Friday, October 24, 2008

Swiss miss: "Keep in touch."


I still have ten days to go here in Geneva, and four days left for my internship. October 31st is supposedly my official last day at work though, but as I still have a four-day leave more to my name (I have 2.5 days per month and earned all 7.5 total for 3 months), I took advantage of taking one off, that being on the 31st. I figured that this is the best time for me to go around the office district, have lunch with my former grade school classmate who now works at WHO, and then head to the ISO to buy that ISO document Ate Verna asked me to get for the Educ library (to be reimbursed, of course. Mahal e! Hehehe).

For this, the ILO Library threw out an early farewell drinks for me last night. From time to time, the library people hold occasional TGIF drinks, but since I won't be there anymore on Friday next week, and my supervisor will be away that entire week as well, they decided to do it one Friday in advance. This led some colleagues to believe that yesterday was my last day. In fact, three of them knocked on my door to bid me their goodbyes, give their congratulations and expressed their best wishes -- a gesture which I deeply appreciated. It was indeed a shame to say three times that no, I will still be going to work until Thursday. Good thing it just made them all smile! Hehehe. So on Thursday, I'm thinking of doing the office rounds myself :)

We were a relatively small group last night (most colleagues were on a holiday), but it was a wonderful, simple party. As usual, I had to make myself drink wine. I get really upset stomach whenever I take in liquor, but well, I risked it. It was a cocktail party and we had about eight bottles of wine on the table! I had one shot each of two different types of wine and man, by the time they started exchanging chit-chats in French, my head was floating and my tummy was churning embarrassingly.

Mid-way through the party, my supervisor gave an informal speech. She commended me for my work and after that, everyone raised their party cups for a toast. They gave me a going-away gift: a set of ILO souvenirs, which I really liked. One was a set of blank any day cards. "That's for you to keep in touch", they told me. "Expect to get the same cards from me, with my greetings, of course. Each of you will get one!", I said to them. We all laughed!

As the wine got the better of me, I needed to excuse myself sooner. I waved goodbye to everyone and before I left the room, my supervisor -- who I won't probably get to see anymore but hopefully do the day before I fly back home -- stressed, "Keep in touch, Christine." Words like those coming from a straight-forward Russian woman, who seldom gets personal, is something else to me. I firmly replied, "Yes, I will." And yes, I really will.


Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Swiss miss: My just reward


I finally made a demo of my almost three-month old internship project before my colleagues in the ILO Library this morning. That was like the climax of it all, much like a thesis defense presentation in graduate school. I'm happy that it turned out really well. I'm just waiting for some documents to be digitized, have the website translated into French and Spanish (I mentioned before that the ILO is trilingual), and then make the three sites public before I come back home. I even surprised myself when I said to them, "My goal is to see all of these up and running within two weeks. I'm here until October 31st, so I still have time." It wasn't really necessary for me to say the last sentence, but well, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Everything else went slow-motioned after this morning. I congratulated myself with a cold Coke in can at lunch, and a pack of Maltesers!

Yey to me!

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Swiss miss: Fast-forward


My ticker is now counting down in days!




And remember my not so favorite part of the apartment?
Here's the view from the balcony this morning (while I was hanging my clothes to drip):

Snow-capped mountains!


Friday, October 03, 2008

Swiss miss: Parlez-vous Français?




Knowing all the costs that I will literally and figuratively face, I finally decided to go to Geneva and push through with this internship early this year. Although the process of getting here wasn't at all a piece of cake -- involving money, connections and of course, tons of faith, my husband and I just knew that I had to grab hold of this opportunity. And so I came here with my huge trolley and camping backpack, armed with my thin stack of survival French basics: "Bonjour!", "Au revoir!", "Merci beau coup!", "Bon appetit!", "Excuse-moi", "S'il vous plait" and "Pardon". With these phrases plus my skill at charades, I knew I will have no problems getting around the city. Besides, I have good command of one official UN language (English, of course), so that will do. Not learning French won't really hurt.

But just now I realized, it does sometimes. And whenever any UN human resource office would say, "Knowledge of spoken and written French is an advantage", believe me, they mean well.

Yesterday morning, I took over the reference desk to relieve my colleague for his coffee break. I have been given Reading Room duty since August, and although I'm up for the challenge, being seated there isn't quite exactly my favorite thing. To me, reference duty is a struggle and the reading room is my battlefield. Yesterday wasn't any different. It was the last day of the World Microfinance Forum here, and since their venue is right next to the library, many bankers in black suits came in and out of the reading room during their session breaks. Some were just checking out the library, a handful lounged by the sofas, while others meant serious business.

One lady found me at the reference desk and sensing the earnestness in her, I believed she needed help with something in the collection. After the customary exchange of bonjours, she launched on to me in French. I smiled and interrupted her, apologizing that I don't speak nor understand French. The eagerness in her face slowly faded away. She really needed something, I knew so well. Using contextual clues, I somehow managed to decipher her next question: when will my French-speaking colleague be back on the desk? At that point, my knack for charades automatically kicked in. I pointed at my wristwatch and counted up to twelve using my fingers, telling her that my colleague will be back by 12 noon. She nodded, said "Merci beau coup (thank you very much)", and then went ahead. I figured she was good at charades. At the same time, I also felt insecure.

That was not the first time I assisted a pure Francophone, though. But that was the first time I felt so limited. I would've helped the lady find what she's looking for, but because of my inability to speak the language, I couldn't do anything more. It's frustrating and sometimes embarrassing. I sat twice on our staff meetings and I wasn't able to say and contribute much because when my colleagues get carried away, they speak French all throughout. I would have to drag myself whenever my colleagues throw out occasional TGIFs (cocktails) in the library, for the simple reason that I couldn't socialize in French and it really feels terribly awkward. Don't get me wrong, my colleagues are friendly and sensitive, and I must say I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with them. But just like me back home, they will converse in their mother tongue, of course.

I had the chance to express this to one of my colleagues, who is an English speaker. He's taking up French lessons thrice a week at the ILO, so he is conversant in French. He told me he can relate. He does charades too! But with Spanish-speaking clients. We both laughed at our ridiculousness.

I'm not alone in the boat after all :)

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Swiss miss: Bonjour, October!

Since I had the longest two months ever, October seemed so far away once upon a time. But now, my sweet October has come!

To those of you who knew about my homesickness saga, you will understand perfectly well why this month is so important to me. My twelve Mondays are now down to just five. While I despised my airport bus stops for the longest time, I now gaze at it with so much anticipation and excitement (mind you, I already memorized where my airline check-in counter is located!). I am now half-stressed about going around to check the sights and sounds of Geneva and visiting its neighboring cities, as I only have five weekends left. Things suddenly started whirling at top speed, which made me feel like I have tons of catching up to do!

I remember saying something about leaves turning yellow and heaters coming on -- that these will tell me that I'm going to go home soon. Well, it's all happening...

View from the ILO building's 5th floor window


And look at my ticker...




I AM SO COMING HOME!!!