Fajitas

Thursday night, I hosted the girls from my office for a fajita feast at the Foyer.  After spinning class, I rushed home to get all the veggies chopped up and ready to cook.  I manged to get all of the ingredients except for sour cream, but I used quark instead and it worked fine.

At the Foyer, there's not really a doorbell to ring, and since I don't have a Swiss telephone, it was difficult to know when people had arrived at the front door.  I expected people to arrive around 8:30 pm, so I just checked the door every 5 minutes or so to let people in as they arrived.   One of our friends (who is leaving on Saturday and was really the reason for this get together) was really really late, so eventually at 9:30, we decided she probably wasn't coming and we started to eat.  I was amazed at how much food we went through, the fajitas were a hit!  We had pineapple, mango with quark and coconut for dessert, which was quite tasty.  Interns tend to eat a lot of bread, cheese and soup, so I think it was a nice treat to have a meal with so many fruits and veggies.

We were starting to get worried about Eleni, since it wasn't like her to get lost or not show up.  She had sent me a message at 7:15 saying that she was leaving work and was looking forward to dinner.  Since she doesn't have a phone either, we didn't have any way to contact her to see if everything was OK.  I'll admit, I was also a bit worried, but I didn't think we should call the police, as Rachel suggested!   Eventually, we got a message from her saying that she was at home.  She had gotten quite lost trying to find the Foyer and arrived at pretty much the same time we sat down to eat.  We were distracted by the food for at least 15 minutes and didn't check the door during that time, so she gave up and went home.

We felt really badly that she had missed out on the dinner, especially since this was her last night before the end of her internship.  So, we decided to take the dinner party on the road.  We cleaned up the common room, packed up a doggie bag and headed to find our way to Eleni's place.

Broken TPG machine.

I didn't take any pictures of our nice dinner, but I did take this picture of the broken transit ticket machine, in case I got stopped by the ticket takers.  I don't have a monthly pass, so I need to buy a ticket each time.  Luckily, we didn't get checked this time.

When we arrived at Eleni's, she was very surprised and grateful that we had brought her some dinner.  She was walking around Paquis lost for 2 hours, so she was tired and hungry.  It was a nice way to spend the evening, and made me wish that we had done dinners together more often.

Cheese!

This morning, I finally managed to get to the pool at the same time as Eleni to give her some tips on her swimming.   I convinced her that she should join a Masters program when she gets back to Australia.  I'm pretty jealous of the year-round outdoor pool access, and just the sheer number of pools she has access to in Sydney. 

After work tonight, we went to Cafe du Soleil so that Eleni and Loren could try Swiss fondue for the first time.  I opted out of the fondue, because I still don't feel fully recovered from the last fondue I had 2 weeks ago. I ordered a gueyere pie, which was just as rich and decadent as fondue, but at least it had some vegetables with it!  We spent a few hours enjoying our dinner and good conversation. 

Delicious tarte de gueyere at Cafe du  Soleil

One of the other interns told us about how she had been treated by her supervisor while she was sick, and it made me really angry.  She was basically being threatened with a bad reference to work while sick, which I think is really exploitative of her supervisor.  Internships are unpaid, and are to be a training experience, so the intern needs to be getting something out of the work that they are putting in.  It made me really appreciative of the supervisor I have here at WHO, and also of the fact that I am not reliant on a good reference from this internship to get a job.  If an project's deadlines are affected by an intern's illness, than that is a reflection on poor management, not poor performance by the intern.  It's also a reflection on how much the organization as aw whole relies on unpaid labour.  

Pancake Tuesday

Tuesday night, Olga organised another really nice get together for all the women at the Foyer.  She made a huge stack of crepes, brought homemade jam, nutella and honey and we were all a happy bunch.  Olga is such a sweet lady, and she takes such pride in taking care of the Foyer and all the young women who live here.  I met a few new residents yesterday, including another Canadian from Red Deer, Alberta.  She is working as an intern at the Canadian Permanent Mission to the UN in disarmament. 

Olga and the crepe feast

Capstone project

I just had a really great Skype chat with a Prof. from Brock about our group capstone project.  She seems pretty excited that our group is wanting to move some of her quality improvement work forward and she's willing to give us some support.  I hope that we can actually end up producing something that will be useful from this project!

