Day 39 - Lausanne adventures

I woke up 20 minutes later than usual, but somehow managed to get Zoe to the bus stop on time, I napped until lunchtime ready for tonight! I didn't exert much energy in the afternoon either for that matter! After Zoe had got back back from school, I persuaded/bribed her to come to Lausanne with me so I could get some antiseptic cream for my hand (It's gotten loads worse) and some beer! In exchange, I bought her a keyring" We ate popcorn together while I got ready, then I left for Renens. Whilst I was on the train, I got stopped by the conductor. I faked tourist ignorance, saying I thought I could pay on the train and that it was my first day in Switzerland. He just said "OK, as you're a tourist, I trust you. Just make sure you pay for your ticket when you get to Renens..."
I didn't...
I found the flat fine after being there yesterday...and this time I had a charged phone. I was introduced to the people Rosa is staying with. David - a sweet guy, awesome guitar player; and Elodie - a crazy, lovely, loud lesbian! Both from France.
We drank lots of wine and I listened to everyone else play guitar. The Cranberries - Animal Instinct, will forever remind me of this night!

Elodie, Rosa, David & me!

Another girl joined us (I don't remember her name) before we headed to Lausanne to meet Christelle (who I'd met a few weeks ago). We went to the Great Escape, but we mostly stayed outside, drinking our own beer. We visited a club, but I have no idea of the name of it, I just vaguely remember dancing for a long time! We left the club and I'm pretty sure we contemplated a party in a slum - I think we even tried to find it. But that may have been a dream!
We picked up off a randomer at a train station, Christelle went home and I went back to the flat in Renens with David, Elodie and Rosa. 
Elodie and I stayed up until 8am watching videos online and talking rubbish, before tiredness struck me down! 

Elodie playing guitar at silly o'clock in the morning!

Day 38 - Se perdre (Getting lost)

My day was uneventful yet again (I see a pattern emerging here...) Zoe was in school throughout the day on her annual fun run. I picked her up from Cully and took her to the park for a bit. Her friends arrived just as we were about to leave. I hate taking her away from her friends, especially as it seems she has problems making them. I had to lure her out of the park with ice-cream...
After Zoe had gone to bed, Rosa invited me to the flat that she's staying in for a few days,  in a place called Renens (the seedier side of Lausanne, as David referred to it.) Rosa text me the details explaining how to get to the flat. I got the correct bus (after waiting about half an hour for a  bus ride which took less than 3 minutes...) But when I got to the group of flats, I didn't know what apartment it was exactly... and my phone had died. I was tired, annoyed with myself for not charging my phone and I was carrying a load of beer which was heavy! I wasn't a happy bunny.
I caught the bus going in the opposite direction, but after 2 stops, I thought I was on the wrong bus so got off and crossed the road to catch the bus back. I didn't have a fucking clue where I was. Luckily, a guy on the bus stop could see that I was clueless. His name was Peru, from India who's doing a PHD in physics in Lausanne. He told me to get the bus with him and directed me to the metro, what a hero! I ended up getting home at about 12.15 - I wasted about 3 hours getting lost. I was shattered by the time I got home and collapsed into bed!

Day 36 & 37

Tuesday was relatively uneventful. Weather wasn't good enough to sunbathe and due to a late bedtime, I was too exhausted to travel far for nothing in particular. I spent the day making my new dress . It might sound like wasted time when I'm in such an awesome place, but there's only so much I can see in a short space of time when I have to ensure I'm home in time for Zoe's arrival. When she came home from school, we had a little swim, but the water has gotten colder!

Lutry

I took a brief trip to Lausanne for some munchies! It was nice to get out of the house and have a little walk from Lutry. The most exciting thing to happen to me all day was that the hot guy from Zoe's judo class rode past me on his bike and gave me the most smouldering smile.

Vines & the lake. Taken in Lutry

Wednesday.
Whilst Zoe was in school, I chilled and sunbathed a tad. We had a swim when she was home for lunch, then Eta came. She gave me a hug when she left as it's the last time I'll see her. My flight is next Wednesday morning. I've been thinking a lot about the fact that I'll be home in a weeks time. I'm excited about the prospect too! I'll be making the most out of the next few days for sure! I took Zoe to judo and sat in the park whilst she was there. Cully is famous for it's Jazz festival in April and I inadvertently stumbled upon their 'classique' festival which was a nice surprise. I sat and read my book and listened to the band play Stong - "Englishman in New York" in French!

