Off To See The World

Well, between yesterday’s post and today, it seems like I’ve done a lot but at the same time I haven’t really done anything! I did speak too soon about the weather though… after a beautiful Saturday, it hasn’t stopped raining at all today. It’s a good thing I did get out a bit yesterday.

Anyway, so by the time I got off my lazy butt to go to this “Lake Parade”, the parade was already over and “Lake Sensation” had begun. Basically, it’s an outdoor DJ festival with about 15 stages along the lake. The majority of it was house music but there was one stage that was droppin’ old school stuff like B.I.G., 2pac and newer stuff like Nas, Mase, etc… basically, that DJ had an awesome playlist and needless to say, that’s where I spent most of my time.

Since, I rarely go out, I did take this opportunity to walk around a little. I passed a group of amazing percussionists which really made you want to just shake your groove thang… and so, I did… haha. I’m SO glad nobody knows me here (for those of you who don’t know, my “dancing” doesn’t resemble what people consider dancing…haha). It was a good time though. I also took the opportunity to see Geneva’s tourist attracting (the giant shooting water thing) up close…. really close. I guess if you get too close and the wind blows, you get SOAKED. So, as I was getting drenched, I took a picture.

It was a little depressing seeing everyone either with a significant other or a group of good friends… it made me feel like that creepy person who goes to the movies by herself……. I did, however, get kissed and groped by random people… which, I’m guessing, is one of the things they do at this festival? Ok, maybe not.. but the group that I (and many other people) walked through were very drunk and kissing and groping everyone. Oh, on that topic… there were so many drunk and high people all over the place… passed out on the ground, puking on themselves… it was quite the turnoff. All in all, it was an interesting experience. OH, I have an announcement to make: Ev is officially eating pork now. Yeah, I saw a hotdog stand yesterday and thought… “what the heck, I’m gonna do it eventually”. It was probably THE most expensive hot dog ever (5.50 Swiss Francs) but the Swiss/French have revolutionized the hot dog here…. It’s in a baguette!! Pretty darn tasty… mmmmm. Anyway, I munched on that as I walked back to the bus station (I almost missed the last bus back to Ferney!).

My Sunday was spent cleaning up, finishing some work for tomorrow, and attempting to make my mommy’s Faan Ke Daan. For those of you who were following me through my trip, you’ll know this but for those who don’t know, I love my mom’s tomato and egg dish… but as proven today, I will never be able to make anything like it. I was a valiant effort but I guess the real deal will have to wait until I get home. And now, I end my weekend… tomorrow starts week 5!

Oh, I just thought I’d add, I think I literally just peed myself a little because there’s a thunder storm right now and I don’t know if it’s possible but I think I was just struck by thunder (it felt like my insides exploded).

I’ll have to give France/Switzerland weather credit…. the weekdays for the past few weeks have sucked due to rain and what not… but I woke up this morning to a beautiful sunny day…. actually, I woke up at like 7am due to a pesky mosquito! I swear, I haven’t seen like any mosquitoes here at all… and of course, the one resident mosquito here finds me!

Anywho, the last couple days were pretty uneventful… the office was literally empty on Friday so I left an hour early. Funnily enough, since I had nothing to do, I actually did a lot of work at home…. I have no life. I really need to find either some friends or a hobby! Actually, speaking of which, I’ve started the process of posting pictures from my trip on a website. I have Countries beginning with A-C done at this point… still have a ways to go though. If you want the secret location, let me know.

As for today, it’s Saturday, so of course that means going down to the market, practicing my French and getting delicious food. I’m going to continue my dorky tradition of taking a picture of my Saturday find… so here they are (The first one is a a cheese place at the market, the second one is my Saturday purchases:

Now during my attempt to practice French at the market today, I came across the adventure of buying cheese. My French isn’t horrible… and I know petite means small… so when I asked for a small piece of cheese, I thought it was pretty straight forward. However, knowing the language here, doesn’t mean knowing the culture! This guy cut the BIGGEST piece of cheese for me… and when he handed it to me, he said, “petite fromage” or something like that… and sure enough, people around me were buying cheese by the brick (or so it seemed)… so I smiled and took it. But geez, I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish this! I guess I’ll now need to add this to my list… got the Gruyere Swiss this time around… hope its good!

