Pivot Point

I have reached a life pivot point here in Geneva.  It is officially a new chapter and it begins here in Switzerland, not lacking the strong characteristics of a drastic change.  I am actually getting really sick of saying "new chapter" because it seems that my chapters are getting too short, but I suppose the term is still appropriate contrary to my resistance.  Electrical adaptation is the least of my worries, but serves as a suitable symbol of the changes I am going through here.

I embarked on my journey at 3:10 p.m. at the International airport in Cleveland.  I won't bore you with many of the details because, quite frankly, it was not that exciting.  The most exciting parts of my trip were the hallucinations I went through while trying to force myself to stay awake for dinner after popping an entire Ambien (sleeping pill).  It was actually pretty scary - I hallucinated that people around my were ghost-like demons.  Apparently I had my eyes open because the girl sitting next to me kept asking me if I was ok.  I didn't snap out of it until 8 hours later.  I will be sticking to 1/2 pill from now on.  I'm just really glad I didn't try to hijack the plane or something else in my sleep.  Fortunately, I found myself conscious again in the Heathrow airport in London, where I had a connecting flight from British Airways to my final destination - Geneva, Switzerland.

A few comments here: the Heathrow airport is amazing, but apparently it is known to be a black hole for luggage?!  Never. Fly. There.  Also, since when did airplanes take on spaceship-like pods for special people in first class?  Those things are wild!  I wasn't in one of those, but I was stuck in the middle of two very nice women in coach... I was quite content with my airplane pillow, Ambien, ear plugs, and drool (besides the nightmarish hallucinations of course).

Yesterday, to keep myself awake, I dropped off my carry-ons (note: checked bags were lost) in my room and set out to explore the city.  I walked around for about 5 hours...I first happened upon some really ancient museum that had nothing written in English in the old part of town, and found myself in a room with famous paintings by Van Gough, Monet, Hodler, Renoir, etc.  I was struck by the paintings of Lake Geneva by Ferdinand Hodler and immediately fell in love.  It inspired me to spend over an hour reflecting aside the lake today...more on this later.  I couldn't find a bathroom in the museum, so I continued to walk around the city for a few more hours.  I am embarrassed to admit that even after all of my travel adventures, I was afraid to go in somewhere to pee because I hardly speak any French. I finally gained enough courage and urinary urge to enter a Boulangerie (bakery) for some chocolat chaud (it is one of the only things I can say, meaning hot chocolate) and some delicious pastry custard thing that I pointed at.  The owner was very kind and we communicated mainly with gestures, my broken french, and spanish.

For those of you who travel alone, I respect you.  I had no idea what a difference friends or family make during travels until yesterday.  Granted I was jet-lagged, PMSing, and in a totally different country where I didn't know the language, customs or culture, but still...It is nice to share these experiences with another human.  I will definitely learn to be comfortable with solitude over the next four months.  I was so excited to talk to my waiter and Americans at the table next to me last night at dinner, since I was sick of myself!

Apparently I shouldn't have smiled so much and been so friendly to my 65+ year old waiter, because after I left my tip billed to my room number, he showed up at my room without a peep-holed door a half hour later with a free glass of wine in hand.  I burst into tears due to all the factors in play (reference: paragraph above).  He took that opportunity to step into my room, hug me, rub my back and lunge in for a kiss.  I promptly pushed him away and  said "No" multiple times, which is one of the few words that translates directly from French - thank god.  He quickly scampered off.  That was unnecessary and an incredibly unfortunate event on my first night, but I'm over it.  I really didn't expect that in Switzerland, so it was a good lesson.  That doesn't really stop the vomit sensation I have as I write about this.

This morning I spent several hours trying to retrieve one bag, then another.  Then, around 2, I left my depressing hotel room to hit the streets.  Today was a much brighter day!  It probably helped that I had such a low baseline to benchmark against from yesterday, but nevertheless, today was a beautiful day during which I had a bit of a spiritual awakening on the shores of Lake Geneva.  I walked first to the train station to find a new adapter and figure out how to get to work in Morges tomorrow morning.  I am amazed at how easy this will be.  I love public transit.  In my weakened state due to only having ingested a Snickers Marathon bar and my hotel room's instant coffee, I hit Starbucks.  I refused it yesterday, but today I needed it.  I ordered in French, so I don't feel bad about bypassing the local option.  Plus, I needed something I could rely on since it is important to keep awake to avoid jet lag.  Excuses aside, the Grande Cappuccino was perfect.

The weather was grand...It was sunny and probably about 45, which is a wonderful switch from the 33 degrees with rainy snow/sleet that was Cleveland the last three weeks.  I meandered through the alleys and small streets near my hotel and found all the watch shops and probably came across just as many Kebab places.  Why don't we have this much Doner in America?  It is amazing.

