Search

Back in 2008 Living in Nyon met members of Prangins International and reported about networking and living in Prangins and wrote about it here.  At the beginning of October this year, we went back to the pretty village near Nyon to meet club members at  Prangins International's monthly coffee morning, and discovered that among other new activities the club now has an updated website.  This site has a dedicated area for club activities under the "Calendar" section, there is a list on the site of what the monthly book reading group is reading right now, and there is a section called "Stories from Prangins", written by club members. These stories range from taking a tour of Prangins own chocolate Rapp factory, to an account of wine tasting in the area. There is also an online club notice board on the site.   Prangins International  meets on the first Thursday of every month in the Café du Chateau at 10:00 a.m. They also have a Christmas drinks scheduled for December. There are over 20 different nationalities represented in the group - they are truly international! You can find out more by checking out their site here. Rasing Multilingual Children workshop - spaces left on November 2nd in Geneva. Know it All Passport has informed Living in Nyon that there are some spaces left for the  afternoon workshop entitled "Raising Multilingual Children - Foreign language Acquisition and Children" to be given by Tracey Tokuhuma Espinosa in Geneva on Wednesday November 2nd.   For full details of  this workshop and how to register click here  Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D.is a world-renowned specialist in education and neuroscience. She is half Japanese-American, half Irish-Native American and is married to an Ecuadorian. Her 3 children aged 18, 16 and 14 speak fluent English, Spanish and German and some French.

Tomorrow it's Caribateens over at the Caribana grounds. This day is dedicated to teenagers, with music and activities laid on read all about them, ticket prices, etc here  Also on the grounds tomorrow, Patrick Müller and Pascal Zuberbühler, two former greats of  Swiss football, will be putting in an appearance. It's a unique opportunity to rub shoulders with great champions! On 9 June, the day after the Switzerland v Cyprus World Cup Qualifier, Patrick Müller and Pascal  Zuberbühler ("Zubi"), two major stars of Swiss football, will be at the Caribana Festival. This will be a unique opportunity for the public to meet them and to take part in training exercises prepared specially for the occasion by Patrick Müller, one of the most gifted Swiss footballers of his generation. The workshops will be open to budding footballers of all levels. "Zubi", the former Swiss national  goalkeeper and six-time Swiss champion with Grasshopper Club and FC Basel 1983, will be putting his gloves back on for the penalty shoot-out exercises. The girls of top Swiss women's league side FC Yverdon Féminin will also be at the festival, giving valuable tips on ball control and juggling. Patrick Müller was a classy defender with great finesse who won 81 caps for Switzerland. He  currently works in UEFA's commercial operations unit and has the pleasure of training the  organisation's women's team. He is a big supporter of the UEFA European Women's Under-17  Championship, which takes place on 25 and 28 June at Stade de Colovray in Nyon.  More information on the UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship is available on UEFA's website .

"Still Alice", the film in which Julianne Moore won the 2015 Oscar for "Actress in a Leading Role", will be shown at Nyon cinema on Monday 9th March at 20:30 . This is an Avant Premiere Monday movie in English. As Alice Howland, Julianne Moore plays a college professor who learns that she is suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's disease. The second film which won an Oscar for "Best Picture 2015" is "Birdman" starring Michael Keaton and will be shown at Nyon cinema tonight, Wednesday 4th March at 20:30 and also on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and next Tuesday. The film is a satire of showbusiness and fame.    For full listings at Nyon cinema - see here

A reminder to music lovers that Caribana starts next Wednesday with Deep Purple scheduled to play on the first night. Saturday night is already sold out but there are tickets still available for other nights. See the site for full details. Also in a couple of weeks at 17:00 on the 20 June there will be a classical music concert in Nyon performed by Theodor Küng on Violin and Matt Bilyard on Piano at the Salle de la Colombiere in Nyon. Details - see poster below.