Unfortunately I struggled to enjoy it to it's full extent. On the way there, I'd gone off a kerb on the scooter and fallen face first onto the road. Grazed my hand pretty badly, so it's super painful now. Sounds like I'm being a pussy, but I don't care. It hurts like fuck!

Rizla - Makeshift plaster

There was a bbq for the kids and parents after judo, unfortunately the hot judo guys weren't in attendance. I kind of sat there with Zoe for company. All of the kids were running around, generally being children. I asked Zoe "So are these all of your friends?"
"No..."
"So which ones are your friends?"
"None of them."
It's not from not wanting friends, but it seems she's really anti-social. I don't know whether she's too shy to speak to other children. She's 7 and she never goes out to play with her friends. It's so sad!
Zoe went off to play not long after though and she made a friend! I didn't want to disturb or tell her we had to go, even though it was past her 8pm bed time. I sat where all the parents were, in silence, sipping wine that I'd helped myself to. I've become accustomed to not feeling awkward in these situations now. After about 10 minutes, the judo instructor asked me "Ca va?" when he noticed my silence and I said "Je ne sais pas parlez Francais..." To which he replied "I no speak English too!" And that was the end of that! Oh how I wish I was bilingual!
I got a call off Valerie (who's away on a business trip) saying that David was worried as it was after Zoe's bed time, so I begrudgingly dragged her away from her newfound friend.
When we got home, I heard David swear for the first time when he was shouting at Zoe to get to bed.
I can't wait to go home.

Day 35

The weather was awful this morning, so my whole day was spent at home, finishing the design for my dress and watching Game of Thrones. I took a quick trip to Lausanne to get supplies too. When Zoe came home from school, we watched Mary Poppins - she's never seen it before, which I couldn't believe! It's weird watching childhood films when you're old enough to get them...
Halfway through the film, I made dinner of fish fingers and homemade chips. She tried to pull a sicky, forcing tears and saying her tummy hurt.
"Come on, I know you like fish fingers and chips," I said to her.
"Chips...? Where?"
She didn't know that chips were made from potatoes...?!
It was a struggle to get her to eat. She kept saying she was feeling sick and I could tell her tears were of the crocodile kind... I told her that she'd have to go to bed if she was feeling that ill.She said she wanted to carry on watching the film.
"Well if you're too ill to eat your dinner, you're too ill to watch a film, it's either bed now, or dinner and the film."
She ate her dinner.
After my shift, I went to the beach briefly to escape the house and have a cigarette. I came to the realisation that I'm ready to go home now.This place is beautiful  but lonely. I have Rosa and Iñaki and all of the other people that I've met, but that's on the weekends. I'm not used to spending so much time alone. It's time for me to leave now. The days are getting too repetitive and I miss my friends and family. I'm not so much home sick as people sick!

Double rainbow that I saw whilst at the beach!

Day 33 & 34 - Week-end ennuyeux (Boring weekend)

On Saturday, I awoke with no plans in mind, but completely forgetting that Rosa had no phone. It was gloriously sunny, so I took a trip to Lausanne for some new shoes - all of mine have fallen apart since being here due to the amount of walking I've done.
By the time I'd got back, Rosa had been in touch. I took a swim to cool down and headed to her and Iñaki's apartment with ice-cream. Rosa was too tired to do much. We watched Django Unchained (well... Rosa fell asleep...) which is such a good film. A quiet night was definitely on the cards though!

Sunday, I woke up late and spent the whole day chilling. I started designing a dress and watched a lot of TV. The weather was bad so I spent the day cooped up in my room, although I joined the family for dinner - Valerie's speciality of beef bourguignon, yum!