I found an oasis on a bench overlooking Lake Geneva with the snow-capped mountains behind it.  I sat back and relaxed, and looked at everything through an artist's eye.  I imagined what I would focus on as a painter, as a photographer, as a writer.  It was probably one of the most profound moments of my life.  I closed my eyes to shut out the beauty of the landscape and absorb all the sounds.  I was amazed by the diverse set of life that was represented in the course of only a minute or two --

An airplane's jet engine buzzing high in the sky. A helicopter's propeller vibrations.  Cars whizzing past. A street car rocking on its tracks.  People's footsteps between conversation in german, french, english, vietnamese, italian.  Waves gently sloshing rhythmically against the shore.  A ship's horn.  A boat's engine.  Seagulls squaking with wings flapping.  Ducks quacking.  Running pants swooshing.

Then the smells --

The fresh water vapor in the air from the lake.  Pigeon and seagull feces.  Diesel exhaust.  Clear blue air.  The smell of raindrops mixed with sunshine.  Spring flowers and grass peeking out of the dirt dampened by yesterday's rain.

How beautiful is it that all of this is happening here at this location because of water?

I remembered today why I love my life.  I remembered today why I love to travel.  Traveling helps me focus on the essence and purity in life: the details gathered by the senses.

Ok - enough sap and journal writing for today.  Kebab rocks and I love Switzerland!

Short-term itinerary:
Morges, Switzerland: March 1st - March 5th
????, Switzerland or France: March 5th - March 8th
Casablanca, Morocco:  March 8th - March 10th
????: March 10th - March 29th
March 29th + One month or more: Pune, India

Fudged Plans.

I didn't go to India today as planned.  Some sweet terrorist decided to give the world a gift that any nice terrorist would give on Valentine's Day- a bombing in the city where I was heading: Pune.  The target was actually a Western establishment, a German bakery, that the woman I was traveling with had visited last time she went.  Multiple people were killed and over 50 were injured due to the blast.  So, here I am in the Hampton Inn for another night's stay in Cleveland.  It's so interesting how the world works.  The company I work for is now halting all travel to Mumbai and Pune, unless it is "business critical" for the next 30 days.  Poof goes my itinerary and all the work that went into it over the last two weeks.


I asked the Hampton Inn to extend my stay here for at least another week and they have so kindly given me a free upgrade to a Suite!  I honestly don't know what I will do with all of the space, but I am pumped nonetheless.  It has a fridge AND a microwave...this is a big step up for me because I have really missed cooking since I started living in a hotel a couple of weeks ago.


As I won't be traveling to India over the next few days I am going to have to get creative with technology in order to interact and help the Indian team that I was supposed to go over and assist.  This is when the world starts to feel flat (in Thomas Friedman terms) - when you have video meetings with people halfway around the world.  If only there was some way that we could adjust time so that I wouldn't have to be awake at 4:30 a.m. to receive my colleagues phone calls from India and Germany.  My work/play Dingleberry (read: Blackberry) cell phone buzzed all night long last night with e-mails, text messages, and phone calls about how I wouldn't be able to travel to India due to the attack.  What a mess terrorism creates in the world - all that destructive power in a tiny little head with one gigantic ego.


Speaking of Ego...I am beginning to realize that I am not so different from my terrorist counterpart and I in fact have a rather large ego.  I have been reading this incredible book called "A New Earth" which talks about separating yourself from the Ego.  I never could completely identify with the idea of the Ego until I started reading this book and it has been a profound revelation over the last few weeks for me to read this...It's a real life changer.  I love when I find a book that seems to apply to life on some many layers, when I realize I could read the book over and over again and interpret things differently or see other beauties/artistry presented.  I hardly get finished with a paragraph before I want to read it again to see what else I can draw from it.  I feel the same way about the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".  I found myself connecting so deeply to what was being said in the book, but knew that as I was reading it, I would want to revisit those same passages at another point in my life as a different person that could learn more from some other layer contained within the same ink on the page.


I never appreciated reading so much as I have post-graduation.  I know I eventually want to go back to school, but not until I fully understand what I want to study.  I am enjoying now reading up on the subjects that are most intriguing to me, and  not just the ones that fulfill my curriculum requirements.  I'm not devaluing my undergraduate education, but I am absolutely enjoying the current life situation I am in where I can read at my pleasure, have weekends free to leisurely read if I feel like it and not have a dark cloud looming over my head swollen with syllabus-scheduled assignments and exams.  


I just had deja vu.  I heard that deja vu happens when you are tired.  I think that is precisely the case.  It feels like I have been on so many situational ups and downs with work lately, although my emotional ups and downs are stabilizing due to the assistance provided by "A New Earth". One day I am going to Morocco, the next I am not.  One day I am doing an LCA on one product in the Netherlands and the next day I am not.  One day I am going to India, and the next day I am not.  That is business, apparently, and I am now aware that I need to develop a callous attitude towards continuous change brought on by organizational complexities.  When I know my new schedule, I'll let you know.  It is looking like Switzerland may be my first stop, as early as this weekend.


Good night and Happy Valentine's Day.

