Monday, December 29, 2008

Cheseaux, CH

Hello friends and family! I'm writing this from my desk in my new apartment in Cheseaux, Switzerland. I arrived yesterday after a long day of travel, accompanied by seemingly endless nerves about what to expect in Geneva. When I passed customs, however, all of my anxiety was relieved!

The general secretary of our team (Bernard) came to pick me up at the airport, and taught me that in Switzerland, its customary to exchange 3 kisses on the cheek (instead of 2 like in France, duh Anna!!). He was pretty quiet because I think he is somewhat self-concious about his English, so our ride to Cheseaux was dotted with random topics like whether I've ever studied winemaking (this is a big winemaking region, the hills are covered with vineyards!!) and my opinions about Obama's election...

It took us about 35 minutes to get from Geneva to Lausanne, and another 10 to get from Lausanne to Cheseaux. Lausanne is a pretty large city with a university and "beaucoup des jeunes personnes" (lots of young people) according to Bernard. Cheseaux is a very small suburb to Lausanne, and it is laid out almost entirely surrounding one street.

Bernard first took me to the gym, where several of my teammates were just leaving that evening's practice. All three were very very nice, and I'm excited to meet the rest of them tonight! The gym is a little different than the hardwood courts of Leavey, but Bernard said they have a great fan following here in Cheseaux and it gets packed for matches!

We then went to pick up the president of the club, whose name is Georges. His wife will be giving me french lessons, and they both seem really nice. They brought me to my apartment, where I was introduced to my new blue hatchback car (automatic!! yes!!!!!!) and my home for the next few months.

I was scheduled to live with another american on the team, but she got sick and is returning to the states, so for now I'm living by myself! I have a bathroom, laundry room, and full kitchen, and it's all under the house of a nice couple named Erica and Louis, who said I could come and hang out with them whenever I want!

After putting my bags away, the Mr. Pres and Bernard took me to dinner at a local Italian restaurant, where the cook took me into the kitchen to introduce me to his mother and the rest of the family that works there! The food was delicious, and I was excited to find a delicous restaurant so close to my home!

After a really whirlwind day, I returned home and slept for almost 12 hours. I woke up, found out that the shower does use hot water (yes!!!, again, because I was afraid it would be cold!) and munched on some Special K red berries for breakfast. Today I'll adventure out in my little blueberry car and find a phone store so that I can recieve and make local calls. Then I have practice at 6:30 pm, which should be verry intersting!

OK, I wanted to get my blog set up, and let you all know that I've arrived safely and am so far enjoying my time here! I hope you're all doing well and that I'll talk to you soon!


Love, Anna

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