Although the Caribana festival finished last week, there is more music on the way as the first part of La Fete de la Musique will take part in Nyon on Saturday 15th June and on Sunday 16th in Prangins (part 2 will be next weekend). There's a full programme of music on the agenda, bands and solo artists will be play in different venues around Nyon in the Place du Chateau, Place St Martin, Place de Savoie, Jardin du Conservatoire, Usine a Gaz, Rive Est and in the Temple. There will be music ranging from jazz to blues, rock , classical music, African music, funk and more. Something for everyone. Click here for the full programme and timings.  There's a fantastic weather forecast for this week-end which is good news for those attending and for those playing in the festival! Great photo opportunities at the Bol d'Or The good weather is also good news for sailors who will be taking part in the 75th Bol d'Or. This famous sailing competition sets off at 10:00 from Geneva. Depending on the winds you can often see the boats sailing past Nyon around lunchtime on their way to Le Bouveret at the other end of the lake, it's an impressive sight! There is a good overview here of the race, the trajectory the boats take on the water, and links to other information about the race itself. If you are really keen to capture more of the atmosphere of the race itself, it's worth getting up very early and heading off to Geneva to be there at the start of it all (see photo below). There are excellent views to be had of the early part of the race from the port of Corsier on the French side of the lake. This Living in Nyon photo in the header above was taken a few years ago from Corsier (and was used on the Bol d' Or website).

Living in Nyon is delighted to publish this article written by Rachel Frei Bandieri. Rachel is a performance coach and sports trainer and and earlier this year she interviewed local resident and Swiss Olympic athlete Lea Sprunger. Lea lives in the pretty village of Gingins above Nyon and back  in 2012 she competed in the Summer Olympics in London in the women's 200 metres event and the 4 X 100 metres relay. Lea is also in the process of organising a new 21 k semi-marathon race on Sunday 14th September 2014. This race will start in Allaman and will partly follow the la Côte lake shore. This is an exciting new race for runners with an aim of 2,500 participants for the first edition. Read on to discover what it was like to perform in the London Olympics, how Lea stays focussed at such a big event, more details of the new la Côte semi-marathon and how you can volunteer (even if you are not a runner) and to find out a bit about the author of this article. Photo above -Lea Sprunger - courtesy of the athlete Lea Sprunger  - On the Right Track by Rachel Frei Bandieri 2014 promises to be an exciting year for the now famous track athlete and Gingins resident Lea Sprunger: with her participation in the European Championships in Zurich in August and the organisation of a brand new semi-marathon in September. Lea Sprunger, soon to turn 24, is on all fronts. After competing in the 2012 Olympics in London in the women’s 200 metres event and the 4x100m relay, she is now training for her 2014 objective: the European Championships that take place this year in Switzerland. And after her amazing 1 st rank in the Swiss Championship, she definitely is on the right track! One can feel her excitement about the event just mentioning it! When I met her, she had just returned from a three-week training course in South Africa and she looked really fresh and in fine form. “Training is now  quite different from what I was used to when I was still competing in heptathlon. In a way, it is a little “boring”. Hopefully, my coach understands that and he lets me vary, like putting the shot, from time to time” she explained. Those Summer 2012 Olympics  - "A Magic Experience!" Lea chose