Modest Music

 

Bonjour!
Before I moved here, my parents bought me a new Nano Shuffle Touch iPod. With it I received a $25 gift card. I really had to pick carefully what songs I would put on, (of course most of them were country.) and before I would buy the song I would check on Lyrics.com if they were okay situations. In a song they might not have swear words, but it would have provocative situations and negative vibes. So I choose country music for 2 reasons: 1. I love country music, 2: I can listen to the lyrics clearly so I know if it's appropriate and gives off a positive vibe. I love music and it affects me so much, I know that when I put positive music in my hears, I become a positive person. I don't want to give you the impression that I JUST like country. I do love to listen to Jack Johnson, The Fray, Mike Tompkins, The Beatles, Queen, The Killers, and some more artists like that. Music is a great gift and I am so greatful for it, and I don't know what I would do without muisc.

Love you guys, and miss you! ,

Au revoir,

Laura May

Cause Baby Your A Firework!

Bonjour!            
                About 2 weekends ago on Saturday, Aug. 14, my family went over to some good friends of ours. We played some games and ate, and then went to my dad's office to see the final fireworks to celebrate Geveve Festival that has lasted for about 2 weeks. So we went down there to watch from my dad's office with an AWESOME view of the fireworks on the lake and the big huge fireworks in the sky! It was probably the best firework show i have ever seen. When we were there we had some snacks to eat and if i do say so myself, my snack was a hit. It was supposed to be a Chex mix, but they don't have Chex here in Suisse, so I decided to do it with coca puffs. It was so good. Just encase you'd like to know how I did it, I'll leave the recipe. Anyway the fireworks were about 1 hour long and then at about 11:30 we headed home on the train to our quiet little town. Well that's all for now folks. Miss you guys!


Au Revoir!


P.S. Here is the awesome recipe. Try it and let me know what you think!


Boil: 1.5 cup of Sugar
         1.5 cups of Karo (which we had to bring over from the states)
         1 cups of butter
Dry: 16 oz Honey Chex Golden Grams (or awesome coca puffs)
         1 cup of coconut
         1 cup of slivered almond


-Boil the first 3 ingredients until the color is a light yellow and pulls apart from the sides.
-Pour over dry mix
-After thorough mix spread out on wax paper until dry
-Break up and put into a closed bowl.
-Enjoy as much as I did! Try it out!

Weekend Fun!

Bonjour!

             So this past week/weekend, we had an awesome couple come and stay with us, Kelsy and Jordan. They were totally awesome! Just yesterday, Monday August 1, was Suisse Day. It's like a 4th of July, but not. So yesterday we all went hiking in the Alps. When we got to the top we ate some lunch and then talked some, then headed back down. It was a good little workout, to run a bit of the way back because it was downhill. :) Then when we got home I took a dip in our pool in the back yard.  Then later that night we went to Crux De Genthod, which is about 5 min drive, to watch the Suisse celebrate from across the lake with fireworks. That was a blast. 
             Everything in Switzerland was usually shut down, because of the holiday: grocery stores, malls, markets, pharmacies, etc were closed. So when we got back from our hike, we decided to go to the grocery in France. It was like the world was going to end, the shelves were almost empty. All the Suisse went to France to buy their grocery. The lines were long, and people were crazily rushing around to get what they needed.

           So that was Monday, but last Saturday, was quite enjoyable as well! My friends from my ward and I had not seen Harry Potter yet, so we planned that we would go and see it together. So on Saturday, Elisabeth and her sister Rachel, Julie, and Parker came over to my home to have a "Harry Potter" lunch in. We had sandwiches, gummy frogs, bread, watermelon, etc. It was pretty good. Then my parents took us down to the Balaxert movie theater. You think that movie theaters are expensive in the states, well just come here and find that JUST THE TICKET ALONE was 16Fr which is about $20. But anyway, it was very interesting to watch a movie there. We got tickets to watch it English, and it was, but it had subtitles on the bottom in German and French, but soon after it starts you don't even notice the subtitles. Harry Potter was awesome, but now they are all over. :( It was so worth it to go, because I loved it! Then after we saw Harry Potter, we went to the Nyon Pool, which is a pool you can go to that is right on the shore of the Lake Geneve. We had fun there for about 2 hours or so. This weekend was a good one, if I do say so myself.

              Those were the adventures from this week and soon to be more. But for now, so long!
  
Au revoir!


            

Home Sweet Switzerland

Bonjour!
It's been a month since we moved in to our new home in Switzerland. It's so great and so many new experiences have occurred. For example, the grocery shopping. In order to get your grocery cart, you have to pay 2 Fr. Then when you are finished with your shopping you put your cart back and get your 2 Fr back. The purpose of this is so grocery carts aren't stolen. Another different thing is that you have to bring your own grocery bag. There are people in America that do this to, “go green”, and that is the same purpose here. You find very different things here in the stores. You have to be careful or else you go home and you find that you bought something totally different that you wanted.


Then of course there is the cheese and chocolate. There is usually a whole isle just full of cheese. As for the chocolate you go sometimes about 2 isles and find just racks full of all different kinds of chocolate. I think the purpose of this is to just tempt us into buying every kind of chocolate.
Other than the grocery shopping here, there are many other different things. For example, transportation, which is WONDERFULL! It is so convenient to just hop on the train down to my dad's work, and then take the bus that stops right in front of his office. The great thing about it is that we just got our transportation passes that last for 1 year, so now we can go anywhere in our zone. It's great.



There are many sites to see in Switzerland. We have already gone to Gruyere, which was awesome. We went to the old chateaux (castle). On our way up to the chateaux we saw cows with bells on their necks just right next to us. It's really weird, the cows actually do wear the bells here in Switzerland. You can hear their bells ringing all throughout the alps . Then, we were very excited to go to the famous chocolate factory. We did a tour of the place and then, we entered into a room at the end that had a bunch of chocolate just for us to eat. It was scrumptious!

Then, just this past Saturday was Le Tour De France. I went with my parents and some family friends to go watch. We cheered all the riders on from all different countries. We were so close to the riders that if I wanted to I could've just reached out and touched them.We had a chart for every rider for where there are from, their number, and the order that they would come in. Usually when a rider went by, everyone would yell, “ALLEZ ALLEZ ALLEZ!” Which is just, "GO GO GO" in english. Then, when Holland would go by us our friend and I would make a windmill. Then when, America would come our whole group would yell U.S.A, U.S.A, U.S.A! We would love to see the reactions from the bikers because of the things we did. Especially the U.S.A cheer. The rider would feel confident and would give a grin and maybe it was just me, but I believe that they would go faster because we would cheer for their country.The awesome thing about Switzerland is the old architecture that is all around you. Everywhere you go is old towns. In Geneva, where my dad's office is, there is Old Geneva just up the hill where you find very old, cute, buildings and business. Even in our town, there are quaint places to go. My mom and I, last Thursday, discovered the cutest epicure, it was closed, but we will go there sometime and check it out. We just peered in and saw some of the things that were in there and it looked very nice. So we must try to go sometime soon. :)
So far my experience in Switzerland is very interesting and I can't wait for more fun and exciting experiences. I love living in a foreign country, it's a great experience for me and my family.
Oops, I almost forgot! There is the greatest ice cream parlor all around Suisse called Movenpick! When my mom and I were visiting my father at his work we discovered one right across the street from his office. So, when we visit him I love getting one of those on a hot summer’s day. It’s quite nice to have. I love it, but what I can’t wait for more Gelato! YUMMMM! 

Au Revoir! ( pictures are soon to come! )