So, last year I was in Geneva for a concert at the 2007 International Congress for Dalcroze, and I met Patrick in one of my classes. We stayed in contact afterwards, and I am thankful for our friendship for many reasons, not the least of which includes the fact Patrick is letting me stay in his house! He lives in a little village called Froideville. You can check out a picture of his place via satellite if you want:
Literally, the name of the town means City of Cold. Patrick says that throughout the year, winters here are substantially harsher because Froideville is about 2000 ft. higher than Geneva. The view of the Alps are stunning from his back porch....though the picture above isn't very good...drat!
Among many things that make Swiss life different, the bathroom and toilet are in different rooms within the house. Also, the Swiss prefer that men always sit down when they visit the loo (see picture above). Suffice it to say that the Swiss are "tres propre!" (very clean!)
Patrick teaches at a school in a neighboring village. I visited his classes in ryhthmique (eurhythmics) yesterday and was very impressed (classroom and salle du rythmique pictures above). In class, the students were very polite...afterwards, with no prompt from their teacher, they all lined up to say "Merci, monsieur...au revoir!" and then every child shook my hand. It was very impressive...of course, when the day was over, I rode the bus home with several of the kids...they definitely have a different face when the teacher is away!!! But it seems good...they are kids who love their life. Again, I have never seen a school so clean...
So, again, I thank Patrick for all his help...he's a great friend, indeed!
3 comments:
Hi Jeremy,
Good to know that you're getting settled. Switzerland is a beautiful country and the trains, in fact, do run on time.
p.s. I missed the toilet formality on my last visit. Knowing men pee sitting down goes a long way to explaining their historic neutrality.
I'm so pleased you are going to maintain a blog while away! I need all the Jeremy updates possible.
Be good on your first day of school...
yes, punctuality is important here! So far, I've adjusted to the whole urnation thing, but to be honest...sometimes I just try to be extra careful and stand up!
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