The Year's Picks: 2007 in Photos

Fall

I went hiking yesterday. Lately, when I’m outside walking, all sorts of thoughts go through my head. The air, the breezes, the coolness and sunlight all make it feel like fall. And fall makes me think of how wonderful it felt to go home after a day at school. It makes me think about being back in a routine, and about walking home, and about family dinners. It makes me think about when I would wait until 8:00 to do homework but I still got it done. It makes me think about the time I got home and my two sisters and my mom and I realized we were all wearing red shirts and jeans that day.

Fall makes me happy. Whenever the seasons change, I think, “This one. This one is my favorite.” But I think I just like the changes.

Labor Day

Our family went to Scotts Bluff, Nebraska for Labor Day weekend for my cousin's wedding. My mom is from Nebraska, and we used to go in the summer and for Thanksgiving. But I hadn’t been there for a few years.

I was struck by how different the landscape, the setting is from Utah. More open spaces that aren’t stopped by mountains. Open, yellow plains and bugs that eat you up at night. Scotts Bluff is small and calm. You cross train tracks and talk about going “into town.” And wide, yellow plains.

I had fun at the wedding. I got to spend some time with my cousins, one of whom is radiating in the photo below. My sister and nephew are in the other photos. One at the reception, where I got sent to the group of “single ladies” gathering on the dance floor rather reluctantly (and suspicious of what the DJ was going to make us do). It turned out we were there to catch the bouquet. This surprised me for some reason. It made me feel grown up, or something.

California: there and back

There is no ocean in Utah. Maybe, technically, there isn’t in California. But there are beaches. My brother-in-law directed the group of us to this one Friday night, and we stood and watched as dusk got darker. As we were leaving, we saw three guys in a white pickup attach a chain to a sigh and tear it down, then drive away. We took down the license plate, but I don’t think anyone got around to reporting it in the end.

Waiting for our flight Saturday, my Mom and I explored a bit—in “Little Italy,” apparently. There were a fair number of antique-style shops, including this salvage hardware store. Buildings getting torn down has always bothered me. It is so permanent once they are torn down. And old ones so often disappear to put up new ones, which bothers me as well. I have always thought salvage was a good idea. Save what you can—the old is often so much more beautiful.

This is the Great Salt Lake from the plane. Electronics—like digital cameras—aren’t allowed at this point, as the plane is landing. It was so lovely, though. So I took the picture.

Photos, III

The third set of photos from La Fête de la musique.

Photos, continued

Fête de la musique

I was told to take pictures of La Fête de la musique last week. These are my favorites.

The event started with the elementary school children parading from the school to the marie. Later, there were bands on the quay and in or outside of some of the restaurants around the place de la marie. Jennifer and I stayed in Duclair until about one thirty that night.

There are pictures I wish I could post, but that I never took. I wish I could post a picture of walking along the river yesterday, and one of the elementary school I visited today. The school looked like it was designed by Ikea. But I didn't have my camera.

Yesterday I went to church. It was a beautiful morning, and it was lovely making my way there and back. It felt good to be there--church meetings are something very familiar, even in other languages. I was suprised to find that a good fraction of the ward is composed of Spanish speakers. Hearing Spanish also made things feel more familiar!

After church and some lunch with Dyvia (I finally found out the correct way to write her name) and some reading, I went on a nice long walk. It was still a wonderful day. I ended up down by the river (which, I discovered looking at a map today, is the Rhone). Geneva doesn't seem to even try to erase graffiti, and so I saw some pretty impresive street art, too.

This morning I ended up talking to the Spanish-speaking house keeper for a long time before going off to observe a French as a second language class and visiting the elementary school. It was just recently built, and it is amazing--a glass cube, with colorful shades pulled down behind the windows. Inside, the desks and chairs are light-colored wood and everything was airy and bright--really, think Ikea. The students take their shoes off and put on slippers before entering the classroom.

This afternoon, I went shopping downtown with Simone. I bought a pair of sunglasses--at Claire's.

Geneva (finally)

I've been in Geneva for almost a week now, and today I finally went downtown. Divya, a young woman from India who is also staying with Monica, went with me downtown this afternoon, and gave me a lovely walking tour. We went through the Old Town, where the church of the photo is (I climbed the tower and Divya waited for me at the bottom), and stopped at one of Geneva's famous coffee shops (where the hot chocolate was lovely). Each drink was served with a square of chocolate. An old woman sitting next to us gave hers to us.

We also walked around the buildings of the UN (the second photo is around here) and the botanical garden that is also right there. The Russian mission was having a party. They were blasting techno music from behind their barbed-wire-topped fences, and we saw the gate open for a silver BMW to drive out.

One Post

I should be sleeping, or at least working on the questionnaire on autonomous learning that I stayed up to finish. Instead, I chose to share a few images of my apartment.