A lot has happened...

So, I went on the two-day cheese tour of the area of Switzerland and France around Lac Leman, had a really good time, saw some incredible mountains, ate some really good cheese, and saw more of Switzerland in general, which is a really beautiful country, from what I've seen.
On the first day, Maryse and a friend of hers, Michael, for whose benefit we were taking this tour because he wants to become a cheese-maker, picked me up at Laconnex. We went to a small, traditional cheese-maker in the mountains above Gruyere, watched his demonstration, and afterward had lunch outside. The lunch was the most amazing fondue I have ever had, with bread and white wine, and it was perfect. After that, Michael managed to get a contact number for a traditional cheese-maker who might be interested in hiring him for a few months, and we called and he agreed to meet us later. So we headed down to Gruyere to check out how the classic Gruyere cheese is made in a much more modern way at their tourism center. That was not as interesting, but we did get to listen to an audioguide that was very entertaining, because it was told from the perspective of Cherry, the cow, who assured us of lots of strange facts in a high, slightly irritating voice. But still, it was all very interesting. Then we walked up to Gruyere village and castle, which I loved. It was super touristy, but absolutely beautiful. The castle was perfect, up on top of the hill, and there were amazing views in every direction. There was also the unexpected added bonus of a creapy-looking museum dedicated to aliens, and a man who had spent his life creating art about them. There was an alien-based cafe also, and all of the walls and chairs and decorations were skeletal and bizarre. There was an old woman sitting alone in one of the skeletal chairs and she looked so lost and out of place there, it was really unusual. So after Gruyere, we set out to find the man who Michael was interested in working for. When Maryse spoke to him on the phone, his strong accent made her think that he said he would be waiting for us at the end of the road in his skirt, and we spent quite a bit of time wondering what kind of person we were going to find at the end of the long, narrow road, winding up into the mountains. Instead, we found him with his Jeep, which in French sounds similar to "jupe," the word for skirt, so we figured that out eventually. It started to rain, a full out thunder storm, which was very impressive that high up in the mountains. We got into his Jeep, and he drove us up a long, muddy, stressfully steep, narrow and close-to-the-edge, dirt road which led to his families small house, perched high on the mountainside, almost at the top, where there was still snow in patches everywhere. The building held everything; their house, the barn for the cows and goats, and his place for cheese-making. They live there whenever the snow has melted enough to make driving up there possible. It was really incredible, unlike anything I had ever seen before. He and his wife and two sons were very friendly and welcoming, and we sat down with them and had tea and tasted some of their home-made cheese. They worked out the particulars of Michael working for him; issues with his visa, insurance, the amount of time he would be there, all of that. I haven't heard yet if everything worked out well, but I think it probably did. Michael was happy with the opportunity, and the cheese-maker was grateful for the offer of work. He said that not many people were looking to help on the small farms anymore. So we drove back down, and they agreed to talk again a few days later, to settle everything finally. Then Maryse, Michael and I set off in search of our hotel.
To be continued...