Picture This

Ah! I'm terrible at posting - I think of things I want to share with the blogger world (all 3 of you out there) but then stuff comes up and my total lack of attention span takes over. So, instead of a witty, deep, or even informative post about how great our time has been here or how much we have been learning, I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

1. Camping - As promised, here are some camping pictures. It was cold and primitive but beautiful and we really had fun with the kids - especially since they all spoke English. It's amazing how much I have come to appreciate the English language after struggling to understand French everywhere we go.

Making s'mores - the marshmallows here are weird and pretty much melted in the fire....and we didn't have any chocolate or graham crackers, so they weren't exactly s'mores but...close enough.

Home sweet home: 1 cabin (with 1 bathroom) and 3 giant tents

Park entrance

This sign is probably very informative. If you speak French. I don't.

Early morning jam session

Playing with fire. Literally.

2. Mont Blanc - For some reason, it is almost impossible to capture this in a picture but our view (when "the mountains are out") is incredible. At 15,782 feet, Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in the Alps and is popular for snow sports. You can read more about it on Wikipedia here if that kind of thing spins your shorts. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger but it's still just not the same as seeing it in person....hint, hint....

3. Nyon - Nyon (pronounced NEE-OWN - now you know as much French as us!) is the town closest to us that actually has stuff to do. It's on Lake Geneva and beautiful when the sun is out. We've been a few times, and a bus from the base goes every Saturday, so expect lots of Nyon pictures. They have an adorable farmer's market every Saturday too. Love, love, love.

Please take note of the ENORMOUS selection of gelato flavors. I love you, Europe!

All the Swiss girls from our class...and me. Since we can't communicate, we take pictures. Ice cream is a universal language. 

Rotisserie chicken at the farmer's market! America could learn a thing or two from these people...

Obviously there is Asian (?) street food too....?

A few ridiculously expensive vegetables (insight: Switzerland makes the BEST tomatoes ever. They are incredible!)

And lots and lots (and lots) of meat! "No refrigerator?!" you ask? Don't worry, it's that cold outside.

So European. Props to David for all the good pictures.

The castle. You can walk around inside and read about it...if you can read French.

4. Vineyards! - There are a TON of vineyards around us and the grapes here are awesome. Last week we took a field trip down to learn about how wine is made in this area, and see some of the process. We watched them dump grapes from the field into a giant press and then had incredibly fresh grape juice and wine. Of course, our cameras were dead but our fabulous friend Carolyn snapped our picture in front of one of the oak barrels that they ferment the wine in.

Annddd that basically brings you up to speed with our life here in Burtigny! Happy Friday!

PS This is only a tiny sample of the pictures we've taken - if you want to see the rest, you can check out our Snapfish Album here!