Thing#19 that I love about Geneva - Humanitarian Superstars

So, I was on a (unsuccessful) family shoe buying trip in town the other day, when having had enough of looking at overpriced and unlovely shoes, told my husband that our son, Monkey Boy, and I would would wait outside the shop while he continued looking. So me and Monkey Boy step outside. He is climbing onto my bike when I look across the street and who down I see rocking down the road pulling his little wheelie suitcase? None other than Mr. Kofi Annan!

I have always been a big fan of Mr. Annan (or the Kofster as I fondly call him), but despite working at the UN for years, have never actually seen him. I don't know why, but something about just seeing him walking down the street (I believe with is wife), pulling his little suitcase along, just like a normal joe-schmoe really touched me. No body guards. No media. No entourage. Just a man, his suitcase and his woman.

Though I tried to maintain my cool, I of course got very excited and made lots of "oh oh oh" sounds and went ripping into the store to drag my husband out to the street. He came out and we ogled the Kofster from across the street. I almost got up the nerve to cross the street and shake his hand but some other punter on a bike beat me to it. Then I thought, hell, leave the man alone. Leave him to his joe-schmoe suitcase and wife business.

Monkey Boy of course cottoned on to the excitement (must have been me hopping up and down and say "oh oh oh" that did it) and wanted to know who Kofi Annan was. I told him "A good man. A very good man who has helped a lot of people".

So there ya have it. Hollywood: you get silicone, botox and movie stars. Geneva: we get little wheelie suitcases and humanitarian superstars.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Thing #18 that I love about Geneva - Couleur3

Couleur3 is a truly top notch radio station and gives the whole Swiss French area a bit of flair. It offers an excellent selection of alternative music, very little advertising (come to think of it, I'm not sure there is any at all), and has a refreshingly sarky approach that is tempered with social consciousness.

The things that I most adore about Couleur3 are their absolutely brilliant sketches that they run several times a day. Among those that I have laughed myself silly to are:
- a futuristic news briefing that takes place in 2040
- the daily adventures of two shopping clerks
- an all purpose call center called "Intercall for Life" where you can receive help with anything from sending a song to your wife to let you know you have left her for another man to medical aid to extricate your um, "member" from a vacume cleaner

There are oodles of others but they are all magically thought out and seamlessly executed.

Just a radio station perhaps, but a radio station that improves any given day.

Thing #17 that I love about Geneva - La Poste

Maybe I have had one glass too many of wine to be getting all sentimental about the the Swiss Postal service, but I have to say that I have been very pleased with them lately.

First thing I love about La Poste: I sent several letters to the US the other day. I was in a bit of a hurry so I just slapped the postage on them and slipped them in the mailbox. One of these letters was my absentee voter ballot. Anyhow, about five days later I get a little card in the mail from the post office saying, "Hey! You didn't put enough postage on these three letters. We sent them anyway, so now all you need to do is put the stamps on this card equalling what you underpaid and mail it back to us." I mean, how civilized is that?!

Thing number two that I love about La Poste: I had a birthday last month and was very lucky this year to receive lots of greetings and good wishes from loved ones. So lucky in fact, that I didn't notice not getting a card from a usual suspect. So, here I am two days ago going through the mail when I open and envelope from the post office saying, "Here is a letter of yours. We are so sorry it took so long to get it to you but someone was caught tampering with it. We had to delay sending this to you as we used your letter as evidence for when we prosecuted the person who was messing with your mail". Efficient! And honest, too!

But the biggest reason that I love La Poste, is their motorcycles that they deliver mail with. They are like little yellow letter delivering Hell's Angels! Absolutely the best!

Thing #16 that I love about Geneva - Pumpkins from the Ferme de Merlinge

Halloween is the holy of holies. I pick and choose selectively what I want to transmit from my culture to my son, and top most on the list is Halloween.

Halloween has tepidly been introduced to Geneva, but more than anything, it is a commercial experience and lacks sense. People seem to be a bit confused by the whole thing. No one has really celebrated it here before so people aren't always sure how to "do it right". There is also (quite fairly) a certain amount of animosity, with people feeling that they are having an "American" holiday foisted on them with the associated imperative to buy more crap they don't need.

Despite all this though, our annual Halloween party, since it is considered to be a "real Halloween party" thrown by Americans, is a big date in the social calendar of my son's friends.

