Job advert - Part Time Office Administrator in Nyon. An exciting opportunity to join a small, expanding company specialising in coaching fun soccer to children of all abilities throughout Switzerland. With experience of working in an office environment, computer literate, with exceptional communication (English, French, German), and organisational skills, as well as the ability to work independently, the candidate will be responsible for handling all administration support for InterSoccer Sarl supporting a small team. This position offers the opportunity to develop experience, and grow with the company whilst maintaining flexible working hours in a creative and energetic environment. Possibility that hours could increase depending on expansion of company. Main Responsibilities Management of all administrative documents including coaching schedules, registrations sheets, inventories, reservation of facilities Answer emails & phone calls from customers Updating accounts on a monthly basis Filing & Folder management Updating and improving databases Additional Responsibilities Research – Competition, Surveys, New courses Co-ordination of Birthday Parties Translation of documents into French and German Assist with Website management Assist with Marketing, PR and Promotion Take control of ad hoc projects when required Assisting at football pitch (if required) Languages Fluent English Fluent French Fluent / Good German Skills Required Very good all round administration skills including excellent skills in Excel, Word, Powerpoint. Outlook etc General knowledge of financial workings of a company- bookkeeping etc Good communicator with good oral & written language skills Good research skills Knowledge and liking of football helpful Additional info Position based in company office Position can start January/early February 2011 Good to have driving licence & have own car Valid Swiss work permit required Salary – to be negotiated with candidate Please submit CV in English with a covering letter explaining why you would like to work for InterSoccer - to Steve Long at steve@intersoccer.ch Please note that only successful candidates will be contacted. All applicants should apply by Tuesday 4 January. More info on InterSoccer see website

Photo at top: calm before the storm in Nyon. Photo above: the storm in Nyon this week! There are two tickets up for grabs (worth 30chf each) for the 2nd November for the first night of the play "Quartet" which will be performed by the Geneva English Drama society next week in Coppet. On that night there is also a chance to have a drink with the cast after the show. Just answer the following two questions by 19:00 on Sunday 31st October 1.Ronald Harwood is the writer of this play but it his pen name - what was the real name of this author? 2. What was his nationality? Send your answers to cnp at bluewin.ch. Names will then go into a hat and the prize winners informed by Sunday evening. The theatre at Coppet has a lovely bar and it's a great place to have a pre theatre drink to mingle and meet new faces. Alternatively if you fancy going to a jazz concert next week. On Friday 5th November at 20:30, the "Christine Python Trio" will perform "Du poeme au jeu de mots" at the Conservatoire of Nyon. The Conservatoire is a lovely building by the lakeside, jazz and classical concerts are regularly performed to here to high acclaim. To win two tickets for this Friday concert, visit the Living in Nyon stand at the Léman Fair on Sunday. Living in Nyon will be at stand 18 at the Leman Expat Fair from 11:00 - 17:00 It's free entry to the fair so come and say "hello", we will be handing out free copies of this weekend's addition of La Côte newspaper (with the English Living in Nyon column in) and be there to answer any questions about living in the Nyon area. The fair is a living "Yellow Pages" of English speaking Swiss businesses, services, clubs schools and organisations in one place for one day. See the official site for more details. The fair will be held at Beaulieu, Avenue Bergières, 10 Business Centre, Halle 2 Lausanne. See the site for more details. Also this weekend at the Salle Communale in Commugny it's the Cornucopia Autumn Fair. Ths is an annual lifestyle/artisanal fair, perfect for unusual Christmas gifts, includes a Bistro and Indian homecooked Plat du Jour. Friendly atmosphere. Sat 10:0o - 17:30 Sunday 10:00 -16:30

Spring is in the air and many people are clearing out their cellars, attics, and cupboards. So it's not suprising that posters are beginning to appear around town saying "Troc" or "Vide-Grenier". What are these? Well a "troc" is the equivalent of a secondhand market and the proceeds from them are often used to benefit local charities or to contribute to village funds. It's often a good opportunity for a buyer to pick up bargains too. There are specific trocs for bikes, children's clothes and toys, trocs for books etc and there is usually one going on somewhere in the area in the Spring. A "Vide Grenier" means "Emptying the attic or loft " where a greater variety of goods are put up for sale. These events can either be held in a private home or the contents of a whole village's "attic" will be up for grabs in the local salle communale. The nearest equivalent to this in the UK would either be a jumble sale, or perhaps a car boot sale. In the U.S it would be a garage sale. These events are advertised well in advance so if you want to take part and sell items, or hunt for a bargain, keep a look out for posters around the towns and in the villages.

