I have just been on a 2 day course in how to do professional business presentations. What an eye opener!
I always thought that I was good at presenting. I had had no formal training, but can project my voice and get the info across - or so I thought.
The training was 1:1, total luxury, and opened with me giving a presentation and being filmed. OMG! i cringed watching the film afterwards. My boss had once commented that I looked fierce, now I understood why.
Awkward movements, not a smile throughout, looking at papers, looking at the slides, not engaging the audience, terrible body language.
Wow, well there were some positives, and I must admit the trainer was great at highlighting them. Negatives became "areas of improvement"

So 2 days later I improved no end. We did voice training, radio work, presentation preps, and more presenting. We looked at presenting with no notes, presenting without visuals, movement, structure, and smiling. it was totally tiring, but great fun.

I am a very open and friendly person, but it does seem that when I am concentrating on remembering my presentation I forget to smile as well. Too much for the brain cells.
So I am going to find a large and stick it up at the back of the room in future whenever I have to present, and hopefully it will make me smile.

so, I have just had my 3 days in the UK on business. It was my first trip back to the UK since February, and despite the crime and the litter, it does me good to go back now and then.
The people are so friendly, at least outwardly. Here in Switzerland no one will strike up a conversation, or engage in a bit of witty banter. In the UK, especially outside of London, people chat, they comment in queues, they are friendly in restaurants and bars. I understand the humour, and don't have to think what I want to say and translate it before I can ask anything.
It is good for the soul.
Prices look cheap too, as long as I don't multiply them by 2.5 to get to swiss francs
The airport security is horrendous though. It took ages to check in for my return flight, and then ages to get through security to the departures with all the checks that we only had one piece of hand luggage each, and no liquids. Kids were crying in the queues, mothers were harrassed. Dads were nowhere to be seen! The joys of air travel
Now I am back, the kids want to visit Scotland sometime. Maybe in the autumn holiday. Are the midges gone by then???

A friend sent me this on the email this morning, so apologies if you have read it.- I thought it was very apt

60 Minutes Correspondent Andy Rooney (CBS) apparently said on TV:

"As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:

A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night and ask, "What are you thinking?" She doesn't care what you think. If a woman over 40 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do, and it's usually more interesting. Women over 40 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it. Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated. Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 40. Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 40 is far sexier than her younger counterpart. Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off that you are a jerk if you are acting like one. You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her. Yes, we praise women over 40 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed, hot woman over 40, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year old waitress. Ladies, I apologize. For all those men who say, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?", here's an update for you. Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage. Why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire pig just to get a little sausage! "

Not for long though. I am going to the Uk on business for 3 days tomorrow, so won't be around.
I have an awful feeling that I am going to miss loads of posts, cos some of my friends are rahter prolific in their posts. Thankfully not all of them though.
I hope to catch up on the weekend, so wish you all well until then

Today was the last service for our Vicar. He and his wife fly to Chile on Wednesday. It all seems to have gone really quickly, and the final service was quite emotional. Afterwards we had a barbeque to say goodbye, and the Sun shone, and it was really nice. Even my family came along, which is incredible.
Living abroad, and being part of an international community means that people are always arriving and leaving again. It is one of the pluses and minuses. We gain from new friendships and new ideas, but then there is sadness when a friend leaves again. Some people, who have been here a long time, and have been through this process many times, have said that they don't make friends with non-lifers as it were. They don'twant to invest in a friendship, only for it to end again.
Personally I think that is sad, and too restrictive. Everyone brings something to our lives, and it would be even harder for the new people arriving if we all thought like that and didn't make friends.

Any Vicars interested in a posting to Berne, contact the Bishops office in London. See you soon maybe

Stephi's blog seems to no longer exist. I didn't agree with her views, but she was up there in the top blogs, so it seems odd.
Anyway, the reason I was looking for her blog was to see if she was blogging about the German woman who has been kidnapped in Afganastan Kabul http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6952990.stm

Would it be unfair of me to suggest that there are 2 parties at fault here, other than the kidnappers of course:
Firstly the woman, and any foreigner in Afganistan, Iraq, etc, where law and order is non existent should be fully aware of the risks they are taking, and either not go, go at their own risk, or take full precautions, which does not include sitting in a cafe in Kabul with just your husband for protection
And the second is the German Government. They pay ransoms, their people get kidnapped. The German engineers in Iraq for example were presumably getting really well paid for the risks. No one made them go, but they get kidnapped, the German government pays to get them back.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4969204.stm
So Terrorists know that kidnapping Westerners is one way of getting more funds, particularly German nationals.
There are no easy answers, but I feel sorry for this woman. She was working for a Charity, not getting a huge wage like the Engineers, but now she has been kidnapped, like so many before her. And it won't end.

