Switzerland: Do They Overwork Their Cows??

This is just a brief prelude to my actual blog. It was actually inspired by my desire to insert something about the title of this particular entry so that it would make sense. Here goes…I’m AMAZED at how much of the supermarket is made up of either cheese or chocolate! What is even more amazing is the apparent lack of obese individuals walking around when you consider that Swizterland is one of the top chocolate consuming nations in the world…something around 25lbs/year. I’m surprised that they haven’t figured out a way to make some sort of chocolate covered cheese delicacy that would combine both of their loves. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a cow strike in the near future though…I’m sure they weren’t being paid well even before the world economy went down the tubes!

And now, the real deal: I arrived in Geneva and had a lazy but lively night in the so called “Critical Mass” Co-op style house. An awesome group of international students/interns living in Geneva. It reminded me a lot of Davis and I even felt at home sleeping on the floor!

The next morning I was fired up to go visit some of the many international headquarters that polka-dot the city of Geneva. Lucky for me, Geneva has some amazing themed walks and maps that you can pick up at the tourists office. The one I chose was called “Spirit of Geneva - Of Dialogue and Peace” which just happened to take me past the UN, WHO and WCC headquarters! Unfortunately, I soon found out, most of these buildings aren’t open to the public…and most of them aren’t even that interesting to look at! I guess I should feel fortunate that most of these organizations are supposedly spending their time fixing problems rather than fussing over tourists! I did find a warm welcome at the World Council of Churches Headquarters though. This organization is made up of churches across the global that work towards global unity through religious similarities. Pretty awesome! The site is home to made cool organizations like the Lutheran World Federation and the World Student Christian Federation. I even ended up attending an ash Wednesday service is their chapel. A unique experience that required singing in German, French, English and Korean…

Oh YEAH!!! I know you’re all wondering where I decided to spend one of the world’s most important holidays…my birthday! I’m offended that you even needed to wonder…obviously I chose to spend the weekend in Bern, Switzerland. They even saw fit to throw me a weekend long carnival!…So yeah, I was in Bern for my birthday! Carnival was a crazy mixture of Halloween and battle of the bands. Actually, the closest thing that I can think of to compare it to would probably be a Star Trek Convention (Don’t get too excited Sugar D!) For the more mature individuals it appeared that you had to dress up in the gaudiest, frilliest,…ugliest jumpsuit you could get your hands on and then paint your face to match. For the young adults, something raunchy or suggestive of course! And for the kiddies, cowboys, pirates, clowns, you get the picture.
As far as the bands go, there were about 40+ marching bands, marching around the crowded street belting partially in-tune renditions of everything from California Girls to Country Roads and Angels. The main requirement to be in one of these bands appeared to be that you own an instrument…not that you necessarily had ever played it before. Oh yeah, and there was a bear too!

Right now I’m sitting here in bed and brainstorming about how I could potentially make this blog more interactive. One of the things that I have come up with is to ask you guys for suggestions of things to do and see. Now, I’m not saying I’ll do everything that you suggest (No I will not desecrate relics or ruins with my bodily fluids!) but I think my writings (and photos) could potentially be more exciting that way!

La la la!