Welcome back. I hope you had a good Easter and you enjoyed the fine weather over the holiday period. There are many activities coming up on the local agenda which I will be featuring on here over the next few weeks. Last Easter weekend CGN (the ferry company) changed its schedule to a Spring time table and increased the frequency of the crossings across the lake. April, May and June are often a good time to take a cruise, the boats are not as busy as later on in the year during the the main summer tourist season. Don't forget if you have a demi-tarif (half price) train pass, it is valid for tickets on most boat journeys. Still down by the lake, the Musée du Léman has a new exhibition called "Léman Maniac", a varied selection of objects collected by the museum since 1954. Next Sunday, the 19th April it's open day at the Tennis Club of Nyon from 11:00 onwards. On this day you can test the courts out and have a game for free. There will be a fashion show at 16:00, a bouncy castle for children, and the chance to test your tennis speed of service! This Thursday 16th, the line up for this year's Paléo music festival is released and tickets go on sale the following Wednesday 22nd at 12:00 Next week, the Visions du Réel documentary film festival comes to Nyon. I will be watching some of the films in advance and reviewing them on here, and giving you full details of when and where they are showing so you too, can go and see them. This week's Living in Nyon column on Friday in La Côte newspaper will be all about chocolate and what the dark stuff means to different nationalities. Check it out! Finally, a bit of an advance warning, in May, this site will be one year old! Its hard to believe but it has been a full twelve months since it began in a small way with a just a bit of online information and news. It has come a long way since then so there will be a Living in Nyon event for readers to celebrate this, and as usual a special invitation and welcome to newcomers to Nyon. At this stage I am not sure whether it will be a pizza evening event, or a "drinks" evening and the date has to be confirmed but whatever it will be, it will be a celebration!

The sun is shining right now and the weather just gorgeous. However, May can often be a rainy month here in Vaud, so here are some suggestions as to where to take children to play on inclement days, or where to leave them for a few hours if you need to shop. A big thankyou to the Mums and Tots in IWCN (International Womens' Club of Nyon) for these tips and hints. It's not a comprehensive list, so if you know of somewhere new that's not on here, do let me know and don't forget, there's lots more info in the book Know it all Passport . If if you don't want to venture out, then why not let them be creative with a craft kit from Castor Bleu to assemble at home. These kits are inexpensive and designed by a local business in Crans. See advert on the sidebar. The La Garenne Zoo in Le Vaud. Birds of prey and animals from the Jura. Open year round Glazy Days - Painting on ceramics, for adults and children from aged 2. Call for an appointment. Arteplace - Art Classes for Children, Teenagers and Adults in Rolle. Shopping centres The garderie in Chavannes Centres .Takes children from 2 1/2 to 6 years and will look after children for a maximim of 2 hours. Signy Creative Kids Migros in Nyon on the first floor Garderie "Les Gazouillis takes children 2- 7 years Ikea ballpark and Pfister furniture store (children must be 3 years old at both these places) Swimming Swimming pool in Clinique La Ligniere (just past Gland) Membership required Public Swimming pools in Bassins closes 6th July-23rd August 2009 Nyon indoor pool (closes 17 May when outdoor pool by the lake opens for summer). Misc Baby Gym in Vich Museums Chateau de Prangins Musée du Leman Further afield Games Museum in La Tour de Peilz Aquaparc in Bouveret (site in English)

