Geneva -- First Impressions

August 25, 2011

Our trip to Geneva went really well. The kids were troopers at the airport and on the airplane; they had a great time. Unfortunately, none of us slept much, and when we arrived, our air shipment came and we had to inspect the house (to record any damage so we aren’t charged for it at the end of our stay). So we didn’t nap at all and by about 5 p.m., we were so tired we couldn’t stay awake, despite our best intentions to transfer to Geneva time right away. After a few sleepless nights and exhausting days, we seem to be mostly adjusted.  Eric took off for Spain Wednesday morning and returned Thursday night, so he’s really a world traveler.

After four days here, these are my initial impressions.

Things I love about Geneva:

1. Our house! It’s a really cute villa with a brown tile roof and white concrete walls (they look like stucco). The inside walls are also concrete, which is a little odd 9not for Geneva, just to me). We have a super cool Ikea –looking kitchen with a lot of clever storage and built-in appliances. We also have two apple trees and a pear tree in the yard, along with black raspberries and grapes. This is all good because food here is really expensive. If we can just figure out how to get free meat, we’ll be in great shape. The neighbor does seem to have chickens . . . .

2. So many beautiful places are within walking and biking distance. Johanna and I went exploring today and found a path along the Rhone River that goes either into Geneva or off to the West for miles. We can also walk to three grocery stores, a mall, Eric’s work, the kids’ school, swimming pools, tennis courts, etc.  Apparently, one can also walk or bike to France, but we haven’t figured out how to do that yet. Some of our exploration (okay, most of it) has resulted in our becoming quite lost (see below).

3. Public transportation – trams, trains, buses, boats – takes you everywhere!

4. Pop. They sell flavored syrup in the store, and you can add it to sparkling water to make your own soda. How fun is that?

5. The metric system – 5 kilometers sounds like a much longer run than 3 miles, doesn’t  it?

Things that will take some getting used to:

1. Grocery stores. Little selection, prices are crazy. We’re trying France soon. I do have to say, I like Aldi-Suisse. The meat there is still really expensive, though, and it comes in tiny packages.

2. Finding one’s way around is no picnic. Geneva’s roads are curvy, narrow, and dead-end without warning. Also they change their names every few yards (meters, sorry). We were nearly disastrously lost trying to follow the Route du Rhone bike trail to downtown Geneva. We ended up in the middle of the very congested neighborhood of Plainpalais. Not the place for children on bikes. I think I lost about 5 pounds from the stress. Coming back, I led us astray again, but this time we ended up going on a huge bridge over the Rhone – out of our way, but very beautiful. We also spend about an hour trying to find Immigration services. Turns out it’s about half a kilometer from our house. Now we know.

3. Feeling really stupid most of the time. Yesterday at Swisscom (trying to get cell phones and Internet – which didn’t work, by the way, because we don’t have an official residence card yet), the customer service rep said he didn’t speak English. So I tried in French, and he finally said, “Just speak English slowly.” Everyone here says they can’t speak English, but they really can. The exception was the moving guy, whom I had to call today to have our empty boxes taken away. Fortunately, I had looked up and written down something that apparently sounded enough like, “Please come get the boxes,” that he was able to understand me. Thank God for small victories! Also, I don’t know a lot of rules for biking, walking, driving – I feel like I’m constantly making mistakes.

All in all, this has been an exhausting, but really worthwhile week. Drew keeps saying, “I love Geneva!” We’ve had lots of family adventures, and the kids are getting along like champions and being the best sports in the world. Praise God!