des invités

Company has been abundant since I've been back in Switzerland. My parents came to visit for the month of August. In September, two of Rachel's friends came and stayed with us (Andy and Sandy). And in October two of my friends came and stayed with us (Karen and Wes). Following are some pictures of our guests and our travels.

Mom and Dad arrived August 1st. Our first trip was to Zermatt:

playing cards with Dad in Zermatt

name that mountain in the background

hiking in the mountains above Zermatt - alps in the background

Our second trip was to Interlaken:

in the ice palace at the top of Jungfraujoch

picking raspberries on a hike between Murren and Gimmelwald

hiking again - with Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau in the background

Our third trip was to Lucerne:

on the famous Chapelbridge in Lucerne

My parents left August 27th. Rachel and I moved into our new apartment August 29th. We had about three weeks of "normalcy" until Rachel's friends, Sandy and Andy, arrived on September 23rd.

Gruyeres castle - Andy, Rachel, Sandy, me

in Gruyeres

on the top of the Gornergrat

at the top of the Gornergrat - glacier in the background

Andy left and Sandy stayed longer. My friend Karen came over from France for a few days. We had gone through orientation and were in Cameroon together for about 7 months last year. She's working at a camp in France for a few weeks before heading off to Mali, so it was great to have a few days to catch up.

in Murren - Elaine, me, Sandy, Karen, Rachel

My friend from A&P (airframe and powerplant) school, Wes, arrived 4 hours before Karen left. We visited the Neuchatel castle and cathedral, walked through the downtown market, and bought some last minute chocolate for Karen to take with her.

at the castle/cathedral of Neuchatel - me, Wes, and Karen

in the church - a tower unlocked so we could go in the balcony

with church caretaker who took us to places not normally open to the public - the balcony in the church and one of the bell towers - awesome

Rachel and I have moved into our last apartment in Switzerland. It's beautiful and we have room for company. Now's your chance... you have until December 4th...

home number 4 - there's a print shop on the first floor and our apartment is upstairs

some nearby fields - I love this country

my room

view from the living room toward the kitchen

the living room

view out the window toward the southwest

view out the window to the southeast

20 pictures of 8 weeks at home

The following is a picture commentary of my time at home. There were, of course, more events of which I don't have pictures (a tea party with a ladies Bible Study that supports me, my cousin Shana's wedding, VBS, the Gaslight Theater, and getting together with various friends). Time at home is always packed and flies by. Enjoy my whirlwind tour from Arizona to California to Arizona to Texas to Arizona to California to Arizona. :-)

first trip was to California (Sacramento area) to visit Laura DeYoung and new baby - this is her oldest daughter, Maddy, and me at the zoo

then down to visit Laura McLain in Santa Maria before she left for South Africa - we probably will see each other next somewhere in Africa

climbed some salty white rocks at the beach - barefoot and in a skirt

then back to Arizona - here's the crowd that came to Nicki's GED graduation ceremony

I spoke one Sunday at The Manor at Midvale - a church that meets at a retirement home

went camping in the White Mountains for a long weekend - here a chipmunk is eating right off of my grandpa's shoe

family photo on Grandpa's 80th birthday

me with new cousin Olivia (born May 25th) - I spent a lot of time with her

rough-housing in our pool with cousin Brock

piggyback swimming with cousin Embry

making homemade kettle corn with cousins Zach and Embry - so delicious!

family photo during Tolson family reunion - on the stairs into our living room

I shared the "People Chain" with the youth group at New Testament Baptist Church

and off to Texas (with Dad) for Brandon and Heather's wedding in Abilene

my first flight student from when I was instructing in college, Jon, drove up to Abilene to hang out and go to Brandon's wedding with me

back to Arizona once more - sisters goofing off and taking self-portraits

a bunch of us girls got together for Mexican food - mothers and daughters

then back to California (with Mom) for Jaclyn's wedding at Point Loma

Mom and I walked on the beach for hours and hours (slight exaggeration) - I love the beach

Mission Beach, San Diego, California, USA

Left San Diego on Friday morning, back to Tucson, packed up, and left Saturday at noon for Switzerland. And now it's back to school and a view of the Alps from my balcony. ;-)

return to Switzerland

I got back to Switzerland last Sunday evening and started back to class Monday morning. I think I'm just about over the jet lag. Below I'm posting some pictures from yesterday. Rachel and I spent the afternoon and evening with our apartment manager (Paulette) and her husband (Steffan). They took us to a few neat places nearby for the views and some ice cream. I'll post some pictures soon from my time at home.

