trouver les tricolores

Franchement, on aura bien fêté hier soir. Quel match étonnant où deux des trois buts semblaient presque rentrer "par hasard". On ne va pas chipoter, mais tout ce tralala médiatique qui dit que ça allait de soi, que nous étions de toutes façons les meilleurs, c'est quand même très drôle. Ne disait-on pas encore hier après-midi que cette pauvre équipe était vieille? Peu importe, on a gagné - et cela n'allait pas de soi. Encore plus délicat: le match contre le Brésil samedi. Comme il faudrait quand même que quelqu'un soutienne Zizou, notre vieillard de 34 ans, j'irai avec deux amis à Francfort, où ils joueront samedi à 21h. Décision spontanée comme d'hab', parce qu'on a beaucoup de choses à se raconter et que la route est assez longue pour en parler. J'espère voir "fiston" (du DESS) au MainArena, où l'on projete le match sur un écran géant sur le Main.

back in blue

Well, I tore off my German gear, lent my huge flag to one under patriotic German gal at work, and went to La Praille stadium to watch France / Spain. Best big screens seem to be Plainpalais and La Praille, but seeing the electrical storm, we went for the semi-sheltered stadium. I had already been running with the club in the heat, but hardly could miss a chance to watch Les Bleus and honk the horn a bit. Tired? Me? Geneva is vibrantly international at this time, so I called up my Italian friend Robby, who was still at work. Of course he was up to it. Where there is a party, the Italians are definitely game. He went: "but wait a minute, who are you for anyway?" (duh!) As France stole 3 goals, the electricity rose and the party began. And I can still hear the well-known rhyming celebrations outside: "Allez les bleus", "On a gagné!" You'd think they themselves had played. Ok, let's admit, I was the first one out there going nuts. And technically, I'm not even French! Ahhh, so NOW we peer into the heart of Euph'... :) Dear God, please don't let FR play DE - who then will I support? :) This has been lots of fun this World Cup - especially in such a multi-ethnic community. Awesome.

peinliche party

Bad Taste kann alles Mögliche bedeuten. Mein Onkel findet zum Beispiel Jeans und Turnschuhe vom schlechtesten Geschmack. Ich nicht. Und genauso subjektiv waren gestern die Verkleidungen. Da die Party in England stattfand als England spielte, hatte ich ein deutsches Fussball-Teeshirt an - ach ja und die passende Fahne natürlich dazu (nochmal turbodanke, cm ;)). Einerseits war alles erlaubt, andererseits, gab's zu diesem interessanten Spiel anscheinend Regeln. Ich hörte einige Kommentare zu meinem harmlosem Kostüm: ,,willst du heute sterben oder wie?", ,,darf ich deine Fahne ausleihen..und verbrennen?", ,,ähh, jieah, das ist wirklich geschmacklos!" Aber war das nicht gerade das Ziel? Ich fand mich ziemlich cool. ;) Die zweitcoolste war meine Tante - wirklich, selbst ich hätte mich kaum getraut. Aber sie konnte es. Und so sind die Engländer. Aber, ich vergesse immer ich bin doch so Eine. Spätestens wenn ich hinfliege, merke ich wie anders ich mich eigentlich fühle. Und das ist doch okay. Wenn ich ehrlich bin, hab das Land der Engeln in drei Jahren kein einziges Mal vermisst. Jedoch fand ich Einkaufen, Zeitungen, Zeitschriften schon spannender als bei uns. Und als ich zum sechsten Mal in diesem Monat in die Maschine stieg, erinnerte ich mich daran, dass ich extra für meine Tante dort war - und sie hat sich gefreut. Das war doch das Wichtigste. Happy 60th Birthday, auntie!

early exit

A 4:30/5am departure wouldn't quite have been so bad last week. In fact, some of our Camino dorm friends courageously left the refuge at the crack of dawn to avoid the sun. This week, however, it seems a little cruel on the body to get up so early. But no pain no gain: easyjet guarantees cheap prices and red-eye specials. I took mom&dad to the airport this morning for the flight I'd be on just 24 hours later. No way could I have made a Friday morning flight. In fact, even so, the laptop comes with me on this trip so I can finish off urgent work. Arg!

