la jolie Saleve, la montagne pres de Veyrier

1. The cross across the street, 2. The Salesian convent! 3. I already found my favorite house - I took many shots of it! 4. FRANCE. 5. The church in Veyrier, down the street from the convent. you may have to click on this picture to view it!

This morning I woke to attend mass in our chapel downstairs.. in FRENCH. Most Sundays, the sisters told me, I will be able to attend mass in English with the other volunteer. Because Maria is not here this weekend, however, I sat through a very new experience. I have been in masses in English, Spanish, Czech and Latin, but never French! I understood the mass parts and a good amount here and there, but I was not able to respond for lack of the proper mass vocabulary. After a briefing of what tomorrow would entail at the UN as well as the hearing of how the autobus system works, we had lunch. How fabulous! At meals, each person at the table takes their basket from the cupboard with their cup, coffee cup, silverware, napkin, towel (for drying her own dishes) and fabric pocket to keep the napkin and silverware. It is a very clever system, as each person is responsible for her own clean-up. I sit between Soeurs Lucia and MariaGrazia, and I already feel like I am one of the family. (Sr Lucia is a riot and has her wine at each meal, which I have been enjoying as well!) At each meal, I have been trying something new. Today, I had dried figs for the first time. They are so much more exciting when not in a silly newton cookie! I also had yogurt from Gruyere cheese - raspberry flavor - and liked it very much. The gruyere cheese served at each meal is absolutely to die for, too! (I am catching on quickly to this European culture!) Today, the sisters were asking how to say certain words in English, as many of them - especially Soeur Josephine - are trying to learn to speak it. It was prompted by my comment about how similar Italian and Spanish are, and they noted that French is similar but slightly different. "Kitchen," "la cuisine," "la cucina" et "la cucina." English is truly Germanic sounding, we decided, after comparing numerous words. It snowed again last night, leaving Veyrier with a snow cover of about 5 inches. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and I went for a run.. with my camera. Above are a few of the photos I took.