thisisfrancasblog

what to do in Katmandu ?

2011-10-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

In all truthfulness, sitting down to write this blog post took me a while. I was not sure how to put my experiences of the last two months into words. My mind-opening journey to Kathmandu began in April. Through a friend, I was given the opportunity to volunteer as a mental coach in a school for children from remote mountain villages in the Himalayas. These children have very little if any access to education, electricity, never mind the life of luxury that westerners are accustomed to.

Kathmandu itself was very different from what I had imagined. I perceived it to be a quiet town in the middle of the mountains, surrounded by old historical buildings, at the foot of the Mount Everest embossed by Buddhist culture. Not quite. With close to a million inhabitants, Kathmandu is the largest city in Nepal, and its infrastructure consists of a combination of western-inspires buildings surrounded by polluted air and organized chaos.

I had my first culture shock once I landed. The air was a heavy thirty degrees, filled with murk, dirt and noise. My ride from the airport to the hotel (www.dwarikas.com) made me question my decision to come, but somehow I quickly got into the Kathmandu buzz where cows, dogs, cars, rickshaws and goats seem to all have the same rights as the people pacing the chaotic streets. Overwhelmed by my new surroundings, I didn’t leave the hotel the first day. I tried to prepare myself both physically and mentally. The following day I walked out of the quiet and pristine hotel into a busy, vibrant main street, filled with bright colours, unfamiliar smells and an unexpected vibe of peace.

Every morning, to get to the school, my friend and I would take a cab to the Stupa Gate. The stupa that we always passed was in Boudanath, which is one of the most holy Buddhist sites in Kathmandu and one of the largest in the world. With its magical spiritual energy, we’d catch ourselves captivated at the entrance, overwhelmed by a feeling of bliss and gratitude.
According to Buddhist spirituality, you are only allowed to walk around the stupa clockwise. There were wooden prayer rolls, which you spun whilst walking around it. A busy yet relaxed vibe was in the air as many monks and nuns walked around it praying and chanting. It was an interesting fifteen minute walk from the stupa to the school. People were selling sage, birds, tiny apples, sheared chicken, meat and fish - name it and they had it.

If you traversed the smaller roads, you might be encompassed by the scent of incense, but only if you were lucky. Most of the time, there was a whiff of garbage, burnt plastic or exhaust gases. We usually covered our faces with a scarf or wore masks to protect ourselves from the pollution.

I was lucky enough to meet an eccentric mix of expatriates during my stay. These included people from the Swiss Embassy and employees of UNICEF to Danish backpackers and army pilots. There were also all the teams that were on their way to climb the world’s highest mountain, the infamous Mt. Everest.

It was fascinating to see them leave or return from their treks.
We worked at a Buddhist school called SMD (http://www.himalayanchildren.org), where children from impoverished families were given access to education and a place to sleep. Many of the students traveled for weeks to reach Kathmandu from their remote mountain villages in the Himalayas.

Hearing their stories and life experiences was definitely an eye opening experiences and one of many wake-up calls during my stay there. One of the girls had lost her mother and was rejected by the father’s new wife. When she arrived in Kathmandu, she ended up in the hands of human traffickers and was sold to one of the many sex brothels in India. Luckily, the school managed to track her and bring her to safety.

During my time in Nepal, I was able to learn a lot about the dire situation that the country is in. Meeting Tibetans in exile was also a very touching experience. My encounters with various people in numerous different situations taught me valuable life lessons that have been incredibly useful in shaping my future. Slavery, sexual abuse and human trafficking are dangers to the human race and need to be combatted on every possible front. The importance of protecting our human rights, women and children is second to none.

Doing what we can, no matter how little or large does actually contribute to the greater good.
Helping out your neighbors brings about a reciprocal feeling of joy. Being active in society, be it half way across the world or on your own street, teaches you how to make a difference. My experience gave me insight into how donations to different charities are used to benefit those in need. I am very keen to return but for a more specific project.
An example of what effects donations are able to have is shown with the example of Roxy.