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Where I'm headed, the grass may look greener than on the photo here - in fact, does the grass ever go brown in the UK? First time I have been back since graduating in 2003 - yikes, I'm nervous. Maybe I'm just nervous about the "bad taste" theme party for my auntie. You mean, we're supposed to embarrass ourselves just for the sake of it? Actually, as one challenging week comes to a close, I think I could use a good laugh before starting the next. That, and a nice Camino devotional, eh Leens? :)

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.. enough for now dudes, I've gotta go to bed if I want to be up at 4:30. Back on Sunday night.

narcissisme ou nostalgie?

Eh ben! Quelle transition turbulente entre les vacances et le retour. Le seul réconfort étant, j'ai presque l'impression que je suis encore dans l'avion. Bon, on pouvait s'y attendre. Frustrée de ne pas avoir pris davantage de temps "type Santiago" cette semaine pour m'aérer le crâne, je me contente du rite d'ouvrir les photos de vacances au quotidien. Narcissisme ou nostalgie, à toi d'en trancher (me connaissant, il y a les deux), mais tu m'excuseras - l'aventure de la semaine passée me manque. Vas pas à en croire que la semaine n'a pas apportée des occasions pour sourire - je pense à lundi, où on a roulé sur mon pull - juste avant que je m'en serve pour reçevoir un client. Ou alors la vente de Charlette qui a été faite à 1h du mat' jeudi. Cette semaine était bien moins tranquille et relativement dure. Mais à moi d'essayer de garder la fraîcheur des vacances et surtout la sérénité que le timeout m'a apporté. *Allez, euph', c'est bientôt le weekend*.

post-pilgern

Und so schnell geht es - wir sind schon wieder zu Hause! Zurück zum üblichen Blog-Sprachwechsel. Ja sooorry, aber ihr Deutschen seid sicher mit dem WM beschäftigt oder? ;)

Vor einigen Stunden sind wir in Genf gelandet. Dreckig, nostalgisch und überzeugt, dass Gott ein grosser und humorvoller Gott ist. Die vergangene Woche war auf dem Camino de Santiago so eine kostbare Zeit mit viel Freiraum zum Abschalten, Nachdenken, Leute treffen.

Interessant auf dem Jakobusweg, worauf Jakobus das Evangelium nach Spanien gebracht hat, ist dass Leute unheimlich offen sind. Klar, jeder befindet sich dort aus verschiedenen Gründen. Aber dort begegnen Sportler Priester, Rentner, Hippies, Ehepaare und Studenten - und alle haben Zeit und Fragen en masse über die Bedeutung des Lebens und ihre Grenzen. Genial. Eines Tages wenn wir richtig viel Zeit haben, möchten wir beide nochmal hinfliegen und die ganzen 750km von Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port bis Santiago de Compostela zusammen laufen. Abgemacht wäre Juni 2036. Und bis dahin werden wir beide sicher allein hingehen wollen. Denn 30 Tage Zeit mit Gott kann nur lehrreich sein.

Unser Stück Jakobsweg in der Gegenrichtung war für uns genau das Richtige. Die Umwege, Fragen und Frustrationen haben uns so viel gezeigt. Jeden Tag war wie eine Andeutung von unserem Alltag. Jeden Tag wurde dort unsere persönliche Andacht lebendig..

