(not) new in town!

I think i can say now that i m officialy not new in town!I completed a month in the new appartement and 4 weeks at job...so i guess i m getting old:)It has been only one month but to me it seems a lot longer, but in a good way...It's a complete change from Strasbourg and I feel so much better here:)

This week i had my first guest, a friend came from Brussels and i will be paying back the visit around the 10th of May!!

We had a great time, i even got a day off to go sightseeing with her...

my friend posing as a mermaid...i think we both gave a good laugh to those passing by:)

We walked for hours, had coffee ina coffee shop named Central Perk(does it remind you of something???), chatted for hours, exactly what I had missed!The rest of the days I didn't get to see her a lot, because i was working, but we managed to go for a fondu with collegues and then to UN drinks.She really liked the fact that she didnt see Geneva as a tourist but rather as a"local" and i like the fact that i have a completely different life to show to my friends!

She left yesterday and now i m enjoying the empty appartment, because the landlady and her bf are off to Berlin and she's not coming back until Tuesday!So i profit from their absence and listen to loud music, talk until late at night with friends and family on skype, leave my door open and walk around in my underwear:P

Today i also cleaned the house, i want her to find it clean and nice smelling when she comes back:)I might buy even some flowers to welcome her.

Speaking of flowers, my great collegue(who is unfortunately leaving on Tuesday:(....)bought me a bouquet of pink tulips the other day, just because!

my desk with the flowers on it and my lovely collegue in the back!

the gift i bought for her to remember me...it's KORRES, a greek mark of cosmetics and bath products, eco friendly with great smells and textures and quite affordable(though definately not cheap)-they are international for quite some time now and i found a shop in the shopping center next to the train station!

I LOVE TULIPS!!And the color..just what i wanted!So i kept them until yesterday at the office and now i brought them home, the y look so ince in my room, in front of the window!!!

my desk at home, the new curtains and the flowers...they are all screaming SPRING IS HERE!!!

Weather today is kind of crappy, rainy,cloudy, though not really cold...but still, doesnt urge me to go outside to walk or anything...I should be soing some exercising, but what kind of?And where?Still havent decided if i  m going to subscribe to the gym...and their website is in german and cant find where i can switch the language to see the ser

vices and the prices:(

Today might be a good day though to go to the beauty salon, for the waxing i ve been thinking about for months now:P

I found a salon near my place, the lady seems nice, it looks clean and for Geneva the price i think is ok.I have been postponing it for ever because i m afraid of the pain, but i think i m having a shower in an hour or so and going there to get it over with already.

I am waiting for spring to come, put all my winter clothes in my suitcase and start wearing happy colors and my spring shoes!My friend left me 2 small gifts before leaving:the pink curtain, to match my green one ad a pair of bright red ballerine peep toes!I love them!!!

my spring shoes...

kiss+tell

It just came to me this morning.I know what I miss the most all this time that I dont have a boyfriend.

I thought I missed sex, but that's not it.

I mis kissing. Deep passionate kisses.Hours of deep passionate kisses. That may or may mot lead to having sex.That's not important.

I miss kissing someone to say goodmorning or good

night.

I miss kissing someone in the middle of the street, of a film, of a diner.

and my favorite hollywood kiss...

TGIF!!!

I think its pretty much the first time in my life i thank God it's Friday...and i dont really mean it, its not like i m really exhausted, its just that i start appreciating the little things, like weekends when u dont go to work, or days off during the week:)

the third week at work was great, i think i only made one (ONE) mistake at work and it wasnt entirely my fault...Next time they consider telling me vaguely to "follow the request", maybe they should think about telling me HOW to do it!

i m almost done with the statistics 2008-alli have left is to learn how to make charts and its ready!i ll work over the weekend and try giving it in on monday, so that i can take the day off on tuesday and visit the city with Irene:)I m so happy she's coming:she's arriving on Sunday and will stay until Friday!I will be working for most of the days, so i ll be seing her mostly in the evening, but i have already arranged for a fondue(the same i ate today with cecilia-tasty, cheap, great view and cute waiters) at bains des paquis!She's also bringing some much needed nescafe-(they dont have this brandt here in Geneve, unbelievable!

