More fajitas with friends

Wednesday night, I had a group of interns over for fajitas again.  It's such a simple dinner to make, and I know how much I appreciate any food I don't have to buy or cook!  Ayako, Kellie and Daphne are leaving this week, so I especially wanted to be able to spend some time with them.  

The group in the common room. 

I learnt that you need to reserve the common room to have people over, Therese and Olga weren't too happy.  I also got scolded for trying to do laundry at 8pm without pre-booking.  They cheered up once I offered to share some ice cream and mango, but I will definitely not miss all of the little rules and procedures of the foyer!  I really shouldn't complain, it's a great space in an amazing location and at a good price... for Geneva.

Intern Hike

Tonight after work I led the interns on a hike along the Sentier du Rhone from Jonction to Vernier.  I didn't really know where I was going, and we got lost a few times, but we ended up in Vernier as intended.   It was a good little hike, I think I'll plan another for next week.

Along the trail. 

As the sun was setting.

After the hike, we stopped at a pub in Vernier for a pint, and upon discovering how cheap the beer was, had another.   Beer and fries for dinner, ahhh intern life.

The group post-hike in Vernier

Monday...

Picture Jonathan Goldstein saying "Monday...."

Not the best Monday, I'm having some hiccups on my project at work.  Hopefully when I look at it again with fresh eyes tomorrow, it will make more sense. I also went to a seminar on radiation and health at lunch and went to spinning after work, pretty normal.  

The day has been looking up since an early evening Skype with Pat and then a SUPER chat with Katie.  : )

Sunday hike

Sunday morning, I was up early again to go pick up the car at WHO and meet up with another group of interns for our road trip to a hike in the Areuse Gorge.  I was much more comfortable driving the car on day two, once I was used to the six gears and the reverse gear placement.

Making our way down the gorge.

The hike started in a small village called Noraigue at the train station.  The train station doubled as a cafe and emporium of all things absinthe-related.  Apparently, this region of Switzerland and into France is "the cradle of absinthe".  Some in our party were still recovering from earlier in the weekend, so we opted for coffees.

The weather was a bit hit and miss, we had rain, sleet and even some sunshine, but it wasn't bad weather for a hike.  We stopped along the way at a restaurant for another coffee, and then at a giant outdoor picnic table for lunch.  The gorge was pretty spectacular, it kind of reminded me of Elora, but a lot longer and steeper cliffs.  The water was roaring through the gorge and over waterfalls for most of the hike, but as we came to the end of the hike, the river widened out and it became so calm and quiet.

The gorge. 

We ended the hike at the town of Bulle and took the train back to Noraigue for the car.  If we'd really been thinking, I would have gone for the car by myself to save all of us the 6 CHF train fare.  The vending machine at the train station had some interesting offerings, including rolling papers, condoms and pregnancy tests.  I guess those are the kinds of products you don't really want to purchase in a small-town shop.  It seems quite bizarre, but it makes sense.

Condoms and pregnancy tests at the train station vending machine.

After the hike, we headed to the town of Neuchatel for a look around.  Neuchatel has a cute little old town and castle that we explored for a bit.  We stumbled upon a group of young Neuchatel-ians (?) using a sword to chop coke bottles.  I stopped to ask them what they were doing and where they got the sword, and ended up getting to give a try at coke bottle chopping myself.  I was able to slice the whole way through on the second try.  It may have been the strangest experience I've had in Switzerland so far.  I need to get a picture of the action from Ineke.

Chopping bottles with swords, naturally.

I vanquished the coke bottle!

Chamonix

Saturday was probably my last chance to go skiing this season, so I rented a car, filled it with WHO interns, and hit the road for Chamonix.   There were five of us, my friend Catherine who wanted to try skiing again and three interns from the ePortuguese program whom I hadn't met until Friday.  The Portuguese girls didn't want to ski, but wanted to see the mountains and the town.

The mountains are lurking...

We went to the Brevant Flegere station, since it had some more beginner/ intermediate runs for Catherine as well as some more advanced runs. The weather wasn't the greatest on Saturday, it was pretty wet and snowy all day.  It meant that the slopes weren't that busy, and there was some pretty good fresh snow by the end of the afternoon.  Catherine was great to spend the day with, we had some excellent conversations on lifts and over lunch. I am continually amazed at how intelligent and interesting the other interns here are.

On the cable care between Brevant and Flegere

The snow really picked up towards the end of the day, and the visibility got pretty bad.  We made our way all the way over to the opposite side of the ski station, where there was hardly anyone else skiing.  I love silence of the snow, and the silence really seemed to be amplified by the mountains.  It was kind of eerie.

Catherine on the lift behind me.

After returning to Geneva, I had the difficult task of finding a place to park the car.  I drove around paquis for a while, and had no success.  Eventually, I drove to work and parked in the employee parking lot.  I don't have a parking pass, so I had to ask the security guard very nicely.  He said it was OK, as long as I got the car by 8:00am.  By this time, it was pouring rain and I was drenched, so I think he felt sorry for me.

I walked over to meet some friends for dinner, and called it an early night to get some sleep to prepare for day trip # 2 on Sunday.

More farewells

Sorry, I've got behind again.  It has been a busy weekend!  Friday after work I went to another farewell dinner for Karin, who I have been working out with after work a few times a week.  We went to la buvette de paquis at the bains de paquis.  It was quite convenient for me, since it is right near my house.  I met some new people, even at the farewell dinner, there is always new people to meet!

The jet d'eau over Bains de Paquis

After dinner, we met back up with the rest of the WHO intern group for drinks at l'apothicaire cocktail in plains palais.  Some interns who are medical students in the US were celebrating matching for residencies, and some others were celebrating their last week at WHO.  We paid 15 CHF for fancy cocktails at apothicaire, and then made our way to a cheaper establishment.  I was a fun evening, and it really is nice be able to go out to an intern event and see so many familiar faces.  I am definitely feeling a part of a community here now.

Karin's farewell dinner group

70th post

I had a pretty unproductive day today.  Upon realizing that all I have left to do is write this paper, I suddenly became completely unable to write anything intelligent.

I went to a documentary screening at lunch of the the movie "Tapped" for World Water Day (which is Saturday).   It is a documentary about the bottled water industry.  While I completely agree with the main point, that water is a universal right and should not be commodified, and the bottled water is ridiculous, the documentary presented

During the scenes describing the perils of plastic bottles, including Pacific Ocean garbage patches, leaching of chemicals into the water, most of the waste ending in landfills, they played the song Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead, which I thought was a bit too literal.    When I told this to my intern friends, they did not know what Radiohead was!  That made me feel really old.  Also, I am now having a bit of a 90s music listening binge.

I am planning a couple of trips for the weekend to Chamonix to ski and to the Jura for a hike.  It is quite complicated to coordinate 10 interns on two different trips!