The Most Wonderful Month of the Year!

Why hello everyone!

First and foremost, I finally added pictures of my mom's visit to my blog. For all those who just hit their hands on their foreheads…yes, I am fully aware that her trip here was over 6 months ago. But I wouldn’t be the Gwenaëlle that you all know and love if I were…oh wait, what’s the phrase…on time? Now, without further ado, go and stalk to your hearts’ content :)

http://adventuresofgwenaelle.blogspot.com/2011/11/vacation-raw-account.html

I can’t believe April has already come and gone! This month was literally jam packed with so many things, time just seemed to go by in the blink of an eye! As April happens to be my birthday month, you can all understand why naturally it would be the most wonderful month of the year. Well, one of them at least :)

March 30-April 1

The first weekend of the month was celebrated at Natalie’s place in Däniken. Friday night I surprised her at the train station with flowers and chocolate to hold Natalie over until the middle of April when she would get her real birthday present from me. Saturday we spent her birthday by shopping and relaxing.  going out to dinner with her host family at an amazing American restaurant, and then going out to celebrate with friends. Sunday morning Nat and I headed into Neuchatel for my uncle’s surprise birthday party where we got to spend lots of time with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It’s been so wonderful to have these constant Cattin “family reunions” throughout this past year, almost as if to make up for all the years I wasn’t able to attend family reunions due to the long distance.  Right after the party my Pépé drove Natalie and I to church for the last session of General Conference. The missionaries who invited Natalie to attend found out it was her birthday and made her a cake. It was so sweet of them!  Right after cake Nat and I had to catch our trains home ending the first of many eventful weekends this month.

Awesome missionaries who baked Nat a cake

April 6-15

Vacances de Pâques! (Easter Vacation)

Friday the 6^th was spent deep cleaning and organizing my apartment (which took the ENTIRE day). To top off the jolly good fun, I spent my evening babysitting so that Hugo could attend Sarah’s concert. Afterwards Natalie’s came over and we had another little birthday celebration. It was way too difficult to bring a cake, flowers, and all my luggage to my sister’s house last weekend, so I told her I would make her one when she came this weekend. Her favorite cake is Boston Crème Pie, but since I’m terrible at making chocolate ganache, I decided to make a really yummy strawberry glaze instead.

"Strawberry Boston Creme Pie"

Saturday the 7^th was a rather lazy day. Natalie and I woke up late and relaxed until she left in the afternoon to go to Martigny. About a month ago she promised our cousin Loïc that we would go to a concert with him, while I had promised my dad’s cousin, Myriam, that we would go spend Easter weekend with her in Lausanne. Because neither of us informed the other of either plan until last weekend, we were in a bit of a jam. Clearly Natalie and I could not be in two places at once, so we had to split up to make both sides satisfied. Natalie would go to Loïc’s Saturday afternoon in order to attend the concert that night, I would go to Myriam’s house Saturday night as planned, and then Natalie would come to Lausanne the next morning to spend the rest of the Easter weekend with us.

It was so great to meet Myriam’s family. There were a lot of people all at once, but they were so nice and so welcoming. Plus there was this huge blanket of comfort knowing that these people are my family. Second cousins or not, family is important to me, so the more I get to know over here, the less difficult it is to be away from mine back home.

And then came Easter Sunday! Church was filled with wonderful talks and lessons about Christ and his ultimate sacrifice for each and every one of us. Personally, it always makes me a bit sad to be reminded of just how much pain Christ went through during his crucifixion. But then at the same time, these lessons help me come to a deeper understand of just how much our Savior loves us—enough to die for us. Enough to endure every single pain there ever was, just so that each and every one of us could have the opportunity to return to Him in Heaven once again.

Right after church we rushed to the train station to pick up Natalie and then went to Myriam’s parents’ place (my great uncle Louis and aunt Christianne). They stuffed us all full with an amazing Easter lunch, and then proceeded to hand out large amounts of Swiss chocolate bunnies. Yep, Easter doesn’t get any better than in Switzerland. Lots of vacation and really good chocolate bunnies. No competition there! For the rest of the afternoon we talked and really got to know each other.  My great uncle was the only one of his 9 siblings to accept the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints after his parents (my great-grandparents) were baptized. His brother, my grandpa, didn’t accept the Gospel, but my grandma did anyways which explains why my dad got baptized. So the only family I have in the Gospel here are descendants of my great uncle Louis. He continued to share so many more stories of my family, and even showed me the first apartment my dad lived in right after he was born, and then his first school. Gosh it was so cool! I feel like a very strong bond was created today with my great uncle, a bond based on our strong testimonies of the Gospel that, thanks to the Lord, we were possible to share with eachother. Personally, I never thought I would get to meet him, nor most of my family here in Switzerland, let alone be able to converse with any of them in French. But all thanks to the Lord, my French has really improved in the past 10 months I've been here in Switzerland.

My great uncle, his daughter Myriam, and Natalie at my dad's first school

Now, the day wasn’t over! Myriam’s husbad, Carlos, decided to take the whole family into the city center of Lausanne to go sight-seeing. Lausanne has been one of my favorite cities since I first explored it last September, so I was really excited :)

City Center of Lausanne

Nat, me, and Sarah

View of Lausanne from the Cathedral

Cathedral de Lausanne

Monday was our last day with Myriam and Carlos’ family. Carlos had the great idea to go explore Gruyère, a medieval village that leads up to the Château de Gruyères.  It was such an incredible area, we spent the entire day exploring and sightseeing so by the time we got back to Lausanne, it was already time for Natalie and I to take our trains home.

Sarah, Natalie, and me

Cute village of Gruyère

Château de Gruyères

View from the castle

Again, the beautiful village

Tuesday I went to explore Berne with my friend, Maria. I’ve already been in the city center area thousands of times with Natalie to go shopping and see the Parliament buildings, but today Maria and I walked all around Berne to see the Cathedral, the fenced-off bear park where they literally let bears roam as they please, markets, and the beautiful scenery. After so much exploring, we headed back to a park in the main city center area and sunbathed for about an hour. All in all, it was a rather perfect day.

