Pictures

Here are some pictures. The first is from my trip up the mountain last weekend.

I had a really great time going to Chamonix with some friends. We bought a round trip bus ticket to return the same day and that automatically meant we had an "excursion" ticket. Basically for a few extra francs we got a tour guide. He was an English guy that lives here in Geneva and gives tours. Pretty great! So he gave us a guided tour all the way out to Chamonix. Then he dropped us off right at the Aiguille du Midi (that's the cable care you ride up to get to the top of the mountain). It's actually two cable cars and then an elevator to get to the very top. It's so beautiful. As one of my coworkers said today, if you didn't already believe in God, seeing the beauty would make you believe that there has to be a God. There is so much beauty in the chaos of it; in the rawness; in the coldness; in the awesomeness. As it was a bit cloudy and threatening to rain all day, we couldn't actually see Mont Blanc. We could only see most of it. The mountain above is not Mont Blanc, sadly. The whole day was wonderful, really. I am glad I took the day off.

I finished mailing off Federation News last week. If you haven't gotten any real mail from me you probably won't get a copy. If you have, you probably will get a copy relatively soon. I hope you enjoy reading it. Last week was very slow simply because I spent all my time doing that. Also, Christine, Michael and Marsha were all out of the office, so work was much more laid back. Christine and Marsha are back now. Michael will be back next week. I am praying for them.

Below is a picture from the soccer game I went to a few weeks ago (football for those of you outside the US). We had a lot of fun. La Servette, Geneva's football club is not very good - but they played hard. They were playing against Grenoble and they won 4-0. Quite a high scoring football match. ;) The stadium is designed to hold 30,000 people! Even with it being the last game of the season,and it being free - the stadium was maybe 1/4 full. We still had a very good time.


I have put all my pictures from the mountain and the soccer game and stuff on facebook. So feel free to check it out there. If you are not friends with me on facebook I can send you a link to the Picassa album.

I will hopefully update more tomorrow on my intercultural experiences. Let's just say hearing a Chinese man translate from Italian to English was a first for me today. I do actually have to work, so more on that tomorrow.

Easter Weekend

I have a very full Easter Weekend ahead of me. I am going to church tonight, tomorrow, Saturday and probably Sunday. I really love Easter Weekend, with all it's busy-ness and all the things to do.

Today was a good day at work. I got quite a bit done. I have now, officially, started working on the Red Book. (This is our annual report). I am enjoying getting a look at everything people did in 2008. We are a little behind, but, with some hard work we will catch up.

It is also just a beautiful day today. The sun is shining. It is a good temperature outside. I just want to sit outside and bask in the Springyness of it.

I am not sure if I will be able to post more this weekend. I do not have very good internet access at my new foyer. So, if I can post, I will, but if I can't I will do a very large update on Tuesday when I get back to work. In Geneva both Good Friday and Easter Monday are holidays. I like that!

I am planning a trip to Gruyere. Gruyere is a small village where the cheese of the same name comes from. (In the US we often just call it Swiss cheese - I think). It is delicious! We are going to tour the Cheese Factory and then have Fondue. I am very excited about it!

Here, as promised, are my pictures from the Festival du chocolat


Left Top is the entrance way to the Festival. Left Center is a small chocolate statue. Left Bottom is Tsion, a friend from Ethiopia, standing next to a large chocolate egg.


Hopefully, I will bring more pictures after the trip to Gruyere.