,,Die Geduld aber soll ihr Werk tun bis ans Ende, auf dass ihr seid volkommen und ohne Tadel und kein Mangel an euch sei" - Jakobus 1,4

souvenir shops

This is holiday - I officially don´t know what to do with myself. It was awesome to eat breakfast on the terrace, lay on the beach this morning, read the Word and watch Leens and the surfers try to ride the waves. The cliffs jet out into the water with crashing waves - it´s quite spectacular. It was nicer to be on the beach in the morning since the real brown body watchers seem to populate the soft sand come the afternoon. We took it easy, slept lots and even went to the local "dolla shops" when they opened after siesta time (4pm). I didn´t expect to come back with a complete set of replacement Art Deco plates for my retro clear yellowness at home but - err, a designer plates & bowl set for 14 EUR is worth attempting to bring them home, no? Somehow. In the full backpack. On the plane - along with the new cutlery we decided to add to the fun. ;) We laughed all the way back to "Hotel Record", realizing how typical this was for us. Tomorrow it is back to Bilbao as we take the plane back home on Saturday from there. Besides, two days here is probably more expensive than the rest of our Camino time. But then again, neither of us expected to refurnish our kitchen within our budget. ;) Ok, time to leave the internet café for now. Might like an evening walk along the coast. Either that or a jog tomorrow first thing. The view is supposed to be spectacular.

san sebastian

Today we walked to Pamplona and then headed towards the warm spanish coastline of San Sebastian. Although it has been the expected growth spirt and much more, it was time to get out of the sun. 8 hours a day, even with sunscreen spread all over the body multiple times during the day, can cause a lot of damage to the body. The thermometer on a building read 33 degrees at 9:30pm - hot. Both Leens and I had made a pact to spend two days just hanging out at the beach to wash up - so coming to San Sebastian today was perfect. Public transport in Spain seems to be pretty good. So we took a bus to Bilbao and randomly chose (literally within 3 minutes) where we wanted to take the next bus to. San Sebastian is a beautiful & scenic surfer city with 181'700 people, money goes really fast and people are really interested in their bodies. Coming straight from our Camino week, this was a bit of a shock. No, we don´t want to turn the page so very fast. Still, we wanted to come back having felt rested. Maybe we can rent a parasol tomorrow. And we will most definitely kick back, jump in the sea and reflect upon the time we return to the Camino. It´s in our blood now!

calling-in from cizur

Puente la Reina ended up being a great place to stay. We left the refuge later than we had hoped. Basically, leaving after 7am is bad news as you end up being in the scorching sun all day. Most people seem to leave at 6-7am in the morning and stop at the next stop by 3pm or so. We really felt the effects of the sun today - nausia, sun rashes, diziness. But nothing a coke can´t take away at the end of the day, so we just pressed on. At lunch, we met another German gal, who sat next to us. Like many, she is doing the walk on her own and just bumping into the most fascinating people. We decided we wanted to pray for her and also for other people on our hearts. Yesterday, we focued more on missions and new ways of using business and missions together - and used that as a basis for prayer. Today was more for breakthrough for the people we met and know in Geneva. The views today were outstanding and the sky yet again cristal clear. Bright blue just like the past few days. We stopped here in Cizur Major. According to our book it was a winner. And that it turned out to be. The internet terminal happens to be in our room (a bad thing?) and there is even a garden with a little fountain. Luxury dormitory! Our goal was Pamplona, but we did a slight detour for at least 5km. It took a lot of mental energy to guess the way back - even more than the physical exercise of the Walk. We discovered today, that we are excellent uphill mountain walkers - we conversed easily for 4km of steep uphill at around a heart rate of 160. Downhill was hard on the knees. But again the trek taught us a bit more about ourselves and gave us some spectacular views over Pamplona. That´s where we´re headed tomorrow. Either we take a bus to the coast from there or carry on a little while. We´ll see. In the meantime, we shall just hobble to the nearest food place we can compensate for the 4000 lost calories.

