(no subject)
Bon soir! Yet another week has passed here in Lausanne. Last week was a busy week schoolwise, after I missed 3 days straight of class. I was horribly behind on reading but finally caught up. Now I just have to get ready for the coming week!
Friday night was our Thanksgiving celebration and it went amazingly well! We woke up EARLY, went to the store and cooked all day...from 10 until people arrived. I made stuffing, sweet potato casserole, stuffed squash, and a green salad. Lauren did the ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, fruit, and an apple pie.
Considering that we didn't have nearly all the ingredients we needed, the dishes came out amazingly well. Certain details were changed but overall the food had the semblance of Thanksgiving. It certainly cheered the two Americans up immensely as we've both been going through some homesickness lately.
The foreign response was overwhelmingly positive. Although they all remarked that the food was "extremely foreign," they did like it and it was basically all eaten up by the end of the evening. Even the Swiss boys proclaimed that my sweet potatoes were good - a real shocker because Swiss people rarely admit that anything foreign can be as good as the Swiss alternative. The fact that they enjoyed and complimented us on our food was a huge compliment.
Also, it was just a wonderful evening spent with friends. It's been awhile since we've all sat down together and it was so nice to have everyone together sharing a meal. This week we are doing the same thing, but with fondue. I am looking forward to it!!!
Yesterday and today have been consumed with choir practice. I am absolutely loving being part of the choeur d'UNIL but it's much more work than I anticipated. I spent 4 hours yesterday and 4 hours today at school tediously practicing the dozens of pieces we are learning for our performances. One, a dramatic modern piece, is available to listen to on the university choir website. It's all in Latin and is supposedly dedicated to those who suffered in the attack on Hiroshima. The website is www.unil.ch/choeur and the three movements of the piece are at the bottom right of this page under "Enregistrement de Meditatio de Rui Reis, 1995"
Many of the other pieces are by Brahms and they are all sung in German. I still don't know much, but I can read/pronounce in German now! I had to learn since I am singing so much in it. Even the native speaker has deigned to compliment my pronunciation. (= We are also singing a Grieg piece in NORWEGIAN of all things...and goodness me, that language is not so easy. But again, I am learning to read in it.
Well - anyway, I need to tackle a bit of homework now but it looks like skiing is definitely on the schedule for this week. I will make sure to take lots of pictures!!
Here are pictures from Thanksgiving...the rest are on my photo website.
Friday night was our Thanksgiving celebration and it went amazingly well! We woke up EARLY, went to the store and cooked all day...from 10 until people arrived. I made stuffing, sweet potato casserole, stuffed squash, and a green salad. Lauren did the ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, fruit, and an apple pie.
Considering that we didn't have nearly all the ingredients we needed, the dishes came out amazingly well. Certain details were changed but overall the food had the semblance of Thanksgiving. It certainly cheered the two Americans up immensely as we've both been going through some homesickness lately.
The foreign response was overwhelmingly positive. Although they all remarked that the food was "extremely foreign," they did like it and it was basically all eaten up by the end of the evening. Even the Swiss boys proclaimed that my sweet potatoes were good - a real shocker because Swiss people rarely admit that anything foreign can be as good as the Swiss alternative. The fact that they enjoyed and complimented us on our food was a huge compliment.
Also, it was just a wonderful evening spent with friends. It's been awhile since we've all sat down together and it was so nice to have everyone together sharing a meal. This week we are doing the same thing, but with fondue. I am looking forward to it!!!
Yesterday and today have been consumed with choir practice. I am absolutely loving being part of the choeur d'UNIL but it's much more work than I anticipated. I spent 4 hours yesterday and 4 hours today at school tediously practicing the dozens of pieces we are learning for our performances. One, a dramatic modern piece, is available to listen to on the university choir website. It's all in Latin and is supposedly dedicated to those who suffered in the attack on Hiroshima. The website is www.unil.ch/choeur and the three movements of the piece are at the bottom right of this page under "Enregistrement de Meditatio de Rui Reis, 1995"
Many of the other pieces are by Brahms and they are all sung in German. I still don't know much, but I can read/pronounce in German now! I had to learn since I am singing so much in it. Even the native speaker has deigned to compliment my pronunciation. (= We are also singing a Grieg piece in NORWEGIAN of all things...and goodness me, that language is not so easy. But again, I am learning to read in it.
Well - anyway, I need to tackle a bit of homework now but it looks like skiing is definitely on the schedule for this week. I will make sure to take lots of pictures!!
Here are pictures from Thanksgiving...the rest are on my photo website.