Geneva update

Faithful readers, because I've been playing catch up with the blog, I've neglected things on the home front. So, here's a quick update as to what I've been up to in Geneva for the past few weeks or so:

Most of my time has been consumed with my intensive French class and the mountain of homework I've had every night. I've been going to class 5 days a week, 4 hours a day for the past 6 weeks or so. My grammar and vocabulary are improving nicely, but I still have trouble getting what I want to say out of my mouth. All in good time I suppose! The people I've meet in class are great; very nice, supportive and fun to hang out with.

One gem of a moment was when we had to state for the class (en Francais) the last movie we had seen. Easy enough question, but my mind simply went blank! It had been a while since I had seen any movie. I couldn't even think of what to say in English, and of course, I was first!! "Uhhh, uhhh, <<teacher repeats question>> uhhh... Memoirs of a Geisha!" I belt out. Not a good choice for me, because we then had to talk about our movie "Uhhh..." I had managed to forget the entire plot and panic set in!! Here's how it went, (in English): "Little girls go to geisha woman because parents very poor. Geisha woman to teach little girls to sing, dance, play instrument and entertain men. Little girls grow to women. They have very difficult life. One geisha finds love. She is happy." I really don't think I have a future as a movie critic!

Of course the last two weeks I've been obsessed with World Cup football. I went to see US & Italy play (on a big screen at a local stadium) with a few other Americans. We show up and there were roughly 5,000 Italy fans and 8 US fans. Yes, eight. There were five in my group and when the US scored, we saw three more way down in the lower level! I thought there would be a FEW more supporters of the Red, White & Blue, but I guess they all had something better to do on a Friday night. We held our own though and pulled out a 1:1 tie, which didn't make the Italians happy, but we were elated!! (Too bad we've since been eliminated, but there is always 2010!)

In my life outside French class & football, I've joined the Geneva Toastmasters! A guy in G's office (now my mentor) is a member and invited me to come along. I was a guest for two meeting and decided to sign up. With a little pressure from my "mentor", I gave my first "ice breaker" speech at my very first meeting as a full fledged member. (Thanks Pat for all the encouraging words!!) I was SO nervous. I felt like my notes were shaking in my hands and I was talking a mile a minute. But it actually came out pretty well. I got good feedback and everyone said it was a really good speech! I was thrilled!

Through the web site, GenevaOnLine, I've been making friends and joining in some different activities here and there. Last weekend I went wake boarding (Lake Geneva is still a bit chilly!!), picniced at the Geneve Plage (the local beach) and hung out at "Fete de la Musique", the huge music festival that takes over all of Geneva for three days each June. There were all types of music and dance at over 40 venues. The ballet, opera and synphony all held free, open air preformances. There was even a huge production of modern & hip-hop dance that was just like "Dance Collage" at UC Davis! It was a fantastic way to spend my last weekend in Geneva before I head back to California for a couple weeks. See you in Cali! :)