Every year, a couple of weeks before Halloween, we head out to the Ferme de Merlinge in Gy to buy our pumpkin. Winter squash is abundantly available in the supermarkets here but pumpkins can sometimes be a bit more of a challenge to find. Europeans largely consider pumpkins something you would feed to the pigs, not to the people. I understand. I mean there are some amazing varieties of squash that are just superb, but I still accuse Europeans of being a bit snobby on this issue and in defense of the modest pumpkin would say, "dem's good eatin'!".

Be ye proud, Americans! Eat not your pumpkins in silent shame! But stand up loud and proud and say, "I'm a pumpkin eater and proud of it!".

Thing #15 that I love about Geneva - Multi-langue

I love the multi-linguistic packaging on all products sold here. I think that you get a bit of this everywhere in Europe, but in Switzerland it is pretty balls out since law requires many products to be systematically sold with the packaging in the three official languages: German, French and Italian.

This turns your grocery shopping into a truly educational experience. I have the feeling to have already learned a good bit of German and Italian just from the Osmotic experience of having a kitchen full of products trumpeting their identity in three languages.

Ausgezeichnet! Uh, I mean, Eccellente! Uh, I mean, Excellent!

Thing #14 that I love about Geneva - Wild Postering

One of the things that I really love in Geneva is seeing the different creative graffiti and the affichage sauvage or "wild postering".

You get a good mix of stuff: calls to the right to affordable housing, manifestos of gutter punks and travellers, interesting artwork, and then you get some which like my current favourite posted here, are political statements meet art.

The sign says its all "need food not football". It has a bit more context if you live here in Geneva which over the summer was one of the hosting cities for the European Cup, but still on its own, it gets its point across profoundly.

Thing #13 that I love about Geneva - Chimney Sweeps!

That's right my friend. In Geneva we have chimney sweeps (Les Ramoneurs). For real ones dressed in black and wearing top hats. They even have a cute chimney sweep brush that they call a "herison" which translates to "hedgehog". They also tend to drive around in teeny-tiny vans. How bad ass is that?!

We are bad, evil, delinquent fireplace owners who don't have it cleaned out properly by a chimney sweep every two years as required by our renter's insurance (or is every year that we are supposed to do this?). But in our defense, we haven't used our fireplace much these past few years.

However, I am feeling oddly law-abiding this year and plan to call our chimney sweep up this week and ask him to bring his surly self over to ours and run his hedgehog up my chimney.

Kinda makes you want to blush, doesn't it?

Thing #12 that I love about Geneva - Chestnuts!

The sun is beating a hasty retreat from our climes. It's damn chilly. Kinda grey and ugly out. But hey! We a have a compensation! Chestnuts!!!!!

Yup folks, it is chestnut season in Geneva. I'm pretty sure that the ones growing in our parks are of the horse variety (i.e. Don't eat unless you have hooves) but they are sooo be-you-tiful.

I love walking through the Parc des Bastions and seeing the promenade littered with these shiny little balls. Sure, you better watch where you walk/bike or you could suddenly find yourself staring at the sky with a concussion, but small price to pay for being able to pick up these smooth lovelies and rub your thumbs over them.

You have to be careful though when you start picking them up off the ground. The gathering becomes addictive and you just can't stop. Soon you find yourself standing in the middle of the park with approximately 23 kilos of chestnuts stuffed into your pockets, bag, a pouch you made by holding your sweater up from your waist. You start throwing elbows and shoving little kids aside to grab ones that particularly catch your eye. In short, you look like a mutant, motley squirrel. Greedy and on steroids. Not pretty.

But the chestnuts. Oh so pretty. Preeeeety.

Thing #11 that I love about Geneva - The Library in English

Okay. You may not think that a library in and of itself is very exciting, but move your happy butt to another (non-English speaking) country and see if you yourself aren't dancing in the street with your undies on your head when you find a well stocked anglophone library!

I'll be honest. The Library in English, previously the American Library - name changed for reason of cultural sensibilities - totally convinced that the Canadians had a hand in this :), doesn't exactly spoil you for choice. If you go in looking for a specific book on a specific topic, you risk leaving disappointed. However, if you go in with an open-mind and wander the aisles seeing what you might stumble upon, you will be surprised at the gems you can find. And I have to say, they are darn good at getting new and interesting books in regularly.