Anyway, now I’m heading into Geneva to catch the Lake Parade or something like that… I thought I’d actually go and do something today. Hopefully it turns out good.

Man, Switzerland is beautiful but it seems to rain A LOT here. Drat.

Anyway, after a lovely weekend with family in Paris, it was time for my first duty travel! The field trip turned out really interesting. I was able to meet up with Charlie at the train station in Paris and headed up to a Biobanque in Amiens. Amiens is quite a small town just North of Paris. The streets are lined with neat red brick row houses and the town is built around a very interesting looking tower (shown below). Apparently, Amiens was leveled towards the end of the war and the architect who replanned the city wanted to use what appeared to be a Stalin inspired architecture… luckily, the city ran out of money and only the center of the town looks like that. Charlie and I spent the day at the Biobanque checking out the facilities and doing all that work stuff. The people in lab coats, pipettes, centrifuges, etc. was sooo cool. It kind of reminded me of doing the gel electrophoresis in high school… so exciting. I’m such a nerd. But really, it was a great experience.

After all that fun, Charlie and I made our way back to the train station to head back to Paris… it was a bit funny at the train station… we looked like kids in a candy store when the trains came by. Our eyes wide open and smiling ear to ear… they came by so fast! It was a little exhilarating… heh heh. Ok, so I’m REALLY a dork. Psh. Anywho, the ride back went smooth and we had an “official” pick up with a little sign :).

Tuesday was ok. Went to work as normal… but it was a deep thought day. I went to lunch with some people and came to the conclusion that I am in VERY weird place right now. I don’t mean that Geneva is weird … I mean my mindset is just way off in space. I posted earlier that I had been slapped with a “Happy Stick” and can’t help but be content with what I have, where I am, who I am… At the same time though, I have a strange feeling. Like a vortex or something… time seems to be passing by so quickly yet it also feels slow. I mean, the day is finished before I know it but I don’t find myself wishing there were more hours in a day. I feel like I’m working hard at work but I don’t feel stressed or exhausted. Is my state of contentment causing me to stand still and smell the roses while the rest of the world passes me by? Have I lost my drive?

I feel like I’m still driven but my destination has changed to one that doesn’t conform with society. The lunch today made me remember the competition and pressure to “succeed” while going through post secondary… and yes, I think it was an important part of my life. I actually think I learned more about failure than success at University… I mean, I finished but the journey was a ride. K, I’m straying off into space again…

My point is, people always say you have to be able to keep up with the fast paced world to be “successful”… but if one can find a career that fulfils their desire, for example, to change the world, and doesn’t have a high position or high pay, are they still successful? I think if you go home and mope about it, then that’s not success but if you go home to a happy family and don’t complain about work, then you are more successful the some of the richest people in the world. With that said, it has now dawned on me that I don’t have a fancy degree, I don’t have a high paying job, I don’t have a family to come home to… yet, I am frickin’ happy…. haha. Man, this blog entry was all over the place… random thoughts diarrhea… sorry bout that!

ANYWAY… last night, I tried to socialize a bit and went out for fondue with some people from work. It was a great time but man, Switzerland is expensive… I think I’ll stick with oatmeal, peanuts, and tuna… haha. I will have to admit the fondue here is MUCH better than ANY fondue in Edmonton… so the experience was worth it… and I am starting to feel a little less like an outsider.

Yadayadayada… now another hump day has passed… and I find myself just catching up with my thoughts and what not. Still working on setting up a website to put my random thoughts on.. will keep you posted…. if you’re still reading. Ciao Ciao.

Man, what a heck of a day… stupid buses.

Let me recap the past few days though… Thursday was pretty uneventful… worked all day, then went to some “Celebration of the Handover of Hong Kong to China” thing after work. It was another one of those occasions where I felt totally out of place… there were a lot of people in suits and all that jazz and there I was in my etnies, pants and polo shirt. I mean, I was eating crackers next to the “Ambassador of Jamaica” or something like that. I mean, it was really cool to be able to go to a function like that but man, I love my backyard bbqs compared to catered affairs.

