Rodney King goes for a hike

We are searching for a home. The first potential landlord we met was a Swede. He used to be a consultant in effective communication for European and American CEOs. Now his career is in transition. He is a “photographer.” He gave us his business card. It has a naked lady in her underwear on it. His website says that his pictures are an homage to femininity, and not pornography. I wanted to take the house immediately, but Serena said it was too small.

Instead, we will live in a sublet apartment from July 28-Aug 15. It is owned by a French Buddhist who volunteers with ICRC. His neighbor is an American who worked with WHO. We will use the sublet as a base while we search for a long term apartment, which will in turn be used as a base while we look for a house to buy outside of town.

Serena's father says that it rains all the time in Geneva. I agree. Emma tried to hold an umbrella for the first time this week. She also jumped and stomped in a puddle while we laughed and pointed. Passersby disapproved.

The rain almost caught us when we went for a hike on Saleve, which is 1,000 meter cliff that marks the French border. It is a twenty-minute bus ride from our hotel. A gondola lifted us up to its top, where it's possible to take paragliding lessons and/or get married. We walked along an easy trail singing, "Heidi, Heidi" to Emma. The weather got worse the more we sang - gusts began pushing us off balance, raindrops tickled our necks, and lightning marked a storm's approach. The picture above shows how low the clouds hung above us. Lucky for Serena, I am a master at predicting when storms will hit, so we were safely on our return bus as a downpour began. The clouds lay into Saleve’s peak like L.A. cops on a meth addict. Or was it PCP? Anyway, you couldn't see the top.