Big shiny stars as well for having a rockin' children's section. Lots to choose from. Beautiful stuff.


Above all, I love the spirit of this library. It is a real anglophone community endeavour. The Library in English is a private entity, that receives not one pretty cent of funding from the state. It runs on membership fees, very dedicated volunteers (if I'm not mistaken, there are only 1 or 2 people who are paid), the generous donations of its patrons, and its bi-annual book sales.

It is a total labour of love.

Kinda makes ya feel all tingly inside, no?

Thing #10 that I love about Geneva - Heart Attack Ridge

Facing Geneva, just spitting distance across the border, lies the majestic Salève.

A mountain, and thank god not too big of one, it provides a nice back drop to the city and is also a handy tool for predicting rain (Salève looks closer than usual? It's gonna rain).

In addition to its scenic and meteorological value, it is also much loved and used by people on both sides of the border as a place for strolls, mountain biking and jumping off of with fancy parachutes. It also used, by occasional masochists such as myself, to climb up.

Why? Why or why do we humans feel compelled to hike up steep rocky surfaces just cause they happen to be nearby? Mystery!

But I have also succumbed and suffered. Only yesterday (as my son darted effortlessly ahead of me on the path) I made the trek up the mountain. Heart pounding, sweat pouring, cusses flowing, and endlessly questioning my own mental well-being.

But hey, you sure do feel proud when you get to the top!

If you don't have a heart attack on the way up, of course.

Thing #9 that I love about Geneva - A River of a Different Color

We have two rivers in Geneva, the Rhône and the Arve. They have minds of their own, snaking through the area in odd and unexpected ways. DO NOT try to use them as a point of reference for getting around town. It will end badly!

Keeping with their unpredictable natures, these two rivers do something absolutely breath taking, that I fear many who come to Geneva, never see. These two rivers, one being a clear blue-green and the other being silty muck, come together at a point and merge. It's lovely.

Every time I see it, I feel a strange connection with Khartoum and dream what it must be like to see the blue and white Niles come together.

One day ...

Thing #8 that I love about Geneva - The Lazy Cyclist's reward

I stand resolute in my stance that Geneva is a cyclists paradise. But. But, into every cyclists life a little hill must climb.

Some of us are lazy bastards (but just un-lazy enough to get off our butts and peddle a bit). Some of us are good hearted souls, who having not had our coffee that early in the morning, just can't quite face the prospect of biking up the steep incline that goes from the flat plain of Geneva to the higher grounds of the city.

Fortunately, there is a solution, and quite a lovely one at that. There is an elevator (with a big honking "no bikes" sign soldered onto it) that with the push of a button will not only absolve you of the penitence of the harsh early morning exercise of getting up the steep hill, but also will reward you with one of the most lovely city bound views of Geneva.

As I see it, when the gods decide to reward your idleness with a view like this, you can't be doing no wrong.

Thing #7 that I love about Geneva - The Train Track Gardens

It's been a couple of years now that, on a daily bike ride that I used to take, I noticed that some enterprising souls had jumped a fence next to an apartment complex and planted a garden on an incline above the train tracks leading to the airport.

You can't see it so well in this photo, but just under the trees and to the right of the grey pole, there is a thriving garden containing flowers, veggies and fruits.

I am immersed in a mania around guerrilla gardening and the general use of unloved urban spaces for growing plants, and in particular, edible ones.

Myself, I am biding my time and preparing myself for the day I will don my militant gardening clogs and take up the urban gardeners arms of spades and seed packets to reclaim a tiny patch of forsaken public space.

Long live the revolution! The people must have a garden! Stay tuned!

Thing #6 that I love about Geneva - The Demure Stop Sign

Graffiti can be vulgar. Graffiti can deface an otherwise lovely public space. But there are times where the modification of a piece of public space with a little paint or a sharpie pen can delight and inspire.

The last few weeks I have noticed that the backs of several stop signs in town have been painted with a pair of demure closed eyes. Every time I see one of these altered stop signs it makes me smile.

It is so sweet and thoughtful. Taking an empty ugly grey space and giving it a sudden human kindness.

Thank you, oh mystery sign humanizer, for giving me an extra smile.

