Geneva

Welcome to the first Swiss Cheese Report, where we hope to keep you all up to date on our life in Geneva and our (hopefully) many adventures while this side of the pond.

After months of preparation, and many gatherings with family and frie

nds, we left Ottawa for Geneva on Aug 22, 2010. We were sad to leave so many great people behind, but were also looking forward to this 4 year adventure. Sam was a trooper. Not only did he get to wear his new 'pack-pack'

(thanks, Dora), but he got to spot the

airplanes landing and taking off pre-flight. Heaven (apparently). After some tearful goodbyes to Mamie and Poppa, and after stocking up at Tim Hortons on enough milk to get Sam through the flight (I'm sure we broke some import rule or another), we were off.

The flight was pretty uneventful, although I'm not keen to repeat the overnight flight with a toddler - he slept (even through rolling off the seat onto the floor), but we didn't get much shut eye. The best part was that Sam didn't vomit on anything or anyone like the last 2 times he has flown. This was much appreciated by his parents (and neighbouring passengers I'm sure).

Tired, we arrived in Geneva at 10 the next morning. We forgot to pick up our stroller from sky check (good-bye stroller), we didn't have any Euro's to get a cart to lug our 7 bags and 3 carry-ons (I will need many shoes over the course of 4 years) and we had no idea where we were going when out of nowhere materialized our colleagues (in the secure baggage zone nonetheless) who had us through customs in record time (with the stroller I might add). There were, however, some jokes about the amount of luggage. Another 15 minutes and we were at our front door, having spotted France and some Bison along the way). Our new neighbour/colleage, Julie (the saint who helped sort our daycare woes while we were still in Ottawa) arrived with a bag of groceries, and her 3 yr old son brought some toys for Sam. All in all a fantastic welcome party. After a quick tour of the house and some instructions on how things worked, we were left to settle in.

The following week was spent getting to know our house, our town of Collex, and of course running around trying to get set up with bank accounts, telephones, internet, television, rental car and groceries. We quickly learned that it is slightly cheaper to do groceries in France (which is good because that is the closest grocery store - a 10 min. drive), that some things take a long time to get set up (3.5 weeks for internet!) but that most people are more than happy to help point you in the right direction. As you can see from the pic, Sam and the cats now have a big backyard to run around in, complete with walnut and what appears to be a pear tre

e. Our house is also quite spacious, with more bathrooms and kitchen counter/cupboard space than our home in Ottawa. The Euro style showers (can't quite stand up under the hand-held nozzle) took some getting used to and we are still getting water all over the floor but it is a small price to pay for having our own bathroom (complete with bidet, which sam likes to use to wash his hands, so it is reserved for that). We also have a big basement with playroom, laundry and bomb shelter (holds our extra fridge and freezer) which we didn't have in the old house. Some of our furniture is, well, ugly, and we seem to have 8 end/coffee tables to many, but we also have patio furniture for the first time and we almost have enough storage for all of my clothes (we're off to Ikea in the next few weeks to buy some more closet space). We have a cute little wrought iron gate at the end of our driveway, a two car garage, and a mailbox that already had our names on it. All in all, we are very happy with our set up. So is Sam, as the previous tenants left him a tricycle, a scooter and a sandbox.

We also went into work, which is a very short 12 min drive from home. We work in a beautiful modern building which is a 10 minute walk to the United Nations and another 7 minutes to the World Trade Organization. Which means a 40 min walk every day back and forth for meetings. Will counteract all the cheese. Outside of the UN is the broken chair monument, dedicated to victims of land mines. Sam never fails to exclaim "big broken chair! let's fix it" whenever he sees it.

Daily life pretty much consists of dropping sam off at pre-school or daycare, going to work, coming home and picking him up, dinner, unpack/set up a bit more, then bed. Sam has grown to like his pre-school and nanny although there were some terribly teary first days. Day one at pre-school I had to go pick him up at 10:30 because he just wouldn't stop crying. I think he thought we had left him there for good. The school is a 4 minute walk from our house, and all the neighbourhood kids are there, including Cedric, 3, who is a colleague's son, Maximillian, 2, our neighbour, Oliver, 2.5, a local kid just arrived from the UK, and Rapael, 20 months, who is the neighbour where Sam spends his days with the nanny when not at pre-school. Sam's preschool teachers are great and speak some English, Sam has his own hook and cubby to put his coat and shoes, and they are very organized with various times for various activities. He now runs in without a look back so we think he likes it. Sam spends the rest of his time with a neighbour who has 2 kids (including Raphael) and a nanny, Tania, who only speaks Spanish and French. Sam got comfortable there before school and really hits it off with Raphael. Aaron and I supply lunches (2 course hot meals here in Switzerland...bye bye PB and jam sandwiches) twice a week for the kids and the nanny. We will keep this arrangement for the rest of the year, and then will get our own nanny (bye bye extra money) starting in September as I think we'll be happier with the baby at home to nap etc.

Anyway, have many more posts to get up here so may as well end this one...

We miss you all very much and hope you come to visit us soon!

Sarah, Aaron, Sam and WFII

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