Roxy was kind enough to donate many different items such as wallets, banana bags, hats and pencil cases to all the children at the school. The biggest hit though, was the stickers. Within a few minutes of their distribution, the children posted the stickers all around the school.

Travelling to one of Asia’s poorest countries definitely brought me a certain amount of awareness and gratitude towards my comfortable life here in Gstaad. If you get the chance to go on such an adventure, or you want to volunteer in a country where there help is needed, feel free to contact me via Quicksilver for women and I will be happy to give you all the required information.

I thank my parents, friends, Roxy and Quicksilver for Women, Switzerland for helping me shape who I have become. Not to mention my extreme amount of gratitude towards Christine Walther who has been a great inspiration. Her encouragement towards my projects has proven that I have much more ahead.

Oh France, thank you for making me love Switzerland so much

2010-10-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

You always have to see the positive aspect in life - so here we go. France makes me love Switzerland so incredibly much I'm absolutely love sick after yesterday. But before falling in love, homie Aline and me took a little trip to IKEA, poor thing was suffering from a heavy previous night - apparently she had to build up cardboard playhouses or something random like that?

we felt sorry and bought one - named him max - cute

aline tried to approach the little boy on the left side of the picture

Confusion - Ikea doesnt work with extremely intelligent people

Pictures of the results will follow - eventually

So anyways, FRANCE it was, to be precise Annecy. Not too far from Geneva, Switzerland so I felt safe going there.
We arrived with a 3 hour delay - thanks to one of the first freeskiers out there and big brother mickael deschenaux, he partied a tiny bit too hard the night before so he somehow didnt show up at 9am. Anyways after being scared for life in french roundabouts we made it to IF3. Super happy to see people I havent seen in a long time.

Laurent is SUCH a cutiepatotie

Oh boy

Yeah we famous

After walking around like headless chickens we ran into our Legs of Steel - Bavarian tourguide lover boys. Korbi the charmer Resenberger, Bene the Beauty Mayr, Paddy the Brit Graham and of course Tobi the Bavarian Cripple Reindl. Suddenly we fell home and safe.

So proud of you Bene - IF3 award winner male skier of the year, well deserved

After that the LOS Boys went off to see some movies and we decided to re-park our car, seriously, first of all the parkhouses were built for tiny peugots,renaults and french men. After about half an hour we finally parked our car safely and i finally got to see Kaya. I havent seen her since March and missed her more then Switzerland at that moment.

She is just coming back from a knee injury, on her last run at Euro XGames 2010 she blew her knee BUT she won with her second run. I think she is a big inspiration for all the chicks out there. We went on a walk to the lake and back before it was time already to say goodbye again. On my way back I saw my buddy Luke van Valin sitting in a french café all by himself, i got a big luke hug and the world was good. On our way back I saw my athlete and good friend JF Houle and my dearest swedish buddy Henrik Harlaut. What can I say, people that I wouldnt wanna miss in my life.

After all of those exciting moments we finally headed back home. The boarder police or whatever they're called are pretty cute. Too bad we couldnt take a picture. "anything to declare?" yeah thats why you stopped us.

I told Aline to take a picture of the sky - yes I know my windshield is dirty and needs to be cleaned, i m too lazy to go and get more windshield cleaner. The pic didnt turn out tooooo bad tho. After an almost 4 hour driver we decided to go to my favourite chinese place in Gstaad called Blun - Chi, we definitely felt home. After a danceparty in the car we went off to bed. THE END

HOME - watch it...

2010-09-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

Mind blowing, shocking and beautiful - all at the same time

Watch it and spread it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbDmOt-vIL8&feature=search

FAIBLE BABY the shots are OUT

2010-09-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

the one and only Reinhard Gruber

2010-09-15T12:40:00.001-07:00

Shame on me - I forgot to mention one of my best friends Reini Gruber aka J. Penus in my previous Austria post. Member of the famous Crew PAH and filmer. Before my adventure in Zell am See started we stopped in Insbruck Ghetto. Mc Café it was. Reini and his buddy blessed us with their enlightening presence. After coffee and cheesecake (secret addiction) we decided tocruise down the highway together for about 1 hour. the movie to this will follow one day.

