Swiss money is pretty...and coffee expensive!

One thing that you need to be happy for is the Swiss money. It is so colorful and that you can not be mistaken for the value of your bills. I remember the first time I took a cab in NYC back in 96, I had a cab ride worth about $ 7.00. I took a bill out, gave it to the driver and very candidely said:"Keep the change" feeling pretty generous.

Well let me tell you how generous I had been that day, when I got to my hotel room, I noticed that I had given the driver a $ 100 bill and not a $ 10 bill.

No risks of making a mistake here....Check out the colorful bills....

Also they don't really care if you pay for your CHF 2 coffee with a CHF 100 bill - think USD 1 is about CHF 1. They always have change.

Talking of coffee - it is good but expensive, just under USD 2 for a coffee - and how much coffee to you get - well it is not even your small coffee for your favorite coffee chain! But again, everybody seem to drink espresso and it is the same price!.

Apartment hunting drives me crazy!

Finding an apartment in Geneva is like finding a needle in a stack of hay. And it is a little depressing to say the least. However, tonite I saw an apartment that I liked and will apply for it first thing this morning. On my way out, I met the former concierge - a little old man named Francis who has been living in the neighborhood for 41 years. So I guess he is about mid-sixties. If I get the apartment, he will be my downstairs neighbor. He loves the neighborhood, he told me I should get somebody to recommend me, told him that he should recommend me because I am a nice girl, I am fairly quiet (to which he replied: "If you are too loud, I have a broom anyway and I will know on the ceiling).

During the course of the conversation, the current concierge came and joined us. Francis asked if any black, and/or eastern european people came to see the place because he does not like them (I noticed that the Swiss tend to be a little racist). I asked him how he felt about americans. He likes them and then he went telling me about his trip to SF and California back in 1984. Francis reminds me of my grand-father. He even said he would look after Halcy if I happen to go away on vacation or the week-end. So cross-fingers, and hopefully I will get the place.

First two days at the Global Fund.

Looking good on my first day!

So I started on Monday morning. My supervisor, Andrew, is British, about 60, and has a curious sense of fashion sense for sure. To my surprise, he speaks a few languages: French, Spanish (his wife is Spanish), Italian, and Russian...and English of course. Nicolas, the other comms officer, is about 35. They both were pretty upset that my computer was not properly set-up. Well I did show off a little by plugging all my peripherals but I still can not get into my outlook, because outlook has not been installed on my machine, and I also do not have a phone (but I do have the headset and a direct line)...They seem embarrassed that nothing was set up right. Personally, it didn't matter. It just reminded me of SFAF. (and our IT department! oooops did I really say that).

Today, Andrew, Nicolas and I sat down to figure out what I would be in charge of. One main daily tasks will be to prepare a de-briefing of world events for Dr Michel Kazatchkine, the Executive Director of the Global Fund. Yes the top guy!

Nothing much has been happening work wise - so I will keep this one short.

First few days in Geneva

So many people have asked me about a blog, so here it is....sometimes it will be absolutely boring, sometimes it will full of fun facts, sometimes it will be sad....and hopefully it will always be for your reading pleasure. Thanks Reilly for sending me the blog link.

I arrived in Geneva on thursday mid-afternoon. The sky was so low, grey...Upon arrival at the airport, I discovered that my luggage didn't follow me from London, and they have no record of my suitcases being forwarded to Geneva. But they will do some research, and hopefully locate them for me. If so, they will transfer the luggage to my hotel but it may take 24 hours. Note to self: always pack a change of clothes in your carry-on luggage! (you would think that I would be that smart after all the travel I have been doing!)

As the taxi drives me to my hotel, the only thing I could see was doom and gloom and I kept wondering why I decided to take that job! Gosh, I already miss the sun! Dad arrived later on thursday (somehow he managed to miss his train stop in Geneva and ended up in Lausanne!)

Friday, Dad and I spent the whole day walking around the city, checking out various areas. Visited one apartment that was being remodeled and looked really kick-ass. Hopefully, my application will be accepted (although the estate agent kept reminding us that the market is saturated). We also located another few places that I am not able to visit til next week. It has been raining all day.

Saturday, we woke up with snow. And more cold weather. About 35F. We did a little shopping, more walking around and some grocery shopping.

Restaurants are indeed pretty expensive. Expect to spent about $50 per head. I have not fully explored the possibilities of vegetarian eating since I do eat fish, so it has been quite easy so far.

Interesting thing about Geneva though: public transport is amazing: clean and ontime. You can walk the city pretty well. Surface is 6.2 square mile and only 186 000 inhabitants. So basically, there is hardly anybody in the streets.

Oh and another thing, Geneva doesn't have anti-smoking laws (yet) so yes you can still smoke in bars, restaurants and other public places (sad sad Sabine!)

I am sure i will find more and more interesting things about Geneva and will let you know as I go along.

Take care,
Sabine