Then, on Friday… worked as usual. It was actually a really fun day… aside from working and taking in a French lesson at lunch, I got to go to HQ to work out some paperwork stuff and hang out with my co-workers a bit more. We actually kind of had an ordeal where we were supposed to pick up an intern from the airport and kind of lost her…. oops! But everything worked out fine and it was really entertaining since everyone I work with is fairly humorous. Guess you had to be there.

Today was a different story… in town (Ferney), it was Fete de Ferney! So market day was super market day and there was live music and stuff… I went fairly early in the morning because I had to catch an airplane in the afternoon…. little did I now, Fete De Ferney must have been so exciting that the noon buses decided to skip out on picking people up from the bus stop! Well, i don’t know if that’s actually the reason but for some reason, the buses at noon and 12:30 never showed up at the bus stop… I would have been screwed for catching my flight if it wasn’t for my supervisor/boss/hero, Charlie, who drove all the way to the bus stop to take me to the airport! I checked in ok and got on the plane with like a minute to spare…. thought that was all over with… BUT there would be more bus troubles.

In Paris, I was to take the Air France bus to the Arch de Triomphe…. apparently there is a strike going on so that bus wasn’t running! Soooo, I caught the bus that went to Montparnesse instead…. HOWEVER, for some reason, the road was closed so everyone got dropped off at Gare De Lyon instead… sigh, so, I called my uncle and made my way through the subway to some other place… basically, it was just a pain in the neck all afternoon. But now, I am safe in Paris. I have a field trip for work here on Monday but they flew me out today since I have family here anyway. Oh, I guess they don’t call it a field trip when you are working… it’s called “Duty Travel”. Either way, I’m in Paris due to work… that’s pretty cool.

Anywho, I’m pooped now but I will post about my field trip when I get back to Switzerland.

Well, Wednesday has come and gone again… and I’m still here to blog about it so I guess things are going well in France/Geneva. I attended my first meeting here this week… it was almost 2 hours! I think if it were actually an I.T. meeting, I would have fallen asleep but I think the fact that I get to learn about different things keeps it interesting. I’ve been learning all about research technologies and developments related to global efforts to combat diseases of the poor and disadvantaged… it’s such a different setting than anything I’ve worked with. I wish I had more work experience I could bring more to the table here. I look forward to seeing where this opportunity may take me though.

Oh, I found a cheese that I really like here. It’s called Tomme… or something like that. It’s not nearly as strong as some of the other one’s I’ve tried. So far, I think I’ve tried, Compte, Etorki, Tomme, Brie, Mimolette, and some Blue stuff… I like Brie at home but out here, it tastes like eating dirty socks… yes, I’ve eaten dirty socks before. I still haven’t tried any wine I really don’t like wine so I don’t think I will try any. What else can I try in France or Switzerland? I already know the chocolate is delicious and I’m trying to stay away from it so I’m not as big as a house when I get back.

Ummm, other than that, not too much to report… it’s very cold today…. This blog will be moving locations soon since it is supposed to be a “travel blog” and I’m not exactly traveling anymore. So, for those of you still reading, who want the address of the new home of my thoughts and doings, then let me know and I’ll let you know the new secret location :).

I don’t know what it was today but I just didn’t seem all there. I seemed to have brain farts very often and spaced out a few times… Luckily there was a 2 hour meeting in the afternoon so I had a change of pace and I learned a whole lot about what my division does. It’s a huge change hearing about research projects and developments as compared to billing systems and stuff… but there are the same problems with hierarchy and needing a million signatures to get things done.

Anyway, this weekend was wonderful… of course there was the Saturday market but I didn’t pick anything up this time around. I just went for the walk. I didn’t do too much on Saturday… I went into Geneva since there were a bunch of Summer festivities going on but didn’t find too much… I didn’t want to stray too far from the bus station since I had to go meet my aunt at the airport. So yes, now my aunt is back so I won’t be totally alone anymore… yay! We went into Geneva on Sunday and went around the lake and botanical gardens…. it was such a clear and beautiful day. We also drove up Mt. Saleve… you could see Geneva and on one side of the mountain and France on the other… and a great view of Mont Blanc. I would show you the picture but for some reason, my SD card isn’t reading anymore 🙁 … it says I have to reformat… but if I do that, I’ll lose all my pics! Anyone know what I can do?

