"People ask me all the time 'So what does your sister DO in Switzerland?' and I usually respond with 'She fights AIDS with with graphic design- GEEZ get off my back already.'
...... People always ask nonchalantly and I retort really seriously with that answer like as if you're an X-man for AIDS and your weapon is graphic design."
-Shayla 2006
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Monday, August 28, 2006
Cheese and Aliens
Yesterday I went to Gruyere with Jean and Carmen and we had a lovely day of cheese, aliens, castles, cows, slugs, and every stereotypical "Swiss" thing that you can think of. More to come later.....
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Picture Time
All of this is within five minutes of my house...... And by 'house' I mean 'flat'... and by 'flat' I mean 'shoebox with a bed'
Funny Email from My Dad
Hey Nooo,
I was looking at the blog site and it crossed my mind that Homer Simpson probably named the Italian train system. Remember: “Luke! You can’t name him Luke! The kids will call him Puke! Now ‘Bart’… let me see… Aart, Bart, Cart, Dart, Eart. Now that works”.
So I’m imaging a bunch of Italian guys.
“So, wotta we gonna calla the train?”
“How aboutta Italian Train System?”
“Whatta you nuts or something? Da kids’ll call it Pitalian Pain Pystem.”
“How aboutta Trenitalia?”
“Letta me think aboutta that. Hmmm. Aenitalia, Benitalia, Cenitalia, Denitalia, Eenitalia, Fenitalia. Thatsa gooda name! We gonna call it Trenitalia and I don’ta wanna here no arguing, you get what I’ma saying???”
And the rest is history!
I was looking at the blog site and it crossed my mind that Homer Simpson probably named the Italian train system. Remember: “Luke! You can’t name him Luke! The kids will call him Puke! Now ‘Bart’… let me see… Aart, Bart, Cart, Dart, Eart. Now that works”.
So I’m imaging a bunch of Italian guys.
“So, wotta we gonna calla the train?”
“How aboutta Italian Train System?”
“Whatta you nuts or something? Da kids’ll call it Pitalian Pain Pystem.”
“How aboutta Trenitalia?”
“Letta me think aboutta that. Hmmm. Aenitalia, Benitalia, Cenitalia, Denitalia, Eenitalia, Fenitalia. Thatsa gooda name! We gonna call it Trenitalia and I don’ta wanna here no arguing, you get what I’ma saying???”
And the rest is history!
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Stories from Italy
A few blogs ago, I promised a few stories from my trip to Italy. I will not disappoint. First up:
How Carmen sprained her ankle. By Natalie
Upon arriving back at our hostel, on the last night we realized that power had been lost on the entire block. It was pitch black in the hostel and we had to get to our room on the second floor. We successfully navigated but Courtney, Carmen and I decided it would be in our best interest to take a bottle of wine to the beach and drink out of plastic cups like we were distinguished socialites on vacation. So we head out of our dark room into the more dark hallway. Down the corridor, I’m leading the pack (still unclear how I got that job). I pull open the door to the stairs and there is a man standing there with his cell phone light flashing in my face. I yelp, Carmen screams and 5 seconds later Courtney reacts. We nervously laugh for a moment, but then actually laugh because the man seems nice and it was funny that Courtney has such a startlingly slow reaction time. The man holds his light for us as we go down the stairs and all of a sudden Carmen makes a noise like she’s about to laugh and then tumbles down the stairs.
Nat: “Oh my goodness! Are you okay?”
Carmen: “Ow”
Nat: “We need ice”
Courtney: “There’s no ice in Italy! We’ll have to get Gelato”
Nat: “But Carmen will eat it!”
Courtney: “Good point. Carmen, how did you fall? Did you trip?”
Carmen: “I just lost focus because I was thinking about how funny it would be, since we’re in an old hospital and all, that when Natalie opened the door, and saw that guy, she should have yelled ‘DIE ZOMBIE DIE’!!!!!....... And I thought that was really funny. And I was laughing in my head so hard that I fell.”
Only slightly paraphrased conversation.
We still went to the water…. But we drank wine on a bench and it’s like 3 weeks later and Carmen is still limping. Moral of the story, always yell “Die Zombie Die!”……
Story #2: Would would buy this?