So this is Reini as a RockStar

This is Aline,Reini and Holy Lukas - eating cake. drinking coffee.

THE Factory teaser - partly edited by THE one and only Reini

http://www.vimeo.com/14608703

after bbbärn baby it was time for AUSTRIA - my Faible

2010-09-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

You can say whatever you want but I fell in love with the song "bärn baby" by 6er Gascho. Makes me feel extremely patriotic and I feel a deep connection with the nicest canton of Switzerland - besides "Graubünden" but that only because of their sexy accents. Speaking of accents, I believe that an accent or a certain langauge is extremely important for a working relationship, a love relationship that is. I'd feel more attracted to a "bündner" accent then a ... well I'm not going to say which accent I dont like or certain people will come running after me with burning torches. So Austria , last minute my "gspändli" Aline decided to join me. Luckily she did, or the most amazing idea of the century would've never came up but this is still a secret. Very soon you will know more about it.
The reason why I went to Austria, Zell am See was because I had the honour to be the female Model of the upcoming outdoor brand FAIBLE Clothing. I had no clue what would expect me - besides some cute austrian accents and peeing in the forest. With a few detours of about 2 hours we finally arrived and had a spaghetti party in a random restaurant. The next day we went to Nic's house, the master of everything. Unbelievable how much she achieved with Flo and Renate in such a short time. She had it all perfectly organized and we learned what the word "Jause" means, it basically consists out of a wooden board and tons of good food.

Oh and Nic's Latte Machiatto were delicious.
Not much later my two toyboys arrived as well, Patrick Hollaus and Fabio Studer, Freeski Pro's and the two main Faible riders.
We had a cute little make up artist chickie who turned us into goggle tan monsters. My poor ROXY goggle was suffering. www.roxy.com

We decided to pretend to smooch around a little. Steamy eh ?

Before we had the shooting we discussed all the proto types. Around 6 o'clock it was on, the shooting took place in a blacksmith's shop. Lucky me with the two big boss girls to my left and right. Unbeatable.

Our younggun Marco wasnt always behaving during the shoot.

Around 11.49pm we were all done. We were all over tired which lead us to being complete tards. Marco enjoyed a little mascara session from Aline. We ordered Chinese to top off a great day. Check out : http://www.myFAIBLE.eu and become a LIKE Fan or whatever that new thing is on FB.

Check out the top top top shop from Austria - EARLYRIOT, the owner you find on the left hand side Mr Roland next to Mr Fabiolino Studer. Oh before I forget, Fabio was so kind and gave me a pair of LEKI poles - for about 45 minutes, on the highway he realized he actually needs them. Good Job.

Thanks to all of your for 2 awesome and exciting days. Go Faible or go Home.

Blurry Berne

2010-09-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

As mentioned earlier - me - no - city - girl. Anyways I wanted to take a little trip to IKEA with my friend Aline. On my way to Biel, where I went to pick her up, I realized that IKEA might be a tiny bit overloaded on a Saturday afternoon - change of plans, we went off to the capital city of Switzerland, Berne.

We met up with our friend Dan, Nina and Marco. We walked around and after buying a new pink ipod I felt the need of going back to the mountains. We grabbed a caramel machiatto and 2 pieces of delicious cheesecake. Aline was kind enough to feed me whilst I was driving. Sunday was chill day as you can see....

I want to marry a bavarian boy

2010-09-05T12:26:00.000-07:00

So as most of my friends know I m not a city fan. There are a very few cities I like to hang out for example - Landan - Stockholm and maybe Munich, but that only because of my two good looking Munich boys, Tobi Reindl and Korbi Resenberger. After finally getting my drivers license my friend and me took off direction Munich. I enjoyed racing a 180km/h on the highway. I believe there is a little film showing my anger issues whilst driving but it must've been destroyed by an out - of - this - world force. Too bad. Anyways some Munich pictures ( I never thought Korbi and Tobi would look so ridiculously sexy without their ski gear on ?!). They were 2 perfect gentlemen, took us out for dinner, taxi, wild sex in the hotel room.

