Le village de Gland

This morning was a stressful rush of getting all of our stuff packed (again) and outside to the bus, which would take us to Nyon to meet our host families.  I did not enjoy lugging my suitcases around again, but we finally made it to the Hôtel des Alpes in Nyon, where we waited for our host families in a nice reception area.  We all kind of felt like orphans or puppies waiting to be adopted.  We also worried about mastering the “bise”—kissing someone on the right cheek, then the left, and finally the right again when you greet them.  A few of us were among the last to be picked up, so we watched everyone’s families come in.  There were host parents of all ages, some with children and some without.  Some families were international—from places such as Italy and Ireland—but all spoke French of course.  At last Martine arrived, and I could tell it was her the second she walked in!  Fortunately I nailed the bise without any problems.  Martine is very sweet, friendly, and welcoming, and she doesn’t really speak any English—only French.  This is a good thing because it will force me to really become fluent and get comfortable speaking the language.  We loaded my bags into her car without too much difficulty and began the short drive to Gland, which is less than 10 minutes from Nyon.  I love Geneva, but I may love these little towns along the lake even more.  Nestled along the lake against a breathtaking backdrop of rolling hills and the Jura mountains, each town has its own train station, making it a very quick and easy trip into Geneva.  Some towns even have beautiful castles or chateaux that are centuries old.  The weather today has been kind of overcast, so I can’t even imagine how pretty all of this is in full sunlight.  Gland is a very cute little town, and Martine showed me the route that I will take to walk to the train station.  It is not far and easy enough that even I should be able to find my way without getting lost.  How nice to be able to walk to everything!  Martine’s house is adorable and quintessentially Swiss.  It is on a quiet street halfway between the train station and the lake, and it is even better than I imagined.

There are 3 floors including a basement, which is where I will do my laundry etc.  The kitchen on the first floor is very nice, and there is a cute dining area that connects.  Attached to the kitchen there is also a pergola that opens out onto a beautiful yard and flower garden.  I love my room on the second floor—my window overlooks the backyard, and a bunch of other very cute houses are very nearby.  I also have a beautiful view of the mountains!  My desk is right by the window, so I have a gorgeous view right now as I’m tyiping this.  The closest neighbors have a beautiful flower garden, and their kids are playing soccer outside in the yard.  All my things are finally unpacked into drawers and a wardrobe, and at last I don’t have to worry about living out of a suitcase.  After I unpacked, I went downstairs to see if I could help Martine with lunch.  Her youngest son Vincent, who is 21, and his girlfriend Sandra were both here for lunch, and they were so nice!  Vincent is only home on the weekends, because he is in the army, so when he is home Sandra comes over a lot.  She’s really sweet and invited me to come to an outdoor concert tonight with her and some of her friends, so that’s what I’ll be doing this evening!  I’m sure Sandra speaks a little English because she spent some time in Dallas, but I have only been speaking French so that I can improve.  Vincent is funny and talked about his army truck, which I have yet to see.  Apparently it’s really cool.  Martine made a delicious chicken dish with rice for lunch, and we also had salad.  Dessert was a tart made with apricots and espresso.  So yummy!  Vincent and Sandra left for the afternoon, so I gave Martine her gifts and she showed me around the house a little bit more.  She has some really neat artwork because she spent several years living in Venezuela and Brazil with her ex-husband.  Pretty neat!  I also got to meet François, another of Martine's 3 sons, who is a banker in Geneva.  I will probably spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing before dinner and the concert.  It’s nice to finally have a little downtime after the craziness of the past few days :) 

View from my window (mountains are obscured by clouds)