(As written a few days before posting)

I am hoping that this will be a week of purging. I’m currently in the middle/end stages of moving to a new place, in a new part of town, with new people (who happen to be friends that pre-date Geneva), and I think it’s time to start doing some things differently. We don’t have internet at home, and I now live far away from city-related distractions, so hopefully this will help me be more focused and on task. I have some ideas. We’ll see how they materialise, and I’ll keep you updated.

So anyway, yes, the new house. There will be photos soon, I swear, but I don’t know how to even start describing it. First off, I’m moving to a house. A house. Yes, its true, in Geneva. I can’t get over this, or the garden, or the BBQ-potential that is now blooming. Also the house looks like an old lady. I mean, if a house could look like an old lady, this is what it would look like. The last permanent residents were a 90+ year old couple, who raised a family there, and it shows. And, It’s amazing. The place itself isn’t huge (read-fairly tiny)- it comprises a box shape that holds within it a big bedroom, a small bedroom, a lounge, a kitchen and a bathroom, but someone chose (in their infinite wisdom, I’m sure), to put different flooring in every room (often with variously patterned rugs on top of carpets)(I have also never seen so many random and mismatched rugs in such a small space before), different wallpaper on every wall, and to stuff as many random knickknacks in, around, and on as possible. There is also an overabundance of furniture. And all of it, I might add, is very clearly from very different decades. On an even more amazing note, we have fruit trees, we have a working record player/Europe-band radio (with a collection of records that range from Tom Jones to Polka, to unrecognisable Swiss German mountain people music), and we get one and a half channels of random French television. My bedroom has a pink ceiling (yep, can’t get away from the pink. Cupcake would be so proud), a light that looks like it has one of those clown ruffles on it (you know, the ones they wear around their necks), orange-y/yellow-y patterned 70’s wallpaper, and clashing pirate curtains (which I adore). I have only 1 crucifix above my bed (as opposed to 3 in the big bedroom), and I have photos from all the children’s confirmations and weddings on my walls. But don’t despair, I’ve found a small fake plastic deer head I’m going to stick on the wall to even it all out. A friend described the room as Austin Powers-esque (I might agree if she said this is what a room would look like if Austin Powers vomited home decor), and I’m super excited about it’s amazingness. Also, the cats are coming back with us tonight, which is even more fabulous.

In terms of other fun stories, it was one of my new roomies’ b-day last weekend. It was perfect as it was the last weekend of the Fete as well, which meant that things got all sorts of crazy. Saturday night we organised a big night out. We all met up, and indulged in some caipirinhas and some people watching. We also presented the birthday girl with Harry. Harry was a magnificent pink unicorn ballon with wings. He was wonderful. I say was because Harry had an unfortunate run-in with a pine tree and a metal fence, which resulted in a fatal flank wound. He will be dearly missed. And don’t worry, I heavily photographed him prior to his demise (his no longer inflated corpse will also be left on prominent display at our new house in order to commemorate his all too short life). We also saw/organised for the birthday girl a fireworks display on saturday night that was like no fireworks display I have ever seen. It was unreal. It was set up out over the lake and there was music accompanying all the explosions. I’d say it was on this scale of a huge hollywood blockbuster. I mean, I couldn’t stop coughing there was so much sulfer in the thick air. It also went on for over an hour. To be honest, it was slightly ridiculous, but in a good way, and it was amazing to the number of people out along the waterfront.

Other than that, the night was a mixture of carnival rides, aborted ride attempts, the navigation of massive crowds, and caipirinhas. As I walked home, I marvelled at the transformation the city had undergone in such a short period of time. Gone was the orderliness and rigid self-control that I have come to expect. I was the only one I passed on my way back home in the early hours of the morning that could still manage to walk in a straight line. The Lake Road, closed to motor vehicles for the duration of the festivities, was littered with so much debris I could have easily been walking down St. Charles during Mardi Gras. I think I rather enjoy this side of Geneva, and I walked home with a small private grin on my face, and happily put myself to bed.

Harry bonding with the birthday girl

The happy family

I think this is the ultimate photo to describe our evening

Hanging out with Harry

Going for a ride

Even Harry wanted a Caipirinha

Harry leads the way through the crowd. Follow the pink unicorn!

Fireworks!

Greens

Reds

Whites

Purples

A quickly (read: not amazingly) edited cross section of video from the amazing fireworks display.

Oh no. Who killed Harry?!

Trying to revive Harry to no avail

Playing for stuffed animals

Trying to navigate the crowd post fireworks

Sunday, was another event, as one can not celebrate their birthday on solely one day. We started it off with a much anticipated English Breakfast from Pickwick’s (UH-MAY-ZING) and after me and friend spent some time moving crap and hanging out with the fuzzy babies (read- cutest monsters in the world), we all met up at a friend’s and headed back down to the fete. While there, I rode Maxximum. I did. I rode it, despite my protestations and paralysing fear, and I lived to tell the tale, even if I thought that there was a distinct possibility that I wouldn’t. Maxximum is the ride I showed photos of in the last post. It is tall. Very tall. And you are strapped in in a way that leaves your feet dangling free. Basically, it has this arm thing that flings you around in a ginormous circle, close to the speed of light, or at least close to breaking the sound barrier, and while doing so, it simultaneously allows you to spin in little circles so that you are often upside down. It is mildly terrifying. I didn’t mind the big circles so much, but was not the hugest fan of the upside down whiplash. But- I survived, and I can say that I did it for my friend on her birthday. This is all that really matters.

That's right. I rode on this. I win.

After Max(x)imum we went foraging for food on the last night of ‘cheap-food-stands-of-amazingness.’ I didn’t think my stomach would appreciate anything too exotic after a weekend of gluttony and crazy carnival rides, so I settled for an artichoke panini, but all was in vain because the panini was followed by churros wrapped in candy floss and dipped in nutella. Sound amazing to you? Well, it should (I’ll also take mildly horrifying). Because it was. Even if I couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night despite being utterly exhausted because am like a 5-year-old and shouldn’t be given sugar past 4 pm. Oh well, it was still a good night/weekend.