whale of a walk

This might have been the hardest day but it was by far my favorite. It was hard due to the many small paths up and down the mountains and through the small villages and ruins and it was difficult since the road backwards was very badly marked. It was like a treasure hunt where each step killed the foot. But it was the day I learned to love the walk, learned a bit more about Leens and myself. Adding to that, it was so fascinating to be able to walk along the ancient roman ruins and paths, through the olive groves and many vineyards and golden wheat fields. Leens wondered why there was a middle line in between the pebbles and we decided the cars back then must have been pretty narrow. ;) Anyway, we decided to stop in Puenta La Reina, which I assume (from French) means, the bridge of the queen. The spectacular bridge is fit for a queen alright! It was the right place to stop as Leens started to develop a rather severe sun rash - other than that, we felt stronger than the other days. Besides, the tourist guide said we could stay in a private hostel with a pool somewhere in the town. So we looked around and found the hostel alright. The 700 extra metres were worth it - sure enough there was a pool. But no water. :( So, we hiked back down and decided we´d keep some cash aside for a nice meal. We stopped in a bar where all the locals hang out and tried the wine. They drink their reds chilled. Upon us questioning them, they say that it is due to the weather. And true, it is pretty sticky. Even now, at 7:20pm! Memories of today will have included getting lost for 1h30 and feeling the frustration of not being able to find our way to save the world, the old gipsy woman plowing through the trash we asked for directions from and of course, the awesome coffee stop at Lorca. Off to sooth those blisters. We decided we´re pretty hard core girls as not many of our girlfriends would consider this a pleasant holiday. But we´re having a blast!

euph´ & leens in estella

We wanted to walk more today but the sun is so strong that we didn´t feel like walking more than 8 hours. It was quite obvious when we stopped talking from sun stroke. We ended up in this new village called Estella (!!) and figured it was the Pamplona yuppies who live here. All the cars are new and the gas station was blarring out this random spanish metal trash music. It made for quite a change from the rural villages we have seen the whole way. Sore from the Rioja wine competition, the little village of Irache built a wine fountain for the "pilgrims" to drink from. It was right at the end of our trip, so we filled an empty water bottle and had a gorgeous apero on our arrival in the village. This makes for our 3rd free apéro! (In Logroño, we were welcomed with a bottle of 2001 Rioja) This refuge costs 5.50 Euros - ah, the prices seem to be going up. But this time, breakfast is included (costing 1.50 EUR). Though this is the road James took to spread the Gospel to the Spanish villages, people dont seem all that excited about God here. In fact, the more we head East, the grumpier the people seem to get. The people on the Road look like they are in pain and really not enjoying it. We have found this is so much fun to give our day to God, let him lead (because we dont have the easy signage to find our way as we are going backwards), and let him slow our daily pace down. Ok, we´re off to chill, let our sunburns die down and re-read James chapter 3.

i found internet!

One thing is for sure - if a place has Internet access, I will find it! :)

Ola from Los Arcos! What a trek to do the Camino backwards from Logroño (27km). No signs to show you if you are headed down the wrong path. It was a great sunny day and a real test of endurance. At the end, we decided we wanted to bike this, next time. We are settled into this lazy spanish village now, with one whole grocery corner shop open at 6:30pm - of course closed for the siesta now! Leens is in the shower. Place is basic, with another mixed dormitory - but everything you could want is here (use of an old internet terminal for 16 mins costing 1Eur). It costs 1 EUR more than last night to sleep - but bonus, curfew is one whole hour later :) 10:30pm. At 4 EUR a night per person, we are in our budget today :). The walk was good for us. Great discussions, prayer time and of course a perfect way to live out James chapter 1, the passage we read together for today!

rough road

As the internet gets more and more scarce, I think it is a good idea to jump on the occasion. Best to write in English as I think it is the most common language here. :)