...yes they were surfing at night, pretty cool, literally. After this picture was taken we went off partying at a club called Ed Moses. Since its very hard to please me (yes if you read this now you weren't the only one) I was actually very pleased - we had a blast dancing and grinding. Bump and Grind. Anyways, we went home around 2ish because I knew once I'd be in bed and comfy my gang partner from PAH Reinhard aka penus Gruber would call me, he was very confused, my random guess was that he had an overdose of orange juice? Ok I'm done for now but if I got you hooked on Munich, make sure you stay at the Sofitel - they have amazing breaky.

oh and yes I went to the Hofbräuhaus. And last but not least to all your girls out there if you wanna dress to impress either choose Roxy for outdoors OR check out the Agent Provocateur store - if you're not dating a Jerk I believe he will be yours forever.

Costa Rica I love you

2010-04-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago I decided to escape cold and rainy/snowy Switzerland after an adventouros few weeks with my friend/athlete Anna Segal.

We toured around Europe a bit, jamming in the car, skiing and her winning the Austrian Open. Make sure to check out her blog

http://www.sweetprotection.com/teamblog/

Pura Vida – is probably the shortest explanation about Costa Rica, a country filled with happiness, breath taking beaches and a deep noisy jungle. My first Stop was in San Jose, after a long travel day I was more then happy to find an extremely comfy bed at the Intercontinental.

Whoever has to stay a night in this wild exciting city I’d advice to stay there. Unless you want to get into the whole backpackers adventure the intercontinental has it all, including a big breakfast buffet. After my stay I went directly to Uvita. Uvita is a small town in the south of Costa Rica, Pacific side and famous for their Whales Tale – not an actual whales tale.

I stayed at the boutique Hotel Oxygen - owned by a wonderful dutch couple, definitely had a few good laughs with them. The hotel has 12 villas - all decorated in Bali style. The 3 girls working there were a lot of fun - they made sure I would get enough milk shakes and booked me surf lessons with Tito. Although stupid tito decided to nap when i wanted to go surf - all good.

- a few days before my trip I was lucky enough to go back to the Roxy team in Biel, I felt like its Christmas,Easter and Birthday together. There is no other brand where I can identify myself as much as with the Roxy/Quiksilver Women clothes. A big mix of various styles. One of my favourites this seasons is definitely the salmon/orange coloured bikini - it sits perfectly and has a touch of retro-pin up girl style.

Anyways, Im back in Switzerland now - missing CR terribly...

monday, work and horse bandaids

2009-10-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

Holllerr

Had to go check my knee and pull the strings out form surgery today, wasnt really too pumped about that, until I saw who will be my doctor, what a wonderful 10 minutes. 25, tall, charming and pretty good looking. He gave me a red and blue bandaid with horses and other animals on it. Dont really know whats behind that, anywho, if you ladies need a good (looking) doctor let me know.

Besides going to see hot docs I was working and trying to organize the next few busy weeks, also at work I m blessed with a good looking person who even dares driving around with me. Although the gesture on this picture is absolutely inappropriate Adrian.

To all the people that dont know Capri Sonne, BUY IT, best best best.

Some cini minis at work today made my day.

Besides working and going to the doc I played farmville and had a very interesting conversation with my close friend Selina, for the people that dont speak swiss german, sorry.