the 200m sprint over the heptathlon when she was in the selection for the Olympics. “I really wanted to be selected and I knew I had too many weak points in heptathlon to have a proper chance”. After the Olympic gold medal of the British athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill,  most readers probably know what heptathlon is made of…but just in case: Heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events, 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 metres, long jump, javelin throw and 800 metres. Unlike her elder sister Ellen, who is still competing in heptathlon, Lea is now concentrating on 200 metres and the 4x100m relay with the team made up of her sister Ellen, Maris Lavanchy and Mujinga Kambundji. When asked about the Olympics, she beams: “ ” She remembers when she went in the stadium for the first time to watch her sister, she nearly cried: “ ” Even if stadiums are impressive, she does not feel tooo much pressure when she is about to run. “ ”. Training in Nyon She also mentioned that having her sister around helps a lot; it is reassuring to know that a member of the family is there with her Lea who trained in Nyon for many years and is still a member of the COVA (Centre Ouest Vaudois Athlétissme), now mostly trains in Aigle and Macolin in winter and in Lausanne in summer. Things are not made easy for Swiss athletes as there is no place or centre entirely dedicated to athletics, like the INSEP in Paris/France; for instance, there are no recovery facilities where she trains, which means more time spent on the road than ideal. However Lea is not complaining. She is among the 10 athletes that are supported by the World Class Potentials program of the Swiss Athletics Federation, which means that all her expenses in relation to training are paid by the fund. It is more difficult she says when it comes to individual sponsorship, and most of her sponsors come from the athletics world. She also works 30% for an event company and this is where the link to “her” semi-marathon shows up: “ ”, she explains, “ .” This is how the Semi-Marathon de la Côte race was born. She admits not being an endurance runner herself but she truly admires people who run such events. “ . ” It was important to her that the arrival be in the Colovray stadium, where she trained for all these years. The departure will be in Allaman, at the Outlet centre, exactly 21.0975 km (13.1094 mi) away from Nyon. The route will mostly use the stunning “route du lac” with a special part in Rolle where it will follow the lake shore. So if you ever dreamt of running on the quays in Rolle, don’t miss out! Photo above  The Quayside in Rolle.  On the route of the new Semi-Marathon To competitors and personal best lovers: the race promises to be really fast  and taking place just five weeks before the Lausanne marathon, it makes it an ideal training race! The date is on Sunday 14 September 2014 , with departures from 10.30 am. There will also be a special running event for kids organised in Colovray with starting time around 09:00 Volunteers Needed A note to those interested: Lea and the organisation team are looking for some 120 volunteers to help during the event. So if you do not feel like running but would none the less like to be part of this joyful and festive event, do not hesitate and join the volunteers’ team! Lea also mentioned that sports clubs and associations who will volunteer will be paid for their contribution, a nice way to support local sports! Targeting some 2’500 runners for the 1 st edition, the Semi de La Côte wants to become a reference race by the next few years and aims at attracting 5’000 runners by 2017. Informations and registrations: On the Datasport website from April on, or on the Semi de la Côte website which will be launched in April. Link to follow. Good luck to Lea for this fantastic new event! The author Rachel Frei Bandieri

