A spectacular weekend

I just had to write and say I pretty much had the best weekend ever. It wasn’t anything terribly exciting or exotic, but it was just what I needed.

It began on Friday afternoon with our little group’s weekly trip to the patisserie. MMmm… tasty. Then Sarah decided to be kind and make us all cinnamon rolls! Apparently it’s her family’s Friday night tradition; the problem was that they didn’t turn out quite as she had hoped. We all still thought they were good, but we started out with the wrong yeast, and then the oven was ridiculous and kept spontaneously turning off every ten minutes, so they were in the oven for like two hours and still didn’t quite cook thoroughly. But a good time was had by all; we shared pictures and swapped stories and enjoyed a lot of sugar and a lot of bonding that day.


Saturday was amazing, I must say. It may not sound amazing, but it was just what I needed. In the morning I decided to have my own worship, rather than go to church, so I read most of the morning; and it was so cool, I read stuff that I’ve read before but this time they were different and had more meaning. Then I took a nice long shower, did some stretches, and got to blow dry my hair! (After a month without a hair dryer, you can imagine how thrilling this is.) After lunch, I went downstairs to the little chapel and after managing to scrounge an English Hymnal, I played and sang for over 2 hours! It was great. A friend, Leo, came and joined me for quite a while and we sang together and he would play some, and we talked, and got to know each other. Good times. In the evening, the school put on a crepe night for everyone, so I decided to be social and partake. It was pretty fun, lame social games, but tasty, authentic crepes! There was even a kid flipping crepes that looked to be about seven; is this just a skill that every French child develops as they grow up, or a required class they all take, like Home Ec? After Sarah and I had socialized enough, we headed back to the dorm and she and I, and two other girls, crammed onto our beds that we pushed together and watched Juno.

Sunday was equally, no, even more amazing than Saturday. Sarah, myself, and two other girls got up in time to go to the weekly market down in Collonge. It was quite the sight. People had stands set up selling all kinds of things, from underwear to baguettes and everything in between. Prices were pretty reasonable (ex: scarves two for 5 Euros, who could pass up a deal like that?? Not me.) and the experience was unique. After the market and the trek back up the hill, just in time for lunch, we met up with some other friends who said they were going up Saleve for the first time. I couldn’t pass up an opportunity for a good hike, so I quickly changed, and off we went. I must say I am so thankful for my wonderful new backpack, water bottle, and hiking shoes with tread and ankle support! All came in very handy. Thank you mom and dad! It was certainly the slowest trip up I have had up Saleve, but still fun. I was the only one who had been before, so I was the guide to the little brigade. What usually takes us about 2 hours, between the slower pace and endless pictures, ended up taking a good four hours. (Pictures to follow in a later post when I have more time) We booked it down the mountain so we could make it for dinner (this is quickly becoming a pattern…), where I ran into Leo, who I’d previously made plans with for that evening. He goes to the University of Geneva and has had trouble finding a good Christian group to meet with and be around, but he heard about this group that meets every Sunday night of non-denominational Christians, so we were going to go yesterday. I brought my phone with me up the mountain in case he texted me where to meet, etc., but I never heard from him. So I went to dinner, thinking plans must have changed (the meeting started at six, same time as dinner), and I ran into him at dinner, where he confessed he had fallen asleep and lost track of time. Oh well, we’ll go next week. We still had a really fun night though- He was trying to catch me before I ate because he had made a chicken and invited me to share, but by the time I saw him I had already eaten, and I’m vegan… so that didn’t work very well. But I accompanied him back to the boys dorm anyway to keep him company, and we talked about politics, the environment, economics, what he’s been learning in his International Affairs classes, family, and many other things. Amidst the discussion, we brought up oil, which reminded him of a movie he had recently seen, so we ended up watching it. It’s called The Oil Crash, made by a Swiss company produced last year, so very current information. So nothing terribly exciting, most will probably be bored with the many words I've written about it, but in my opinion, the movie was really good, the night was really great, and the weekend was amazing.