How Carmen sprained her ankle. By Natalie
Upon arriving back at our hostel, on the last night we realized that power had been lost on the entire block. It was pitch black in the hostel and we had to get to our room on the second floor. We successfully navigated but Courtney, Carmen and I decided it would be in our best interest to take a bottle of wine to the beach and drink out of plastic cups like we were distinguished socialites on vacation. So we head out of our dark room into the more dark hallway. Down the corridor, I’m leading the pack (still unclear how I got that job). I pull open the door to the stairs and there is a man standing there with his cell phone light flashing in my face. I yelp, Carmen screams and 5 seconds later Courtney reacts. We nervously laugh for a moment, but then actually laugh because the man seems nice and it was funny that Courtney has such a startlingly slow reaction time. The man holds his light for us as we go down the stairs and all of a sudden Carmen makes a noise like she’s about to laugh and then tumbles down the stairs.
Nat: “Oh my goodness! Are you okay?”
Carmen: “Ow”
Nat: “We need ice”
Courtney: “There’s no ice in Italy! We’ll have to get Gelato”
Nat: “But Carmen will eat it!”
Courtney: “Good point. Carmen, how did you fall? Did you trip?”
Carmen: “I just lost focus because I was thinking about how funny it would be, since we’re in an old hospital and all, that when Natalie opened the door, and saw that guy, she should have yelled ‘DIE ZOMBIE DIE’!!!!!....... And I thought that was really funny. And I was laughing in my head so hard that I fell.”
Only slightly paraphrased conversation.
We still went to the water…. But we drank wine on a bench and it’s like 3 weeks later and Carmen is still limping. Moral of the story, always yell “Die Zombie Die!”……
Story #2: Would would buy this?
And.... do YOU notice anything funny about this sign? The Train system is called "Trenitalia".
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Knowing Me, Knowing You AHA!
Sometimes in life, you need to make your own party.
The weather was pretty crappy this weekend for “The Fireworks”. I use that term in quotations because it’s a big deal in Geneva. People set up hours ahead of time to get good seats by the lake, or you can pay 36 Swiss Francs for a chair.
I really like fireworks, especially the ones that look like diamonds sparkling but for some reason, watching them this week I was unsettled by the fact that millions of dollars are spent to light up the night sky like Southern Lebanon, only it’s set to Celtic music and we all go back to our homes safely afterwards.
They were the biggest fireworks I’ve ever seen.
It was still crumby outside and Mike, Carmen and I were waiting for the Circus Girls to arrive at Secheron. The traffic was insane, so we waited for a little while and then decided to get the party started, in the parking lot of the gas station. It was like a tailgate party, only sans tailgate and with Diesel fuel pumps instead! I brought wicked hot chocolate and Carmen brought fruit (nectarines are apparently the illegitimate love child of a peach and a plum…. Did you know that?)….. People were starring at us like we were insane, especially when I pulled the whip cream out of my bag. But we just chalked it up to a secret “Canadian Tradition”.
Captions generously provided by Carmen.
And it was delicious.
Another great thing that happened that night was the discovery that not all British Comedy shows are stupid. I like “Keeping Up Appearances” (My name is Bookay! B-U-C-K-E-T) and “Kiss Me Kate” is bearable, and “The Office” is phenomenal! And the same night as the party, we watched “Knowing me, Knowing You- With Alan Partridge”. VERY FUNNY. It gets the “Natalie Stamp of Approval”... Which looks a little something like this:
The weather was pretty crappy this weekend for “The Fireworks”. I use that term in quotations because it’s a big deal in Geneva. People set up hours ahead of time to get good seats by the lake, or you can pay 36 Swiss Francs for a chair.
I really like fireworks, especially the ones that look like diamonds sparkling but for some reason, watching them this week I was unsettled by the fact that millions of dollars are spent to light up the night sky like Southern Lebanon, only it’s set to Celtic music and we all go back to our homes safely afterwards.
They were the biggest fireworks I’ve ever seen.