Outlooking Berne with Maria

Parliament area

Berner Münster (Bern Cathedral)

Bear Park!

Beautiful, beautiful Berne

Aare River

Wednesday was spent cleaning the house for my boss. It was only supposed to take a few hours to finish, so the plan was to take a train into Lucerne around noon and then go explore this incredible city with friends from my French class. Unfortunately it took ALL DAY to finish, so I barely had time to get ready and pack before taking a train into Neuchatel to stay at my Pépé’s and Dada’s apartment for a couple days.

Thursday was a wonderful day! My cousins Lydiane and Alex came for lunch. I'm always happy to see the two of them, but I was especially excited to see Lydiane as she had just gotten back from her 3-month trip in Ireland! After the many hugs and excited shrieks, we went right into catching up on each other’s lives (as girls are SO good at doing).  Later on my grandparents drove us to Yverdon-les-Bains to go swimming with our Aunt Sophie and her two younger kids. It was so nice to just relax in nice warm water and talk with everyone, specifically Alex, who also started to join in on the conversations as well. Lydiane and I are really close because we both enjoy talking, but since Alex is pretty shy and he doesn’t ever say much, we never really bonded until now. Even though it took him 10 months, I was really excited he finally felt comfortable opening up to me. After we finished swimming, everyone was really tired so Pépé and Dada drove Lydiane and Alex home and then we went back to the apartment, relaxing the rest of the evening.

Our wonderful reunion :)

Friday morning Pépé and I went on a long walk. Growing up, my dad would always go on walks with my siblings and I, and now I know where he gets that from: his own father who I know go on walks with all the time. Since Dada doesn’t like to go, it’s usually the time I have to bond with Pépé by myself. By the time we got back to the apartment, Lydiane was already there hanging out with Dada. We spent the rest of the afternoon talking and hanging out at the apartment, getting some good bonding time together before she leaves for her big 4 month trip around Asia next week. Natalie took a train into Neuchatel and joined me at Pépé and Dada’s.

Saturday morning Dada took Natalie and I shopping to get Lydiane’s birthday present. Afterwards she drove us to Mémé’s apartment (my real grandma) where we spent a wonderful afternoon. Mémé is such a lively person, and always has so much to say! Now that I can actually speak and understand (for the most part) French, we can finally talk about all the things we’ve waited my entire life to talk about. And then, another great thing about my day… I got to call my dad!!!! I rarely ever get to talk to him so it was really exciting for me! Something I really value about my dad is that he is so wise and so loving, and now that I’m older, he’s my friend—someone I can go to for anything. And every time I talk to him I am filled with comfort, happiness, strength, and hope.  We talked and talked and talked and before I knew it, Mémé was telling me it was time for dinner, so I had to go and eat. After dinner Natalie and I said goodbye to Mémé and Vivien (her husband) and headed to Lausanne to go out with our cousin Loïc and some friends. We couldn’t stay long because Natalie and I needed to get up early the next day, but we certainly had lots of fun while we were there.

With Loïc and Nat in Lausanne

Sunday morning bright and early, Natalie and I headed to Berne for Natalie’s surprise birthday present: a massage and facial at the spa :) After such a wonderful morning, we took a train back to Neuchatel to attend Lydiane’s birthday/goodbye party. It was another great family-reunion, but a little sad at the same time because it was the last time I would get to see Lydiane before I head back for the States in August. After saying our goodbyes, Natalie and I headed back to Pépé and Dada’s for dinner before we each had to take our trains home. And thus, my friends, ended my very wonderful vacation, les Vacances de Pâques.

Lydiane, Me, My Aunt Sophie, and Natalie

Dada, Natalie, and Pepe

April 20-22

This weekend Natalie and I were originally supposed to spend in Locarno, an incredible city in the Italian region of Switzerland, but due to rain, we decided to postpone our trip until May. Since Natalie had a lot of things she needed to do, we decided to spend this weekend apart. Friday night I took a train into Lausanne and went to Le Romandie with my cousin Loïc and some friends for a concert. The band was really good, and I even got to dance! Since we all know how much I love to dance, it’s safe to say I had a lot of fun :) After the concert was over Marko drove Loïc and I to Martigny and I slept at their apartment. The next day I hung out with Loïc and it was really fun. He’s my 2^nd cousin, but really he’s like a brother to me so I enjoyed spending the day with him before having to take a train back home that night. Sunday morning I was up bright and early for church! I recognized a few people visiting from Neuchatel who were in Fribourg for a meeting about institute. I went, and am finally enrolled! YES! After the meeting, Sister Sudan (a very tough Spanish woman you never want to cross in an ally way at night) invited me to eat lunch with her, her son, and the missionaries. It was really great to bond with the Sudans and Fribourg's wonderful missionaries, Elder Coenen (Belgian) and Elder Larsen (American). I didn't get home untiI about 18:00 (6pm), so I quickly made some dinner and began my weekly Sunday night Skype sessions with my family back home.

Hanging out with my wonderful cousin, Loïc!

April 26-29

 

My birthday weekend!

(credit to Nat for this wonderful card wishing my a happy birthday in English, French, AND German...are we Swiss or WHAT?)

Thursday morning bright and early I woke up to my phone beeping, alerting me of an SMS (text). With no desire to wake up just yet, I did my best to go back to sleep. Normally, that would have been possible. However, every twenty seconds from there on out, I recieved about TWENTY more messages, all from Loïc to wish me a happy birthday. Since there was no hope up getting back to sleep, I got up and got ready for the day. Gotta love family! However, the package I recieved from him later that morning definitely made up for waking me up so early. At about 10 I started work. Normally I have Thursdays off and then work Friday, but Natalie asked me to switch the two around so that I could have a longer weekend to celebrate. My boss, Sarah, was really sweet and made me a very special birthday lunch (since I’m the one who normally makes lunch) followed by cake and presents.

