This week marks my first month in Switzerland. 11 months to go. Not that I'm really counting down. I like it here... but time sure flies!
So, admittedly, the past couple weeks have been totally overwhelming. I've been slightly burnt out. Here, I work long hours, and I don't mind. I've worked 10-12 hours a day as a nanny in the USA, but it was easier to handle because I had my family to help out sometimes and keep me company. If I started to feel burnt out, I'd take the kids to my house and let them play with my old dollhouse and lego set that I played with as a child and hang out with my parents. But here, my parents aren't here to play "grandma" and "grandpa." I'm pretty much on my own the whole day. I knew the first two months would be the hardest and the most frustrating. But, I know it will get better.
The first two weeks here in Europe was so exciting! It still is, but the frustration of being a foreigner has set in. Adjusting to the transportation and the city is a little difficult. Geneva is a small city and everything is packed in together. But the streets aren't easy to navigate. It's not set in a grid pattern like Utah. The streets are all tangled together in diagonals and loops and it's extremely confusing. Sometimes I'm trying to go to a certain destination and I get lost and wander the city and after walking forever, I end up in the exact same spot that I started. So it's like I just walked in a loop, but it feels like I walked in a straight line. I have no idea if it makes sense, but that is how it feels to me. Confusing. But, I know it takes time to learn the layout of a new place.
Another frustration is the language barrier. At first, I was giddy about it. It was so cool to be the foreigner for once and have to play charades and say the simple words. But now, it's quite a task to go to the post office and fill out the forms (which are in French) and try to communicate with the cashier... to tell them that I want second class or first class postage. Or if I go to the store and can't find something, I'm basically on my own, unless I get lucky and can find a worker who speaks English well enough for me to understand. I still don't know any French. All I know is "Bonjour," "Du los, sil vous plait," "Merci," and "Oui." So, I need to start working on my French! Once I learn more than those four phrases, then the frustration will be eased a bit.
Despite the frustrations, I am still having an amazing time! Yes, I miss my family, very much. But I got to Skype with them yesterday! It was awesome! We decided that we're gonna Skype every Sunday. Meaning, that I have to stay up til midnight or later, but it's worth it. It was great to see my family, even on a computer screen. And I got to watch a little of TruTV. Yeah, they put the computer in front of the TV for like one minute. It was sweet. The family is still the same. My sister, Jessa, is still... well... Jessa. She's pretty hilarious. My dad still jokes around and it's always really nice to talk to my mom. My dog, Roo, was completely confused because he could hear my voice but for some reason he couldn't see me on the TV screen. So he started shaking and cowering... it was super cute. ;) I'm excited for Sundays now because it means I can talk to my family!
I've been having a lot of fun with the Young Single Adults group. We went to Bern on Saturday and saw the Latter Day Saints temple and ate at McDonalds. It was pretty awesome except for the van ride to and back. We rented this crappy old van that had no air conditioning. Switzerland decided for that day, the weather was going to be extremely hot and humid. Bern is about three hours away from Geneva and there was eight of us in the van. So yeah. Nuff said. After the Bern trip, a few of my friends and I got together and went to the Fete de Genéve. It's a huge festival they hold here by Lac Genéve (Lake Geneva,) and it's kind of like an American fair/amusement park. There were rides, events, food, game booths, drunk people, etc. I paid 15 CHF (almost 20 bucks) to go on a ride. But it was SO. WORTH. EVERY. PENNY. This ride was awesome. It looked like a huge crane, and it would swing back and forth until it reached the momentum to do a 360. The seats at the top of the "arm" would spin as well. So, while we were spinning on the "arm," the seats would spin even faster, if that makes sense. At around 11 PM, there was a huge firework display that lasted for one hour. It was insane! I talked to the missionaries at church yesterday, and they said they snuck out and stayed out until 1:30 AM because they really wanted to see the Fete de Genéve and the fireworks. I don't blame them cause they would have totally missed out if they didn't go! The only thing I didn't like was the crowd. Everyone was packed together. I don't like being touched by sweaty, smelly strangers. And it's really awkward when you're standing next to someone and your butts are touching but there is nothing you can do about it cause it's so crowded you can't move away. And practically everyone was drunk. While we were leaving, we almost ran into a drunk guy that was violently puking and being held up by two of his friends. The rest of the night I was totally paranoid that a drunk person was going to throw up all over me. That's like seriously my worst nightmare. So after that I was totally ready to just go home. I had a great time hanging out with friends though! Without my friends here, I would be completely miserable, so I'm way happy I ran into a couple of missionaries on the streets a few weeks ago, because without them, I would have never met my awesome friends!
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