Cows are messy

Week three has been a successful one. In short, I found some good Christian community, made friends, and attended my first cow festival.

For the long version- you can continue to read:
I met a couple, Paul & Becky Luedtke, who run this ‘Au Pair Club’ called CrossLink. The purpose behind it is to both connect Au Pairs as well as provide any support they might need. They work under the umbrella of an organization called Youth For Christ. They are strong Christians, and also have a Christian focused group that meets weekly for those who want to dive a little deeper into their Christian faith. So this lovely couple has devoted the last 16 of the 22 years they have spent in Geneva to serving the Au Pair community.

When I met individually with Becky I had an immediate connection. It was a key ingredient I had been searching for and missing so far in my experience over here: an older wiser Christian woman in Geneva that could provide some semblance of support and knowledge of the process. Not to mention a strong connection into a solid Christian community. I am excited to try their church Westlake
Prayer: for ride to it

The first CrossLink meeting I went to was last Thursday and it was themed, “Adjusting to a new culture” - perfect timing for me. I was met by a record turnout of 70 other Au Pairs. They were all from surrounding areas of Geneva. There were a few Americans, some Canadians , quite a few Australians and gals from Finland. The remaining were from England, Germany, and Slovenia. Very international group, and all were fluent in English. The four of us Americans were of the few that weren’t fluent in two languages. The time was so great, in one night I more than tripled my friend base here in Switzerland.

Early Saturday morning I met with Paul, Becky, and some other au pairs to celebrate a festival called the Desalpe Cow Festival up in an old town up in the mountains known as St. Cergue. This is a very special festival where they celebrate an old swiss tradition where farmers parade their cows down from the pastures up in the mountain down to their resting place for the winter. Normally the farmers just take the cows down in trucks- but a few farmers for sake of tradition and for tourists, clean their cows, dress up in traditional swiss dress, put HUGE bells around their cows’ necks, and than parade them around this little town. The streets are lined with people selling local cheeses, wine, HUGE COW BELLS, and other great soups and stews. (great for the cold morning.)
I had to wake up at 6am in order to make it up to this small town by 9- but let me tell you, it was worth it.
We also saw different locals playing these large horns. There are no holes in the horn, rather to play different notes you have to hold your mouth in different positions. It is quite possible the hardest instrument to master I am told.

Afterward I went down into a town on the water of Lake Geneva, called Nyon. This was also a very quaint Swiss town, with a lot of character. It is said the Julius Cesear founded this town, and you can see parts of Roman ruins in the ‘Old Town’ of Nyon. It is a place that could be easily missed- but has some cool character to it in the architecture and some of its history.

My favorite part in Nyon was eating real Gellato, Italian Icecream and looking out over the water to see France very clearly in the distance.

God’s Work is Sanctifying

So it has become more evident to me than I really realized before I came how much God was going to grow me. When you are jumping into something you don’t know much about, it is hard to know completely what to expect, but I can say that I have struggled in areas that I didn’t think twice about before coming.

Lucky for me though God is good and soverign, technology is amazing at keeping in touch with the people I love, and I have a friend that feels like home who is only 2hours away.

In staying honest with everyone it has been harder than I thought for me to get adjusted, and I find myself longing to come home- even though I know this is a one of kind experience and fully plan on embracing the entire year and living one day at a time. My friend Craig, who lived in Swiss land before, summed it up well when I told him how I was adjusting to the change.. he said ‘it was like you were asking for water and you got a fire hose. ‘ Umm yes, that sums it pretty nicely.

Several things really come into play in terms of areas of growth:
1. Raising kids is difficult and I have a new respect for every mom up to the task. (I have even more respect for any parents attempting 4 or more kids.. wow.. I would need an au pair as well)
2. on gospel mission: being set apart and sent. Set apart as a Christian in my faith, in terms of the way I live and the way I choose to love. But at the same time being sent in the world in the place where I am at to share that love and grace that Jesus fills in me. (like I said that is an area of growth that I am praying Jesus gives me more of a loving heart toward.)

While my time so far has had major moments of missing home, as well as those time where you wonder what you are doing; there has been highlights.
The other day the kids discovered I had a guitar and we sang great old tunes some might recall like ‘old mcdonald’ or ‘twinkle twinkle’ I felt a little like maria from the sound of music.

Last weekend I went to visit Bern, the capital city of Switzerland and saw Courtney Thompson. I can’t tell you how thankful I am to have a good friend so near. She had Saturday off, so we climbed this mountain/hill near her house to a place called Gurten Bahn. At the top you could look out over all of Bern. We also discovered on top a child’s dream playground- after seeing it, Courtney stated that if she were younger she would have every birthday party there.

We later went into town, where we saw the movie ‘Mamma Mia’ and pondered why all of life couldn’t be a musical. We decided it was in our power to change that- so we did. There is no reason why you can’t break into song about something in your day!

Landed in Switzerland

Thank you to all who prayed for safe travel into the country. I got here in one piece but definitely having been affected by jet lag. I left Seattle early in the morning, and arrived in Switzerland around 12 hours later. I am on day 2 here in swiss land and definately missing home. It is going to take some time adjusting and making friends.

I am with a family that just moved to Geneva, Switzerland from Paris. They also are adjusting to a new place. The dad has been working here and commuting back and forth so he knows the most of any of us about the city. Geneva is part of the French side of the country. So most everything is in French, as well as the native tongue for the Sophie and the kids. Vaqar, the dad, is from Pakistan but spent college and some time after living in New York. He is an American citizen and will go back to the states around 4 times a year.

The kids are as follows: Chloe 10, Rehan 7, Lucca 5, and Sara 7months. They speak French often, and are sure to teach me before my time is up. They all speak english well, except for Lucca who only really speaks French, while he understands english quite well. The closest he has come to speaking english to me was chanting 'I don't speak english' (of course that was in english.. pretty funny)

My computer has a program called 'PhotoBooth' that takes funny pictures. The kids absolutely love this program, and I think if i let them they would fill my entire hard drive with pictures of themselves. The pictures posted are just two of the many taken.

I know I have only been here 3 days and it is understandable to miss home. Anyone who knows me, knows I am not the best always when it comes to waiting. I have to admit I am very homesick, and a year seems a long time at the beginning. I hope I can say at the end how much it flew by. I am so blessed to have such a great family and an awesome friend support in Seattle, that I am missing those loving and familar faces.

Lucky for me, Courtney Thompson is close by playing on a pro volleyball team. So next weekend I am going to see her in Bern (Switzerland's capital) Hopefully we can spend a good portion of time together, but I will have to check with her schedule.

Bellow is my contact info, I would love to hear from you
email: cfarny@gmail.com

My address:
chemin des ravonnets , 6
1228 Plan les Ouates , Geneve

dialing from the U.S.
home number: 011-41-22-743.2940
cell:011-41-78-746.3570

best of all is skype: my skype name is cfarny and my email is attached to it is cfarny@gmail.com

"If I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." Psalm 139:9b-10