Here's a selection of local music events coming up in the next few days UK band "The Wharves" will be playing at the Parenthèse in Nyon on Friday 30th October at 22:00. See video below More info here  Last few days of the Street Light Orchestra (art/ music installation) in the Levratte area of Nyon - Music like you have never heard or seen before! Details on poster below. Classical Music at the Conservatoire on Sunday 1st November at 17:00 Plus, a "Soirée Bach" at the Théâtre de Marens on Friday 6th November at 20:30. This concert is a celebration of 40 years of the musical career of Anastase Demetriades, the current director of the Conservatoire. Reservations email - concert6novembre@gmail.com or visit Nyon tourist office for more details

"God of Carnage," the next GEDS production in English is being billed as " A comedy of manners.. without the manners!" This Tony Award best play will be performed on 5- 9 March at the Théâtre de l'Espérance in Geneva and tickets are now on sale.  For booking details click here Synopsis of Play below (in English and French) God of Carnage Two sets of parents meet for a civilized, grown-up discussion about the outcome of their two boys having a playground fight and the result is a very funny black comedy which not only entertains, but sets us thinking about the veneer of good manners which society sets upon us all. Charles Slovenski has assembled the following talented cast to bring this modern hit vividly to life: Robert Bartram, Chaitan Jain, Viki Lazar, and Cécile Van de Voorde. First night patrons may enjoy a complimentary glass of bubbles in the company of the cast and crew. Le  Dieu de Carnage Veronica et Michael Novak, parents du petit Henry, reçoivent chez eux Annette et Alan Raleigh, parents de Benjamin qui a frappé leur fils au visage dans un parc voisin, lui cassant ainsi deux dents. De bonne éducation, les deux couples ont décidé de cette entrevue afin de régler l'affaire avec civisme. Cependant, lorsque le vernis s’émaille et que la colère remplace la bienséance et la politesse de rigueur, chacun se montre en fin de compte très primaire. Dans leur florilège de pensées stéréotypées et sur fond de mauvaise foi parfois grossière, c’est un peu de nous que nous retrouvons dans ces bobos de Brooklyn… Pour interpréter ces duellistes, le metteur en scène, Charles Slovenski, a réuni une distribution exemplaire, chacun cherchant à creuser la singularité de son personnage dans cette comédie grinçante de Yasmina Reza (traduite par Christopher Hampton).

Play next week 11- 15th November in Coppet On the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, GEDS   (the Geneva English Drama Society) will present "Much Ado About Nothing", one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. It contains some of the Bard’s most sparkling dialogue between Beatrice and Benedick and two hours of love, jealousy and treachery. In true Shakespearean style, love triumphs in the end, while villainy is punished. The plot Leonato, a kindly, respectable nobleman, lives in the idyllic Italian town of Messina and shares his house with his lovely young daughter, Hero, and his playful, clever niece, Beatrice. As the play begins, Leonato prepares to welcome some friends home from a war. The friends include Don Pedro, a prince who is a close friend of Leonato, and two fellow soldiers: Claudio, a well-respected young nobleman, and Benedick, a clever man who constantly makes witty jokes, often at the expense of his friends. GEDS is  privileged to have Ben Crystal, an actor, author, director and educator of world-renown, as our guest director. He is staging the play using original Elizabethan rehearsal techniques. Commemorating the 100th anniversary of World War I, the production will be set in Switzerland, as troops return from guarding the borders. For all details/ tickets times and booking see the Theatre in English booking site

