On the night of the 1st of May instead of our typical dinner we had instead an exotic variety of Sudanese food to choose from.  The more adventurous boarders chose from a large palate of foods, dips and salads. There were vegetable fritters, fried plantains (fried bananas), some roast chicken legs, rice and a variation of salads and coleslaw.

Although I prefer other dishes it certainly is pleasant to have the school provide a diverse selection of food stuffs from all over the globe. Food really is a testament to how our culture varies from place to place much like music, art and much much more…

By Casper KO

The Artwork featured in our previous blog posts has now been installed.

It brightens up our hallways, is unique, interesting and gives the boys some pride in their House.

My Day in Versoix

by Zen Sashida

I’ve always wanted to have a nice walk down the road and explore Versoix, but I never really had time to do so. However, today I had the perfect opportunity just to go outside, stretch, feel the air and explore with one of my closest friend Maxim, who used to be my roommate in grade 6. It was just fantastic hanging out with my best friend for the first time in a while as we now have different types of friends, so we don’t get to see and actually have conversations with each other very often. We first went down the road and explored the forest. In the forest, we sat on the bench and briefly talked about our life and shared what we usually do on the weekend. We then walked down to the lake where is was full of people sun bathing, as it was very hot yet not too bothering. It was just an excellent day and really proved to me that even without going to Geneva, Versoix is big enough to have fun, if we stay with our best friends. I am looking forward to having weekends like this again.

A Visit to the Morges Tulip Festival by Casper Ko

Found in the Park of Independence, Morges Tulip Festival is an event spanning 6 weeks, something that all can enjoy for it is free and easily accessible. Every Spring the festival can be found on the edge of Lake Geneva. It is a vibrant display of 120,000 tulips from 300 species of the beautiful flower.

We arrived in a parking lot to the West of the Park. From there we passed through a playground and a wide, shallow river with mallards and other waterfowl. Upon crossing the bridge we were granted our first sight of the Tulip Festival. Before us lay a vista of colors and scents that assails one’s nose. From the soaring evergreens to the main attraction;  the tulips of course! Its quite intriguing how diverse a genus of a plant, it can be. I came here with the conception of your typical red tulip, an iconic image that I got from the Dutch tourism industry. Instead I saw flowers of all colors and shapes. From complex arrays of pink, red and yellow to flowers of burgundy it is near impossible to captivate the medley of flora present. The Park’s location also adds to the atmosphere of the festival. When we look across the lake we are greeted with a view of the Swiss Alps. At this time of year the tallest peaks are still powdered with snow but not for much longer.

Something that wasn’t expected though. There was some sort of Turkish event. I failed to learn much more but it consisted of a choir of people singing in what I’ll assume is Turkish due to the strings of Turkish flags that were tied here and there across the area. There were many a food stands that sold things from brooches and jewelry to churros and kebabs.

I think that events like these really do bring communities together. The Tulip Festival resembles much of the Christmas Market In Montreal that I had the pleasure of visiting last year.

By Casper Ko

This weekend we had Swimming, Horse Riding, Tennis, Crossfit, Art Workshop, Golf, Book club, Stretching and the Tulip Festival.

Visit to the 2018 Festichoc in Versoix.

On Sunday, March 18, we had the opportunity to attend the annual chocolate festival called “Festichoc” in Versoix. We could see the chocolate represented in many fun and varied ways, the truth is that it is worth it.

by Sergio

On 17 March one of the available activities was boxing and I was one of the students, who decided to do it. In the morning the weather was not really good and it was quite cold, so doing sport was a right thing to do in order to start the day properly. Our coach was French and did’t speak much English but still we were understanding his tasks. The training was intensive: we worked on our stamina and fitness level. A few students boxed in the ring, of course not in full strength and without aggression. Overall we had a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to doing this fascinating activity again

By. Dmitry Stolyarov

On Tuesday night we had our annual Talent Show. A great event which sees the Houses compete against each other to impress the Judges. On the panel we had Mr Usher, Mr Robinson, Mme Salamin, Mme Eleonora, Mme Leti and Mr Bearblock.

Leman 1 did a comedy sketch, which demonstrated a day in the life of a Boarder. We had 5 students demonstrating some of the things we do during the day, however their arms where not their own, but a house mates behind them. It was very funny and the boys did very well.

Overall we came 4th! Which was a great result. Currently this puts us 2nd in the House Competitions.

This week we have had a wonderful downfall of snow which has made the school and surrounding area very picturesque.

But it also allows us to have some fun!!

On Saturday night we had our Boarding Christmas Dinner. This was a magnificent event held in the prestigious Kempinski Hotel. We had a scrumptious 3 course meal, along with a sushi table and crepes. We had a nice Dance afterwards along with the renowned Photo Booth. Everyone had a great time and dressed up well for it.

This month we had our Boarding Award Ceremony to celebrate some of the achievements made during 1st term. We acknowledged those in each House who showed outstanding enthusiasm, motivation, and involvement in the Boarding Activity program. We also had an award for Boarding Life, for those who exhibited all the qualities we would wish for in a global citizen and who are good role models through their actions within the boarding community.

From Leman 1, winning the Activity Awards were Nikon and Dmitry. These boys enthusiastically participate in the afternoon activity schedule along with enjoying the sports facilities on offer during social time in the evenings. They also eagerly participate in the weekend program, taking advantage of the trips on offer or the activities offered..