I think I’m going to have to call it a night… yawn

Awww… I’m all teary-eyed right now… but I’ll tell you why in a little bit.

Last night, there was the CRAZIEST thunderstorm here… it was just DUMPING rain and the lightning and thunder was tremendous. I barely got any sleep because it literally sounded like huge trees cracking next to my ear and the lightning was so constant and close that I thought I was going to be struck dead…. Even at 6:30am, when I normally get ready for work, it was pouring. I wasn’t about to hold up my little metal umbrella and swim to the bus stop so I actually emailed my coworkers to say I’d be late and wait out the storm. As things always happen after you send an email, the sky seemed to clear up a little and I was able to get out to work only a half hour later than usual. Seemed like such a bad start to the first day of summer though.

At work, I got a call from my Aunt and mom… both workaholics… they were wondering how, and what I was doing and my mom actually wanted to see if there was anything she could help with! I mean, I love my momz and that’s great that she wants to help but they call it a HOLIDAY for a reason (oh, for those of you who don’t know, my aunt and mom, along with some other family are on a Cruise in Italy). So, I told them I’d send them some info on what I was working on… geez. Work was good today… I actually felt like my old self, pounding away at the keyboard…. I even got to celebrate a nerd moment with my supervisor, Charlie. I don’t know if he was acting but he seemed to be happy about the nerdy achievement too. I don’t think he wanted to admit it because he probably thinks nerdism is contagious… he laughed at how I set up all my colored pens the other day. hehe… ok, I am a super nerd. However, I find it weird that I am working with people who are like 100000 times smarter than me, all with their PhD’s, and they are calling me a nerd??? Anyway, on the way home today, there was some delightful music playing in the square in Ferney… I tapped my foot and bobbed my head in that “white-guy-dancing” kind of way before feeling slightly retarded and made the walk back to the apartment. The only thing about a night of torrential rain, is that the grazing field for the cows smells sooooo rank after… that was not a lovely walk home.

Anyway, this evening was awesome. First, I got an email from a special someone I met in Thailand… he is part of a triad of people (to which I belong) who wanted to change the world. Me and these two other people are worlds apart physically but something about that night of philosophical conversation stuck with me. It’s like we keep each other’s spirits high to try and change the world. So yeah, it was great to hear from him… then my oldest friend in the world sent me a message saying that she discovered that I was still blogging and I brought some happiness to an otherwise shitty day 🙂 . So, here I was, feeling all warm and fuzzy…. when I started to think about how I still haven’t changed the world. Which then led me to remember helping the little kids in Ethiopia… so, I picked up the phone and called 2 of my favorite little munchkins. First, I called Abel… sweet little Abel… he made me a little booklet with pictures, a letter, some games, and a small Amharic dictionary when I was out there… him and Mattius are best friends so I called Mattius right after… both of them cried as we conversed about how the weather was and when I would be returning to Ethiopia to visit them. Both of them made me cry tears of joy and they made me promise to write to them and they will write to me… it really just brought me back to being in Ethiopia and what a great time I had volunteering there.

So, I thought I’d leave today’s blog with a couple pics from Ethiopia….The first one (starting from the left) is of Abel, me and Mattius. The second on is of Abel and I… and the last 2 are 2 of my favorite pictures… these two kids didn’t really speak any english so I didn’t get to know them but they were adorable… and even if I didn’t get to know them it was still difficult leaving them!

Well, Wednesday has come again… nothing much to report.

It was eerie when I got to work today because the parking lot was empty and there was nobody in the office… i thought I came in on a holiday but eventually everyone came. I had my usual French practice with Ali, the shuttle bus driver, and now I’m eating dinner. Unlike some of the other meals I’ve been making, tonight, I’m eating porridge…. it’s not bad…. but it’s not really great either. I think tomorrow, I’m going to have to go to the grocery store. Porridge for dinner just doesn’t seem right.