La Pl'Asse, Paléo's “off” festival All photos- courtesy Jonas Parson For many people, the festival doesn't end when you leave the main entrance. A whole ecosystem arises around Paléo, giving people who don't have tickets a chance to party, and those waiting for the doors to open something to do. Just across the road you can find the Pl'Asse, Paléo's 'off' festival. This free area, filled with food and clothes stalls, boasts a small stage with different activities organised all day, and ending each night with a Dj set. This is were the festival-goers, forced to flee the grounds at closing time, but still desirous to dance, end up to finish the night in style. A special mention to an amazing tea stall, situated about half way down the right side of the Pl'Asse, which serves wicked Masala Chai and delicious white chocolate and saffron brownies. The camp-site The camp-site can be found on the other side of the Pl'Asse. After having for many years a reputation of a lawless jungle of danger, the camp-site has been cleaned up a bit since Paléo introduced a bracelet access to the camp-site, limiting the entrance to people with tickets to the festival. Around 12'000 festival-goers camp here each year, building some pretty impressive structures. Camping at Paléo is a very serious matter! Activities and games are offered during the day, such as this “Pétong” tournament, a variant of “Pétanque” played with your shoes! The party goes on all night here, and if you find yourself in the camp-site at 4 in the morning, you can find huge groups of people dancing through it with portable amplifiers, inviting everyone they meet to join them. Moving ... Horses are used to pick up the rubbish Wood is given away for free in the camp-site Here are the portraits of three encampments Living In Nyon visited. The Brits Walking along in the camp-site, difficult to miss this big orange structure, covered in graffiti. Made of a wooden structure covered by tarpaulins, it hosts several tents and a lounge area. Alex, Daff, Megan, Olivia, Josh and Mitch , a group of British campers (most of them grew up in Switzerland) live here. It took them a day to build this, harder work than a few years ago, when they were about twenty people helping to set up camp. They were all spending the week at Paléo, a festival to which they are faithful, as they have been coming here for a while now, and it is one of the only festivals they come to. The 'Gipsies' from Zurich One of the most beautiful and impressive sites was made of tarpaulins stretched between an incredible orange caravan and a great old yellow school bus. I met Sidonie and Valentin , from near Zurich there. The caravan and bus belonged to family and friends from their village, with whom they were here at Paléo. They too were only faithful to Paléo,and had been coming for the last three years. Their highlight of the week was Santana, who played last night. The "Blue Goat" ecologists Further on, near a very Swiss group of caravans, complete with letterbox and a row of flowers planted in front, I came across a group of people, living out of a camping car, the (the blue goat camp-site) I stopped because of the sign offering to recharge your phone with solar energy at an open rate (“prix libre” is a concept where the person decides how much she wants to give for what she is paying). I stopped to chat with this group of friends from Valais, who were really into finding alternatives to energy production, and were testing their new construction in the camp-site, with some rather rewarding results! People came and used their installation, often trusting them with their phones for a couple of hours. They deplored the fact that people just came and went without stopping for a chat, as if they were scared or shy. But the “prix libre” worked great, and they had already received things like cherry tomatoes, cool beers, food, and a bit of money, people often paying more than they would if the price had been fixed, supporting this great project. Rafael, Christian, Sophie Mariska and Christophe have been coming for a long time to Paléo, and they explained that this was one of the only festivals where it was possible to build stuff on the camp-site. Apparently all of the other festivals (specially in the German part of Switzerland!) are much stricter, and do not allow fires, etc.... Street theatre in the camp-site A very Swiss entrance Getting good beer somewhere near Paléo As one might have noticed, the stalls here are ruled by Cardinal and its crappy lager, which is just about the only beer sold on the grounds. If you were to want a better beer, it would be impossible to find one, as Cardinal,one of the main sponsors for the festival, forbids the sale of any other beer. But there is one solution! For several years now, “La Brasserie de la Côte” , a brewery from above Morges, has set up camp in the underground terminal to the Nyon-St-Cergue train. This is the perfect place to enjoy a nice glass of craft beer before taking the train up to Paléo. Here is Thursday's video "best of".

Sports Day Fair at Geneva English School on Saturday 6th June from 12:30 - 15:30 The annual Sports Day at the Geneva English School is an ideal opportunity to see the school "in action". It's also a fun day out, there will be a BBQ, face painting and lots more, see poster below and a short video about the school. The event welcomes prospective parents, GES friends and newcomers to the area. Registration required click here "Popcorn" by Ben Elton  The next play by the Geneva English Drama Society will be "Popcorn" by Ben Elton and performed between the 16th - 20th June at the Théâtre Pitoëff in Geneva. Details here - Ben Elton is probably best known for his television series, including The Young Ones, Blackadder and The Thin Blue Line. Popcorn is Ben Elton’s most distinguished play, winning both the TMA Barclays Theatre Award for new play and the Olivier Award for best comedy. The Paris production was nominated for seven Molière awards. Popcorn deals with the serious debate about whether violence in art influences society or whether it only reflects society. Bruce Delamitri is a film director who glorifies violence and sexuality in his films. Wayne and Scout are two of Bruce’s biggest fans who have gone on their own real-life killing spree. As Bruce’s latest film is about a young couple on a killing spree, the obvious comparisons are made. The play deals with the explosive confrontation between Bruce and Wayne. Although Popcorn is a very funny comedy, it does reflect the violence and sexuality of Bruce’s films. The play is adult in content and language. For tickets  - click here

