im freee... free falling..

(Lake Lugano.....)

Just a short-ish note to say.

I am off to Lugano tomorrow with Jet, its a 5 hour traing ride. Leaving from Lausanne, changing in Lucern, then straight onto Lugano.

Kristian is joining us Saturday night after rugby and then Sunday he is going Canyoning, which.. to be fair, aint my cup o tea, so Jet and I took a pass and will entertain ourselves..

Either Sunday afternoon or Monday we are going to Italy for a few hours.. (as you do).. just to check it out, and we will be so close, so why not!!!

Then we will head back to Lausanne Monday night. Starting work again on Tuesday.

Its going to be a massive weekend here in Lausanne as the Mtero they have been working on for TEN years is having its opening... so it will be chocca block everywhere. WOulda been cool to see, but.. we didnt want to waste our long weekend.

I have a week and a bit off in October when the family go to Dubai, so I have decided I am going to hit about 4 countries, and just do a country in 2 days and then move on... Jets coming with so that will be cool.

I looked at a holiday in Majorca in Spain, and it was only 694 francs for 7 nights, airfares included and hotel and food... amazingly sweet deal. BUt I think i might keep that for either later in the year or next year.. Im more in the frame of mind that I want to run around and see everything... so this is what i shall do.

Time is flying by... cant believe ive been gone near 2 months. thats just CRAZY.

Im looking into what sort of ski pass to get for the upcomign season... there are SO many to choose from.. evrything is so modern.. you get a card which they either load credit onto or you have an annual pass to everything which you ahve to have on you at all times, like when we drive on the freeway, each time you cross to another slope or what not, you go through beepers that register how much money u have and so forth.. its insain.

Okay, i best be off.

one more thing... there is a multitude of good looking people around here, sometimes the men look so good, i just want to walk past and applaud. HA HA HA...

Ill leave with that.. Grandma will love it...

BISOUS BISOUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

..umm is someones food ringing?

We didnt end up going to Zurich, the weather was atrocious, so we decided it best not to pay 60chf to sit on a train for 3 hours, to just sit inside out of the rain for the day in Zurich.

(Jet, moi & Hannah last night)

Its ohkay, plenty of time for such things.

Instead the girls and I met in town and just chilled at this quaint cafe/bar called Wish Bar, its really cute and cosy, so i think we may have found a new place to frequent.

We also went ot this massive massive bookstore and i couldnt help myself and bought 3 books;

Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert, I saw this lady on Oprah a while back and i remember thinking at the time, sounds like a good book to read, then Hannah picked it up and suggested i give it a crack. Also picked up A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Housseini, its got some wowzer write ups, so thought id give it a burl. And last but not least, Almost French by Sarah Turnbull. Basically that ones about a lady from Sydney who moved to France, I picked it up and then Jet mentioned she read it and she loved it... so bang, three books, im already a way through Eat Pray Love. Its super.

The girls and I agreed we are losing the capability to speak proper english. (Dad would argue he doesnt think i ever spoke it properly) But I mean, when we speak english to swiss people, we slow it down and take out the words that are not necessary to get our point across and we rearrange our sentences to simplyfy it, and especially with the kids.. but then we get together and struggle to talk properly.. we had eachother in stitches we some stupid stupid sentences at lunch yesterday.. It will be good when we can all string a few french sentences together.

Saturday night went to a new club called Cult, they order 600 Franc bottles of vodka there. Its quite crazy, and they have flames coming out the top so everyone knows when someone is forking out the big bucks. Which is quite a normal occurance I am beginning to find out. I sure as hell wont be forking out 600 bucks for a bottle o vodka anytime in the next..well..ever.

Jet and I are off to Lugano on the weekend, taking the train and staying at the hostel i mentioned last blog. (http://www.montarina.ch/). Kristian is probably coming with us. He is from Canada and plays rugby here, works as an in tern sort of, in a office for a sports federation just doing bits n pieces. Hes here until December and then is going back to study medicine for the next 6 years.. woo. Def not the type youd ever pick to do med, which is what makes him so interesting. He hasnt found many younger people to hang out with, so weve welcomed him into our clan.

Oktoberfest is still in the maybe pile. Its going to be one of those things that will be decided the day before, i just know it.

I am booking a holiday package this week for the week and a half i have off in mid october, Jet and i are going to go to greece or turkey, depending on how good the packages are. Im heading to the travel agent some time through the week. We need to find some sun.. because by the looks of things, last week marked the last week its going to be beautiful.. so heres comes the cold .. woo!

The girls and Kristian and I decided we are going to have a Halloween party, especially for Jet and I as we dont really celebrate Halloween as you all know it isnt that big in Oz. And we all agreed to celebrate eachothers countries big days.. say thanksgiving and independance day and australia day and halloween and some other random days.. Just to keep things fun fun fun.

Im exhausted and very much contemplating SLEEP.

Oh, im on Skype, so if anyone has it, feel free to add the gypsy ha ha. meagan.bignell is my skype name, took me a while to think of, its pretty original.

I love the german channel, its hardcore ha. All the good movies are on this channel, im contemplating german classes, just so it makes watching these movies a bit more enjoyable.

Stay Safe. A bientot, Bisous x

I need your grace to remind me to find my own.

heloooo there.

So, got the net, cha ching.

Lets see the past week has been full of randomness...

I finally got over being sick with stomache ache and flu like symptoms, 2 days feeling peachey keen, then wham, throat issues so bad i couldnt talk... yeah yeah some may think that a blessing, but to me it was tres un cool. So another trip to the pharmacy to talk to the nice Scotish lad and i am loaded up with more drugs...

Anywho, youve got to take the rough with the smooth, so i am ploughing on.

Had some gorgeous weather days and then saturday it poured down, for hourssss.... and that was the day Laurences cousin got married, so safe to say she was high unimpressed.