Thing #5 that I love about Geneva/Switzerland - Guardian Sheep

In the Autumn of 2007, the head of the Swiss People's Party (UDC), Mr. Christophe Blocher, launched a campaign against the naturalisation of "undesirables" (read: not white/not of western European descent) in Switzerland.

To make his point, a series of billboards were put up with the image here on the right (boooo! and crossing out, courtesy of me) showing the good white sheep kicking the bad black sheep out of Switzerland "for more security".

There was an immense and immediate uproar in Switzerland about this, even with international condemnation about the racist nature of the publicity campaign.

Though it was depressing to see such a fascist item up on public display, in the end it was very heartening to see the large public outcry. Everywhere that the billboards appeared in Geneva they were either totally defaced or they were recomposed to mock the UDC party and Mr. Blocher. An added plus was that the Mayor of Geneva went on the record as saying that these advertisements were so blatantly racist and offensive that anyone apprehended defacing them would not be charged. Go Mr. Mayor!


Another positive of all of this was the creation of the group "Moutons de gardes" or Guardian Sheep (see left). The group calls for open political dialogue in a respectful, non-hateful, non-racist, non-xenophobic fashion. For me it is also a celebration of the diversity that we have here, particularly in cities like Geneva.

The cherry on the cake with the nasty sheep ad campaign was that it was so blatantly racist that it seriously undermined the UDC party and helped create a rupture.

Go sheep!

Thing #4 that I love about Geneva - The City is Yours!

Back in 1992, one of the neighborhoods in Geneva called Pâquis started having an annual neighborhood street party call "La Rue est à Vous", i.e. The Street is Yours.

Basically a big weekend long block party where anyone can come out on the street and sell things they don't want anymore (very useful since we have no yards for the most part here in Geneva and so do not have yard sales), eat food, play music and just generally have a good time.

There is a limited infrastructure put in place by an organising committee, but otherwise the idea is that you go out on the street and get on with your funky self (or maybe just try to sell that funky coat you have had stashed in the back of your closet for 15 years).

The whole thing was so successful that the City of Geneva adopted the idea and now has started the annual "La Ville est à Vous", i.e. The City is Yours. Now each part of town has their own weekend long street party. Some are better than others, but generally a good time is had by all and it helps create a better sense of community. Plus, you see roads closed off to cars which is always lovely. Nothing like lots of feet taking back the tarmac :)

Thing #3 that I love about Geneva - Open Air Markets

In a world where it is common practice for supermarkets to choose their produce not by its ripeness, taste and quality, but rather by its uniform appearance and how well it transports (i.e. picking it before it is ripe so it is hard as a rock and transports like one), it is a great happiness in my life to be able to buy my fruits and veggies from local open air markets.

In Geneva, you can find a fresh produce market on just about any given day, but we are particularly lucky in my neighborhood to have a market that runs three days a week.

Just a five minute walk from my door and I get to wander between the stalls and choose what is looking the freshest and yummiest that day. Not only that, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that my money is going into the pockets of a local merchant, instead of some big faceless corporation, and that often times I can buy food that was grown locally.

Goodness all around!

Thing #2 that I love about Geneva - Cressy les Bains

Man. Do I LOVE Cressy les Bains. Hot thermal water in a huge basin underneath a glass roof and surrounded by palms and other lovely green plants.

Imagine a cold, grey, dismal day in Geneva. Imagine you haven't seen sunlight in days. Imagine even having a hangover. THEN imagine going to Cressy and submerging yourself in hot bubbling water. Massaging your back and legs and feet with powerful underwater jets. Imagine floating on your back in the lovely hot water looking up at the sky through the glass.

Man. I love Cressy.

Thing #1 that I love about Geneva - My bike

Geneva is a small city with a bike friendly heart (apart from our friends the SUVs and the evil bastard taxi drivers). Anywhere you need to get around here can pretty much be reached in a 30 minute bike ride with plenty of bike paths and charming little trails hidden here and there where you least expect them.

Other than my childhood glory riding my bike around playgrounds and the occasional safe street (sassy streamers flying in the wind), I didn't really become a cyclist until I moved to Geneva almost eight years ago.

Having gone bike, I just can't ever imagine going back. The idea of life in a city where I couldn't use my bike as my primary transport is pretty much unthinkable to me now.

So here's to Geneva and here's to my bike!