One man in China decides to save a little money by using some old paint up. He mixes the old in with the new, and sends it to his customer thinking no one will notice. But this customer manufactures toys for one of the biggest Toy manufacturers in the world, and the paint contains Lead.
That small amount of Lead is picked up in the testing by the Toy Manufacturer, which triggers an international Recall of affected products, as well as a temporary suspension of all deliveries from the Toy factory in China. The owner of the Toy factory, who has been manufacturing for this company for 15 years is so ashamed, he commits suicide. The factories close, 5000 poor chinese workers must look for new work.
And all because of one man

makes you think doesn't it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/6948274.stm

We collected our youngest from Theatre camp yesterday. She had had a great time, and the 25 participants put on a great show for us at the end.
However in the car driving down the hill she uttered 4 little words that strike dread into many a parents heart

"I have become vegetarian"

Apparently she had seen into the inner workings of a farm nearby, and she had been appalled by the treatment of the animals. Now we live also in the countryside, and she has visited farms with school, but she would not be swayed. It is bad enough that she doesn't like many vegetables or salad and is coeliac to boot, so no meat too will be a challenge.

My eldest went through a phase of vegetarism at a smiliar age, but has moved back to some meats now. I myself was Vegetarian when we first moved to Switzerland, but way back then vegetarism was seen as something very strange in this farming country. Our first month we were in a hotel, courtesy of my husbands firm. The only vegetarian option on menus was "Gemuseteller" which translates as a plate of vegetables, which is what it was. Nicely presented, but not exactly inspiring, and not for every night!

So I abandoned vegetarism at that point as well, but i can sympathise with my youngest. Just got to dust off the old cookbooks I suppose

20:20 vision is something I am not blessed with. So I have been thinking about laser treatment on my eyes. I hear it is cheap and good in Turkey. But before taking the plunge, I went along to our local centre here today for a free test.
Apparently my eyesight is so bad, I am on the limit for treatment. The girl tried to persuade me that lens implants would be a better option.
I am wondering if she is on commission.
So, for laser treatment here, using the latest state of the art methods, it costs about Sfr 4900 per eye, that is about £2000 per eye to you
For lens implant it is Sfr 5900 per eye!
In Turkey it is apparently €500 per eye. That is an amazing difference, and I do wonder how that can be.
Of course everyone here doesn't trust the Turks, so I am not sure what to do.
So anyone done it?

I see the papers in the UK have finally picked up on the missing child case here in Switzerland and the possible connection to the Madeleine case. I blogged about this a week ago, and there has been nothing in the Uk media at all.
Poor little Switzerland, happenings here rarely rate a mention elsewhere.
The man who took Ylena, and this has been proved from DNA in his van, is suspected of a string of disappearances in the 80's. Once he left for Spain, all such cases stopped, and there has not been a single case of a child vanishing since, well until Ylena last week.
His widow is being questioned by police, and is linked to some Sect in Spain that was accused of child abuse.
At least kids are now safe from Von Aesch - the perpetrator here, but it is a shame he killed himself without leaving any clue as to where Ylena might be.

An englishman showed up a year ago in Mannheim not knowing his name or where he had come from. He is now living in a German home, still unable to remember anything about himself, but weaving into his life all that he hears about.
The Mannheim police are making a last ditch attempt to identify him, so if you are missing a apparently well-educated well spoken guy, about 60 then check out this story

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,494049,00.html

A new political party has been formed in Bern for the poor downtrodden male of the Species.
Apparently it was formed via meetings at the local open air swimming pool, which presumably doubles as party HQ. They state that they have nothing against women, it is just they feel put upon in the workplace, feel they are unfairly treated in divorce settlements and begurdge the fact that women don't have to do military service, whereas men do
So the worm has turned. I showed the article to my male assistant, and fortunately he laughed. so i think he is not feeling too overburdened and discriminated against.D

I see there are reports of more sightings of little Madeleine. The thing is, if these sightings are reported on the news, then the kidnappers will know as well, and will go underground with her. Why do the police release this sort of information? It strikes me that all element of surprise is being removed from this investigation.

It is Friday. most have gone home for the afternoon, but not me. It is month end close time again and my filing tray is overflowing. So, no more looking around blogland. I will get some filing done, and then I am going home.
Tomorrow we have friends coming for dinner, and Sunday I am in Church, so the weekend is going to disappear pretty quickly. On Monday our youngest is off to a Theatre camp for the week, no mobile telephones allowed, so I am not sure how she will cope. Need to find time to pack her bag for that as well.
Have a good weekend

On Tuesday here in Switzerland a pretty blonde 5 year old disappeared after being at the swimming pool for lessons. Today the body of a 67 year old man was found in a car. He had killed himself after shooting at another man in the woods earlier in the day. In the same area items belonging to the missing child were found, so police are assumming a connection.

They are still searching for the child, but what particularly struck me was that this 67 year old man - a Swiss man, had until recently lived in Spain. Spain is not so far from Portugal where Madeline went missing, but maybe it is just coincidence.

August 1 is the official birthday for Switzerland. It is a public holiday, and the Swiss enjoy themselves with friends and family and grilling and then tonight letting off fireworks. The local kids have already started practising, much to the dismay of our cats!
I had to go to the office this morning, as it is month end close regardless. The train was full of families instead of commuters. Babies were crying. I think I prefer a regular day.
The families were carrying picnics and sunchairs, and umbrellas, which looked fun.
Tonight our village will host an official party. Speeches, yodelling, the national anthem, fireworks, and a free sausage each if we show up - what an offerD

Usually it rains on August 1, typical Bank holiday, so it is nice that this year the sun is shining, but I always tend to feel a little bit more foreign on this day of Swissness. Still, tomorrow it will be over for another year, and we can all go back to work.

I have heard that is also Yorkshire day, not sure why tho.