Multiple Entries

26.12.2007

I actually spent Xmas alone, yes I know…how sad, but it was not that bad. I watched movies online (I am legend, blow, sex and the city– don’t ask, I think depression!) and that occupied my day plus calling home. Today I was back at work only to receive an email that I should come back on the 6th Jan 08 – don’t ask!!

23.12.2007

I went to Geneva today, I was not going to work as usual but rather meeting someone for drinks, imagine I traveled 1h46min just to have a drink, anyway on my way back I decided to be polite and have a conversation with the guy I was sitting next to in the train, which is very unusual here because people don’t even greet each other, individualism a friend of mine calls it. Anyway by accent I immediately knew he was from north America, I did not want to assume that he was from the US because Canadians hate being mistaken as coming from the US.

We talked about business (he’s an engineer for aircraft engines – don’t remember the exact position), compared cultures with the guy (he’s mixed race) and evaluated the Swiss culture – funny how most foreigners I’ve met have a one liner i.e. ‘people here are so hostile if you can’t speak\understand the language’, I guess I should get an English – French and English – German dictionary, I am not giving up that easily, part of this experience is cultural understanding.

Have I mentioned that pedestrians rule the roads here (you just waltz into the pedestrian crossing and a car will stop and wait), try that in downtown Johannesburg – you will be minced meat! and that old people are so active – too active actually! My goodness some snail around town like there is no tomorrow and don’t forget when you cross the road here you look out for the tram, bus, bicycle, car and people, now imagine an old lady crossing the road with all those objects in mind, even I get confused because they drive on the other side of the road. In the evening when I got off the tram going to my flat, there was an old woman (she had a walking stick and looked fragile, so I would guess she is well over 70 years) who just crossed the road when pedestrians were supposed to stop – a tram and a car were actually hooting at her, I was paralyzed with fear and some people I was standing with were calling her to come back, weather she could not hear anymore or just plainly ignored us only she knows.

16.12.07

I love this country’s transport system, I can move around with ease because of the ‘on time’ trains, buses, and trams. On Thursday I took, with ease, a 1h30 train to Winterthur for team building which was something useful, learned more about the people I work with than 2 weeks ago when I landed and also got to know the people in the Winterthur local committee where it was interesting and a necessity to question the evolution of an organization and the people’s capacity to handle the change and still be able to deliver on the relevance. It was deep!!

When you are a visitor or on contract in a certain country, you want to find out about the culture, land-scape, the history and the people, you make sure that all your weekends are booked! Today we i.e. me, Ivo (Chairperson of AIESEC in Switzerland [AiS]) and Jeroen (Organizing Committee President of Career Days) went on a trip to Grindelwald (1034 m high) – a beautiful place where tourists and locals go to ski. There is also a mountain called Jungfraujoch (UNESCO world heritage site) which is called the top of Europe because it is 3454 m / 11333 Ft high above sea level, I gotta tell you the place is AMAZING, steep in price when I converted to Rands but certainly worth it - I can’t explain it you have to experience it for yourself.

05.12.07

My first offical day on the job today – wooo hooooo!

…. My flight from Jozi to Athens was not so entertaining, since I forgot all my novels in the car that brought me to the airport; I thought the movies in the flight would be ok, then sadly for 9 hrs I was made to watch some ancient movie of witches with no sound (apparently the flight had a sound problem)! I needed the alcohol to help me sleep but then my doctor's voice was banging at the back of my mind – so I lip-read the movie to the end. Then I took a 3hrs flight from Athens to Geneva, thinking how tasty a meal I would be for the Mediterranean sharks if the aircraft were to crash because I can't even swim to save myself.

Today is my first day on the job; I took a 1h46 train from Bern to Geneva, and then found ourselves in the wrong UN building (I should have asked for a Swiss tour guide and not Slovak – who hesitated to ask for directions even though he is clearly lost!), I am well dressed but clearly a rapid change from summer to winter is a bit too much coz my mouth was starting to freeze and I had difficulty in pronouncing words, so I kept quiet until we finally found the right building after an hour and my guide `gaan-ìng aan` about how this is not so cold.