I see the complaint corner everytime and i must admit if i were to sit down (even standing up), i can think of a dozen things that i'm not happy about.
But then again, an Asian chinese girl like me working in Geneve (4th most expensive city to live in the world)...i realised, i am very blessed too, in many ways and i will share with you why i feel so.

1. Just yesterday, i realised i lost my LaPoste card, i was frantic and was thinking to myself, GREAT, i can't imagine the **** that i have to go through reporting it and all, and if my account is already emptied??? (my pay just got it). I went home after French lessons and searched up and down, high and low but to no avail. I wanted to cry. I emptied my handbag, the pockets of my jeans and jackets, looked into the drawers and all possible places i could've left it at...

Long story short, i figured the last time i used my card was at Wolford, Rive, it occured to me 2 hours ago but i chose to surf the LaPoste website and all other website on what to do when i lost my card instead...spent 2 hours surfing aimlessly and gave up. Picked up the phone and try my luck to ring Wolford, thank goodness i have a habit of keeping my receipts *phew*
i started the conversation to the Genevians in my usual.."Est que vous parlais anglais?" (not sure if i spell this right in french)

Thank goodness, the lady who answered the phone was the same African American lady who attended to me that night at Wolford, she was like... "Yes a little english and i recongise your voice! You are the one who left your card........" and such relief i felt instantly..."I'm on my way there!"

I mean like...she could've very well pretended not to know who i am and just give me a hard time by "don't understand english", she could've very well just send the card to the police station, or worse still, throw it away...
i feel very relieved, happy, and "lucky", perhaps, not lucky per se, but God made everything happens for a reason and i do believe that.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.



2. Was searching for a language school since last month, someone from my company was suppose to arrange that for me, but somehow it didn't happen and i figured i had better take things in my own hand and did my research, bla bla bla...i found out that Migros school is the economical and reasonable one, i live near the airport and i know there's a Migros school near my house like 10 minutes walk away but it's not in the website and was told by my colleague that if i wanted to attend the lessons, i have to drag my arse to Rive everyday to attend the classes. Well, i went to Rive anyway and found out more information that i needed and the kind receptionist, Miss Patricia who speaks enough english to communicate with me casually mentions that they have another school tat offers the same course and i could do it there if i wanted to. IT'S THE VERY SAME SCHOOL THAT IS 10-MINUTES WALK away from my house. How great is that?! I was filled with joy and couldn't believe how "lucky" or blessed i am.


3. French lessons: Was late for my first day, attended it anyway, was given a "trial" lesson to see if i liked it (didn't have to pay upfront and all, no registration or filling up of forms too)...didn't really apprehend what the professeur was rattling away the whole 90 minutes of it all, was thinking maybe i hould spend a little more (and by more, i mean CHF1500 more) and go to Berlitz instead (in Rive!)...thought about it long and hard, complained about it to my friends in FB and found out that all of them who took up another foreign language, they went through the same ordeal.
So i thought to myself, okay, i'm going to give it another try.
Lo and behold, i went to attend the second lesson, was pleasantly surprise to find another professeur teaching, a lady this time, she look passionate when she's teaching, not only look, but i can feel it when someone is really "teaching" with their heart, if they genuinely try to make us understand and learn proper.
My classmates and i were very happy with this lady teacher, although we don't have her everyday, but on alternate days. Good enough.
Today, the male professeur tries a little harder, at least he bother to ask us if we understood him....well....a friend of mine mentioned, it's call IMMERSSION. The professeur babbling away in French will "coax" us into trying harder to understand them. I cleared my mind, and my heart, and i went to class with an open mind and an open heart to learn.

If you want it bad enough, you will make it happen. And i WILL make it happen myself. I CAN DO THIS!


4. Everyday, i walked by the highway to school, the journey's bout 10 minutes, today, i walked one of my classmate who's parentage is half of where i came from and she was so fun to mingle with and realised her office is just below my block! And the highlight is: she took me on a completely different journey, a route that i would've never been able to find myself and go by myself, a safer route, not by the highway, a more decent and beautiful journey back home. I'm grateful for this too. Very.


5. I live in a beautiful flat fully furnished and i don't get complains for blasting the music away while enjoying a warm soak in my bath tub everyday. Though not exactly in town area, but i'm happy i live in a safe area with coop and laposte near my house. I'm happy.


