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.)

Lauren's last ride

Hello blogfans! Sorry about the extended hiatus. I've been busy! And lazy...but mostly busy.

Ok, to catch you up on the latest Swiss happenings...since I last posted, I went on Camping trip #2 to Neuchatel. Like every place in Switzerland, it has a lake and an old town, both of which were pretty, blah blah blah, you can check out the pictures (to be posted eventually).

Upon returning from said camping trip, I successfully completed my great escape from rue Gautier and am now happily settled on the other side of the lake in a fabulous big studio, all to myself (and some goldfish). The girl renting to me is really laid-back, a nice change. She even told me not to worry if any of the goldfish die, which is comforting since I forget to feed them fairly often. So far so good though.

The escape from the apartment was relatively uneventful. As anticipated Mme VF followed me through the apartment as I dragged my bags to the elevator, telling me that moving my belongings was against the law, even if I continued paying rent. I disagreed. She then tried to appeal to my inner Swiss by declaring that I had a legal and moral obligation to stay. Although I had planned to come back the following day and confirm that the girl who said she would take the apartment had done so, I was getting fed up with the craziness and the threats of legal action, so I told her I was not coming back and left my keys. This turned out to be a small problem when I left half of my belongings in the lobby on the other side of a locked door, as well as my bike in the locked courtyard, but I was able to get a tenant walking in to unlock both for me, after I verified that no, I was not a thief. Then my friend Greg, who drives around Switzerland in an SUV with Texas plates (I have suggested that he add a George W bumper sticker for good measure), whisked me off to safety in the getaway car. Thanks Greg!!

In work-related news (that’s right, although the blog rarely reflects it, I am still working over here), I was very excited to learn that the Director General (who I saw in person the other day—very exciting! if you’re a trade nerd…) had called for a ministerial meeting (well, a mini-ministerial, but still important) while I'm here. I'm told that ''non-essential'' people are often kept out of the building during such meetings, but I think my lobbying effort to convince the higher-ups that I am indeed quite essential is going ok. Of course a week of ''working'' (sleeping) from ''home'' (the beach) wouldn't be so bad either. But I want to be where the action is! Unfortunately India has announced a prior commitment that week and is trying to push the date back. Surely someone will inform them that I'm only here through July, so they can just rearrange their ''special parliament session'' to accommodate me. Presumably, the Doha round will be all settled right about the time I finish my internship, allowing me to take full credit. You're welcome, world trading system. Either that, or it will completely break down and get sucked into the black hole which is also being created here in Geneva. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/science/29collider.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) In which case, I blame my friend Nick who works at CERN.

Last week, my friend Marianne came to visit and we touristed around Switzerland. We spent some time in Lausanne, Zurich, Bern....we saw lots of churches. They looked like this:

Also, she did a remarkable job of cleaning my apartment before she left. What a great guest!!

This past weekend was where the laziness really set in and I slept a good 14 hours a night. Mmmm....boy. Saturday I did manage to do a couple loads of laundry in my building with more success than usual. I even managed to use a dryer on one load! This is a major improvement over laundry attempt #1 a couple weeks ago wherein my (wet) clothes were held hostage all night in the washing machine which, unbeknownst to me, shuts off around 7:30pm everyday and doesn't allow you to open its door outside of business hours.

Saturday was also the lake parade, which, from what I gather is a big gay parade, but not knowing what time it was at, I missed it. I did however see the aftermath, which was a lot of really drunk people in costumes staggering around the street. Most impressive, though, was the amount of trash on the streets which had been closed for the parade. How can Switzerland allow this, I thought. But within 5 minutes an army of street zambonis appeared and returned the road to its former impeccable state. It was quite impressive.

For the past few weeks I have also been preparing for my big swim across the Bosphorus next week (http://www.turkishnoc.org/eng/Bici08.htm). And by preparing, I mean sitting on the couch worrying about the fact that I haven't really been training. But for the past few days I have buckled down and tried to cram months of training into one week. I think I'm doing ok, considering. Except when I try to run...that never seems to work very well.

Finally, a bit of sad news: my bike is no longer with me. We’d been through a lot together, me and old blue. She got me all the way to Lausanne, sat quietly by for a week while I tracked down some cable cutters to free her from the $12 lock that got stuck on her, and took me all around town. Yesterday I rode back from the pool, and this morning, she was gone. Sniff. Now I’m going through the period of bike mourning where everywhere you go, you look around expecting to find your bike just sitting there, waiting to be reclaimed. Alas, it is not to be. But, I guess you can’t really feel like you’ve lived in a city until your bike gets stolen there. Plus, this gives me the opportunity to consider buying the bike I should have started with: the stylish M-budget bike. Sadly, I think even it may be a bit too expensive to justify buying for less than a month…but we’ll see. Higher on my M-budget wish list is a pair of M-budget underwear. I have only heard rumours that it exists, but I know that I must have it.