My boss and my boys :)

Afterwards I had to get back to work until 18:00 (6pm) and then quickly packed for my surprise birthday weekend. I had no idea what was in store for me…only that I needed to bring certain things. So, off I went to the train station ready for a weekend of fun! With one exception, I needed to head into Fribourg quickly to grab something of mine from an ex-boyfriend, and then I was off to Däniken. As soon as I got to my sister’s house I got to celebrate my birthday all over again! We ate the cake me made (my favorite--chocolate wackey cake) and then got to open presents . Afterwards I got to Skype to my dad, which was a BIG present for me since I rarely get to talk to him. Overall, AMAZING day! 

The cake Natalie made me :)

Friday morning I lazily got up and headed into Aarau with Natalie for some quality shopping time. After we were satisfired, we returned to her house to sun bathe. It was such a beautiful, relaxing day :) Saturday, however, was very busy day! We had lunch with some friends and then drove with them to St. Gallen (about 2 hours away from Daniken) where we met up with our friend Hannah and some of her friends to play laser tag.

It was so much fun! Afterwards we went to Hannah’s apartment for a BBQ. I barely knew anyone, neither at laser tag nor at the BBQ, but that was really fun because I love meeting new people. Then later that night we all went out dancing at this really cool club in St. Gallen.

Night out, about to go dancing!

Natalie and Hannah did some great planning, and I’m really thankful for that. It was such an amazing day, everything was so perfect! Sunday was a peaceful day of rest after all the activity of Saturday.  And then finally, Natalie and I needed to begin the long journey home.

I want to thank everyone for all that helped make my birthday so special. To my dad for the call and paying for my massage when I went with Natalie (that was my early birthday present from him).  To my amazing brother, Matthew who emailed  me a very special voice recording for my birthday where I got to hear his voice for 10 minutes. Since he’s on his mission and I can’t see him or talk to him until this August, those were some of the best 10 minutes I have ever spent in my life. Even the pitchy “happy birthday” signing (which he did on purpose). To my cousin Loïc who got me the cutest purse in the world and texted me TWENTY times at 7:30 in the morning to wish me a happy birthday (and make sure I was up early to enjoy it…). To my two best friends back in the US, Courtney and Amanda who sent me the best packages ever with gifts that were so perfect and had so much meaning to them. To my bosses who got me wonderful presents, made a super cute cake, and did their best to make my birthday a special day. To my amazing sister Natalie who made me my favorite cake ever, got me some very wonderful gifts (that were so beautifully wrapped, might I add ;) ), and worked very hard with Hannah to make my birthday weekend such an amazing weekend for me. To Hannah who let everyone come to her apartment and even let us crash at her place afterwards, and worked super hard with Natalie. To my French teacher who bought me peanut butter for my birthday. Now, this may seem like nothing…but she has never gotten any other student something for their birthday, and she actually remembered me mentioning from a conversation about 6 months ago that something I really missed from the US was peanut butter.  To Sibylle and Reto for the card and present. To my branch for the wonderful card I received in the mail. And to everyone who called, texted, Skyped, or facebooked me wishing me a happy birthday. I really, truly, honestly had a VERY happy birthday :)

And that concludes the month of April! Hope you all enjoyed this glorious month as much as I did!

Jusqu’à la prochaine fois, bisous! :)

The Adventures Return! ...4 Months Later

Hey guys!

I apologize it has taken so long to post something! If I am correct, the last time I wrote was November, so I’ve got about 4 months of catching up to do. Life sometimes gets a bit carried away, but I’ll do my best to recount what I can, in the shortest way possible.

December was such an incredible month for me. In fact, the Christmas season is what I live for. Not just the day itself, but those 24 days that lead up to Christmas. The music, the movies, the decorations, the snow, the fashion, the candy canes, the Christmas spirit, and the large amounts of family time that takes place. All of it I just love.  Of course this year was a bit different, as I celebrated it in a completely different country with very different traditions, and I couldn’t spend it with my family back home (due to the fact that Switzerland happens to be an entire ocean and continent away from home). But even though it wasn’t what I was used to, it was still a great experience. I  got a chance to try new things, spend a Christmas with my Swiss family for the first time ever, and now have a deeper appreciation for my family back home. They’ve always been important to me, but being away from them for such an important holiday made me realize that for the last 18 1/2 years I had been given the best gift of all, my family—something that not even Swiss chocolate can compare to. Not THAT much ;)

Christmas Shopping With Nat :)

About to go out for New Year's with my cousin...don't you just love the bow I gave him?

January was a month of resolutions! My first resolution was to give up pork. It slows down my body, makes me more susceptible to sickness, it’s terrible for my complexion, and is not very healthy.  In the States I never really ate pork, so I never had any problems with it. But since I got to Switzerland, it’s changed to one of the primary meats I eat and has really affected my body. My second resolution was to finish the piano song I have been writing since October. Third, become closer to my branch in Fribourg. And fourth, take my French course much more seriously. I’ve really improved and done all that was expected of me, but nothing more, and with a limited time where I can live in immersion, I want to take it much more seriously. By the end of the month, I had completely cut out pork from my diet, and almost 4 months later, I am successfully living with out pork in my  life. My song was at one point completed, but I have recently decided I want to add more parts to it, so that is still a work in progress. I still feel like I need to put forth more effort towards my French, but I certainly am taking it so much more seriously than I have been. And finally, after quite a bit of effort and time, I’m offically feel like the Fribourg Branch is my own. 

