French Snow!

Last couple of months have been really busy and interesting, guess you could say I was too busy living my life to blog about it ;) I visited a few more cities in Europe including Rome and Naples, which were simply amazing! (will have to write a separate post on it). Now as I’m getting ready to go home for Christmas and I thought I’ll just do a small post before I leave cos I’m sure the next three weeks in Sri Lanka are going to be crazy, cos there are so many people to meet and catch up with.

I’m continuing to study French, my goal is to be able to carry out a conversation by the end of next year. I was just wondering about how it’s so much easier for children to learn a new language than it is for us, I guess it’s partly cos they are not ashamed to make mistakes. For me I always feel embarrassed to make a mistake or pronounce a word wrong, and so end up not even trying. Often I would just ask “Vous Parlez Angaise?” And with the world becoming more global and international most people will at least speak basic English or understand it and will say “un peu”. So usually it ends up me speaking in English and them in French and both trying to understand the other but me never speaking, so now, I’m trying to force myself to speak, cos I know that if I don’t do it now, living in a French speaking country, I never will...

It’s been snowing heavily during the whole week and it’s really beautiful, everything covered by a sheet of snow! These are a couple of pictures I took yesterday from office (we’re on the 8th floor) while a lot of my colleagues who are used to seeing the snow thought that I was crazy! This is highly unusual for Geneva at this time of year though. (OK it's not French snow, more like Swiss snow...)

This morning, I couldn’t help smiling while walking from the tram stop to my office as everything was so white and pretty and I loved watching the snow flakes fall, it gives the feeling of a new beginning…I literally just stopped in the middle of the road and tried to take it all in, the work of God's hand, more beautiful than any building or structure that could be made by man...

But I must admit, however much I find the snow pretty, I’m really looking forward to going home for a nice warm Christmas!

So if I don’t blog before Christmas again, just want to wish you all a Wonderful Christmas and New Year!

Weekend in Madrid

I started writing this post on the flight to Madrid from Geneva last weekend… A couple of years ago who would have thought I’ll be flying to Spain for the weekend! For that matter, who would have thought I’d be living and working in Switzerland…
Those days to me, Switzerland was that far away beautiful country which was the holiday destination for the rich and the famous not for me… flying off to another country just for the weekend was unheard of …
This was my first time in Spain and it was amazing! It was one of the best weekends ever. (I know I keep saying this after most of my weekends but its true…) I loved the atmosphere, the culture, the busy streets and never seem to sleep. (when my friend and I walked on the streets past 1am it was still crowded!) The Museums (I visited the Prado Museum and the Reina Sofia Museum) and the architechture of the city was wonderful, I guess I miss that kind of culture sometimes in Geneva, since it has become so international now, that you don’t really see the Swiss lifestyle and culture here.

Here are some of the lovely pics of my weekend in Madrid

I was rather surprised to find out that Don Quixote was from Madrid, cos I had heard about the crazy story of how he tried to fight a wind mill, and it was so cool to find out the origins of stories that you had heard about as kids. Templo de Debod - Egyptian Temple dedicated to Gods Amon and Isis. One of the most beautiful sites in Madrid in the night.

I was very lucky, this festival only happens once a year in Madrid when all the farmers bring their sheep and bulls and parade them on the streets and I was there to see it.

Next Stop Rome in November…

Wonderful weekend in the Swiss Mountains

Last Friday I left Geneva with some lovely new friends that I met here, to spend a dream weekend in the town of Zermatt where the famous Matterhorn is located. I've been wanting to see Matterhorn even before coming to Switzerland, cos this was one mountain I had heard about as it was on the Toblerone chocolates (being the chocoholic I am!).


Felt like we were in the midst of the wilderness. Nothing but mountains, and trees and lakes for miles and miles…it was a wonderful feeling to be so close to nature... I guess one way of worshipping God is to appreciate all the wonders of the work of his hand!

These are some of the pictures of the magnificent Matterhorn and the other mountains around...but my words or the pictures cannot do justice to the experience of being there...

Another thing that I really liked about Zermatt was there were no cars. You had to leave your car outside and arrive to the town by train and inside there were only electrically powered buses called "Electros". It was nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

This weekend I literally stopped to smell the roses! (or should I say Edelweiss) which reminded me of the movie ‘Sound of Music’ which has been an all time favourite movie since the time I was a little kid. I never knew that the Edelweiss looked like this, though I liked the song Edelweiss from the movie.

There were even a few people in the Zermatt town square yodeling which again reminded me of the Loanly Goatherd from Sound of Music . It’s so amazing to experience things that you had heard about or seen on movies in real life…

Even though there are so many mountains and nature reserves in Sri Lanka, never in my life have I really gone to explore them, never tried hiking... I guess after my undergrad degree I joined the 'Rat Race' and everyday was pretty much the same, work till late, come home, TV/Internet, eat, sleep and work again… Even meeting with friends was mainly for a dinner or something, not really to do much outdoor activities. Maybe once or twice a year I would take a break and go on a vacation with my family, but not much else...

It is so nice to just take a break away from everything, but I wonder if it also requires a certain frame of mind; peace with self. Maybe we actually hide behind the busyness when we don’t want to face our selves…After a long time I can honestly say that I feel complete peace of mind, with no worries, just taking life as it comes... Maybe that was another reason why I was able to really enjoy this weekend. I have also noticed that I don't need to be doing something all the time, just a long walk can be satisfying. So now I'm trying to change my life style to be more intuned with the outdoors.

I'd just like to finish this post with "Merci beaucoup pour un merveilleux week-end!" to my new friends, if you are reading this...And here's looking forward to many more marvelous trips!

My Graduation

On the 7th May I went back to lovely Cambridge for my graduation ceremony. It was lovely being back, almost like going back to my 2nd home (will be 3rd soon!) Especially meeting up with old friends was great and the weather was simply perfect, I unfortunately didn't have enough summer clothes as I was expecting it to be the way it was last year; all grey and rainy. We went around in our gowns and hoods following the traditions that have remained unchanged for over 800 years.

These days have been extremely hectic, with the graduation (as back in SL by the 13th morning) and of course getting everything ready for the move to Switzerland and of course the farewells...

Some of the pics of the graduation are below...

Christmas!!!!

I spent a lovely Chistmas day with my family and cousins and thought of sharing a picture of all the cousins. Bit busy right now with Christmas and work, so will keep this short.