If you are looking for an interesting activity to do with family and friends at the weekend, then a trip to La Maison du Gruyère may be just what you had in mind.
Every Sunday between the 21 December 2014 and 29 March 2015, this popular cheese-making dairy (fromagerie) in Pringy, famous for producing Gruyère AOP, will demonstrate how cheese can be made using a wood-burning fire located within one of its outbulidings, the Chalet de la Confrérie. The public will have a chance to see all steps in the production process, right from the moment milk is poured into a cauldron, through to its final transformation into cheese more than two hours later.
Taking place between 12h30 and 15h00, the free demonstration will also provide visitors, both young and old, with a wonderful opportunity to taste “le petit lait”, “le cailler”, and the delicious Gruyère AOP cheese in its most popular forms: doux, mi-salé and salé. In very cold weather conditions, the cheese-making process may not be able to take place, so you are advised to ring the dairy before leaving home to check.
There are many services in this region designed to help expats integrate within their local communities – indeed many of them are listed in our Know-it-all passport guidebook! Networking groups, for example, provide a wonderful opportunity for people to meet others and make the most of their time living in this region as expats.
One networking organization, which is benefiting from the global popularity of social media platforms is InterNations. Set up in 2007 with the sole aim of making life easier for expats, InterNations now claims to be the largest expat social media platform in the world. With 1.4 million users, InterNations communities can be found in 390 cities across more than 195 countries – with 9 cities in Switzerland, including Geneva (about 15,000 members) and Lausanne (about 5,600 members). France also has a number of communities of which the two closest are in Lyon and Grenoble.
The best way to capture what InterNations does for expats is to give a brief overview of the services it provides for its members:
An opportunity to meet new people, be creative and learn a new skill has just arrived in Geneva, at the Galerie Branca in Eaux Vives.
Founded by local entrepreneur, Olivia Johnson Hilton, Meet & Make chic craft classes and workshops include short courses teaching a new skill such as sewing, knitting or fabric printing, as well as individual workshops focusing on customizing readymade objects. Open to those with all levels of craft experience, the workshops are designed around completing a specific project so that participants can meet new people, discover new skills, and take home something beautiful at the end.
Asked where she got the idea for her new creative classes, Olivia told knowitall.ch, "I first developed the concept for chic craft classes in London with my popular bachelorette party sessions, Pimp Your Pants, where participants would customise lingerie using rosettes and ribbons. Adapting the concept to Geneva, I have now decided to focus on a more family-oriented market with projects for 'your home, your little ones and yourself'. The aim of the workshops is also more evenly split between making, creating and meeting, with the transitional nature of Geneva expat life in mind."
Free Fr. 50.- voucher for all knowitall.ch readers who rent a bouncy castle!
Parties seem to be all the rage at the moment, and while many of our readers are happy to use the services of websites like Partybooker.ch, featured recently on our site (link when article is published), others simply don’t have the time to source entertainers and party suppliers themselves.
What they need is a company that will take on board all their party requirements, and put together a party package that is guaranteed to entertain their children and have their friends talking about it for months afterwards!
Couldn’t get enough of the summer? How about extending the holiday feeling by organizing a party with friends, family or colleagues? For many, that's easier said than done! Where can you go to find a different, fun and memorable venue? How do you go about booking the most appropriate, reliable and mouthwatering caterer? How do you pep up the event with an original animation or special decoration ?
These, and many more overwhelming questions, were raised by two entrepreneurial friends, Valérie Overdick and Katja Dutruy, when tasked with organizing a birthday party last year. This revealing experience convinced them both of the need to create a website that facilitates the organization of small to medium events. Their challenge was to make organizing an event fun and easy. Persuaded that sharing experiences, addresses and tips would save time and lead to a successful party, they set about collating many addresses, which would offer party organizers a large variety of options for all budgets. A year later, www.partybooker.ch was launched!
