Asia to Europe, Doha to Geneva

Ta-da! I have crossed the Bosphorus, thus completing the first (of many, undoubtedly) intercontinental swims. Next summer: Africa to Australia.

The swim was quite nice -- the water was the perfect temperature and surprsingly clear given the number and size of boats that pass through every day. There was of course the occasional pile of trash floating by, but I tried to not to swallow too much of that. There were also quite a few jellyfish, but the friendly kind (still gross though). I met my friend Luca and his friend Ariane (both living in Brussels) in Istanbul and we all swam the race on Sunday. The two days before the race Luca asked everyone in Istanbul if they knew anything about the Bosphorus current. Most of them told us it was very dangerous, and when we tried to ask at our hotel about getting to the meeting point Sunday morning, it took a few attempts to convince the concierge that we really were planning to swim in it. A hat seller sized up our arm muscles and told us we didn't look like swimmers. Despite this, we all did pretty well, and are now regretting not having really trained, as it seems like we could have really kicked everyone else's butt with a little more effort. Out of about 350 people I finished 59th and 4th in my age group. Ariane finished 3rd in her age group and won a medal (I am very jealous). But most importantly, I beat Luca, despite his attempts to push me under towards the finish line. He even made himself bleed to try to fabricate evidence of foul play on my part...some people will do anything.

Istanbul was quite beautiful. Pictures will appear as other people (like my parents, who also came to visit and watch the race) send them to me. I thought I was being a pretty good tourist, going to look at old things and such, but it turns out I only took about 5 pictures, most of which are of turkish cats (they are so cute! and starving. but really cute!) Other highlights of the trip: drinking fresh squeezed juice everyday, getting massages in the hammam, getting woken up by the 5am prayer, seeing Luca fulfill his dream of owning a pink juicer.

After returning to Geneva, it was back to work on Tuesday, where the ministerial meetings were in full swing. And by full swing, I mean there are rumours about meetings going on, but I can't go to any of them, but its still sort of exciting to be around. There are lots of press, lots of security, and lots of black diplomatic town car like vehicles everywhere (except for Canada, who drives a gray van). I've gone to a couple of press conferences, so I have gotten to see such celebrities as Susan Schwab and Kamal Nath (thats right, these are celebrities. Look it up.) And there is a general sense that everyone is on the edge of their seat waiting to see what happens next. Its fun! Tonight I stayed late to interview a source in Argentina for a case I'm writing, and when I left at 9:30 the building was all abuzz with reporters and delegates waiting around to see what would happen in the meetings. I was tempted to stick around longer, but then I remembered how much I like eating. And sleeping. Also just before I left, I noticed that the gchat status message of the journalist who took my old room read ''WTO'', so presumably she's in the building all week as well. Luckily she doesn't know what I look like, otherwise I'm afraid she might come after me for letting her move into that awful place. Actually, after talking with Damien, it sounds like she is happy there. She must be far more ''serieuse'' than me.

That is all for now. Picutres to come shortly. And if you're lucky, perhaps even some video of the race (my dad bought a digital video camera. I assume there's several hours of footage.)