So, we´re in Logroño (outback Spain) now at one of the refuges. Has been quite the adventure to make it here, so we decided it will have to be ok to start the real hiking part tomorrow. I spent some of my night on the WC floor in excruciating pain and had to wake up my poor friend before I would pass out. We decided, seeing this, to take it easy today and to delay our bus trip from Bilbao by a bit. By this time, Leens realized her passport was gone. We called Iberia, Bilbao airport and the lost and found, whilst I recovered. We changed our plan of action. We needed to relax today, find a police station so we can leave on Saturday and just take the bus with the best time and connections. According to our guide, the place where we intended to start was flat. Coming from Geneva, that just wasn´t about to amuse us. So, we´re doing the Camino backwards! Just to get some hills in. We spent a few hours in the police station, and I asked one of the officers to sign our shells as a souvenir. Was quite the experience. Anyway, 36 degrees was pretty hot to wait for the bus in, so we went into a café to have some tapas. Coming out it was 27 degrees - a storm must be brewing. Perfect time to travel by bus in and to settle into the refuge. Now, we are supposed to be in the most luxurious stations - hmm.. :) but hey, true, these 1998 PCs actually have internet! Anyway, it will be interesting sleeping in a smelly mixed dorm with 60 other people - but they say you get used to it. So, since most people here are up at 4h30, curfew (!) is at 9:30pm. Thats soon! This is very exciting - people of all walks of life are here (they have come by bike, on foot, with a donkey!) - most with bandaids on their feet. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that we are alive and kicking - full of adventures as always - thanks to the miracle morphine suppositories and some great chats with good looking Spanish officiales de policia. I dont expect internet to be so easy to come by at the next stations.. will update you if there is. Of course!

bye bye!

This is the sunny day we depart to the south. We fly from Geneva to Madrid at 3pm and from Madrid to Bilbao at 8:40pm. What a dangerous four hour layover for us adventurous spirited girls. Like we're going to actually want to stay IN the ariport that long? Uh.. NO! :) What a blessing this afternoon flight turned out to be. Last night took a lot of energy, eventhough it was very low-key and quite casual. We had an apero, I brought an ok 2002 Bordeau to share and we started to discuss our relationship to faith and God around quiche and salad. For me, it was such a special night with my boys. Only my boyfriends came. Clément chuckled thinking this was typical for a "boy magnet" like myself - (what-ever!) *with an exagerated roll of the eyes*. ;) Anyway, last night, besides the amazing openness of the people, I got a call from the guy, who looked at Charlette once. He'll make a decision this morning on the car. Wouldnt that make for a crazy story - a car-sale 1 hour before we fly or so. What a rush it has been to tie everything up! I still have on my "last minute" list: buy small contact lense solution, call pool maintenence guys, ask for a quote for my project. Well, I guess I better make a move then - time to glue this Santiago shell to my backpack. Whilst we fight fatigue and sickness to head out of this 100mph lifestyle, I wish you strength to face the end of this week. For us, it is well time to rest the soul if not the body. Time to spend time away with Jesus. As I don't know how much internet access monastaries have in the spanish mountains ;), I plan to come back with plenty to tell next Sunday. In the meantime, I hope I'll at least be able to receive sms. We land Saturday, June 17 at 9:40pm.

Oh my gosh, I'm on..

...holiday!?!

my mate

Felt pretty upset to have to go into work when everyone else is off, but it ended up being one of the nicest days ever. Spent all day with my fav' colleague. We have this unique symbiotic relationship going on - it's something special. I just moved my stuff to his office this morning (a once in a lifetime experience) and just worked there making all my italian calls as it seems to be the only country actually working. My colleague's such a sweetie with such a big heart - and now I know what Chrys was talking about the whole time.

stille und sonne

Es steht endlich fest, wir haben sogar unsere Muscheln schon - Donnerstag geht's nach Spanien Richtung Santiago de Compostela! Und da Leens und ich voll die Frühbucher sind, müssen wir wohl von Genf über Madrid nach Bilbao fliegen. Vier Flüge insgesamt. Dafür, dass wir in fünf Tagen fliegen sind die Tickets wirklich billig gewesen. (Direkte Flüge nach Bilbao, Biarritz oder Ovieda konnten wir sofort vergessen) Heute Mittag sind wir endlich zusammen gesessen und haben stundenlang Flüge, Züge, Busse und sogar Autofahren verglichen - und das scheint die Günstigste Strecke zu sein. Leens hat ein Buch über Santiago aber so wie ich uns kenne, glaube ich kaum, dass wir uns daran halten werden. ;) Daher wird nichts (weder Busse noch Züge oder Gasthäuser / Klöster) reserviert ausser 4 Flüge. Wir lassen uns überraschen und freuen uns auf Urlaub (ich - zum ersten Mal seit Okt.) und Stille (Leens). Das wird eine besondere Auszeit für Entscheidungen, Lebensplanung und Stillezeit.