There was a supreme irony to the scheduling of Visions Du Réel Film "Super Mom ". The 16:00 Monday screening (and the only one that week and on a school day) could possibly not have been a worse time for any mothers interested in watching it. Despite this, I sent a quick email to the mothers that I knew, telling them about the documentary. However it led to the unsurprising fact that most of them couldn't make it. They were too busy being super moms themselves either helping children with homework, picking children up from school or driving them to sports practices, or they were at work. Those that did make it, were a mum who had sneaked a guilty "hour away", a mum who had teenagers who could look after themselves and an American friend interested in the portrayal of her country. Nevertheless there was a full audience at the Salle de Colombière on Monday afternoon, all interested in director Sarah Klein's movie. The premise; candidates from different states in the U.S.A in preparation for the national final round of "Young Mother of the Year". Criteria for eligibility stated that they must be "married to a man, belong to a religious community and demonstrate a heightened commitment to her children". Hillary Clinton was once Super Mother of Arkansas. The film charted the progress of each contestant and filmed their story. We saw them preparing food for their children, praying with their children, looking after them, organising a complicated schedule of after school activities. Tonia, a contestant for the title of "Super Mom"- Photo Visions du Réel 2009 All of the mothers took the application process very seriously. We saw them getting their husbands to time their competition speeches down to the last second, to carefully packing their suitcases to attend the final in Nebraska. Some packed with elegant clothes, " I don't like to wear sweats unless I'm going to the gym." Others were more casual. There were some superb close up shots on detail, the fridge magnets in one home with photos of each child and the slogan "Look at me, I'm drug free!" The camera panning in on a calorie laden meal of fried chicken in one house to preparation of elegant Chicken Piccata in another. There were some great quotes too, on asked why she was entering the contest, one mum said "How often do you get a pat on the back for just being a mom?". And then they went to Nebraska. The competition loomed and these mothers, although they were looking forward to a few nights of uninterrupted sleep - a bit of "me" time, they couldn't relax. They were being judged by anonymous judges, they were being tested on their speaking skills, they were on show. During these three days they were also "entertained", by mature women in leotards high kicking and dancing, by the singing of State songs, and for some bizarre reason, by an inflatable doll dressed in dungarees. When it came to the final I imagine the whole audience wanted Tonia, the working class mother to win. The one who opened her heart to the camera, the one who had had a child when she was young and had to let own her mother bring her up. She was the underdog in class sense but she shone through top of her class in her sincerity. The woman who did win from New Hampshire was smooth, polished, and efficient. She also smiled very little, so little, a member of the jury had to ask her "Aren't you happy you won ?" The jury implied they had chosen her because she had made the momentous and admirable decision to leave a high powered job to look after her children (she had previously worked in Human Resources responsible for 1,000 people) so she really deserved the "supermom" prize. One of the contestants: Photo Visions du Reél 2009 Yet this film made one wonder if the winner's new title wasn't just a substitute position for the top job she had left. By the end of the film she was talking about possibly putting herself foward for public office. It's the discussions held after these films that can often prove to be the most interesting part of this festival. There were members of the audience who said they felt guilty at laughing at the perfect, middle class mothers because after all "we are probably all middle class here". No sex and bad food. There were others who were horrified at the food some of the mothers cooked for their family, "how can they be a supermom when they serve such disgusting food?", and one man in the audience bemoaned the fact that not once in the film was sex mentioned by any of the mothers. How on earth this could have been part of the judging process or qualifying criteria beggars belief. The same people who were complaining about the stereotypes of American women were playing up to their own European stereo-types. I was suprised no-one expressed shock at the mother who had all her children safetly strapped in car seats but continued to use her mobile phone phone while driving. Some in the audience were surprised that that at no stage did the judges see these women in-situ in their own home and with their children, surely a crucial part of any judging process. The music and sound on this film were excellent, other touches such as the credits and explanatory titles against a backround of flowery, homely wall paper were sublime. It must be hard for a director to sit in a room and face criticism after a film, one comment made from the discussion panel was that the film was "too polished". I disagree entirely. Having sat though many good films this week, but also some that were a) far too long b) far too pretentious or c) the subject matter not being evident until until half way though the documentary, it was refreshing to watch a film that was clear, concise and had a definite beginning, middle and end. An old fashioned concept perhaps, but so welcome. Even more so for a busy mother who loves documentaries, but is very short on time.

On Wednesday 1st April, the line up of Caribana the first of the local music festivals is announced. This festival is held along side the lake at Crans-près-Celigny from 10 -14 June and is a great way to begin the summer music season. More news on Wednesday. On Thursday 2nd April, the line up of Montreux Jazz Festival is also released and then tickets go on sale the same day for the festival July 3-18th. For the big names you have to be quick off the mark, and book tickets asap. Other tickets such as those for the various boats ie: salsa boat or the jazz train don't tend to sell out as fast. There are some new faces around Nyon at the moment, as the town has welcomed in approximately 90 asylum seekers. It is providing temporary accommodation to men mainly from Eritrea, Somalia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Iraq. They are being housed in the "l'abri" (the town's safety bunker). The bunker is well equipped, with showers, bedrooms, a canteen and TV room. The council have also provided a building with table tennis, exercise machines, games, and books for the men to use , while they are in the process of waiting to hear their future. The organiser in charge of looking after the mens welfare, said that the people of Nyon had been extremely welcoming and come forward with help from everything to clothing to translation services.

Last week I came across a little pamphlet published by the Canton of Vaud called "Vaud in figures". It has some interesting statistics on it. Here are a few - In 2007 the population of Vaud was 668,581. 71% of those were Swiss and 28.7 % were foreigners (and out of that 28%, 69% were from the European Union). The population of the commune of Nyon was 17,501 and 35.7 % of those were foreigners. There's a chart on the births and deaths in Vaud since 1920 (there were a lot of deaths around 1910 due to Spanish flu) The graph called "Construction and Housing" shows that in the late 80's early 90s there was a lot of building of accommodation of "1-2 pieces" but in 2002 -2004 there was a surge of "4 piece" construction. The production of wine is even in there under the "usage of agricultural land". The Chasselas grape is produced considerably more than Pinot Noir or Gamay. Other info on this small pamphlet includes statistics on public health, public finance, and political party representation in Vaud's grand council. There's even the depth of Lac Leman (it's 310 metres at its deepest). This info came in a small pamphlet but its also available on line at Service Cantonal de Recherche at D'information Statistiques Check it out to see the population of your village, or how many children go onto further education after compulsory schooling has ended or even the average air temperature across the region, this includes days with sun, rain and ice!