February was a month filled with sickness and extreme coldness! Let's face it, I’m a wimpy Seattle girl who is not equipped to tolerate -20C winters (-5F). Then again, this was a bit of an extreme winter for les Suisse as well, so I’m guessing that is the reason why everyone in my host family and I were pretty sick. FINNNNNALLY after about 2 weeks, the weather got warmer, ridding us of all sicknesses and giving them the opportunity to take me skiing for the first time! I was a little bit nervous (okay that's a lie, I was INSANELY nervous), but ended up being quite the natural. I suppose it pays off to have Swiss heritage, after all! I’ve still got so much to learn, but I’m definitely excited to pursue this sport. And finally, my big brother, Philippe, came to visit Natalie and I! I haven’t seen him or the rest of my family since last June, so it was so great to finally see him again! (with the exception of my mom who came to visit last October). We spent quite a bit of time in Neuchâtel with our grandparents, where I got the “luxury” of translating for Philippe and Natalie, who can understand a little French, but can’t really speak it. After spending time with family, Natalie and I decided to take Philippe to places we love (all of them being beautiful cities), like the city of Fribourg where we spent a day shopping, Olten for sight-seeing, Basil to go swimming at one of the coolest indoor waterparks ever, and then to Lausanne to go out dancing with our cousin Loïc and his friends. And last but certainly not least, we traveled to Valence, France to see our dearly beloved Elder Matthew Cattin! Even though it was quite the voyage, we had so much fun, just like old times when the family would make the annual 9-hour drive to Boise, Idaho for Holmstead family reunions. Our very favorite part, no doubt, was surprise attacking Matthew, who had NO idea we were in France (or that Philippe was even in Europe) let alone that were staking out his apartment, waiting for the moment he and his companion would exit the building. After the big surprise, we got the opportunity to go to church with him and explore Valence a bit before heading back to Switzerland.

Philippe, Pepe, and Nat

Olten

My beautiful village

I guess the secret it out...my brother is superman!

And I'm batwoman ;)

Exploring Lausanne

What better way to make a long journey go by faster than to sleep? 

Finally in Valence!

Found Matthew's apartment!

Ninja attack!

Philippe, Me, Natalie, Matthew, Elder Harris--4 of the 6 Cattin siblings are finally reunited after 1 1/2 years!

In contrast to last month, the month of March has been fairly calm. My goal for this month has been to get a choir started at church with my friend, Christina. After many talks about doing it, and a bit of planning, we finally spoke with our branch president and got permission to get a choir going. The ward chorister volunteered to lead the choir for us, and Christina and I will take turns accompanying the choir on the piano. Our first meeting went very successfully! All the youth attended, plus quite a few adults. I’m so excited to see the rewards that will reap for the branch from this project. If there is one thing I’ve learned from Bishop Richey (my bishop back in Seattle), it’s that music has a way of bringing a ward/branch together, and hopefully, will help in the branch's current mission of having 100% member attendance PLUS getting investigators coming. Another great thing that happened this month was finally being about to work out my work schedule so that at least once a week I can go to my grandma and step-grandpa’s place. My grandma loves to talk, but up until these past few months, I couldn’t really understand what she wanted to say, let alone respond, but now that I can and my work schedule isn't so hectic, I’m going to be there a lot more!

As far as traveling goes, I’ve made three excursions this month. First of all, Natalie and I  spent a weekend in Geneva for the 82^nd International Motor Show. It was actually not too far from where I used to live in Geneva, and I recognized so many streets and stores, contrary to what I’d expected after being away for so long. At the car show we saw every car imaginable from Mercedes to Audi to Volkswagen to Jaguar to Lamborghini to Volvo. I even spotted a nice Ferrari I’d like to take home =)

Second, the Relief Society in my stake traveled to Lyon, France for a huge conference between my stake and the stake of Lyon. This particular city happens to only be about 40 minutes away from Valence, so it drove me crazy knowing I was THAT close to my brother and could not see him. But, all the same, it was a great conference where I really put my French to the test by listening to about 4 hours of talks in addition to translating them for a friend who didn't speak French. Around noon we had a lunch break where a woman came up to me, sharing that we shared the same last name. Turns she is not only in my stake, but she’s my dad’s cousin! I can’t believe it took us traveling all the way to Lyon to meet, but I’m so glad I did! Encounters like this one are the reason I came here, after all. I also unexpectedly ran into a guy who just barely got off his mission. He’d served in Neuchatel, and actually, in the last month had given me a blessing (still as a missionary) when I was visiting my grandparents for the weekend. Small world Europe seems to be!

Lyon, France chapel

Lunch with my dad's cousin :)

My final excursion of the month was exploring Aarau with Natalie. It's such a cool city and reminds me so much of Rothenburg, a beautiful medieval city in Germany that my mom took Natalie and I to last October. Except in this town, there were a ton of huge plastic rabbits! I was so confused why they were rabbits everywhere, and then Natalie reminded me it’s getting close to Easter. Haha, go me!  

My beatuiful sister in the beautiful city of Aarau

You're right, Mr. Incredibly Large Gold Bunny....I DO see that...

Little Elf finally found her friends in Aarau! 

Well, that’s been my life thus far! Again, I apologize it has taken so long to update you all. Enjoy this wonderful Sunday, and until next time, ciao!

You're Never Too Old To Learn Something New

Hi everyone! As far as the pictures go, nope, don't have those yet! My sister is on vacation and I forgot to get them from her when I saw her last. Soon, soon, soon! I'll report the second I've got my hands on em!

Oh man, so much to recount! My memory is terrible, as most of you know, so going long periods of time without recounting my life makes it difficult for me to say what I did. I’ll do my best. Promise!

Oct. 28-30

Ah yes, the weekend after my vacation. Friday, the 28^th, I took a 1½ train ride out to Martigny to celebrate Rélie’s birthday. It was great to see everyone again after being away so long. And then here comes my favorite part. So, around 10…maybe 11…this rather attractive guy comes and sits at one of the two tables my group was at. I leaned over to my cousin asking who he was, but he shrugged and said he didn’t know. Dangit! How was I going to get to know this guy? Well, to my luck, he must have seen me do this. Because he then went up to my cousin and asked the very same thing about me. I’m not exactly sure what was said because I was talking to Natalie when this happened, but whatever it was, it gave him the motivation to come sit next to me. And spoke to me in PERFECT English. We spent the next few hours talking and getting to know each other. But, come midnight I pulled a Cinderella and left with my cousin, Loïc, to his apartment with his friends and my sister. As you all know, I have rules regarding the boys I meet here. One being they don’t come home with me after a night out. Another rule includes no number exchanging unless he’s Mormon or I feel like he would be okay with my standards. To all those non-Mormons, no, I’m not being biased. But when I date someone, it is important that he is respectful of my standards. And that respect usually only comes when the guy himself keeps the same standards. Of course there are exceptions, and I reserve the right to make such exception when it feels right. But in this particular case, as much fun as I had with him I didn't have a good feeling about pursuing anything.
On Saturday Loïc, Nat, and I went to explore an awesome cave. Gosh it was so cool! And when we got to the end, it was REALLY cold. And there was this…I’d like to say little lake. Which was even colder. How do I know this? Well, because I took off my shoes, rolled up my pants, and walked around in it. Yes, I know I’m crazy. Loïc told me this a million times. But he and Natalie are too because I convinced them both to do it with me ;) After that epic adventure, we drove to this ancient Roman coliseum. Oh goodness. So incredible! I’ll have to get a picture of it next time I’m in Martigny. It was amazing!  After such an wonderful day of exploring, Loïc drove us to the gare (train station) and we took our separate trains home. Natalie wanted to spend time with her dog, and I made a deal with myself that I would come home every Saturday night so that I could go to church each Sunday morning.