The Commonwealth - Crossing continents and many Countries. (photo of the video screen on an aeroplane seat!)  Here are a few of the events happening around the area, and in Geneva over the next couple of weeks. The first is another meet up of  Male Trailing Spouses at Les Brasseurs pub in Nyon TONIGHT 10th May at 20:00 . Just turn up or email cnp at bluewin.ch for more info. See previous post here about these events.  Don't forget that "The Producers", the Mel Brooks Musical, begins its run this week at the Nyon Marens Theatre in Nyon! See previous post for more info. Talk by Commonwealth Secretary General On Monday 16th May the guest speaker at the BSCC (British Swiss Chamber of Commerce) will be Kamalesh Sharma the Commonwealth Secretary General - He will address the topic "Future Directions of the Commonwealth". This will be at Le Richemond  Hotel in Geneva 11:45 Aperitif 12:15 Luncheon.  Registration by Thursday 13th May 2011. For more info see the BSCC website. Here is some background information on the Commonwealth provided by the BSCC.  "The world’s largest and smallest, richest and poorest countries make up the Commonwealth and are home to two billion citizens of all faiths and ethnicities. Member countries span six continents and oceans. Its nearly 2 billion citizens account for about 30 per cent of the world's population and 25 per cent of international trade and investment. It is bound together by a shared history and by the English language, the world’s lingua franca. Here in Geneva, Commonwealth countries account for 40 per cent of WTO membership. Membership continues to grow.  The most recent members are Rwanda, admitted at the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and Cameroon and Mozambique, the first countries to join with no historical or administrative association with another Commonwealth country. Beyond the ties of history, language and institutions, it is the association’s values which unite its members: democracy, freedom, peace, the rule of law and opportunity for all. Kamalesh Sharma, an Indian diplomat, became Commonwealth Secretary-General on 1 April 2008. Previously, he served as India’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom".  Want to know more ? See a video about the Commonwealth here. Welcome Day for Newcomers to this region Another event that may interest readers to be held on May 20th and organised by International Link  is a "Welcome Day".  The goal of the Welcome Day is to familiarise newcomers with this region and give them a first official introduction to their new environment. Various aspects,  politics, economy, culture and tourism in Vaud and Switzerland will be presented in the hope of helping them answer the question – how to deal with everything here?  It is an informal, friendly event at which people from different companies and cultures can interact and discover the best way to truly feel at home here. They will have the opportunity to ask questions about anything that concerns them and receive useful documentation. We will also present the advantages offered to expats through International Link , such as specific integration and career workshops. We will conclude by enjoying a buffet lunch together to taste Vaud seasonal specialties. Foreign individuals can attend the Welcome Day. To register, please send an e-mail to  internationallink@cvci.ch  with your contact details.  The fee for foreign individuals or participants from non-member companies is 200 CHF. WELCOME DAY PROGRAMME: 8h30-8h45            Welcoming 8h45-9h05            "Putting Switzerland on the map" presentation by Red Cut 9h05-9h40            Interactive Game 9h40-10h00          Presentation by the Lake Geneva Region Tourism Office 10h00-10h15        How to buy a House in Switzerland? presentation by Credit Suisse 10h15-11h00        Coffee Break and networking game 11h00-11h45        Living in Switzerland: Tips, Politics, Economy 11h45-12h00        International Link: What it is and how to use it 12h00-12h15        Questions & Answers 12h15-13h45        Buffet Lunch The event is free of charge if the company is a member of International Link or in the process of becoming one. Venue CVCI, Avenue d'Ouchy 47, Lausanne (Metro M2: stop at Jordils)  Brocante Sale On the 13th May 09:00 - 21:00 there will be a Brocante sale over in Gex at  L'Ancienne Ferme Brocante and Saturday 14th May 09:00 to 15:00.   Address  485 rue de l'Etraz, 01170 Gex, France. Bring a friend or partner to help select from an unusual range of antique and  brocante items; painted furniture from the Paintsmith and Phoenix greetings cards.  Leave the children to play in the garden and make time for coffee and cake. For further information contact Sian Sibley on 00 33 4 50 41 92 30 or email s.sibley@orange.fr   Park on the road and walk up the drive.