We had another new intern move into our office.  Her name is Sandra and she is from Lausanne, but originally from Ivory Coast.  We will have a full house for a couple of days, until Eleni leaves on Friday.  It is a constant conveyor belt of interns in and out of the WHO.  I think the highlight of the day in our intern cave was when not one but TWO staff came by with free food from meetings.

I haven't taken any good pictures lately. I need to be sure to bring my camera with me so that I have something to share with you on here!

I'm going to spend the rest of my night trying to get school work done, but in reality I'll probably be reading about the craziness that is going down in Ukraine.

Dumpling Dinner

Sunday morning, I met up with Hannah and Daisy to send them off to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.  I opted not to go, since I was just there 2 weeks ago (and I spent 7 hours straight seeing every inch of that museum).  It was really lovely to show them around Geneva, and I'm looking forward to exploring London together in a few weeks time.

I also had to do exciting things like laundry and cleaning, but it doesn't take long with a tiny studio and only 10 or so changes of clothes.  I also went to Vernets for another swim in that gorgeous 50m pool.   The sun was shining and all was well.

I went to Daphne's for a potluck and dumpling making dinner.  Daphne and I are both in the same MPH program at Waterloo, although we had not met until Geneva.  Apparently I was her preceptor in Biostats 605!  I brought salad and didn't eat the (pork) dumplings, but I enjoyed watching the elaborate dumpling preparation and the good conversation.

Hannah's here!

Saturday morning, I met up with Hannah and her friend Daisy to show them around Geneva.  Hannah and I swam together at U of T, and she has been living in London for the past 4 years since she graduated. It was really great to see her, it felt a little bit like being back in Toronto!  

We started off the day with breakfast at Cafe des Arts and then walked down to the lake to see the sights. Unfortunately, it was overcast, so the mountains were hiding, but the Jet d'Eau was on and there was no rain, so it wasn't a bad day for exploring.  We wandered over to the old town and checked out the cathedral and the reformation wall.  We even stopped for an over sized game of chess in the park.

The reformation wall

We tried to go on a tour of the UN, but they are not open on Saturdays until April, so we went to the Red Cross museum instead.  The museum was really well done, and I think I'll go back again if I get the chance.

Geneve Servettes hockey game

In the evening, we went to a Geneva Servettes hockey game at the patinoire des Vernets.  It's in the same building as the pool I swim at, so I went for a quick swim before the game.  Hannah, Daisy and 12 other WHO interns all met up for the game.  Most had never been to a hockey game before, and I think this was a really good introduction.  The atmosphere in the arena was pretty incredible, there was chanting and drumming and jumping just like at a (European) football game. I'm not sure if most people will be able to see this, but my friend Harshaa took a great little video that really shows the atmosphere in the building.

I thought my French was coming along, but at the hockey game I tried to order "vin chaud" and got a hot tea. I'm not sure how I managed that.  Luckily there are 2 intermissions at a hockey game, so I was able to try again, and had success the second time.  Hot wine is a great drink to enjoy at a hockey game, they should do that in Canada!

After the game, I took Hannah and Daisy out for fondue.  I'm not sure I've yet fully recovered from my last fondue experience, so I took a pass this time.  It did smell great! 

Half way point

Friday marked the halfway point of my internship, 6 weeks done and 6 weeks to go.  Time is going by so quickly, I can't believe it!

After work Friday, I skipped the intern dinner (at a burger place) to go for a swim at Vernets instead.  I thought I was getting used to swimming long course, and then I tried to do a set of 200 IMs.  I could barely make it to the end swimming fly!

The bridge to the pool.

 After swimming, I met up with the interns for drinks at les Brasseurs, near the train station.  When I arrived, the entire table was sharing a one litre mug of beer, each one with their own straw.  It was a pretty entertaining sight.  I met some more new faces- there is a constant influx of new interns so the number of new people to meet can be overwhelming.  People tend to hang around with those that are here for about the same timeframe, or else you are just constantly meeting and saying goodbye.

How poor interns drink beer. 

Speaking of goodbyes, after les Brasseurs, I headed over to Gabriel's goodbye party.  He has been here since December and is moving back to Brazil to finish up his PhD.  He was very kind to host us in his little apartment and make us delicious caipirinhas.  At 12:30, when everyone else was catching the last bus to a dance club in Carrouge, I headed home instead so I could rest up to show Hannah around the city.  It's a good thing I went home, because they ended up staying out until 6:00, when the buses back from Carrouge started again!