Happy lunar new year!

This morning, my department hosted a brunch to celebrate the lunar new year.  There was so much food, everything from dumplings to cupcakes, noddles, fruit salad and even wine (at 10:30am, at work!)  It was a good chance to get to know some of the other people in the department, and a chance for us interns to eat lots.  At one point, people even broke out dancing to Gangnam style. 

They had also posted all of the fortunes for the next year, the year of the horse.  I was born the year of the tiger, and it turns out the consultant I'm working with and my supervisor are also tigers.  Team tiger. Ha.

Here are my predicted fortunes for the year:

The Year of the Wood Horse, January 31, 2014 through February 18, 2015, holds the potential of a major, positive turning point for Tigers. Go with the flow of events and your luck will be strong.  Tiger's natural element is Wood. Wood energy encourages slow growth and collaborative efforts. Team projects will be fun and rewarding. Expansive Horse and powerful Tiger are great friends. Horse years demand action and the courage to move in new directions. You'll discover innovative methods to solve problems or serve others. Don't allow mistakes or setbacks to undermine your confidence. This year it's full speed ahead! 

Not too bad, I guess.  The one posted at work said "watch out for sharp objects," which I think is fitting for a klutz like me.

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This evening, I went to another lunar new year celebration with the WHO interns group.  It was nice to eat (more) good food and get to know some people better.  There really are some incredible people in this group.  I am going to have so many places to visit when I'm done!

Trip planning.

This evening, I am working on planning some weekend trips over the next few months and I'm also starting to look into where Pat and I should go when he arrives in April.

I am going to Paris next weekend to visit Laurie, I'm hoping to get to London in March to see Hannah and maybe to Milan at the end of February.  My office-mates are heading to Milan tomorrow, so I'll get a report back on Monday.

Currently, I'm looking into Spain or Italy for Pat and I to travel around once he arrives.  His flights are into and out of Geneva, and mine is out of Zurich, so I think it makes sense to stay in Western Europe.  Spain would be good, since Pat could practice his Spanish and bring his trusty phase book.

Intern Board

It snowed today for the first time since I've been here.  I saw someone at the bus stop who seemed to be very excited about the snow.  It looked like she was seeing snow for the first time, it was quite cute.

At lunch, I had my first meeting with the WHO Intern Board.  They seem like a good group.  I have joined on as one of the activity coordinators. I wanted to join to help plan some intern activities that are free or lower cost.  Some ideas I have are:

 1) Geneva Servettes hockey game

2) Rock climbing

3) Olympics museum, Lausanne


4) Bike trip (when it gets more spring-like)

5) Ultimate game

6) Cross country skiing

7) Toboggoning (if we can find snow nearby!)


Any other suggestions, my seven-ish readers?  (Hi Mom, Dad, Grannie, Pat, Kim, Laura and Laurie!)

Blue skies!

Today was the first real blue sky day since I've been in Geneva.  I decided to take the scenic route to work, along the lake and through the botanical gardens.  Unfortunately, the gardens weren't open yet, and the gate was locked, so I had to do a fair bit of backtracking, but the views were worth it!

Not a bad view on the walk to work in the morning.

I did exciting work things today like library training.  I also got to sit in on a dicussion between WHO staff and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  It was interesting to hear the questions asked by staff.  Even though the scale is huge, (the Gates Foundation granted the WHO $580 million this year), most of the questions were very narrowly focused, along the lines of , "why do you give money to that program, but not my program area..."  There were only a couple of really good questions, and it made me think of how difficult it really is to ask a meaninful question.  The Gates Foundation representative was an excellent speaker and had good responses to even the terrible questions.  I think he would make a good politician!

Lac Leman in the morning.

Regular Monday

Happy Monday, everyone!  I am surprise at how many people have mentioned that they are following this blog, thanks for reading!

Today was a pretty regular day.  I'm starting to get into the thousand plus abstracts I need to review, which is not really exciting to write about.  After work, I tried out the interns spinning class.  It was a full house and a great workout, I think I will keep going to those classes. 

I volunteered to help out the interns association activities coordinator.  She has been doing a great job organising events for the interns, but most are out of town and/ or expensive. I thought I could possibly help to organise some events that are free or low cost and that are in Geneva.  I'm thinking maybe some pick-up sports, pot luck dinners, those sorts of things.

The foyer TV room (with a broken TV)

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from my building.  I really did luck out with this place, lots of people have trouble getting housing or have had bad experiences with their landlords.  I'm hoping I can find someone to take over my room for the second half of April, so I only have to pay half of a month's rent.

The tube elevator (the reason I take the stairs).

Sunday runday

I spent today exploring Geneva on foot.  I was supposed to go skating with the interns, but I couldn't find them at the meeting place.  It was probably cancelled, and I was foiled by not having a cell phone.  Pat would understand.

So, instead of skaing I walked over to the open air market in Plainpalais.  It was sort of a mix between a flea market and farmer's market.  It is the only thing open on Sundays, so it is quite busy.  The food seemed more expensive than the grocery store, but I guess maybe it is fresher or more direct from the farms.

In the afternoon, I went for a long run along the lake.  It was warm enough that I could run in shorts!  Running is a good way to see a city, and the lake makes it hard to get lost.

The Jet d'Eau on a clear(er) day.

Tonight, just some normal Sunday activities like cooking for the week, school work, laundry and writing some letters.  Pat and I are starting to plan his visit in April.  Suggestions are welcome for where we should go and what we should do while he is in Europe for 2 weeks.

Bern

Saturday, I took a trip to Switzerland's capital, Bern with an Austrian student from my foyer.  We left very early on a train and arrived in Bern at about 8:30 am.  When we arrived, nothing was open yet, so we wandered around exploring the old city.  It was quite a bit colder in Bern than Geneva, and there was even a bit of snow on the ground.

Early morning sun over Bern.

Later in the morning, we went on a tour of the Swiss parliment.  The Swiss system is quite unique, so it was interesting to learn about.  Plus, the tour was free, which is a bonus!  After the tour, my Austrian travel mate met some other Austrians and decided to go off with them.  She was on a one day rail pass, so she wanted to take advantage of being able to travel all over the country on that pass.

Once she left, I followed my trusty Lonley Planet book's instructions to Gurten Hill, the highest point in the city.  There was a gondola, but I hiked up instead. The views from the top were pretty incredible, and helped me get my bearings in the city.

View from Gurten Hill.

After my hike, I kept exploring the old town.  I went to the Barenpark to see the bears (Bern's namesakes), but they were all hibernating for the winter.  You can watch them hibernate online on webcam, but the park itself was a bit of a bust.

In Bern's old town.

I caught the 6:30 train back to Geneva, and then met up with some friends from work for an Australia day party at a British Pub.  It was nice to socialize with them outside of work, and to I didn't even have to eat any vegemite.