si non..whats in the program:today i definately have to go out inthe morning or aorund lunch time for a quick walk or some jogging, i am seating on my ass all day for the past month and its getting too much.i m not a very athletic person, but i enjoy some physical exercise and sweating a few times every week...last year i used to go to the gym 3-4 times per week and walked around a lot, i really enjoyed it and after gym class i felt very well, i dont understand how i did it this year and have quit almost every kind of exercise:(

i definately have to finish my key scarpetta novel and read my new economist issue(but why did they send it double???i hope i dont have 2 subscriptions...i better call them tomorrow to figure it out...).Maybe i can go do some reading at "saveurs et couleurs" or at starbucks, accompanied by a good coffee:)

Most imporant of all:read word 2007 for dummies, in case there are instructions about making charts.or is it in excel i have to look in?shit, i dont have excel for dummies...

copy+paste

Today I entered already my 3rd week at work...I am still not tired or fed up with working 9-6, but we have a long way to go until end of august:P

What I actually have to do in a regular basis(meaning at least for the next 3 months, then i can change unit if i wish to)is far less intelectually stimulating than i thought and hoped for in the beginning.

I mean first week was very cool because i went to the HRC session and then i wrote a report on the HLS, but since then it has been mostly copy and pasting texts that desk officers send me, sending mails for the website update(eg "under Country X,please remove the visit of the SR on food fromthe forthcoming visits column and add it under the visits undertaken column" -u get it now?) and trying to understand what my supervisors are explaining me in like 5 seconds like i am supposed to know that stuff since i was born...Plus a couple of them have impossible accents when they are speking english, so i dont really understand what they are telling me and i just nod stupidly, then i rush through the few papers with info they have given me to understand what i have to do=more time to do the actual job.

I make quite a few mistakes-as my mother very well knows and never stops to remind me i make stupid mistakes because i work too fast and i am careless, well, mom, you are right!(i am only admitting that to this blog, i will never utter those words again:P) and they are still patiently correcting me and pointing out to what i should be paying more attention to, but i think my testing period is almost over and they wont be sooo patient during the following months of the internship....

But once i get used to their way of doing the WBN or the website update, i think my job will be quite boring-now i only have the adrenaline rush because i am not sure if i m doing everything correctly and i am waiting for someone to tell me i am stupid or slow or both..hmmm....

I have met pretty much all the interns, everyone seems nice for now but i get the feeling they are not doing much together after work.I mean they have been working together for about 2 months now and they dont know basic stuff about each other.Shit, i hope it wont be the same with me, i desoerately need some social life for the next 6 months!Not to mention some sexual activity...I saw a cute german intern today,but he's leaving in 2 weeks, bad luck:(

Good news:i finished almost decorating my room!I went to casa and to IKEA this weekend and bought some pretty but cheap stuff to add , now i am just waiting for Irene to help me hung my new green curtain!!!I think i have done a pretty good job with the colors in the room, green, pink and beige much very well with the wooden floor and the big window and the rest of the furniture:)

Those are a few of the items that have squeezed their way from IKEA into my room:

Extra storage box for my shocks:)  Extra polka dot pillow(i love polka dot this year!) for my bed !

1.A nice rug in soft colors and 2.the perfect cover for my bed!

      

Greatest of all:my sort of closet for clothes, it is actually easier to chose what to wear inthe morning if u have it hanging out all day in front of you-i know notice sweaters and dresses that i didnt even remember they existed:)

                

A really cheap mirror in 4 pieces for everyone ot arrange them as they wish:i placed each piece under the other just behind my door and that way i have a body mirror to check my outfit in the morning!