Winning the Boarding Life award were Amirreza and Oscar. Both these boys are polite, respectful, and courteous to both their peers and staff. They are held in high regards amongst their peers.. They are happy and willing to assist the House Parents and often take on extra responsibilities within the house.

We are proud to share with you the amazing results of our Boys football team results. The students in the photo below came Second in the 2017 edition of the European School Sports League Football tournament which took place in Eindhoven last week.

We are very proud to say that Eduardo from our House made this team and represented CDL in the Netherlands last week. Well done Eduardo!!

Last night we were set with the challenge of carving a pumpkin. We had a number of students who wanted to try their artistic skills at doing this and finally Oscar and Arsham were selected from the drawings they put forward. Both boys spent a lot of time creating their designs and then we put both pumpkins to a vote with the rest of the House.

We decided to go for pumpkin carving in its purest form, a scary face which was intricately carved out.

We are doing very well in the House competitions, currently in first place. We hope our efforts this time will keep us up near the top.

These were some of the other House designs.

My name is Zen and I am the House Rep of Léman 1.  Earlier this week we had a House Competition against other Houses. We had to create a logo and motto for Léman. As I am the House Rep I wanted to contribute to Léman so I decided to share my idea.

I will start of explaining the motto which is Learn Achieve Experience Dream. If you read the first letter of each word it spells out LEAD. I took this idea from the school motto RISE, which stands for Respect, Internationalism, Spirit and Excellence. The reason why I chose LEAD is because we want to lead other Houses and be the role models for the Boarding Community.

For our logo, I first chose the shield shape that represents winning. I took the colour of the logo from College du Leman logo which is yellow, red and blue. The picture below is the Léman building. I also mentioned the motto in the logo so I could give a strong representation of the motto. Lastly, the icons I chose symbolise sport, education, internationalism, home and friendship.

As a result we came 6^th out of 15 which is a good start and I’m looking forward to increasing our position in the next completion.

By Zen SASHIDA

A chat with Boyuan (17, China- joined Jan 17)

What has been the best part of your time at CDL ?

After school activities. Huge variety of activities are included as part of the curriculum. Even on the weekend the school organise different events for us. Also, Saturday study club provide us a chance to study…. ?

What have you learnt about yourself while at CDL?

Honesty, skills and calmness. We do not just learn on the textbook, we learn how to be friends with each other and to be a humble person.

What are the good things about being at CDL?

Friendship and nice opportunities to study. We have a really good campus and teachers and staff. Delicious food and lots of after school activities.

What advice would you give to a new student?

Do what the House Parents ask you to do and be on time in the morning. Punctuality is important.

What will you miss most about CDL during the summer?

The Boarding House and the people. I personally stayed half a year and will miss everything in CDL during the summer.

A huge congratulations to the Class of 2017 who Graduated today.

From Léman 1 we had Abdulaziz, Anastas, Jo, Juxian, Murad, Nicolas, Pablo, Togrul, Yuriy and Vladimir.

You boys should be immensely proud of your efforts throughout your career in Collège du Léman. This day is met with profound happiness at your achievements and also sadness in saying goodbye to Collège du Léman. However, no matter what distance separates you from your ‘home from home’, you know it will forever be close in thought and memory. There are no goodbyes today, only a wave and a nod of acknowledgement of your time here to which you will always be part of the extended Collège du Léman family.

Another great week has passed at CDL and we have again managed to pack so many activities into our schedule.

We had Dmitry on the winning football team for CDL

We had some serious games of chess

Attempts at cooking….

A basket ball session with the local refugees

And of course lots of other activities such as tennis, horse riding, paddle boarding, golf, karting, and more …

We hope that everyone had a great holiday.

To start this fun term off, enjoy our game below.

It has been a great month and as usual lots and lots of things happening; Swimming, Horseriding, Basel excursion, Tennis, Art, Squash, Cinema outing, Alumni dinner, FIFA competition ……. and more.

The boys have been very active and here are a few of their photos.

Trip to Basel

Cinema Trip

Art

Football game vs Refugees

FIFA House Competition

Cooking in the House

During one of the Art Workshops, we had Leo trying some 3D Art Drawing.

Nearly as good as the professionals

We are pleased to announce that we came 3rd overall in the Talent Show Competition.

Hadi and Mahan amazed the crowd with some Mind Reading tricks. They picked random members of the audience and asked them to think of shapes and playing cards and then were able to show they had accurately predicted what had been chosen. They also had the help of the rest of the house as the ‘Masked Men’ who added some dramatics and mystic to the production.

The boys did well and should be really pleased with their efforts.

This month we had our Boarding Award Ceremony to celebrate some of the achievements made during 2nd term. We acknowledged those in each house which showed outstanding enthusiasm, motivation, and involvement in the Boarding Activity program. We also had an award for Boarding Life, for those who exhibited all the qualities we would wish for in a global citizen and who are good role models through their actions within the boarding community.

From Leman 1, winning the Activity Awards were Amirreza and Mohammadjavad. These boys enthusiastically participate in the afternoon activity schedule along with enjoying the sports facilities on offer during social time in the evenings. They also eagerly participate in the weekend program, taking advantage of the trips on offer or the activities offered..

Winning the Boarding Life award were Hadi and Zhaoxiong. Both these boys are polite, respectful, and courteous to both their peers and staff. They are held in high regards amongst their peers.. They are happy and willing to assist the House Parents and often take on extra responsibilities within the house.