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Published: November 7th 2005
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On the 27th I said goodbye to my mom for the second time that year and then I got on the wrong train. She went back to Paris to fly back to Washington and I was supposed to go to Geneva but ended up in Marseille. I've said it once and I'll say it again- that is a dirty city! A nice lady got me the right ticket and an hour later I got on the right train. This train mixup resulted in a very late arrival in Geneva. It was, from what I could tell in the dark, very rich and business focused. It was clean and not too crowded but, aside from tourist shops and restaurants, every other building was occupied with offices. The next morning I moved to a hostel next to a church and the hostel was run by nuns. I love the sisters but these ones in particular were really strict and rude! "You don't speak french?" she snorted at me. I felt like I was in Charm School and failing miserably. it then occurred to me that this must be the same woman I called the night before to check for availability. She had said
Geneva
look at the fountain in the lake! It think they said it goes up 200 meters! they were booked full and hung up quickly, when I got into the dorm there were two girls staying there and they said it had been that way for a while. Talk about exclusive. Aside from the crazy nun I started talking with the two girls. Once was from Belgium and at 24 was already a lawyer working in the UN. The other girl's parents were American diplomats and she was training in Geneva to become a ballerina. She was 18 years old and living on her own, not to mention she spoke fluent french and a few other languages...show off. : ) I was quite impressed by everyone I met in Geneva-with the exception of the nun. Another girl who came to stay was from Houston, TX and studied in France for her undergrad degree, then got her PHD in Germany and now works for the World Health Organization...and she's 27. My last friend was from Japan but lived in Germany and played the Oboe for a famous symphany. She was in Geneva to take a lesson from a very skilled oboe player. She also spoke at least three languages. Needless to say I was very impressed by all
of these women. When they asked me what I did I was a little less excited to tell them. But I supposed traveling by yourself for two months is something, its not a PHD, but its something. I stayed three nights and two days in Geneva and I loved it. The bells in the church (which was John Calvin's church) rang on the hour throughout the entire night but it was a beautiful song and I enjoyed hearing them in the daytime at least.
My first day I went to the UN because I'd always wanted to see it. It was my lucky day because it was the 60th birthday of the UN so admission was free to not only the UN, but also the Red Cross. I went to both and one other building that I didn't understand the use of and got a free backpack (woo hoo!) and they had a big party with a Mexican band. You could go around and taste different foods and drinks from all over the world. I had cocoa tea from Brazil and a weird type of Swiss tea/juice. I went to the Red Cross museum and saw all the different places
the Red Cross has gone to help victims of war. There was a room with thousands of mug shots of orphaned children from Rwanda. I had just seen Hotel Rwanda so it was already in my mind. I was in tears looking at all the children's faces. Some had large wounds on their faces and arms. One girl had a bloody bandage covering a large part of her her face. Many had to be held to have their photo taken because they were too young to even sit up on their own. The average age looked to be about 4 or 5. I can't imagine what those kids saw and lived through as 800.000 people were massacred mostly with machetes. Thanks to the books of these pictures, those searching for their children could look for and identify them. Here is a site that shows where the orphans who weren't claimed are now. It is a sad situation and those children are in my prayers every day.
http://www.ifrc.org/photo/Rwanda0404/index.asp
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