swarms and fireworks

just a quick update, since i'm on my way to bed.

yesterday, lunch + afternoon with katja was great. unlike the time with sandra, katja was actually very serious about helping me learn, and was really awesome about it. clearly, i'm not to the point where we could actually have a meaningful conversation yet, but whatever we were talking about, we would always pick a couple of single clause sentences and try to translate them into german and then dissect them. it was great. we had lunch in a nice restaurant across from the train station (jim recommended their pizzas, which were quite good), and then took a walk down by the lake before she caught her train to bern (she was headed home for the evening to celebrate her sister's 24th birthday).

then, i went with jim and fabius to geneva, where we had dinner at carol's new apartment, and then went to see the fireworks over the river/lake. **that** was **amazing.** never seen so many fireworks in my entire life. probably more than all the others i've seen combined. must have gone on for close to a solid hour, and not one at a time, either; we're talking full-on, non-stop barrage. unbelievable. if you ever get the chance to be in switzerland at the time of the "fete de geneve," the fireworks on the last day are definitely not to be missed. after some amount of confusion, we connected with nikolaus and olga, and got a ride back to lausanne with them (though by the time we got back, it was nearing 5am...).

naturally, then, i basically slept through this morning. nothing really happened today. just bumming around the apartment here, doing little menial things, like cleaning and such. this evening, we went over to jim's and saw "the swarm." he had gotten it through his new netflix clone here in switzerland. it's an old (1978) b-movie thriller about texas being overrun by hordes of killer bees from africa. the main character is a ludicrously young michael caine, who apparently must have gotten some _really_ good acting classes _after_ making this movie. his performance was so bad it was downright hilarious. anyway, we all (obviously) got a kick out of it, seeing as it's slightly (well, in name, at least) related to what we do. or rather, what the general public thinks we do (make monsters that kill people). old movies are fun.

a couple of the tomatoes are starting to change color. they're not red yet, but you can see the bright green color fading to something darker. still not sure if those palm/bulb things are going to survive or not. i guess i just have to keep watering them and waiting...