I would love to continue to add more things that i'm grateful for...and will continue to do so...for if i was going to get through life even if i'm upset or elated, i might as well do it happily

I had a 'I love this country' moment too - last Saturday

I dropped my purse between the short walk from my apartment and the Migros, looked up and down the street, asked in Migros, panicked, canceled cards etc... 2 hours after losing it i got a phone call from the local police saying they had my purse

I suppose I ask myself now, why did I panic and cancel my cards

I also love that it cost me 20CHF to get my purse back, 10CHF to the fundburo and 10CHF to the person that handed it in

Anyway there have been several threads started praising this country over all the complaints, always nice to have a new one

As a local, I just want to say thanks.... It's quite tiring sometimes to read all those complaints so, this thread is like a sun in my heart

On Monday, I fell asleep on the train and missed my stop. I was then awoken by the controller, who asked me where i was going to. sheepishly and half matter-of-factly i said, i think we passed it a couple of stations ago. i have a 100 bill stashed on me at all times for such situations, and i did expect to be fined. but...

no fine, no surcharge, just the required ticket and a smile and i was on my way.

have a nice day indeed!

I always need help, whether it's finding something, figuring out how the Swiss do things, or just wondering what to do now.

I find that if I just go up to someone on the street, 95% of the time, the person is completely willing to help.

Thanks to everyone (including many here) who's helped.

My husband left all our paperwork for our C permits on a bench at Enge Station.
A wonderful kind person picked them up, saw that we lived in the same town as him and took them home. As my husband had left them late at night - yes alcohol was involved and no he was not popular at home - he waited till the next morning and phoned to say he had them and we could come and fetch them. Needle to say a sheepish and grateful husband took a nice bottle of vino over to him.

My husband has also lost my purse - with driving licence - two days before I was flying to my parents and it was handed in.

We just bought a house and two months before we signed the owners gave us the keys so we could start bringing our stuff over and visit to see it whenever we wanted.

Love this country

caz

Nicky,
i agree completely, that there is still a fair amount of civilisation going on in this world, or maybe it's just the "suisse" way of life...anyhow...
We musn't let the negativity get to us, otherwise, it's just bother us so much that we'd fail to appreciate the little, but beautiful things in life, i often forget how "lucky" (what most people tell me), or i should say how blessed i am by the Lord.

I am into self-help books and came across this somewhere...

There is no promise that we will still be here tomorrow, there is no promise that we will still have our job tomorow, there is no promise that our loved ones will be around forever, no amount of insurance or guarentee can assure us of that. But what i can do is, be grateful for what i am , what i've become, what i've achieved, regardless small deed or big...and most importantly, i am a perfectly healthy human being living and breathing in this world, i can hear, see, talk, taste, touch, feel and think....many of this senses that we take for granted, a small population of the "less fortunate" ones who's physically challenged or mentally challenged who will cherish them more than we will.

When i find myself complaining about anything at all, it is when i realised how ungrateful i am and i have to learn to be contented, to accept the fact that there are things which i have no control over, i let it be,
like how other people behave towards me, or how other people treat me...
instead i put my mind into working on how i chose to live my life the best i can and try not to do evil/bad things to other people, and i have a choice to "respond" proper to the things i can't ammend.


Let's just choose to be happy and just let go whatever that's bothering you...cause lfe's too short to be wasted on some irrelevant people.

Alright Fiona - now tell us what you like about Switzerland....

Boxman,

C'mon! "Excited babbling" was all you could quote my heartfelt feelings as??? Gosh....LOL

Just to entertain you....okay....and myself too.. ><

I like Switzerland because:

-cleaner and fresher air (no, i'm not bulls***ing, where i come from, i.e.: Malaysia, the pollution is everywhere and on everything, even on the young minds, due to the fact that it is a "certain religion dominated country" (afraid that i may go to jail for saying anything more) ><

-chocies are uber cheap (my favourite dark choc tobbie) *salivating*

-it's funny because when i was in college like 6 years back, it has always been a "dream" for me to go to Switzerland to take up a hotel management course, i've seen the brochures with the wonderful and breathtaking scenery and i was telling myself, how nice it would be if i could go to switzerland one day...(FYI, my family couldn't afford to send me to study here, i went to a school which was half-sponsored by government instead and a diploma for 2 years was just CHF1700.) Since then, i have learnt that it is not so much of which prestigious school you go to when you are trying to land yourself a job (at least in my field: hospitality), it is more of the "whole package", my first job was as a humble butler at Raffles Hotel, Singapore, pay was meagre...but i stuck through it for 2 years and moved on for better position & pay of course, met a lot of people in my job and my current boss was one of them.
He liked the way i worked so much and have offered me to work for him here in Geneva...
Now tell me, am i not a very blessed individual??
There is no way at all that i can afford to come here by myself or to look for a job here myself, but because i had wanted it so badly, so so badly,
God made it happened. And i'm forever grateful.

So to sum up the point above: a nice Suisse boss

- it's peaceful and safe here, like Singapore....at least i feel safe walking about at night, not completely, but not needing to worry so much as when i am in Malaysia where wearing any form of jewellery is forbidden, unless you are asking to be robbed, broad daylight or not, if you are wearing a faux one, hmph....one of your limbs better be prepared to be chopped off! Yes...i'm not exagerating. Cases of woman getting raped and what not is on the rise, and all this happenings are on the rampant.

Hence, SAFETY is the key point for my "excited babbling" paragraph above.

-............................er.....i would love to write more, but because i didn't really get a chance to explore suisse that much yet hence i shall continue when i discover more

-oh oh oh! i know one more! Suisse is near Paris
*hehehe*
my childhood dream is to explore Paris because i have heard so much about Paris being the most romantic city in the world and all....and macaroons!!!! weEEEeeeee~~~~~


With much love & positivity oozing out....

Fiona

Selamat Datang Fiona! Good to hear of your experience.

Yup, you seem like you've got quite the funky bouncy personality thing going on

Yout posts brightened up an otherwise gloomy evening.

Bertrand-Geneva: It's nicer for me to know that there is someone out there who shares my positivity

Hsiang: Yes, sometimes when we are caught in the act for something that we thought we'd be "sentenced to death" for, it's a pleasant feeling to get off it, just like that
I've had multiple "lucky" occasions like. LOL


sygirl 101: Couldn't agree more, as foreigners here who can't speak their local lingual, we are just "handicaps" trotting around, needing help almost everytime when we need to do something, many a time, i'd seek help from middle-age to elderly ladies, cause they seem more approachable and friendly *hehe*

Also, this wonderful forum, especially when i wanted & deperately needed to open a bank account, (again, someone from my company was suppose to arrange that but didn't happen, i just feel like i don't really need this people from the company, i can jolly well accomplish this myself!) hmph. I took the advice from one of the fellow Ef-er who opened a LaPoste account, it was fairly easy to open an account, in fact, i was expecting things to be complicated & tormenting....it was done in less than 10 minutes! super!

caz: So please to know that many good things happened to you too

jrspet: Thank you dear

No wonder you're a PA Fiona You remind me very much of those working in the company here.
They've got some amazing qualities but when they let loose on all the things which gets up their lovely noses ... aie aie aie !!!

I think this Thread should be make a Sticky so that we can find it to help cheer ourselves up when the going gets rough (without having to waste time searching!)

what a great inspiring story! thanks for sharing!

Shinigami: Again, and again, i am even more elated to know someone actually was cheered in my process of positivity building We all need a little nudge in the direction sometimes....and that includes me
Albeit, i'm not too sure bout the "funky bouncy" persona part *Blushed*


Sada: How did you know i'm a PA???!!! have i mentioned it somewhere??? oh...gawd....i'm going *cuckoo* EEK!
And can u elaborate on "when they let loose on all the things which gets up their lovely noses ... aie aie aie !!!" <-----?
Perhaps, getting an inside from an outsider on PAs would very much help me should i ever ever come close to that.... ><

Longbyt: i second your suggestion

Phil MCR: You're most welcome
As a matter of fact, it is my honour that you find what i wrote bout myself inspiring.

A nice quote to share with you all wonderful peeps...

~~~ Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength. ~~~

Today, i'm grateful for Golden Mary, a wonderful Ghanian lady who's taking up French lessons with me, i actually didn't plan this but i just bumped into her on my way out of Migros and saw her sitting by herself having a sandwich and i thought what a coincidence and sat down to have a quick chat and leave.
I sat there with her and we talked for 3 hours, or more...we didn't realised how long we have sat at the bench there but we talked and laughed and shared a lot things, and never in my mind i can figure, what does a Malaysian Chinese girl and a Ghanian lady have in common that they can just sit and chat for hours on end?

Considerably, i realised we may not look alike or come from the same country/culture or share the same mothertongue, but it is when you get out from your little comfort zone and take the first step to approach someone and get to know them and befriend them only you would be able to expand your horizon!
Otherwise i would just end up isolated, withdrawn and desolate ,okayyyyy, maybe not as despairing but i would like to make my stay here in Geneva as enjoyable and as eventful as possible!

As least now, i can tell people that i have a Ghanian friend, and she's invited me to go over to her house, and i can savour some Ghanian food that she's going to whip up.
Where else can i do this in Geneva?? i don't know...but am certainly looking forward to know more bout this new friend of mine and her name is, Golden Mary.

What's that old proverb?
“Some people make things happen, some watch things happen, while others wonder what has happened”


Yes, I believe you can.

Ah, I enjoyed reading this thread - thank you!

Yes, life is as wonderful as you make it.

I did not even realise I`d lost my mobile phone until I needed to set the alarm on it. Then I got a phone call on the house phone from a friend in the vilage to tell me I lost it! It was found on a bench in the forest.

Ahhh yes, I`d taken a bike ride and sat down to have a smoke break, and musta left it on the bench....

Well this person who found it just phoned some local numbers in my phone book and told them to tell me where to pick it up.

Nice huh?

Where does your quote come from? Is it one of your own?