Sunday was my second time going to my branch, and it was wonderful!  I formally met my branch president (aka Bishop) and he got my information to get my records transferred into the ward. YES! This means I’ll finally belong to a ward again!  My head hurt a bit trying to translate all 3 hours of church, but it's such a great exercise for me, and gives a progress update of how I'm doing in French. After church ended, there was this big lunch thing, so I stayed after and really got to know everyone in my branch. There is the lady (still don’t know her name, I’ll call her the American) who is older and a mom, but, I love her. She’s so funny and she just seems to get me. Then at lunch I sat across from this hilarious Swiss-German lady and her husband, who both speak English. I like them :). And then next to me was the Branch president and his wife. Who both speak English. I very much like them, too. Noticing a pattern? Haha. After lunch and helping with the clean-up, I took a train home and spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Oct. 31-Nov. 6

Monday—HALLOWEEN!!!! This happens to be my second favorite holiday in the whole wide world (first being Christmas). I mean really, what could be better? As a little girl I got to stay up late, dress however I wanted, and go door-to-door collecting gross amounts of candy. I repeat, what could be better? It’s not as fun now that I’m older, but it’s still important to me. But they don’t celebrate it hear. GASP! I was pretty sad, but my boss did her best to make me have a good Halloween. We made decorations for the house, made a pumpkin tart thing, which is pretty similar to pumpkin pie, and then had this really nice dinner with some neighbors and friends with—what—pumpkin soup! Yes, awesome. Awesome. Awesome! No, I didn’t get to pass out candy to little trick-or-treaters all night long and reminisce about my many wonderful Halloweens, but, at least I got to celebrate it.

I don’t remember anything happening on Tuesday. SKIP.

Wednesday…hmm…these are the days I get off work at 1pm as opposed to 7pm so I can have time to do my French hw, and then take a train into Fribourg for my French course. And then after that Maria and I always walk to this cute little café, buy some hot chocolate and enjoy free pastries and sandwiches for dinner. Then we walk back to the train station and I take a train home, getting there around 8pm or so.

Nothing exciting for Thursday or Friday. SKIP.

Saturday morning I woke up, stretched for a long time, avoiding getting up. My bed is just so comfy :) But, unfortunately, I had to get going on writing my blog. It literally took me all afternoon to finish it. A month is a LONG time to cover, especially when you’re on vacation for most of it and a lot happens every day! By 4 I was finally done, so I showered, ate, got ready, then by 7 I was off to my train station to Neuchatel, where I walked to my grandparents’ apartment. By the time I’d gotten there Natalie was already there settled in her PJ’s and everyone was sitting on the couch watching American crime-solving shows in French. But Nat and I were pretty tired so soon after we headed to bed in their spare room.

I woke up Sunday morning and ate breakfast with Dada. Since it was stake conference for my stake, and the whole system was too expensive and complicated for me, I decided to spend Sunday with my family, a fairly acceptable alternative to going to church, considering family is the most important concept of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Around noon Natalie and I walked down to meet Lydiane and her very charming boy…friend? Who drove us to our Aunt Sophie’s house. Which meant he was automatically cool in my book. After boy dropped us off, us three girls walked up to Sophie’s house, cut up fruit, caught up on life (as girls are very good at doing for hours), and then eventually got to making pancakes. I can’t tell you all how much I’ve missed pancakes! Especially the American syrup. Oh I’ve missed that! But I forgot how filling they could be! I swear…after only two small ones, I was STUFFED! So, so work all that off, we all went on a beautiful walk.

Lydiane, Tinka, Natalie, and then up ahead Niels and Sophie

Lydiane and I :)

I saw this bridge and knew I had to get a picture on it. Only Amanda and Taylor will understand why ;)

Nat and Tinka taking a break to admire the beauty

Isn't this lake just incredible? I thought so!

Nov. 7-13

Nothing too interesting this week. The temperature is getting, and staying, very low. I know 46F doesn’t seem that cold, but for a wimpy Seattlite who is only accustomed to that kind of weather a week or two total between late December and early February, not EVERY SINGLE DAY starting from November to who knows when. However, it gives me a logically excuse to porte (wear in French) all my adorable scarves, boots, and shop for the things I clearly don’t have in the latest European fashion for winter.

Monday—SKIP.

Tuesday—SKIP.