What do u think?Only thing missing now from my room s a pretty flower pot..wondering which kind of flower...something that can actually survive in a room...tulips?cyclamines?nut i am sure for the color:pink, it will match perfectly the lime curtain!

Yesterday was greek kitchen night here at 29, rue de la servette.I made stuffed tomatoes and peppers with soem feta cheese to accompany it with:)Well it wasn't like my grandmother's but stilll...lucky me, i had made extra stuffed vegetables and we didnt eat them all so i took what was left today at work...i mean, the food at the restaurant is really great and cheap for geneva standards, but if i eat there every day i will be very soon fat and poor:P

I am just sticking to buying a coffee per day or a pain au chocolat sometimes, but i have to cut backon that also,So i have brought my own instant coffee, chocolate cookies, tea and my heidelberg mug-the interns have a small corner with a boiler and differnet kinds of coffee and tea to serve themselves.We are all unpaid so no one expects that we ll be willing or able to always buy food or coffee from the cafeteria/restaurant:hence the microwave oven to warm food in tupperware and the boiler:)

But the chance to spend some money AFTER work by having drinks/coffee/whatever with your new colleagues and socialize is always a great oppurtunity, so last Friday we went for a drink after leaving the office at cafe des arts!!!It's one of the coffee shops/bars i had set my mind on, it's on rue de paquis, really close to work, great decoration and as i learnt a quirky clientelle;)

cultural shock:they dont have nescafe in geneva!They have instant coffee yes, but not the brand nescafe..so weird...i will be running out of nescafe before friday and i am really frustrated, i hate it when i cant find the same exactly brand, i get confused.Maybe i ll ask from Irene to bring me a couple of big packs of nescafe from Brlgium, hope they have some nescafe overthere,grrrrrr!!!

This weekend i also managed to take my eyes off the laptop screen and i started readinh a book:it was about time, i have about 7 litterature books waiting to be read, not to mention all the documents for my internship report, economists, le monde diplomatique and so on...i get tired just by thinking of it....What i started reading isnt the greatest novel of all time, its more of a crime novel from patricia kornwell.i had discovered her 3 years ago in rouen, but ever since i had forgot the existence of Key Scarpetta and Pete Marino...until i went to emmaus in Strasbourg and i found one of her books for 50 euro cents...so i bought it! now that i ve started reading it i just cant put it down. i even took it today to work in case it was another slow day.but it wasnt' so i didnt get to read more than a couple of pages.When i got home, i was thinking of spending the night onmy bed, reading the rest of it...but when i reached for it in my pink longchamp..i realised i forgot it in the desk's drawer at the office,merde:(

So that's how i ended up blogging ce soir...

ps oh and excell sucks-today for the first day i had to work with it and i just cant get it, it is so frustrating...and i think i will be doing nothing but putting numbers in excel working sheets for the next couple of days...

athens voice

i ve been watching this evening several episodes in a row from a greek series that was on tv last year.its called beautiful creatures and i think it started like a wannabe sex and the city(but adapted to athens culture)and has ended up much different...in a good way:)

there are so many shots around the city and i feel so nostalgic watching it...i thought i hated athens and that i wanted to live anywhere but there, but the last few months i have realised that maybe there is no other place i d rather be...now what i have to do is to find a job there, preferably related to human rights, so that i dont have to stay here -ok, i like geneva a lot, but athens is HOME SWEET HOME, nothing will change that!

i miss coffee on sunday morning with my friends, walking down ippokratous strees, searching every thursday for athens voice, the city's best free press, strolling aroun dionysiou areopagitou street, walking the streets around syndagma...

and that's what it started it all:an episode inspired by the "hearts in athens"which ws in the city last january...that's the heart -star of that particular episode...i found it in my pictures, as i had taken fots last year of as many hearts as i could:):):)

lovin'every minute!