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*freu*

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Grob geplant: 1. Genf-Madrid 8.Juni * 2. Madrid-Bilbao 8.Juni * 3. Bilbao-Startpunkt (ev. Pontferrada?) mit dem Bus oder irgendwie (9.Juni) und gleich 30km laufen. * 4. Geplant sind 30,4km Durchschnitt am Tag (9.Juni-15. Juni) und pennen..hmm, irgendwo in einem Kloster auf dem Boden oder sonst irgendwo. * 5. Irgendwie nach Bilbao zurückkommen und Zivilisation mit neuen Augen entdecken. 15. Juni Nachts? Schwimmbäder und Küste von Bilbao kennenlernen (16. Juni) * 6. Bilbao-Madrid 17.Juni * 7. Madrid-Genf 17.Juni Abends.

friday's freedom

I'm loving this Friday evening. Didn't you know, humming (singing) along to some catchy tunes is one of my favorite past-times? Multitasking is my middle name - I get the feeling the landlord might sneak in tomorrow to my place, so I am humming (yelling out songs) AND tidying up. Ah yes - it is only Friday evening that I really can just chill and at least try to walk slower, sing a little louder, jump a little more on my bed and just generally remake my world and think about the day. On that note, by sending the invitations for our discussion group, I realize how different people can react. You get everything from thrilled feedback to accusation of proselytizing before the three letter word with a capital ever emanates from this innocent mouth. Highly interesting - gosh, I should have studied anthropology. I might have earned myself some extra-credit with my life-threatening search for behavior samples. So what could it be about God that is so powerful, so threatening, so dangerous? Is it maybe a smack in the face for us "self-determinded" all-powerful selfish superheros? Or perhaps just a boring subject, that kept my great-grandparents busy? Whatever the reason or reaction, I rest assured that Wednesday will be a turning point marking something new in lives, starting with my own. The starting point is openness to differing thougts, beliefs and experiences. All the hours of lively, secretly-interested, deep and threatening conversations this week (in the hall, over lunch, at the airport, over email, at reception) were a part of it. Exciting I tell you - I'll just let God use me.

Ok, back to the vacuuming or else it'll be too late for the neighbors. ;) [10pm is still ok in frog-land]

invitations suivies d'impatience

Les invitations sont parties. Incroyable mais vrai. J'ai commencé à bosser dessus ce midi pour pouvoir les envoyer ce soir. 7 jours pour prévenir, à mon avis, c'est quand même le minimum pour ce genres de choses. Comme Clément est parti faire du camping jusqu'au jour "J", le mercredi 07 juin (19h30) j'ai fait l'envoi à ses amis aussi. 40 en tout! Je me suis permise d'utiliser la belle photo de mon grand frère - 'fin, euh, non, pas une photo de toi chéri. ;) Plutôt une photo qu'il a prise. Comme on appelle la rencontre "Maison du Café", j'ai utilisé cette photo dans son flickr.

C'est quand même bizarre, mais pour une fois, j'ai peur qu'on soit trop. C'est quand même rare pour une soirée autour de la foi, mais possible vu la séléction soigneuse de personnes qui nous tenaient particulièrement à coeur. Bon à voir. Il y aura toujours la place pour un de plus. Faut juste pas que le nombre fasse obstacle à la conversation. Mais Dieu sait qui doit venir. En attendant les confirmations, j'attends donc avec impatience et prépare bien sûr mon coeur pour mercredi.