Wednesday—I actually did my homework before today, meaning I didn’t have to cram one week’s worth into two hours. I'd be much more proud of myself if my reasoning wasn't due to my physical therapy appointment. I really need to be more dedicated to my studies! But anyways, so I'm finally doing physical therapy! My car accident last May has really affected my back, but ever since I came to Europe...due to reasons that are long and boring so I won't explain...this was my first visit. After that I rushed to the train station and headed off to French class. My instructor always has interesting methods to teach us. For example, she brought in a magazine and has us all read the same small article out loud. Which meant we each got to hear it 4 times and read it once. I liked being last because after hearing it over and over, I had a good idea of what it was going to be, and then I got to put audio and visual together which really helped me.  After class Maria and I walked to our café, ate, and talked for an hour before I took my train home, and she took her bus. I’m not kidding when I say it’s freezing! Hence why I practically ran the normally 30 minute uphill walk back to my house, cutting it down to 15 minutes. Oh, and I was wearing boots. Yeah, I know. I’m awesome ;) Haha, after I got home, I watched Sydney White. Basically a modern day Snow White with Amanda Bynes. I really liked it, and would certainly recommend it. It’s basically this girl who is rejected for being different—a tom-boy raised by her carpenter father, and rejected by a mean it-girl. I cannot stand mean girls. My absolute biggest pet peeve on the planet. But this supposed “reject” over throws the mean it girl just by being nice and herself. Okay, I know that sounds cheesy, but I don’t care. I like happy endings and seeing mean girls put in their place by the only things that really kills meaness: kindness. In my life I’ve been the reject looser who was picked on by mean it-girls. And it was awful. But eventually I got my turn in the it-girl spectrum. And it was my goal to make everyone around me feel loved and welcomed. I wasn’t going to ever make someone feel badly. So to see the “reject” win, it really touched me.

Thursday—I woke up around 9am to an urgent Skype message from Amanda asking me to edit one of her papers before 16:00 (4pm). It was a compare and contrast of the books of Kings and Chronicles, a subject I knew absolutely NOTHING about. But, because I love Amanda so very much, I spent my entire day off editing all 12 pages to the very best of my ability. It was a really good paper to begin with, but I’m vicious and picky when it comes to editing. I didn’t get all A’s in my English classes for nothing. After that, I did some more painting and relaxing, watched a movie, cleaned my room, and did some landry.  

Not much happened on Friday. Oh, well…there is the fact that my sister left for vacation with her friend from Alaska. Meaning I had nothing to do. But I’m practically a mom during the week. The weekends are my days to go out and remind myself I’m still young and get to have fun. So I’d researched a place to go out dancing in Bern, which is Switzerland’s capital, and is just 20 minutes away from me. I’d looked up train times, picked a dance place, and was about to get ready when I told my friend Devin of this plan. I know him through Amanda. Anyways, he mentioned being worried about me going out into a big city all by myself at night. It made me stop and think that maybe my plan wasn’t so great, but the last thing I wanted to do was stay at home tonight, so I told him not to worry. Then I confided Kevin, my go-to guy, and he told me the same. Except Devin’s new to my life so he couldn’t exactly be blunt. Kevin, on the other hand, is one of my best friends. And according to him, we’re getting married. So he legitimately put his foot down. But still, I wanted to go. Kevin knows how stubborn I am, so he did the one thing he knew would humble me: he told me to pray about it. And the second my prayer was over, I has a message from Amanda, who had found out from Devin, NOT to go. It wasn’t demanding. It was more like pleading. And then I knew. I couldn’t go. I don’t know why I hadn’t seen before that it was a stupid idea. But I’m so glad I have great friends in my life so help me when I can’t see clearly. So, instead of going out, I took a bath, Skyped Amanda, and chatted with Devin. Pretty thrilling Friday night, isn’t it?

Saturday morning I don’t remember doing much. But around 14:00 (2pm) Sarah, Hugo, the boys, and I went on a walk around “le Lac Noir” (the black lake) in a town about 35 minutes away from Schmitten. The mountains were gorgeous, with snow already on the tips, and the trees looked stunning. I absolutely love the affect autumn has on nature. And then all of this reflected against the lake.  I’d say it was a perfect way to spend the afternoon. Then it got really cold, so after the 2-hour walk, we drove back to the house and got warm with some yummy tea and hot chocolate.

Sunday always dawns early. As if 9 am church isn’t early enough, with needing 30 minutes to get ready, 20 minutes to walk to the train station, a 10 minutes train ride, and then another 20 minutes to church, 7:30 is my wake-up time. But it’s always worth it. In Relief Society we talked about the Second Coming of Christ, which is one of my favorite topics, but it would have been a lot cooler if it wasn’t all in French. I’ve already learned the language of kids, I’m grasping the language of adults, but church is going to be even harder with all its terminology. Adult Sunday school was good, I sat next to another lady I’m beginning to be friends with. We were speaking in English, so this lady came up to sit next to us and joined in the English conversation, and then right after that our RS president joined us. I really like how close this ward is, and how easy it is for me to fit right in. The “strenuous, awkward, I don’t really know you” conversations are getting less painful. Especially being new to an entire ward. I never knew how hard that could be.  Sacrament meeting was absolutely wonderful. Why? Because it was fast and testimony meeting! My favorite Sunday of the entire month. An entire hour of hearing people’s testimonies that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true, that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us so much, he sacrificed his only begotten son so that we could repent through the atonement and be saved. That our Savior, Jesus Christ, loves us so much, he would go through every intense second of pain again if it meant saving just one soul. That the book of Mormon was translated correctly by Joseph Smith, directed by the Lord entirely. Sustaining that he was a true prophet chosen by God, sustaining all prophets after him, specifically our current prophet, Thomas S. Monsen, who currently leads and directs the church towards righteousness.   Which is everything I believe in without a doubt.

Testimony meeting ran longer than it was supposed to, which was amazing to be able to hear testimonies, but also made it a little harder on me because I had to run to make it to the train station in 10 minutes when it normally takes me 20. Normally it wouldn’t matter, a train comes every half hour, I could just take the next one. But Hugo’s parents invited me to lunch and the longer I took, the longer they had to wait to eat. Apparently it was Switzerland’s version of Thanksgiving. And boy was there good food :) We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and hanging out. They’re really nice, and it gave me a chance to really get to know them. They come over to the house a lot, but since they speak Swiss German and I know literally like 7 words max, we can’t really talk much. But they actually spoke to me in the little French they knew, and eventually I even got into a political debate with Hugo. He feels that anyone with money should give a large portion of that to those without. And while that is exactly was the Savior preached when he walked the Earth, I’m also a firm believer of agency and hard work. If someone starts from nothing, works hard, gains success, and therefore riches, who has the right to tell him he has to give all that away? He worked hard, didn’t he? And I certainly know of many people taking advantage of our welfare system. Yes, they need it. At first. In the beginning they say they’re going to work hard, get out of welfare, and get back on their feet again. But most never get off it because while it’s not the most luxurious life, they don’t have to work too hard to be supported by the government. And soon enough they’re in this limbo: taking welfare, and getting nowhere for years because they’re comfortable with where they are. Sure, there are some who only use welfare for a little while, work really hard, and then are back on their feet. But enough don’t that it really wears on our country economically. And I don’t believe people who work so hard for their money should have their money unwillingly taken away to give to these…slackers (that sounds harsh, but it’s the only way I can think to put it). Anyways. I did my best to fight my case. In French. Yeah…that one was a little hard.