It was still crumby outside and Mike, Carmen and I were waiting for the Circus Girls to arrive at Secheron. The traffic was insane, so we waited for a little while and then decided to get the party started, in the parking lot of the gas station. It was like a tailgate party, only sans tailgate and with Diesel fuel pumps instead! I brought wicked hot chocolate and Carmen brought fruit (nectarines are apparently the illegitimate love child of a peach and a plum…. Did you know that?)….. People were starring at us like we were insane, especially when I pulled the whip cream out of my bag. But we just chalked it up to a secret “Canadian Tradition”.
Captions generously provided by Carmen.
And it was delicious.
Another great thing that happened that night was the discovery that not all British Comedy shows are stupid. I like “Keeping Up Appearances” (My name is Bookay! B-U-C-K-E-T) and “Kiss Me Kate” is bearable, and “The Office” is phenomenal! And the same night as the party, we watched “Knowing me, Knowing You- With Alan Partridge”. VERY FUNNY. It gets the “Natalie Stamp of Approval”... Which looks a little something like this:
"Knowing me Alan Patridge, Knowing you 'insert name here' AHA! AHA!"
Goodbye.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
VIVA ITALIA!
Interns do ITALY!Courtney, Nikki, Nadia, Carrene, Natalie, Carmen spend four days in Levanto Italy.
Bonjourno!
Okay, I know I haven't been posting enough. But you see, I'm not going to have internet at my apartment for another 12 days........
So all updates are essentially done at work, and not that I can't justify blogging during work hours it's just that....... well I can't.
BUT
Last weekend, I went to Italy. Cinque Terre to be exact. I went with Nadia, Nikki, Natalie (me), Carmen, Carrene, and Courtney (yes, you couldn't come on the trip unless your name started with N or C).....
We took a train from Geneva to Milano, and then from Milano to Levento (which is where our hostel was). The hostel was beautiful, nothing like I imagined (What I imagined: small, foggy, hot room with rubber mats on the floor, and a small square window with bars, and a single toilet in the middle.... okay, I IMAGINED a prison cell).... But this was very nice!!! HUge room with 3 bunk beds and two giant closets and a bathroom with a shower and a toilet and a beday (I don't think anyone used that though)....
We explored the 5 cities and I'll put up some of my favorite pics below... You get to each city by train and it's just totally magical. To learn more about Cinque Terre go here: http://homepage.sunrise.ch/homepage/avong/cinque_terre/
Okay, I know I haven't been posting enough. But you see, I'm not going to have internet at my apartment for another 12 days........
So all updates are essentially done at work, and not that I can't justify blogging during work hours it's just that....... well I can't.
BUT
Last weekend, I went to Italy. Cinque Terre to be exact. I went with Nadia, Nikki, Natalie (me), Carmen, Carrene, and Courtney (yes, you couldn't come on the trip unless your name started with N or C).....
We took a train from Geneva to Milano, and then from Milano to Levento (which is where our hostel was). The hostel was beautiful, nothing like I imagined (What I imagined: small, foggy, hot room with rubber mats on the floor, and a small square window with bars, and a single toilet in the middle.... okay, I IMAGINED a prison cell).... But this was very nice!!! HUge room with 3 bunk beds and two giant closets and a bathroom with a shower and a toilet and a beday (I don't think anyone used that though)....
We explored the 5 cities and I'll put up some of my favorite pics below... You get to each city by train and it's just totally magical. To learn more about Cinque Terre go here: http://homepage.sunrise.ch/homepage/avong/cinque_terre/
My favorite city was Manarola. Mostly because I took this picture.... It was so colourful.
I really enjoyed walking everywhere and trying not to look like a stupid tourist but still looking like a stupid tourist, "Oh wow!! Look at that!! Isn't that CUTE?? There's a cat sleeping in that pot! Oh gosh, get the camera! Look, there's some GELATO! Who wants Gelato? Let's get a picture eatinv Gelato here. SIr? Scuzi! Scuzi!! Will you taka a pictura ofa me and my friends eating GELATO!!!!?????" (Slightly paraphrased).....Okay, that's all I have time for today, but I'll post more on Italy and keep an eye out for the following features... "How Carman Sprained her Ankle..." "Who would buy a shirt that says 'Sex Bomb?" and "Riding the Trenatalia".
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