Monte San Salvatore-1 © Milo Zanecchia 2017
It is possible that your next summer vacation will be spent closer to home than you previously thought! We've decided to take a virtual trip around Switzerland to help you get some ideas before you book your next hotel or Airbnb. The first in our series is the Lugano region.
Alessandra De Stefano, Media Relations Manager from Ente Turistico del Luganese, sent us an enthusiastic letter detailing many tempting activities and ideas for your next trip.
Naver Couture's sewing workshops are a wonderful way to be sociable and creative whilst having fun. We caught up with Nathalie Underhill to find out more.
Why did you start Naver Couture? What has been the inspiration?
I wanted to inspire people to get back to basics by teaching them how to sew for themselves, and by practising this great skill we learn to value and appreciate our clothes much more and at the same time build a conscious closet.
I run classes to help people build their own home sewn wardrobes, make alterations for a better fit and up-cycle second-hand clothing to promote circular fashion. Students of all levels come to see me. There are classes that follow a set program and others that enable students to work on their individual projects. I help my students to understand how the various machines work, how to overcome sewing technical issues, how to use, hack and adapt commercial patterns and to create unique made-to-measure garments.
We all know it's hard to find clothes that fit correctly if you are slightly outside the regular cookie-cutter size template, especially for petite, tall, curvy or larger women.
I really enjoy interacting with people and sharing my knowledge. Seeing people's confidence grow as they master the various skills is very rewarding. The camaraderie that builds up in the various workshops really makes it fun! The classes are in English or French and sometimes both so we get a good mix ideas and people.
Have you been working on this idea forever, or was it something that came to you recently?
I was trained as a Fashion Designer at the Rhode Island School of Art and Design and worked for fashion houses in the US, the UK, Belgium and Switzerland. With the arrival of my children I decided to set up my own business from home making made-to-measure garments, alterations and curtain-making. It was not until two years ago when I accepted to give a few private sewing lessons to a client who was very keen to learn herself that everything changed. I discovered a new passion of teaching and I am now actively teaching people of all ages and I love it.
Do you have questions about how to register for the 2020 elections? Would you like to get an early jump on receiving your ballot? What if you have never lived in the US? Or perhaps, you wonder if your absentee vote makes a difference in an election’s outcome?
An estimated 9 million Americans live abroad, and Switzerland is home to about 20,000. Few Americans exercise their right to vote while living outside of the US, but there are good reasons to make the effort. As the 2020 primaries are right around the corner, it’s a good idea to register as soon as possible. In fact, a good rule of thumb is to add voter registration to your annual New Year to-do list, as most states require you to register and request your ballot every year you intend to vote.
Will your vote make a difference?
Absentee votes have decided the outcome in several recent races for federal/gubernatorial office, including Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina (2016), Senator Maggie Hasson of New Hampshire (2016), and Ohio Rep. Troy Balderson (2018).
And, as always, your vote is your voice. If Americans abroad choose not to vote, then issues that directly affect them are not addressed by lawmakers. Double taxation is a perennial issue that many Americans would like to see modified, for example.
Who doesn't like a board game? One of my favorites is Scrabble, although I'm not very good at it. I have memories of my parents pulling out the dictionary and arguing about the meaning of the words (or rather whether the word was allowed). Somehow my mother was always right! When I heard that there was a new Scrabble group starting up in 2016, I jumped at the opportunity to meet with other like-minded people. I caught up with Aurea Fagel, the president of the Swiss English-language Scrabble Association (SESA) to talk to her about it.
Why did you start the Scrabble Association SESA?
After coming from a Scrabble Championship Tournament, Kévin Meng and I realized that there was no existing club or association in Switzerland that organize English Scrabble. Therefore we wanted to create the very first Swiss English-Language Scrabble Association (SESA) in the country to spur interest as well as discover and meet people who share the passion for the game. With the help of our dear friends (Dave, Vicky, Sue, Bill, Anne-laure, Jaqueline, Benoit, Hugo) we met and formed SESA one September evening in 2016. SESA is the official English Scrabble Association in the country, officially recognized by the Swiss Scrabble Federation as well as WESPA, the world governing body for English Scrabble.
Starting this week, Geneva is hosting the exhibition: God(s), instructions manual; an educational and artistic journey into the world of religions. A free exhibition for all audiences, where prestigious museum pieces, humble everyday objects, photos, videos, music and artistic installations converge. And even a play.
Dieu(x) modes d'emploi, an exhibition on religions that does not deal with theology or history, but rather with contemporary religious practice. It crosses the three religions of the Book (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), the Asian religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism) and animism, from Africa to Oceania and the Americas.
The exhibition presents religious experience, in its universal (its questions) and particular (its multiple practices) aspects, by approaching religion from a secular perspective. Both scholarly and artistic, God(s) instructions for use will reveal the great diversity but also the similarities that religious practices present through nearly 200 objects, collectibles and photographs, multimedia installations and interview recordings. A twenty-minute play performed at the heart of the exhibition completes the picture: written by the Belgian writer and filmmaker Philippe Blasband, and directed by Michel Kacenelenbogen, it will address the theme of religious violence.
At the time of its creation, the exhibition was validated by an experienced scientific committee chaired by the historian and essayist Elie Barnavi, Professor Emeritus of Modern Western History at Tel Aviv University and specialist in 16th century religious wars. Conceived under the direction of the Tempora company and the Museum of Europe, the exhibition aims to show the richness of the modes of expression of the faith, to inform about religious reality, but also to promote a climate of freedom of conscience and belief while strengthening knowledge of the various approaches to religious facts.