Day 32 - Fête de la Musique (Festival of Music)

After dropping Zoe off this morning, I headed straight back to bed. I needed to get napping ready for tonight. Zoe has a longer lunch on Fridays, so we had a little swim. When she went back, I sat in the sun. Such a change of weather since yesterday. When I went to pick up Zoe, I was introduced to a Swiss (?) tradition of wedding cars throwing sweets at pedestrians, when one hit me! We swam again, then whilst I was getting ready to go out, Zoe kept me company. Her dad had had a go at her about some mess she'd made, so when she started crying, I took pity on her. Luckily she likes my taste in music... I had to refuse her requests for Mika...I met Rosa, Iñaki and Evelyne at the apartment and we headed to Lausanne centre for the Fête de la Musique. I didn't really know anything about it until afterwards, but it's huge. An article I read said that 250,000 people turned up to watch 7000 performers at 500 different concerts. I had NO idea of all of this unfortunately. Rosa took us to the drum and bass van  - the music was great and we stayed until the sun went down... and longer. I wish we'd explored a bit more now, knowing that there were so many different stages.

Strangers at the back, Rosa on the left, stranger in the middle,
Evelyene on the right!

Rosa had her bag stolen which had everything in it: purse, iPhone etc. That put a bit of a downer on things, but we were pretty drunk so at the time it wasn't such a big issue. 
I don't remember the end of the night due to exhaustion and alcohol consumption. We said goodbye to Rosa who we left with some guy, then Evelyne and I got the train... Although we both fell asleep so I had to walk from Cully again. I swear it doesn't matter how much I nap, I always fall asleep on the way home on Friday nights!

Rose & me

Shock of the night: using a public toilet in Riponne, there was a bin for syringes. Foil all over the floor, was pretty grim...

Day 31- Jour de tempête (Stormy day)

Zoe was chirpy this morning. She even said "I'm different to how I was yesterday," referring to how grumpy she had been yesterday morning! The rain was relentless - or so it seemed- but as we ate breakfast, we could see the clouds pass over France and across the lake. It was beautiful to see the sun over the mountains, while we watched the rain hit the windows and caught flashes of lightning. 
By the time we got to the bus stop, it was blazing again. I took a brief trip to Vevey for a wander.
After lunch, my afternoon was spent decorating some denim shorts with patches of material - I've been meaning to start making/customising clothes for a while, so I finally got down to it!
When Zoe came home from school, we went for a swim. Even though it was sunny, the clouds rolled in again and it started to rain not long after we'd evacuated the pool! And it was a huge storm too. It was awesome to watch. Forks of lightning hitting the lake and the thunder made the house tremble.

When the storm had passed & the sun started setting, it left the sky with this pink haze!

We watched Pocahontas and when Zoe went to bed, I carried on customising clothes and started watching Game of Thrones (I'm hooked already!)

Day 30 - Grincheux Zoe... (Grumpy Zoe...)

Zoe was being a stroppy little cow this morning. She was tired, but so was I... and getting on my bad side when I'm sleepy isn't cool... First of all she shouted at me for opening the blinds in her bedroom. Then when she was getting dressed, she started putting on jeans. "It's a bit too hot for jeans" I told her - it was boiling!
"But mummy says it's going to rain."
"Yes, but look out of the window, maybe wear something else."
"No."
She was silent throughout breakfast, then when she went to the shoe cupboard, she put on her wellies.
"They're definitely not needed!" I said.
She turned around without a word and stormed off to her mum's room. I could overhear Valerie apologising for not telling Zoe that tomorrow will be rainy, not today. She came upstairs 2 minutes later with a tear-streaked face and all of her clothes and wellies in her arms "I'm going to change."
She's just like me when I'm tired; teary and grumpy.
When I dropped her off at the bus stop, I told her to be in a  better mood by lunch!
I had a nap and a swim whilst she was in school and luckily her mood HAD changed! Eta the maths tutor was ill, so after lunch we spent 2 hours in the pool, followed by finishing off her science workbook. She was so proud, it was super cute! The other day, she had been making wild guesses at all the answers when we were doing the exercises, but this time she really understood them, it made me feel pretty proud too!
After this, we took some snacks to the park (I invented sandwich cake! Nutella and icing sugar in between 2 slices of bread - culinary genius.) Zoe played in the playground until she went to judo, whilst I read my book.

At the park in Cully

She was so tired afterwards (I'm not surprised, the last 5 minutes I caught of judo, she was dropping some guy on the floor repeatedly!) We had dinner and after Zoe went to bed, I told her parents all about Juliette's behaviour. Hopefully things will get sorted. According to Valerie, Zoe has always been quite exclusive when it comes to friends, so doesn't have a big group to turn to. Sounds much like  her father, whom I've never seen with, or heard him talk about friends.
I hoovered up all the spiders in my room before bed tonight, but there were still 4 big 'uns by the time I clambered into bed, ugh!