Nov. 14-20

Monday was crazy busy for me, starting at 6:30am. The cleaning lady didn’t come this week, which meant I was in charge of all the cleaning. Then Sarah had a bunch of other tasks for me to do, and then I had to work until about 9:30 since Sarah and Hugo had Karate. I got about 2 hours in breaks in between the hours, but nonetheless, I was exhausted!

Tuesday was almost impossible for me to wake up. Since Cheif didn’t have school until the afternoon, breakfast was at 7:30 instead of 6:30. But I just didn’t want to get up. Luckily I got to Skype Amanda and Devin, our fairly attractive friend (who prefers to be referred as charming and ridiculously attractive), my morning was a lot easier to commence. Thanks Amanda, what I’d do without that Skype sesh? Probably go back to sleep and get in trouble for starting work late. Haha.  The rest of the day was same old same old for a Tuesday. Playing with the boys all morning, made everyone lunch, cleaned it up, took my 2 hour break, did my French hw, picked up Champ from school, then played with the two boys until Hugo got home and we ate dinner. After dinner I’m always off, but then the doorbell rang. Hugo said he’d forgotten someone was coming by to pick up a saxophone they’d bough from Hugo. I was expecting an older, uninteresting person. Instead, in came an attractive young man. And for the first time in my life, my natural ability to flirt disappeared. I could barely say 5 words to him in the entire hour he was over. So I distracted myself by reading to the boys. 

Wednesday dawned bright and early at 6:30am, as every Monday and Wednesday do for me. Normally Sarah is there all day long, but today she had to work in the morning, meaning it was just me and Champ. Since it was Cheif's birthday on Saturday, I thought it might be fun for Champ and I to bake brownies together. But when I bake, it is mandetory that I listen to music. So, as I got my iPod connected to my laptop, intending on putting on some awesome music for the two of us to bake to, Kevin Skypes me, so I decided to invite him to our baking party. Of course I had to translate because niether of them speak the same language, but it gave me a chance to show off my French to Kevin. 

Priceless. Absolutely priceless. Kevin's flexing, Champ is licking the wisk, and he's wearing the cutest aprin in the world. These moments are how I survive :)

 After lunch I was finished with work so I finished up my homework and went to my French class. I was REALLY tired, so I kept dozing off in class, almost falling asleep. And when there are only four other girls in the class, your instructor KNOWS when you’re not paying attention. Which isn’t normal at all for me. So she kept asking if something was wrong. And I kept saying no, just really tired. Adding French to that really wasn’t helping, but my 2 hour class eventually ended, and I walked around Fribourg with Maria. We couldn’t go to our café because I needed to leave at 6:30 to catch a train to Neuchatel for dinner reservations with Natalie, her friend, and Lydiane.

Lydiane, Nat, and I roaming the streets of Neuchatel

Which was awesome! I love my cousin so much, and I’m happy to spend as much time with her before she moves to Ireland in the beginning of January. It was also nice to meet Natalie’s friend. And eat some delectable fondue :) Afterwards we went out to this bar (not really a bar, but I don’t exactly know HOW to explain it…just  a place we went to get something to drink, sit, and hang out). I might have spotted 4 very cute guys. And I might have gone up and talked to them. And I might have walked away with one of their numbers. I'll never call the guy. But I was pretty proud of myself. Haha, around 10:45 Lydiane and I walked back to the train station and took trains home. I didn’t get back to Schmitten until 0:30 (12:30am), and then not home until 1am, but the night was well worth the long journey home.

It’s not hard to imagine I slept in very late in the morning. But going to bed so late after being so tired just takes a toll on me.  And then I made the most glorious things on the planet: PANCAKES! Thanks to the syrup and pancake mix my mom sent me, it was possible. Neither of these things are attainable here. Of course these accompanied scrambled eggs and a nice cold class of milk. I’ve missed American breakfasts. They eat bread with butter and jam here. Always. Always. ALWAYS. Nothing else. And I usually just it corn flakes. So I was more than happy to have a change of pace. Then I did some painting and listening to music until I went to Physical Therapy at 3. My therapist tried a new type of massage therapy which has really been helping, so that was good. Then a little after 6 my boss took me to one of the concerts she was playing in. The luxury of working for a musician in a very good orchestra, she gets you in for free. It was amazing. Absolutely blew my mind. I’ve heard Sarah practice her clarinet over and over and over. But never had I heard her play in an entire orchestra. And it was magnificent. Glorious. Amazing. Not to mention it was held in a really cool art museum. It was also a really good opportunity for me to bond with Sarah. We’ve got an okay relationship, but just in the last few weeks we’ve gotten REALLY close.  And a night where it was just me and her going to something, well, she played in the concert, but we came and went together and talked and stuff. It was good. Really good for us. I was super close with my former bosses in Geneva right away. So coming to this new job was hard because they were a lot more distant and I wasn’t as willing to let them in after being betrayed by my last bosses. But I can see they’re warming up to me so much, and I’m letting them in.