Selina :

i gründe ez de e kommunistischi partei, lüge alli a u versprichene e besseri wält, chume ad macht, underdrücke alli, töte alli wo nid GENAU das mache woni säge u wirde steiiii riiiich!!!! u du wirsch die person si wo mer jede morge darf persönlich dfüess abschläcke. ah nie am abe, de stinke si no chli meh

quick sunday eve thought

2009-10-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

After being courtney love for the night I was resting at my place today, my knee isnt really ready to be a rockstar and awake for too long. I woke up at 8am and drove to Berne with my mom, my grandmother is suffering from cancer and is in the last stage. We went to this place where people are being accompanied on their way to death where she is staying since last week. The people working there are wonderful, I have a lot of respect for them. I honestly don't know if I would be capable of working/helping people knowing they will die soon. For me it was very hard to understand why people would wanna stay alive whilst the only thing keeping them alive is a morphine pump attached to them to keep the horrible pain away. The doses they're getting are immense, if we would get a dose like that we would die right away. Apparently the strength of the pain regulates and balances the effect of the morphine. The pain isn't the only suffering, knowing that you will die soon must be absolutely frustrating and not understandable. What keeps a person going that is in a lot of pain and all drugged up? Why wouldn't we choose to die and find peace instead of fighting against a hopeless fight? For me it might be easy to say right now, Id choose to end it before I will be suffering but I guess hope dies last. My friend Mack randomly said "there is no satisfying you" and I said " No, never. Seeking for that since I was born, but thats what keeps people going right?". I wonder if we keep seeking satisfaction, will we forget about how quickly it could end? By constantly striving for satisfaction, we will probably lose our appreciation for what we have right now. So either it is the seeking that keeps us going or it is hope to be rewarded one day for whatever we do. I believe the most important part to achieve satisfaction and peace of mind is to be happy with who we are and try to make best out of each situation we are in. There is this quote from my favourite writer Herman Hesse, (german writer) from his poem "Steps":

"High purposed we shall traverse realm on realm,
cleaving to none as to a home,
the world of spirit wishes not to fetter us
but raise us higher, step by step.
Scarce in some safe accustomed sphere of life
have we establish a house, then we grow lax;
only he who is ready to journey forth
can throw old habits off."

timtams and paw paw

2009-10-20T03:19:00.001-07:00

I must say I have the best Athletes !!! Today I had to wake up way too early to take some driving lessons and when I got back home I got a package from Australia in the mail ! Wonderful Anna Segal (XGames winner slopestyle 2009) sent me some timtams, pawpaw, a notepad and a wonderful note. So exciting. Oh and I forgot to mention how excited I am to see the love of my life Marg next week in London, for the poeple who dont know who Marg is; here a skype snapshot from yesterday !

Monday afternoon with lots of love

2009-10-20T02:25:00.000-07:00

Since I m still not very mobile with my knee I dont have very much to do, luckily my lovely friend Janne isnt very busy either (besides playing dress up and ridiculously good looking).

He decided to spend some time with me, what an honour. He picked me up at my house and we went for a cruise to buy a beanie. After honking at my 9 year old cousin walking and daydreaming we drove off to Gstaad. Janne had to buy some face cream.. mhm.

After useless walking/crippling around we decided to go hang out at the apple pie.

My dear Aussie friend Marisha joined us.

And of course us looking for Jannes facial products, I didnt know men would be so vain? It took him about 10 minutes deciding which cream would bring out the best of his beautiful baby skin.

After an eventful afternoon I had to go to the vet with my dog Buddy, he was throwing up and felt shit for about 2 hours, a stranger thought it was swineflu. After getting an injection at the vet Buddy was happy and wild again.

Oh and listen to : Black & Blue - Miike Snow

random sunday evening post

2009-10-18T11:38:00.001-07:00

Just had to upload the pic of my Athlete Suz Graham, one of the most amazing skiers out there!!

Some random thoughts.. thats what happens if you have absolutely nothing to do.

People try to find satisfaction through outside sources such as materials possessions and relationships. We value other peoples opinion and help, a lot more then we value our intuition/instinct. I assume it is a lot easier to listen to the outside but to find clarification and peace of mind we need to look within ourselves to find what we need and want. Our first reactions when we are feeling empty and needy, are bringing up our situation to the outside and share it, to a certain extend that may be alright. It isnt wrong to get other opinions, but it is important to look at those inputs from a healthy distance and analyse it with our human sense. It can get confusing, especially if you have different counsels from different people. Nobody knows how each of us really feels and in what situation we really are. We fall in the trap of thinking, If I would have this or that I would happy and feel satisfied. When you get the new acquisation you may feel better for a short period of time but in the long run you will realise that it is not what makes you feel happy inside. The only source of fulfillment is by connecting with spirit within. We have to focus on trust and not on illusions.