Day 29 & 30

Yesterday was quite uneventful, so doesn't warrant it's own post! Whilst Zoe was in school, I spent the day in/next to the pool, topping up my tan. It's far too hot to do much else. The most exciting part of my day was lunch: epic pancakes. For all of those people that care about my pancake diet: Savoury; prosciutto, Gruyere cheese, tomato and (a surprise double yoke!!) egg. And sweet; apricot, grape & mango mixed with raspberry and strawberry jam.
When Zoe came home from school, we swam some more and that was it really! My bedroom is SO hot, so I had trouble sleeping.
Today went pretty much the same. I did the ironing in the morning whilst watching Freaks & Geeks. After lunch, I wanted to go to Lausanne just to get out of the house. I waited half an hour for the train, but as soon as I got on it, I came face to face with two train conductors, so swiftly turned around and got off. Not really up to paying a 100FR charge for the sake of 'getting out of the house.' It was way too hot anyway, so I went home and stayed in the pool until Zoe came home from school and joined me. The water was like bath water, it was so warm!

Things with Juliette in school had been bothering Zoe again today. After lunch, she'd told me that Juliette had pulled out Zoe's plaits, I can imagine her being quite upset by this as she loves it when I put plaits in her hair. A simple thing, but it's not nice! Then after school, she said that Juliette had hurt her by twisting her arm. Now I don't know if Zoe is doing anything to provoke Juliette, but I don't care! I told her that she needs to play with someone else and all she said, in her sad little voice was "But then I won't have anyone to play with. I don't have any other friends." The poor thing, I don't know what to do except tell her mum to have a word with Juliette's mum and hope that things don't get any worse. Although it might sound petty, it's still bullying. And the fact that it's getting physical (hair pulling and chinese burns) is not acceptable.
After I had 'clocked off', I took the 7 minute train journey to Lausanne, purely because I was craving chocolate and at 8pm, I think it was the closest place I could get some. When I got back, I sat on the 'beach' for a while, had a smoke and sat reading as the sun set.

By the time I'd got back to my room, it had been infested with spiders. 9 huge fuckers. I attempted to sleep in the spare room, but there were just as many in there. That, coupled with the heat saw that I didn't sleep until about 3am...

Day 28 - Festival de la Terre (Festival of the Earth)

Last night, Rosa and I had planned to go to the yoga session at the Festival de la Terre. By the time I'd got to Rosa's and we got to the festival, it was a bit late. We explored the festival properly, during the day it was a hub of activity. There were massage stalls set up, yoga and meditation workshops, clothes stalls, food stalls, activities for the children, such as making musical instruments out of household items, origami, puppet shows. It was really cool! Everything was free too! We spent some time watching people get massages. Weird kinds of massages too. There was one masseuse who just moved around the person and did what looked like some spiritual cleansing, but never actually touched them. And another woman that used some didjeridoo type instrument to blow onto the person on the table. It was odd! Rosa and I booked ourselves in for a relaxation massage on our neck and shoulders and a 'polarity' massage. We got a pizza while we waited, it was so good! All of the food being sold was organic.

Feta & rocket, mmm!

The first massage was really relaxing. I had a lot of knots in my neck and shoulders (I get told this every time I have a massage) and the masseuse sorted them all out! We were joined by Rosa's friend Evelyne(?), we got some ice-cream! Then Iñaki came not long after. Rosa and I went for our polarity massage which was a bit strange. The idea of it is to encompass emotions, spirituality as well as physical pain. She asked me about any physical pain. I've always had problems in my back so I mentioned this. She explained that I was carrying other people's problems on my back and she was trying to physically and spiritually remove them. I'm a bit of a skeptic about this kind of thing, but it was relaxing nonetheless. Me and Rosa couldn't find the others, so we wandered about. We watched a small puppet show which was impressive and some juggling clowns too!

The clowns were for the children,
but we were impressed!

We finally found Iñaki and Evelyne - Iñaki was pissed off because he couldn't find us. I just kind of sat there while they argued. We sat on the grass and watched the live music, had a bit of a smoke, then left about an hour later. I was invited for food with Iñaki and Rosa, but I was just so tired. I had planned to do something productive when I got home, but I was asleep by half 10!