In addition to all the films being shown here at the festival there are also debates around the world of documentary making. Today Tuesday from 09:00 - 13:00 in the Salle de la Colombiere there will be a workshop with Kazakh Sergey Dvortsevoy on his passion for filmmaking. (Dvortsevoy won his first international prize in Nyon in 1995). At 20:00 there will be a debate and documentaries shown in the presence of filmmakers from the former GDR on the subject of "20 years since the fall of the Berlin wall". Reviews of other films including "C'est Notre Histoire", "Lessons from the Night", "Hotel Sahara", "Home Recordings", and "D'une Rive à L'autre", coming up on Thursday along with a summing up of the entire festival. After films there often can be interesting discussions, the one after the film "Super Mom" on Monday evening certainly triggered many varied opinions contrasting American and European points of view. There's a full two days of films left and on Tuesday and Wednesday that will be shown from 09:00 in the morning until late evening, so if you haven't had the chance to see any films yet, now's your chance. There's a full programme on the Visions Du Réel site

If you are looking to do something with your children on Wednesday afternoon when they are out of school, then why not take a guided walk through the Bois de Chênes of Genolier? These woods are a lovely spot for a picnic and the guide from asgip will explain all about this nature reserve and provide games along the way. It's a 5km walk for children between 5-10 years old and for adults of all ages and takes place between 14:00-17:00. Here's the link to the actual walk or contact the guide Estelle Divorne who speaks English. Tel 022 364 40 71 Take a look at the asgip site to see other guided walks there's another in the Bois de Chênes on 13 May and a full moon walk in Burtigny on the 8th May (this latter walk is from 20:00 to 23:00 and for older children and adults)

Traders Wall Street workers film showing tonight (more info see sidebar) Supermom Monday 27 16:00 Salle de la Colombiere Cooking History Monday 27 14:00 Salle Communale and Wednesday 20:00 Capitole 2 Fellini Supermom Three candidates from Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Indiana in preparation for the national final round of "Young Mother of the Year". Candidates must be "married to a man, belong to a religious community and demonstrate a heightened commitment to her children". Hillary Clinton was once Super Mother of Arkansas. Cooking History is a portrait of military cooks from different countries in Europe, all of them who have served in armies during different wars in the 20th century; whether this is a German cook or Jewish baker in the Second World war, a French chef fighting in Algeria, or a Russian soldier fighting in Chechyna having only porridge to eat "the meat had been stolen back in Russia". There are many stories here, all told through their recollections, anecdotes and recipes. These stories often are harrowing, sometimes amusing. The personal chef of Tito recalls how after his leader's demise (showing us the book that recorded Tito's last meal ) how "the nationalist games began" when the new leaders were in negotiations and at lunch together. The first lunch in Split was Dalmatian ham with olives and Croatian village pasta, dishes he says "they knew Serbs would not normally eat". For the second lunch "the Serbs struck back" when Milosevic served a typical lunch of sour curds and Serbian polenta. He carries on in this vein, a light relief to the other stories. The say that an army marches on its stomach and you need a strong one to view this film as there is old film footage of of war atrocities. There are also present day metaphoric scenes of animals and chicken being slaughtered. Director Peter Kerekes obviously marched his film crew far to make this documentary there are many case studies across Europe, accompanied with renactment scenes of war survivors' stories. The ironic recipes at the end of each person's story "Russian Blini Pancakes for 11 million fallen Russian soldiers", "Poisoned bread for captured S.S men", "Pickled mushrooms for Soviet Occupiers " add a black humoured touch. At 88 minutes it is long, but the director has cooked up a good film here, it is not for the squeamish, but it has all the right ingredients to make the film a success.

Spring has definitely sprung with many flowers in Nyon gardens in full bloom. This time of year Nyon's fountains are decorated by the local various societies and clubs in the town. If you wander around you can all see all 16 of them, from down by the rive to the place du chateau to next to the station. These photos are the fountains from last year, go check out the new ones! This Sunday there will be an Easter market in Nyon in the Rive quarter with artisanal stands and Easter produce goods for sale. The market is open from 08:00-18:30 Music events going on this weekend. Friday - live music at the small theatre Funambule (near the Hotel Beau Rivage), Saturday - Rock at La Parenthèse Tel: 022.362.75 56. Rock also over at the Usine a Gaz on Friday and Mathieu Boogaerts on Saturday. The next Monday night movie in English in Nyon is Frost Nixon at 21:00 This will also be shown in Aubonne at 20:45 on Sunday. Slumdog Millionaire is still showing over at Divonne cinema in English. Saturday at 20:00, Sunday and Monday at 18:15, Tuesday at 20:00.