Depuis Une Semaine

Since one week ago when I posted, I have done a few exciting things worth sharing. So starting last Friday, I'm on "vacation." haha Yes, I know, you are probably thinking, already!? What? The holiday is called "Toussaint" it is a national school holiday, so no one has to go to school, meaning, I don't work. This was the same vacation I had last year when Meg came to visit me and we went to Italy =) (Best time of my life). The universities get one week off, but primary (the level I teach) gets two weeks off. Too much time for me considering I don't have much to do anyway haha.

This weekend, however, Mathéa and Gaby invited me out to their town by Geneva, Switzerland. I went here last year also. If you remember reading about that trip, I LOVED IT. And again, this time I loved it. The girls took me to visit Annecy, France which is a beautiful city on the edge of "the cleanest lake in all of Europe," says Mathéa. And yes, the lake was completely clear - amazing. Here are some pictures from Annecy, including a couple "hispter" style pictures haha because they look super hip, and I like hip. ;)

Classic view of Anney.

Super hip. hah. But really, this is an application on my iPhone, isn't it great!? This particular lens, if you can call it that on the iPhone, really saturates the colors in the buildings quite nicely.

This photo is taken from the "Pont des Amours," the bridge of lovers. I understand why that is the name of the bridge because the view is very romantic with the canal, the canoes and the trees. This particular lens was perfect for this shot too! I didn't know I was using the lens, but it really accentuated out the beautiful yellows and oranges of the autumn leaves. =) Looks all vintage.

Annecy was one day, but another day Mathéa and I went to Geneva to visit the United Nations Headquarters, one of four, I believe, in the whole world. The largest headquarters is in New York, then there are 3 others: Geneva, Switzerland, Vienna, Austria and Nairobi, Kenya. At first I was really confused why one would want to visit the United Nations, but it was actually very cool! The area where the headquarters lays is considered "international territory," a bit trippy, right? So we were technically no longer is Switzerland when we were in the building. Here are some pictures:

This is an amazing sculpture outside of the building. One leg of the chairs is blown off, symbolizing the tragedies of many victims who died or were severely injured in the countries where they used to have landmines. These countries would use children to run out into the fields to check for mines - sort of like Russian roulette. So terrible =( This installation was created to encourage all landmine countries to sign the Mine Ban Treaty and to honor the victims.

This is also in front of the headquarters. Where is the America flag? hehe It is pretty much impossible to find, but I can tell you, it is ONE of the red and white striped flags towards the back end. The picture would have to be enlarged on order to MAYYYBBEE see it.

This is an AMAZING piece of work by the Spanish artist Miquel Barceló. It is a sculptural installation that weighs like 4 tons and hangs off of the ceiling in one of the meeting rooms. Barceló used plaster to construct the dripping effects off of the ceiling and then he blasted several colors onto the ceiling. I believe that the concept of all the colors is to symbolize the many different thoughts and ideas of all nations, and how in the end they come together as one compromising and functional unit. The colors change depending on where you stand in the room.

This is an example of one of the meeting rooms. 6 different languages are available for translation in the meeting: English, Chinese, Russian, French, Spanish and Arabic.

Finally, when I got back from my weekend in Geneva, or wherever I was on the border of France and Switzerland, I had a package waiting for me: an AWESOME Giants t-shirt from the Postseason games. Thank ya thank ya James! I am SOOOOOOO excited to see that the Giants made it to the World Series!! And they won their first game last night... oohh la la, keep it up Giants!!! =) I wish I was there.