high school friends

So this past weekend, I spent a lot of time with my high school friends---actually, "high school friends" is not completely accurate. I've actually known Laura since 5th grade, and Jen and Amye since 7th grade homeroom. And boy, have we come a long way since then! Laura and her husband just bought a new house that looks so wonderfully cozy and charming. I'm so impressed with what they've done, and how fast they've done it. And Jen just got her hair straightened and it looks fabulous. And this time around, I was fortunate to be around for Amye's 30th birthday. Amye also looks fabulous...and has lost an awe-inspiring amount of weight. I'm really impressed with her discipline. Here she is with her birthday cake (the person on the phone is her brother John). We also went and saw Snakes on a Plane---only you Amye, only for you Amye, would I see this movie...and I did. It wasn't so bad actually. We all agree it was not as bad as we thought it would be. As Amye put it: it was exactly what she would thought it would be---a good bad movie. Watchable, I would say. It was Watchable. Anyway, we also ate some yummy Italian food. Here we all are at that restaurant... We had a wonderful time together, driving around trying to guess which house is Susan Lucci's. It's always great to see these dear ladies, and it's really neat to still be in touch after all these years. I always make a point to see them when I'm back in New York---coming home would not be the same. In the midst of all my moves and travels, these dear ladies remind me in part of who I am and the wonderful place and people I've come from, dear, dear blunt and wonderful Billy Joel-Seinfeld-esque Long Island. (Uh, defintely not The Hamptons.)

Suitcase returned!

So, I am happy to report that I got my suitcase back this morning. British Airways had it Fedex-ed.  My lock is missing, and I can totally tell they rifled through it because things are packed very differently.  My suit is crumpled, papers askew, and half the lids of my lotions are off.    And I've also acquired one unusual toiletry item that I defintiely do not use---uh, it a little bit too embarrassing to tell you what it is, but I'm going to now put it in the trash.

Bread in Europe...

I've been sort of disappointed by bread in Europe. Rather naively, I thought it would be like one big awesome artisan bread shop...with fresh bread available everywhere in abundant quantities and varieties---like in Berkeley, California a.k.a. foodie paradise. Not so. Not so. Bread in Italy was kind of disappointing....fresh baked bread was hard to find, and then it only came in a couple varieties. Same goes in Holland and Switzerland. Maybe I just don't know where to get good bread...maybe I just need to ask more locals...

My favorite bread was in Germany. (I didn't make to France this trip, but I like their bread, too.) But Germany was impressive. My favorite bread is laugen -stuck, -brotch, -whatever. It's pretzels basically, and it comes in yummy shapes and makes great sandwiches. If anyone knows where I can get this in Vancouver, please let me know.

Back in New York

So I'm back in New York....I got in Tuesday night and have pretty much been doing nothing since then...though I did manage to get some real coffee into my system and eat a real New York bagel.  Yum, yum, yum.  My parents also took me out to eat on the South Shore and we ended up at Robert Moses State Park to watch the sunset.  I guess I have been doing something...

Anyway, I'm pretty tired still from everything...so my plan here is to lay pretty low...do some shopping and see some friends this weekend.  I'll be back in Vancouver late Sunday night.

Oh, and my flight!   Thanks to all of you who asked and prayed....it went off without a hitch---security in Heathrow did take a while but I talked to some nice people from Mexico in the queue.  And despite a good frisking, I did manage to smuggle in a small vial of eye drops which I left non-chalantly in my pants pocket.  The Aquaphor also made it despite 2 x-rays and a physical bag check.   I'm not sure what to make of this? 

Anyway---I also got upgraded to the economy class with more leg room, that was really nice.  Actually, I got there early enough to get that seat next to the emergency door, before business class...so I had a ton of leg room and with no one sitting next to me, I was pretty much my own island.  I was very happy, and apparently, so were the people around me---I've never heard so many people sound so vocally pleased with their seats. 

British Airways did lose one of my bags though---the one with all the chocolate, notes, directory of Caux people...I'm still waiting for it. 

Geneva airport...