Friday was wonderful! I got to sleep in since the boys stayed at their grandparents for the night. Meaning, my day didn’t start until noon. I spent the next two hours ironing and doing laundry, then the rest of the day watching the boys. At 6 Sarah and Hugo left to attend another one of Sarah’s concerts, so dinner was up to me, instead of our usual bread and cheese dinner. Which would have been the easy route, but instead I chose to make pancakes, and I am now to blame for why the boys are from here on out addicted to them. It’s not my fault they’re so good, is it? Haha. After that we played, read books, and watched The Aristocats. And then, I did the unthinkable…I let them sleep in my apartment. If not, there are three levels to the house. The boys sleep on the third (the very top) and I sleep on the first, obviously the very bottom. If I didn’t let them sleep in my room, I would have had to wait upstairs until Sarah and Hugo came home. And they weren’t sure how late that would be, so it was just an all around better idea to let them sleep in my apartment. Not in my bedroom. Gosh no. I would never get any sleep if they slept in my bed since they’d wake me up all through the night. They slept in my dining room/living room on Champ’s mattress that Sarah and I carried all the way down to my floor. This made skyping Amanda a little difficult because I had to be super quiet. Even though they weren’t in the same room, you can hear everything one says in my apartment. Luckily the boys are deep sleepers.

Working the weekend sucks, but at least I didn’t have to start work on Saturday until 11. I made lunch for everyone, and since it was Chief’s birthday, he picked fries. If it was up to him that’s all we would have eaten, but luckily his mom intervened and had me make some carrots and broccoli also. After lunch Sarah and I were discussing preparations we needed to make for the huge lunch Sarah was putting together tomorrow for Chief’s birthday. At one point I asked her what time she intended on having me start, because I had church. And basically, because of how long it would take me to get there and back, just attending the first hour was out of her realm of reason.  I was very annoyed by that. She knew how important church was to me, and I’d already given up my entire weekend to help her with whatever she needed. Now she was going to keep me from going to church? This was just one of the several things she’d done this week that made me not too happy, so it was like the straw that broke the camel’s back. But, when you live with your boss, and no matter how badly they inconvenience you or tell you what you can and cannot do, they feed you. They house you. You don’t mess with that if you like having a roof over your head and food to eat. So I went down to my apartment to calm down. Then my sister needed me to lend her some cash because she’d run out while on vacation. I don’t mind helping her out, but I only had 80 Swiss Francs (CHF) to last me until the end of the month, and she needed at least 60. Which meant for the rest of the month I would have to make means with just 20CHF. But, she’s my sister, she needed my help, and I was the only one who could help her. So I went upstairs to ask my boss if the post office (also the bank here) was opened in town on Saturday after 2pm. Unfortunately it wasn’t, so they drove me into Fribourg where it was open until 4. But the problem was, the money wouldn’t be available to Natalie until Monday. Which wouldn’t be of any help because she needed it that very day. So that meant going to this bank that would let me wire money to the town she was in. Of course it was way over-taxed, but at that point it was that, or taking a train to Natalie to hand her the money myself. And considering I was already exhausted, I paid the overpriced taxes. The second I got to the counter, and the lady asked me how much money I wasn’t going to wire, I felt prompted to give her 100. Knowing there would be taxes, there was no way I could afford it, let alone the 100. Unless I tapped into my tithing money. And then I felt the prompting: just do it. She’ll need it. And so I opened my already sealed tithing envelope (that way I wouldn’t be tempted to spend it) and handed the 100, plus the 21 CHF in taxes. Yeah, talk about overpricing.

Luckily, this gave us an excuse to walk around Fribourg. It’s such a beautiful city, especially in the fall. And before I went back upstairs, I’d completely calmed down about the situation with Sarah. I’d put myself in her Sarah’s perspective. She’s been working a lot of late nights this week, she’s tired, and she has a huge lunch to put on tomorrow. By giving up going to church tomorrow, I’m choosing to give up my needs to serve someone in need. And then by giving my sister money when I really couldn’t afford to, I would be helping her get what she needed to get home, be fed, and survive for the next day. I was humbled a lot today, but the Lord knows the lessons I need to learn, and one of them seems to be letting things go and put myself in their perspective. Not easy…but I’m working on it!

Sunday was another very long day, but luckily I didn’t have to start before 9. So a little before 9 I made my way up to the kitchen and began helping with lunch preparations. Getting the table cloth, setting the table, finishing up all the millions of desserts, getting lunch going, making all the dips, chopping vegetables, you name it. I did it. It made me sad to think I wouldn’t be with my own family helping my Aunt Sophie make a large lunch for my grandma’s birthday, but another sacrifice I had to make by working this weekend. Around noon guests arrived one by one. First being Sarah’s mom, Nynette. Her and I really get along. I like her. Then Sarah’s sister Nathalie, her husband, and two sons. One of which spent the rest of the afternoon flirting with me religiously. He’s cute, but 3 years younger than me so I did my best to friend zone him. Then came Hugo’s brother and his family, and then Hugo’s parents. And then it began. The starters. The meal. The dessert. It came and went so fast. After all the work that went it to it, one would think it would have at least lasted a little longer. But thankfully, the clean-up wasn’t too bad. Since I was doing all the dishes by hand, Vincent (boy who flirted with me) came right alongside me to help by drying all the dishes. That made my job SO much easier, faster, and much more enjoyable. In fact, I didn’t really notice the fact that I was doing a million dishes because we talked the whole time. At one point we surfaced the discussion of American chocolate. I told him it was crap and like plastic. Except for Reese’s. At which point I ran down to my apartment, grabbed some, and made Sarah, Hugo, Vincent, and Sarah’s mom try one. And they all loved it. Why? Because they’re the only thing that even come close to the amazingness of Swiss Choclate. Then around 4:30 everyone went on a walk and I went down to my apartment to take a nap. It was much needed by then. And around 5:30 everyone was back so I headed back upstairs and said goodbye to everyone before they left, and then headed back down to my apartment to relax and rest after the very long stressful day. It was fun though. I really like Sarah’s family. I feel like I bond with them better than Hugo's family, but probably only because they all speak French, and Hugo’s family speaks Swiss German, making it a LITTTTTTTTTTTLE difficult to communicate considering I literally know less than 10 words. I’m learning, but I want to get a good foundation of French first.

Wellp, this has been my life thus far! Definitely been exciting, exhausting, and eventful. Hope you all enjoyed reading about my Ad”Gwen”tures of Crossing the Pond. Stay tuned for my next edition. Happy stalking, everyone :)