Cloudy but with patches of blue sky. Will it be a sunny or rainy day? It didn’t matter, really, because today was going to be the true move, and we were going to start really early (that means 11:30 am here). I was shocked when I learned that we were going to get straight to work, rather than starting with another huge lunch. Yvette really meant business this time!
We got to her former house to start packing clothes, and books, and house stuff, and of course it took longer than anyone would have expected. You see, we had lots of packers, but only one decision taker. But all things must come to the end, and around 4 pm we departed with a van bursting at the seams, in direction Plainpalais, where the new apartment is located.
I don’t have a good picture of the apartment, but I can tell you it is small but very cute. It is in a 
great part of town, within a block of the big plaza of Plainpalais, which you can see at the end of the street in the photograph I took from the small balcony. I am of course inside the apartment, but you can see from the buildings in the photograph the style of buildings in this part of town.
As I said yesterday, the apartment is in the fifth floor (or the fourth floor if you count like the Europeans and Mexicans do). It has one roomy bedroom and a roomy living room, a small kitchen and small foyer, and a comfortable bathroom. The balcony is off from the kitchen, and with one of the red chairs will be a great place to enjoy morning coffee. The whole apartment has old-fashioned tall ceilings, and has been newly painted with an eggshell color. Yvette plans to decorate it with bright contrasting colors, starting with the bright red chairs and couch, so when all is said and done it will be hypercool!
Today, everybody was there. To remind you, Yvette has four sons (from older to younger): Alexis, Loïc, Auréle, and Tristán. Alexis works as a journalist for the big weekly newspaper Le Matin Dimanche; Loïc works as manager of several restaurants in Geneva; Auréle is doing an apprenticeship with a company that organizes big events (right now the big one is the European soccer match, Euro 2008, which will be played in June in Switzerland and Austria); and Tristán is an audiovisual artist, working mainly in publicity and marketing. Everyone of the “boys” (all of them are strapping young men) has a sweetheart: Alexis and Jennifer, Loïc and Tina, Auréle and Nura, and Tristán and Elizabeth. Yvette has also “adopted” Eleanor and her two kids, Louis and Aude, and also had the invaluable help of her former neighbor Mark. As you can well imagine it was quite a large crowd who joined in the toast to wish her much happiness in her new digs :)
Here are a few photos of the merry occasion. Let’s start with Tristán and his wife Elizabeth:
Loïc and Tina
Aude, Yvette, Alexis, Eleanor, and Louis
And finally, starting from the top left, Alexis, Elizabeth, Auréle, Aude, Yvette, Louis, Eleanor, Loïc, Tina, and Tristán in the front.
Moving and starting over is hard, but it is clear that Yvette drew much fortitude and joy from the company of her family, particularly because they are so closely knit. They all like each other, and love to spend time together, so I am sure the new apartment in Plainpalais will be the center of reunion for many years to come. And to prove my point, on the spot the famished crew decided to go have fondue at Café du Soleil. Here is one last picture of the happy company. From bottom left clockwise: Eleanor, Yvette, Tristán, Jennifer, Alexis, Elizabeth, Auréle, Tina and Loïc.
No comments:
Post a Comment