First week of working is over and weekend is here to wind down a bit...

it's getting better by the day:i love the city, the internship, 

my desk at the office(yes, i have a desk with a pc and a phone, personal email etc), my "roomates", the black cat-although this last few days i m this close to throwing him out of the window, he keeps complaining for something in his own language...

Yesterday T and K (roomates) invited my to a birthday party of one of their friends.It was really cool because the friend is about 60 years old but she is not like the 60 years old i m used to seeing in Greece.Actually, everyone at this party was quite...irregular.They were all very artistic and active and kind of crazy,though the majority of them wa

s at least 55 years old.I guess i met the "boheme" genevoises:)

K is also alittle onthe crazy side, never married, with a daughter who has a baby and she is also not married, K is living now with her bf, T, who is 6 years younger than her...When she was young she travelled a lot, mostly latin America, and even now that she is retired and 66 years old, she s still very active and, well, crazy!T is much calmer, i think it's what they say, opposites attract...

There was a really hot guy there yesterday, about my

 age, wish he would have talked to me...Anyway, i didnt stay around much, i left around 9.30 because i was soooo tired and i also wanted to enjoy the house all alone, it s not that often that no one is in the house.I start to miss those moments in Strasbourg when I was all alone in the room and didnt have to care about making noise etc:P

Today the weather was once again beautiful, lots of sun and clear blue sky, so i went a big walk, to discover a part of the city.I went around the quartier des paquis and then the pont du mont blanc and then down town, where all the fancy shops are-by the way, as soon as my laptop needs to be replaced(though i hope it wont be very soon) i m so getting a macbook, i went by the huge apple store and i fell in love all over again with them...i 

would love a mac air but it's way too expensive:(

I grabbed a bite at a brazilian sandwich shop at another lovely quartier de geneva(eaux de vives) and then headed back home, but first stopped by payot library.Bought 3 novels that i have been wanting to read them for a veeery long time, a dictionary for legal terminology and a book on international law, i spent a lot,m but i think its worth it!

And now, almost 10 o clock, i m enjoying the empty house:took a bath, cleaned up a bit, progressed with the room's decoration, now i m e

ating a green salad while Tango (the cat) is sleeping on my bed and trying to figure what should i do next...write some postcards to send on monday on my way to work or watch a film on my laptop?God bless mininova, i can choose between slumdog millionaire, the reader and revolutionary road:)Last week i downloaded and watched twilight(cant understand why all the fuss about) and confessions of a shopaholic, malheureusement i only found the french version of this one...

K and Tango:)

first day at work

...or actually at my internship!today was a great start, even though i had to pass from all the un buildings in geneva(there are 3!)more than once in a morning, to get my badge..but now i got it and i wear it proudly around my neck:)

the coolest part is that i got to attend a HRC session!the not so cool part is that at some point i almost fell asleep while taking notes, i could barely hold my eyes open-i hope no one saw me do the embarassing back and forth with my head, but i doubt it:P

my parents also left, tomorrow they are flying back to greece...i m a bit sad, but i have started getting used to it...anyway, i ll try going back for easter and if not, definately during summer.And i think in september i ll go back home, unless my life changes dramatically here, meaning if i find a bf:P

Geneva!!

Change of city once again! It's been 5 days that I arrived at Geneva and I m loving it, a lot:) We did some excursions with my parents around, Chamonix, Megeve, Annecy etc and everything was fantastic!The nature, the cities, the food...i hope i can still get into my black pants for tomorrow...

I havent visited the city a lot, but the old part and the cathedral and the lake are just awesome!Today i went with my "roomates" at a very cheap restaurant with a vue on the lake-which gathers hundreds of persons on sundays appearently-and we just had a tea(as of today i am officily not eating anything for the next...2 months), watching the rainy weather, just perfect! Luckily, all the previous days there was anamazing sun so i didn't mind much the rain today:)

Such a big change from Strasbourg, i think we l get along very well with Geneva!

Tomorrow is my first day at work...bonne chance a moi:):):)