I think I’m going to have to get mom to send me a care-pack (Some kraft dinner would be great…. you can’t get that out here!)….. Mom?

Well, another Monday has come and gone. Work goes good… I think I got most of the cobwebs out and there is a little flicker in my brain. I’ll be back into the groove of things soon… Also, I’m surprised I’ve managed to keep my spending down to a minimum… I’ve been packing lunch, only buying food at the market or if I reallly need it, and not doing anything that costs money. I think at some point, I’m going to have to loosen the purse strings a little bit or I’m going to get reallllly bored out here. Actually, one of my co-workers has been giving me a heads up on bus passes, and places to go that most people don’t see so I’m going to try and check out those things… one of these days.

As for this past weekend… I didn’t actually do much of anything… and it felt great. I think the only thing I did force myself to do was go for a jog, and that didn’t feel so great. I only lasted about 12 minutes and today my quads feel like they are broken. I guess that means I’m really out of shape and I needed that jog. Hopefully I can do that again sometime. I think the shuttle driver offered to go running with me on Sunday… either that or he said I’m sitting on a piece of cheese… yeah, that’s how good my French is. Nah, I caught the words courir avec toi, and Dimanche… so I think that’s what he said. Either way… I said Oui… so I guess I’ll find out. Ummm, that’s about it from this end of things…. my aunt and mom just called but they don’t seem to be able to hear me as I yell “Hello” back into the phone… hopefully they call back.

Humdidum… OH, I have to add the picture of my lunch from the weekend… I like to call it my work of art… man, I have no life. Somebody come to Switzerland to keep me company. Oh, I almost forgot to mention… so I went to meet a tattoo guy here in Ferney after work today… gave him my design… it would cost me 200 EUROS to get it done!! I think that’s more than I’ve paid for all of my tattoos put together… so, looks like I will just wait until I come home to do it. ****OK, I just had to add this now… (it’s about 3 hours since I posted I think)… I just got an email back from the tattoo guy that I said no thank you to… it’s the creepiest email ever… pretty much, he offered to do my tattoo if I help him clean his house……………………

Well, it’s officially been a week of work out here… and what do I think? It’s pretty neat.

It kind of dawned on me yesterday that I walk from one town (I found out I actually live in a town called Prevessin) to another town (Ferney-Voltaire) and then I catch a bus that takes me from France to Switzerland… so I do go from a town to another town to another Country and back again every work day. It’s neat to think about it that way.

Work itself is neat… I’m pretty much the only IT person there so nobody really understands it when I cheer when I figure out a stored procedure or speak in nerd language. However, it does allow me to have creative freedom with what I do. So, I just sit there getting the rust out of the gears while the intoxicating tunes of Jill Scott, Lauren Hill, India.Arie, Digable Planets (currently on my mp3 player) massage my brain back into shape. I’ll admit, my programming doesn’t seem as sharp as it used to be but it’s coming back to me now. The people I work with are a hoot too… everyone’s a character and since everyone is from a different Country, they all have such interesting characteristics and accents. I must say, one of the things I like most about being here is that it’s like home, where it is more multicultural. The other day, on the bus home, the couple in front of me were speaking Kiswahili, the couple behind me were speaking Amharic, a small group of students were speaking chinese, and the rest of the people I could hear were speaking French… It was like having people from different corners of the world all crammed into this sardine can on wheels. I love just thinking about things like that on the bus rides. One of these days, I’m going to bust out my Kiswahili with somebody on the bus… I’ve learned quite a bit of it since I was in Tanzania.

Anyways, I just got home from the Saturday market in Ferney… picked up some tomatoes, strawberries, and of course Bread :). I think I’ll just take a walk around the countryside today. I’ll leave you a couple pictures of food… since that’s all that I’ve really been involved with out here.. hehe. Oh yeah, for all you haters out there, I’m slowly becoming un-vegetarian now… started eating fish (as seen in the picture) and I plan to be back to fully omnivorous before the end of summer. So you can stop calling me a hippie now 🙂