I have met a further array of crazy characters, from portugal to ireland and back to france.

My friend network is growing and growing.

I stick mainly with my 3 girls, Juliet who is from Brisbane, Hannah who is from Tennesee america and Ashley, Washington state. We all AU Pair for familys, Han has 3 kids, Ash has 2 and Juliet and I have 4.

We have been planning up some trips to go away, Lugano being our main one, found the coolest looking hostel right on the lake and only 25CHF a night.. thats very very cheap! and then Juliet and I are hoping to squeeze in some Oktoberfest, but not too sure if that will happen.

Hannah, Juliet and I are off to Zurich on Saturday, just for the day... have a glance around, we can always go back.. but we have these train passes that get us good rates, so why the heck not!!

At the playcentre the other day i met a lady from Sydney named Louise who has two younguns, so Chloe and I now have another playdate, and on the same day i met Tatiana from columbia who has a 20month old son, so I got her in on our french classes and she is also another new playdate for Chlo and I... so safe to say, we have a decent amount of play dates going on...

Tomorrow Chlo and I are going to the ZOO, i am as stoked as she is... it was a sight to see her and I going through all the animals we may see while im trying to make a stir fry but being coaxed into acting like an elephant around the kitchen ha ha...

These girls sure have their moments, but they are so adorable and just amazing...

As requested, here is some tid bits about the lil ladys.

Margaux - Oldest at 11.. she is kind and gentle, she is the peace keeper between the girls.. which is a massive help to me.. She does, Tennis, Gym, Athletics and Piano in her spare time... but she tells me she secretly wants to be a singer or model... She is well studios and gets really good grades at school, although only 11 this is a massive year for her at school, its her first year at the BIG school and this year decides whether she gets to go into to studies she wants at the school she wants... its a LOT of pressure on a 11/12 year old.... The school systems here are insane....

Roxane - she is 9.. she is quiet, but she is so so beautiful, she is the tidy, OCD child, she likes her bed a certain way and has all her clothes beautiful stacked in her closet, lets just say i never ever have to tidy her room.. and if for one day she doesnt make her bed, she comes home at lunch and appologises profusely for it... She does, circus school, art school, tennis, horse riding in her spare time... she is a really good horse rider and just LOVES horses, her room has posters of horses everywhere.. she is always doing flips and things on the trampoline, will be interesting to see what she decides to persue when shes older... Her and Margaux are very close and love hanging out together.

Jasmine - She is 7.. she is the attitude master ha ha... she is kind of stuck in between not being a baby and not wanting to play with chloe, but then the older two girls kind of exclude her a bit beacuse they play `big girl`games and she just doesnt knwo where to fit... she has the best tantrums and is slightly cheeky, always making things up to get her way, but ive cottoned on quickly and the older two are quick to tell me if she is lying or not.. but she is so so affectionate and likes to ahve one on one time with me... she probably struggles the most with her english, so im going to work on that with her... AThos the dog is her best friend and whenever she has a tantrum or goes into silent mode, you can alys be sure to find her snuggle dup with him somewhere...

Chloe - She is 3.. going on 30... She speaks english so so well it still blows my mind... She is the strongest willed of the lot of them and she knows what she wants and will go through hell and fire to get it... she comes out with the best one liners though which throws me into a laughing fit...
If she doesnt want to do something, most of the time u can forget it, coz she wont do it.. but i am learning the ways around this... ha ha... She loves a good laugh and unless she having her little moments, she will mostly always be laughing at something or other.
I spend the most time with her, but she is just wonderful... I take her down to lake geneva to feed the ducks and play on the massive playground, we go to the local park here, we bake muffins and cakes, we have picnics with ashley and her kiddies... we go to the playcenter... just all sorts really. She loves taping away on the piano and she doesnt just BASH at it, as you would think most 3 year olds would, she actually just hits them and sometimes makes a sweet little tune... She loves it when i vaccum while dancing to a MIKA song and then using the duster as my microphone... a sight to see i tell you...

Her fave line of all time is "ITS ME MEAGAN" which means... Im going to do it, not you...
And she gets into a fit of laughter when i call her a cheeky monkey or a silly goose... so if shes having a moment, those lines usually sway her...

Best line of today was.. "I love you meagan, just like i love this black bead" hahaha she was making something with beads... i couldnt stop laughing.... not the red or pink bead... but the BLACK... how sweet ha!!!

All the older girls come home from school every lunch, like every swiss child... 2 hours in the middle of the day off, its insane... really stupid... but anywho....

Chlo goes to school Mon Wed and Fri mornings, so those are my and laurence time to do other things, some ironing, shopping, walking Athos or other things round the house we cant do while we have kids....

I love walking the dog throug the forrest, past farm houses and fields of sunflowers, with the alps as my back drop in the distance... really really super views.

Well, my fave teevee show here (only program in english) is on so im going to leave it there.

Everyone be sure to write me and let me know how your going.

Ciao for now xo Bisous.

Houston, the problem is solved.

I finally have my internet up and running in my room... but ofcourse it was surrounded by drama... the whole house went out of connection AND phone connection... and some dim wit came over last week for 6.5 hours and made it worse....

so swisscom sent another chap round today who was super stylin and charming to boot.

he was here 3 hours, fixed everything, got everyones pcs a working AND all phone lines..

yeah yeah he left some live electricity wires out and about for small children to suck on... but.. Chahin will sort that out.. a small fee to pay for the lovely internet HA HA... no i am kidding.. well im not there are live wires out.. but it wasnt cool when we found them...

anywho... i will promise to write a lengthy piece in the ensuing days.. right now, its about 27 outside and its near 5.30pm... i must go catch some rays before they dissapear..

A bientot xox