other things we know we’ll do wrong, brainstorm an ingenious idea. [ The rest of this part has been omitted to protect author ] . Confirm neighbors have Zip Code 1.

June 2011: Train tickets successfully arrive to Zip Code 1. But, I have to walk four blocks to go get envelope with a retrieval ticket, as it was held at the post office. Even though it was an envelope that would have fit in the mailbox. Bizarre.

Conclude that sending mail to Zip 1 with husbands name is the best approach. Mission accomplished…zippity do da dandy.

A splendid Canadienne Buffet

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After a vicious weekend of assembling IKEA furniture and hanging pictures, we were very excited to have Sunday dinner plans at A & A’s place.

In my French lessons, my teacher (who doesn’t speak a word of English to me), has me talk about daily life in Geneva. I talk about the house, Gabe’s job, and things I do during the day.

Last week, I was attempting to tell her in French that “we met some nice people on the bus, and we went over to their house for potluck,” describing our delicious American BBQ at their place.

“Comment dites-vous ‘potluck’ en français?” I asked.

She replied, “ahhh….Canadienne buffet”.

Really? That’s awesome.

The funny part of a Canadienne buffet is taking your items on the public transit. Below, Gabe captured a shot of me toting the caprese salad while waiting for the bus. Apparently, it is not normal to carry a platter of food on the bus in Switzerland. Oh well, I am not a stranger to odd looks from the Swiss.

This Sunday, the theme was Mini Pizzas. A had whipped up an amazing selection of toppings. From everything to homemade sauce, to all the workings of a BBQ chicken pizza, it was incredible. Gabe and I think this is best pizza we have ever had!

In addition to the delicious Italian fare, it was just a very enjoyable evening spent with great people.

Gabe and I are excited that we are finally almost done settling so we can host next time at our new place. I am thinking ours will be a Mexican themed Canadienne Buffet….we’ll see…you’ll have to keep reading for all the updates! Also, share any of your best potluck ideas for us – we’d love to hear some suggestions!