JA ! we love ze France

2009-10-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

Yes another blog update today, I HAVE to, btw to whoever is as bored as me listen to : Calvin Harris - Stars come out, thanks to a special "stranger" for all that new awesome music and for keeping my boredom away : ).

Rule Number one if you go on holidays in ze fancy south of France : NEVER SWIM WITHOUT RED LIPSTICK you mugs. And if you get sick of the wonderfully friendly french people give it a go and speak english with an ultimate cherman accent.

My new sister, Dite. " oh la la sooo dumb "

Pic by Dite, she is a marvellousincredibleextraordinaryamazingphotoartistbaby

We didnt get to swim too much in the pool because it was full of fucking chemicals

3 out of 4.. thanks ROXY Clothing for my MJ Hat that everybody tries to steal.

No need for words

As I mentioned above, dont go swimming without red lipstick

My France trip to Eze or however you spell this place started off randomly.
(Like most of the things in my life) My good friend Mich's cousins came all the way from America to Gstaad for a couple of days and I was lucky enough to get to know them. It definitely was love at first sight, atleast for me. On their last night we went out and at 3am Talia had the brilliant idea to ask me if I would like to join them to France. The next morning, I wasnt sure if she was being serious or just in a very good mood the night before. She was being serious, we packed our stuff up and drove via bella italia to France. My new siblings cousins house was great, an old french villa with a huge garden. We had a great time playing poker, deep convos, breathtaking sunsets, sweet tunes, driving around, delicious food and lots of love and being extremely happy to be back in Gstaad. Oh and if you wanna get really tanned, pour Hawaiian tropical oil all over your body and grill like a chicken. If you are lucky you will be as tanned as me. If not make sure you hide in the dark for a few days.

Whistler ROXY

2009-10-17T05:25:00.000-07:00

It took me about 3 months writing this Roxy Whistler update - better late then never right.

Wow, Whistler, what an incredible place. My trip started off after I spent 2 weeks with my close friend, Jenny.

Since my knee injury three years ago I am not really a big fan of flying for over 4 hours. My trip to Montreal was 8hours, but luckily I had two seats to myself.

When I landed, my friend JF picked me up, it was good to see him walk properly again after his ankle injury at the X Games in January. We spent one night in Quebec and took off for Whistler the next day. At 2am we finally arrived in Whistler, the flight was long and I didnt feel too well. I was so glad to be back, last time I was in Whistler was 3 years ago and I spent most of my time at physio and Starbucks.

The first few days were bad weather, I was so anxious to try out my new green Roxy skirt. You should all check it out.

Make sure you get the right size so it doesn’t look like a balloon around your hips!

So let me tell you what else there is to do besides watching movies, running to 7/11 buying candy and drinking caramel macchiatos. Skiing! Depends on how long you are staying and your budget, but if you want to be coached by stoked riders you should definitely check out COC. Matt Marggets

and Joe Schuster was coaching, and let me tell you the kids looked super

happy. Or you can meet cool people like my buddy Colby James West in town for a beer or two.

Peak 2 Peak is worth to be checked out as well, its the longest unsupported span in the world. There is even one gondola with a glass floor window.

Whistler is an absolute Bikers paradise. We went on a bike tour to green lake, its breathtaking, the trails are for any kind of bikers.

We were lucky to have our own pool and we spent a lot of time there.

Many of our firends were coaching during the summer at Momentum or COC. It was so good seeing them again. Marg impressed me with his fine earring selection, Ian and Colby with their "my friend is a pro" gig and peter olenick

looked like he came back from a Vogue shooting at the Eurotrash party. My friend Stephy definitely did a great job in being my little city guide and entertainer. Thanks Steph !!

The most important thing I learned in Whis was thats its all about "HANG LOOSE BABY"