So much to blog about, but this one has been an answer to prayers!!!

My new all-time favorite thing in Geneva is the Ludotheque, Toy Library.  Why can’t the States have these?   The kids and I hit one today, it’s right by a tram stop so very easy to get to.  Basically it’s an indoor play area with a ton of games, puzzles, bikes, cars, trucks, baby toys, scooters, etc that you can check out for free!  And considering that I’m alone w/these kids for 10 hours a day w/barely anyone speaking English to me, this will save my life these next 6 weeks.

Today we went and on our way in met Stormy, a Dallas, TX girl who married a Suisse and has been here for 10 years.   She has twin boys, Roman and Phoenix.  So I knew we would get along great considering my kids’ names.  She helped me by translating all the information – it was so nice cuz not very many people even WANT to speak English if they know it.  We checked out a huge train track for Rocky, Blokus for Leo, and a crane set for Fischer.  Fischer wanted to bring home a bike, and Leo skates but all I had was the stroller so couldn’t haul all that back on the tram.  I told them we could come back with the car next time and get whatever they wanted.

After the Lidotheque, we hit the playground right outside.  There are tons of playgrounds here and they have the most amazing toys I’ve ever seen.  We went to another one yesterday that had a HUGE basket-pendulum type swing that Rocky and I fit into so I made the kids push me for a while.  It was very relaxing, until I thought I was going to puke.  Anyways, then we found another playground near by with even better toys!  There was a preschool out playing and one of the teachers spoke English.  She told me how kids start school here at age 4, in France it’s age 3.  That’s too early.  She was really nice though but told me if I moved here, I needed to take French lessons.  She also taught me that bathroom is “le toilette” – very important when I have 4 kids and have to ask all over Geneva for bathrooms.

I’m lovin’ it here.

Thing are just a “little bit” expensive here.  We took the kids to McDonald’s for a treat and dropped 45 CHF (Swiss Francs), and the fries were definitely not from Idaho Potatoes!  Each Happy Meal was 7 CHF, each Value Meal 12 CHF, and no free refills.  $1 is about equal to 1 CHF.  So you can guess that we won’t be eating out much while here in Geneva, which is actually a good thing.

I had a hard time finding peanut butter at first – they have Nutella everywhere which is YUMMY but we need PB.  So I bought this generic brand, the jar is mini and cost 3.50 CHF.  At WalMart this would go for about half that.   The chocolate is a good price and they have half a row of it in the store, and it’s ALL good stuff, hard to choose.

Other costs:

-10 Euros to do two loads of laundry, wash and dry.  1 Eu = $1.25

-100 Eu to fill up the car, but it’s diesel and more fuel efficient so we fill up about every three weeks

-A bag of Ikea meatballs is 18.90 Eu – about half that in the U.S.  I went to Ikea the other day and spent 3 Eu on a toy for Dodge, I couldn’t bring myself to by anything else (except lunch of course) cuz i knew I could get it way cheaper in the U.S.  The awesome thing about the Ikea in Geneva is that the kids can go in the play place for an HOUR and they have H&M in Ikea.

-We got a membership to The Library in English, SO worth it cuz Leo and I are both hurting for books, and not in French.  It did cost 100 CHF, but I’m glad we did it.  They have story time at the Library – it’s in an old church so you walk down to the basement via some winding, rickety stairs – feels like I’m in a Dan Brown novel.

-Diet Coke!!!  Two liter, about $2.50 Eu = $3.25

-Chocolate = priceless

-We live in Ferney-Voltaire, France.  Might as well be Furna-Voltaire.

-I survived taking the kids to Carrefour, ie. Euro Walmart.  Except I didn’t get to buy my produce.  I didn’t know that you had to weigh and tag it yourself in the produce section.  So when I got to the checkout, the lady told me all about it in French, which means I didn’t know what she was talking about until she set my produce to the side.

-Our toilet is in it’s own little room – underneath the stairs.  We have a shower upstairs and a shower downstairs, and a toilet in a closet.  Really throws the kids off when they have to use the bathroom at night.

-Some little girl tried speaking in French to Leo today.  Leo just kept nodding her head at her.  Later Leo told me, “In conversations where  you don’t know what they’re saying, it’s best to just nod your head and say yes.”  Smart girl.

-The foreign girls love Rocky!   If he serves his mission here, he’ll probably bring home a wife:

-I have to drive a stick-shift van while we’re here.  For you to understand my anxiety about this, let me explain something to you:  the roads here are EXTREMELY narrow and everyone drives like the Indy 500, but in Europe!  I can’t read the signs, there’s construction, and I’m so scared I’m gonna stall and have European bad words flung my way.  People already have stigmas about Americans here and I’m playing right into them.

-They DO have a version of Wal-Mart:  Carrefour which in French means “Crossroads” – I’m going tomorrow and taking all four kids.  Once again, playing into an American stereotype.  My hair doesn’t help with that either.  It’s one of those stores where you have to “pay” to get a cart out and, once again, the parking lot is like a race track and the parking spaces are mini.  If we survive, I’ll post pics later.

-I love the cheese already.  Denton’s made cheese fondue, homemade mac and cheese, and chocolate fondue, yum!  The kids aren’t quite use to it, they have no idea how lucky they are.

-We live in France right across the border from Switzerland.  So in my wallet I have Francs, Euros, and American Dollars.  I like our dollar bills – the Francs have some CRAZY pics on them of weird art and salty people, makes me not want to touch them.

-Rocky:  ”Are we in Switz-uh-wand yet?  When are we going to Fwance?”

-Don’t be fooled, I’m so glad to be here, but even more happy that I’m American.

Our first Saturday in Geneva….We boarded the tram and headed out, Rocky thought it was Thomas the Train and was in heaven.  After hoofin’ it to the lake, we took a boat taxi across just in time to run into a downtown riot.  That’s a picture of the Geneva version of their SWAT team in the blue van.  I thought for sure we were gonna die while Denton waited patiently at the bus stop.  The Euro cops are cute, but short.  It was a protest re: Israel and the flotilla.  Luckily nothing got out of hand.

Then we headed onto a bus – there is NO air conditioning in Switzerland and the busses were stuffy, there’s also no deodorant.  We rode the bus to the base of  Mount Saleve, part of the Swiss Alps.  Then we hiked about another half mile (the kids were troopers) and rode a rail car to the top.  I’m scared of heights and about wet my pants while the kids hung on the doors with their noses to the windows.  Had some ice cream at the top and hung out looking over Geneva – it is beautiful!  Lake Geneva is amazing, I wish you could see it.  Rode the rail car down, then took the bus, the tram, the car, then home.  And with jet lag, we all fell asleep by 7pm that night.  Still can’t believe we’re here.

And I owe it all to Dramamine!

There were many very nice people who helped me along the way to carry our luggage, keep my kids from running into the street, help us thru security, and give me an extra seat on the airplane so I could bring Dodge’s car seat on.

But really, going thru international check-in at the D.C. airport was H-E-double hockey sticks.  That and running thru the airport and not being able to find my gate, pushing a crying 20-lb baby in a 20-lb stroller, and carrying Rocky over my shoulder.  But the stewardess could see the trauma written all over my face and had mercy on me.  After waiting for an hour on the tarmac for bad weather to pass, I didn’t sleep a wink on the flight, but the kids did and that’s all that mattered.  And it was SO nice to see Denton’s face after going thru customs, almost falling down the escalator with the stroller, and threatening Rocky’s life every time he ran away from me.  I have a new-found appreciation for single mothers, I hope I never have that life again.