It's a quarter to 11, and here I am sitting in the Geneva airport waiting for these lovely people to post my gate so I can go through security.  It's not clear if I need to do that or not...probably not.  Anyway,  I got here 3.5 hours early, so I could travel with Evelyne, Emily and Jon by train and also to avoid whatever weird chaos there might be here.  So far, no chaos....just small things like scrounging around my hand luggage to make sure I've got no lotions, gels, creams, cosmetics or alcohol.  Geez.  I'm not sure how I'm going to survive the flight without any lotion; my skin is normally so dry as it is.   But I was a good girl, and I checked that in, though I must confess, I'm trying to smuggle in a small vial of eye drops and some Aquaphor (it's overpriced Vaseline for the truly dermotologically afflicted).  I think they're going to take the Aquaphor.  My hands already feel like they're about to crack.   Now, they are sticky from the Aquaphor.   Oh well....this should be interesting.

So yeah, my program ended last night....I stayed up a bit hanging out with folks, so I didn't get a lot of sleep.   Dear Emma, Vichheka (this is a more correct spelling of her name, I think), Rachel, Kathy, Asiya, Altaf and Daniela woke up early to send us off.  Sad, but I think we're all pretty ready to go home. 

The Dude

So...what have we been doing here on this mountain learning about conflict resolution? We've been learning to respect and love The Dude. The Dude...is Firas' self-described "idol," his guide in life. Firas gave me some reasons for his idolatry when The Dude and I were first introduced. I think it's because he's (1) cute and (2) he has a hood....I'm not doing justice to the reasons...but anyway, here's a picture of him and the fabulous Jeanne.



The Dude has been coming with us to class everyday, positioning himself in cute postures and outfits in many prominent places. inspiring many and accompanying a good number of people. I have not been privileged enough to be one of these people---but I have certainly paid my respects. (I.e. I do nod back to The Dude when he nods at me.) The Dude's got lots of wisdom, since he's so well-traveled, but this also makes him kind of dirty and smelly.

Apparently, one weekend while I was away, The Dude's family was found at a pharmacy in Montreaux. A reunion was scheduled, and the Dude exchange was born. We all signed up to buy Dudes for one another, and here we all are....now we all have little "idols" of our own to bring back to our own respective homes all over the world.



(The banadana I am wearing is a tribute to the fine country/continent of Australia. It was a gift from Linda, given to me only 5 seconds earlier...Kathy tells me it looks dorky.) By the way, I am happy to report that The Dude has since gotten a bath. It took a long time to convince Firas to give him one, but we are all happy that he did. He's startlingly whiter actually.

Cooking despite exorbitant costs and dancing like a white girl

After a somabulent day watching the rain and lethargically tying up loose ends, we put on an international potluck.  Well, it turned out to be good even after the Supermarket scare the day before when we all learned that the price of meat in Switzerland is INSANE.  My intended gyoza-style dumplings turned into green onion pancakes.  It was a fun time in the kitchen, really nice to cook again...and we all ate very well....yummy Cambodian spring rolls, beans and rice, Trinabagan curries, and these three-times fried potatoes.   So yummy!  And of course chocolate fondue and a beautiful pavlova.  yum, yum, yum!  Very fun.

The women then departed because we were invited to a women-only dance party hosted by the Muslim women.  I read a newspaper article about this a while back, so it was fun actually to go to an all-women's party because some Muslim women can't dance with men.  The newspaper article said that these parties were super fun, full of abandon and something else---I don't remember.   And it was super fun!   The women were super welcoming to us obviously non-Muslim types, and I think I made a lot of Egyptian women laugh.   Apparently Muslim dancing is essentially belly dancing.  It's all about the hips, so the Latino women were fine....and the Eastern Europeans were fine...but my hips have never been able to move, even when we did all that salsa and meringue in social dance at Stanford---I just stayed away and kept to swing and waltz.  Anyway, I gave it a good try, and the Egyptians tried to encourage me...but they always ended up laughing.  My Kenyan roommate told me I dance like a white girl.  I think that's a bit unfair to white women...but nevertheless it was fun!