we drove up to the mountains and went to that restaurant - on the top - can you see it?

the view from the top - the valley of Traverse - doesn't it make you want to live here?


the restaurant is called Napoleon's Hat - 3,153 feet

me, Paulette (our apartment manager), and Rachel


Rachel was taking my picture and I just couldn't keep my eyes open in the sun anymore - but I kind of like this one anyway

ice cream

then we went to a restaurant on the shore of Lake Neuchatel - I got coffee.

We came back to the apartment building and had dinner at Paulette and Steffan's. They served us Raclette - a traditional Swiss meal that consists of melting your own little tray of cheese and scraping it on top of potatoes and different vegetables. So good (except for the pickles and onions and other things that taste like vinegar)!

Pictures of my time at home to come...

weekends mostly

pictures from life the last couple of months...

there is a small Christian bookstore in downtown Neuchatel (Le Sycamore) where we go to study sometimes in the afternoon - they have a little "cafe" area in the back where you can sit and read and get coffee or tea

to get from my old house in Cortaillod to the lake shore, I usually took these waterfall stairs through the vineyards - they're stairs with a stream constantly running over them

the view from the top of the water stairs out over Lake Neuchatel

one day I walked from my town of Cortaillod to downtown Neuchatel (I usually take the tram in when going to class) - it took 2h10m with a few stops along the way for photos - this is a view of Neuchatel from around the lake

one Saturday we (Rachel and I) took a trip to Grindelwald and stopped in Thun and Interlaken on the way - this is in front of the castle at the top of Thun which wasn't open because we were there WAY too early in the morning (we went with some friends, Eric and Wendy, who went directly to Grindelwald to ski and wanted to get there early enough to have a full day of skiing)

a view from the train coming into Interlaken



in Grindelwald there was an ice sculpture competition - this is me with one side of Russia's scuplture - the other side is happy, but I liked this side better because he has a single tear coming out of the corner of his right eye - can you see it?


just a picture of Rachel and me with a cow in Grindelwald


another weekend we went to the musee d'horlorgorie (clock museum) with Marianne, my "host mom"



another weekend we hopped a cheap Easy Jet flight to London - this is me in front of Windsor Castle with the creative photography skills of Maralee

Maralee's creativity again in front of the Tower of London

Big Ben (the name of the bell inside the clock tower, not the name of the tower itself) and the London Eye

we arrived just in time to go inside for an "evensong" - a daily service that takes place in the evening (or afternoon in this case) - it was spectacular

the trip to school

this was my walk to school my first couple weeks here - now the snow is almost completely melted

my house (the top floor) - my bedroom is the window hidden behind the tree branch

the town of Boudry where I catch the tram


the lights of Boudry and the tram station


walk from my house, across this field to those buildings, then down the hill to the right

me walking across that field

up to the left goes home, down to the right goes to the tram station


cross the river


castle on the riverbank

the tram stop in Boudry

Neuchatel - "my" tram in the foreground

Place Pury, Neuchatel - the public transportation hub where my tram arrives

walking to school from Place Pury - turn right after the reddish brown building on the right (which sells hot chesnuts in the afternoon, if you want any)

walk down here and turn left after passing H&M

walk to the end of this road and turn right at the fountain

cross the street here and turn left up the hill

walk up this hill to the intersection

turn right toward the gare (train station)

up this hill past the museum

and school is on the right

the view from the school balcony

new home

So I'm in Switzerland for the next year or so. I arrived on Friday. My flight arrived in Zurich and then I took the train for two hours to Neuchâtel. Here's a view out the train window:

Here's my new bedroom with my wonderful down comforter and feather pillow:

And the view out my bedroom window:

On Saturday, three of us (there are two other girls in my class who are also headed to Cameroon) took the train to Lausanne for the day, about 40 minutes away. We bought food at the grocery store and had a picnic lunch. It was really cold. Here's Rachel eating with her mittens on:

And Maralee:

A portion of Lausanne:

The rose in the cathedral:

Proof that it's cold. Frost on a chain link fence on Sunday afternoon: