He was in Monaco for a week for work and decided to drop by for a couple of days on the way home. Luckily for me, he didn't get in until late Saturday afternoon so I had time to clean up, call home, and a bit of work before going and picking up up from the airport. It was nice to see him again, I don't think I've seen him since May, since he had been in Houston for a couple of months when I left for Geneva in July.
After stopping by my new apartment to drop some stuff off and show him where I'll be living for the rest of the year, we went back to the Australian apartment where I'm staying now as there's nowhere for a visitor to sleep in my new place. This visit I actually met two of my housemates and had very basic French conversations with them. One of them is from Madagascar, and the other is Canadian. Unfortunately, I just used up all my whole French sentences in those conversations, so I hope they know some English and are willing to help me learn French.
Back at my place, he checked his email to see if any of his friends in the area were free. He's subscribed to a forum with people from his high school back in Vietnam and gets heaps of emails a day from this. It also means he knows heaps of people all over the world, predominantly in French or English speaking areas. It turns out that one of his old school friends was in Geneva visiting CERN for a couple of days, as he is a theoretical physicist in at University of Virginia. So we met up with him for dinner. It was a little strange to witness this reunion of school acquaintances who hadn't met up in over twenty years.
Then on Sunday, it actually cleared up, so I could take him properly sight-seeing. We when into town, walked around the university district and the old town area, then went down to the lake, went on a cruise, then walked around the lake. And then I ran out of things to show him since he wasn't interested in going to museums or United Nations. Geneva is a very small city, with only a couple of notable landmarks or pretty neighbourhoods. Luckily I had another idea, which was to go take the cable car up the closest mountain for a walk and the view. I was hoping that from up there, it'll be possible to see the Alps, which were obscured by clouds.
Unfortunately, the Alps were still obscured, but there was an amazing view of Geneva and the Lake. We were also lucky as there are a festival or something at the top, so the cable car was half price. They had some craft and food stalls up there, and these three guys. I'd seen alpine horns last year, but only caught them as they were finishing. I'm actually quite impressed, since there were three of them, harmonising quite well, they can't be that easy to play, though they don't sound all that fantastic, because they don't have holes, so the notes are made by mouth shape.
After we came down again, we went in search of dinner and ended up finding a Vietnamese restaurant, which was not to expensive by Geneva standards, though al course more expensive than at home. It wasn't too bad, so I know where to go when I get craving for things I can't be bothered cooking.
Today, he came in with me to CERN, and I took him around the public exhibition and the main ATLAS research building, which is all I think I have access to. He then sat in my office, reading stories on the internet, while I worked. This was a reverse of the situation of many years ago now, when I would amuse myself in his office. So, he saw both places where I will live while I'm here and where I work and the people I work with and can report back to my mum about it.
Then this evening I moved into my new apartment, since another student from Australia had arrived and needed the room I was staying in. The room really does look better with a little more colour in it. There are a few more decorative things I would like though, a couple of floor cushions, a mirror, maybe a rug and something else for my wall. And a few practical things as well, such as hangars and hooks for my clothes and stuff. It'll slowly become home...
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