Everyday Life in Geneva

I've been thinking a lot about my everyday life here. A big part of the reason is that I'm trying hard not to take things for granted. I live in a beautiful place, I cross a river with mountains in the background every day on my way to work, I get to cook for myself and treat myself occasionally to delicious pastries...Life is good. I wanted to give you readers a sense of what that looks like.

Most photos that I'm posting here are from my own neighborhood, Eaux-Vives (pronounced Oh-Veev). This is from the park a few blocks away from me, Parc de la Grange, which is huge! I walked for about an hour and don't think I saw everything.

This is my view from my bus stop. This is pretty typical architecture around the city.

This is a street in my neighborhood, nearer to the lake. The buildings are extravagant and amazing right by the water, and get more boring as you move inland.

The infamous Jet d'Eau is about a 5-minute walk from my house.

Which is to say, I can walk down to the lake anytime I want.

Even just to watch the sun set and walk back home.

The impressive Parc de la Grange features lots of open grassy areas, which I didn't take pictures of because it's not that interesting, plus wooded areas...

...A pond

...An old building of some kind whose purpose I could not determine

...and wildflowers, in addition to much more.

Every day, I wake up and work out for about a half hour. I shower, dress, get my breakfast and lunch together, and head out the door. It's about a two-minute walk to my bus stop. On my morning commute, which takes about a half hour, I either read or listen to podcasts. I get to work, take the stairs 12 flights if I feel ambitious, water my office plants, wait for the computer to boot up (takes forever) and then get to work. I usually take a coffee break either around 10 or around 3. On Wednesdays, the intern group does "Coffee and Cake", where volunteers buy loaf cakes and make coffee and we have a little coffee break all together for only 1 franc.

Thursday evenings there is a market near the central train station, which mainly sells wine and cheese and bread. Everything is designed to allow patrons to sit on the sidewalks in groups enjoying their treats: the wine sellers will open your bottle and give you glasses for a 2 franc deposit; the cheese vendors will give you a selection of cheese on a platter all cut into bite-sized pieces; the bread vendors will cut your bread into slices or even smaller if you prefer. It's a great atmosphere.

...I started this post on Monday, and I'm just coming back to it now because I've been busy. So, rather than fussing over whether I've said everything I meant to, I'm just going to post it and then go to sleep.

Things that are making me happy:

• Longer days
• Days when it doesn't rain (there haven't been many lately)
• My loved ones' accomplishments (more on that later)
• Having a new office mate