Down to the Wire

I leave Monday and I am semi-freaking out about all of the studying and work I have to do ahead of time.  However, the stress wasn't so great that I couldn't manage to fit in a trip to a Cavaliers game to see Lebron James and Shaq rip up the New Jersey Nets this week.  It was an amazing spectacle.  They had fireworks shooting out of the Jumbotron.  I've never seen anything like it.  The difference between pro and college basketball is so stark - it seems like they are two completely different sports.  I prefer college.  Speaking of which, go Badgers!  I had an opprtunity to go to see the Cavs versus the Magic tonight and had to turn it down due to my workload.  To tell you the truth, I think I just needed some alone time to unwind after working 10 hours today sorting out silly logistics.

It's amazing how much time you can spend in a day just setting up meetings, plane flights, hotel reservations, making a corporate identity, etc and hardly get any work done.  It's driving me crazy.  I spent most of the morning reading up on Swiss and Indian cultures since they will be the main ones that I will be interacting with over the course of the  next four months.  I felt like I was cramming for a very important test.  It is going to be really hard to remember all of these things, like it is rude to be a woman and reach to shake an Indian man's hand first, and to make sure that you only pass food plates with your right hand.  I hope I will be forgiven for being an ugly american a few times. 

I found out what hotel I am staying at for my first two weeks in India: http://www.parcestique.com/boutique.htm
Looks pretty shnazzy.  Hopefully it will serve as an oasis from the 10 different types of killer mosquites that apparently fly around all over the place.  I have to take an anti-malarial pill every day during my trip in addition to bug spraying my whole body with DEET.  By the way, did you know that cholera gets spread by eating the feces of someone who is infected with it?  I almost puked in my mouth today at work when I was reading about medical precautions today.

On that note, I'm heading to bed.

Turning to the Dark Side

I always said that I would never combine work with play on my cell phone, and the photo above is evidence that it was all a lie.  I turned to the dark side this week...beginning the end of the world.  I will soon have a dirty little black thumb.  Work issued me a beautiful Blackberry Curve, which I explicitly asked if I could use for personal calls.  They said 'yes'.  Normally I wouldn't have done this, but with travel it makes sense to consolidate my phones and phone numbers and only carry one device that tries to synchronize ever aspect of my life and identity into one little palm-sized nightmare.  This was also the ultimate method to fulfill my parents' request (since the umbilical cord was cut at graduation) that I remove myself and my expensive iPhone data package from their family plan contract.

Not only are cell phones a health hazard that everyone now is ignoring like they ignored the health hazards of cigarettes in the 60's and 70's, Blackberries and iPhones are ruining the world across other dimensions.  I have claimed for years that Blackberries are killing live human social interactions and ensuring that people who never before were required to be "on call" are now pressured to answer stupid requests from their coworkers while at dinner with their children.  I can't go to any meeting or dinner anymore without people I'm with or people around me checking their phone for either an e-mail that just came through, call or text message while shoddily attempting to listen or contribute to the conversation going on in front of them.  Didn't that used to be rude?  Also, anyone who owns a Blackberry or iPhone for business purposes knows that "vacation" has become an ideal and not a reality.  Now I succumb to that reality, even though I resisted for years and said I never would.  Have I been brainwashed?

Last year I had to rip my brother's Blackberry out of his hand during our family Christmas vacation out west.  After his repeated complaints/stress attacks about people at work e-mailing him and blaming incidents on him just because he was on vacation, I had had it.  His coworkers had somehow managed to enter my vacation happy thoughts while carving sick ski turns on a beautiful mountain and took some of the hard-earned vacation time of not only me, but my sister-in-law, dad, mom, and friends.  I hid the Blackberry for the remainder of the trip from my brother and he said it was the best thing I could have done for him.

"Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?"  Or, do you know what I'm talking about when I say that people can search and search all they want for love and never find it, but the second they give up and don't expect it, love comes knocking at their door?  Well, that is how it happened to me yesterday...with luggage.  Yes, luggage.  My mom and I searched department store after department store looking for that perfect addition to my luggage set with the following, near impossible to find specifications:

- Solid wheels
- Small enough to fall under "European carry-on" dimensions
- Big enough to carry 1-2 weeks of clothes (pushing it here)
- Laptop protection
- Can slide over handle of another wheeled suitcase
- Cute
- Matches my other luggage

Just as I had given up for the day, since I was unwilling to compromise any of the above specifications for my imaginary piece of luggage, at 9:27 p.m. the miracle happened.  I had painstakingly shopped with my patient mom all day for luggage in addition to those last few pieces to bring along on my trip like socks and belts and had HAD it.  I was wiped and told my professional shopper mom that after I found this last piece of luggage, I was never shopping again.  We opened, inspected, and critiqued over 50 suitcases that nearly fit the specifications above.  But nothing quite did it.  I gave up.  Then, as a last ditch effort (which I was not confident about), we went to TJ Maxx and More.  The intercom interrupted our thoughts as we walked in, "It is now 9:25 p.m. and our store closes at 9:30.  Please make your final purchase decisions and bring your items to the checkout."  I practically ran to the luggage section, saw a bunch of the same brands and models I had seen throughout the day at 1/4 of the price.  I opened up a few bags frantically to no avail.  Then my mom brought over a pea green piece that practically had light shining out of its zippers, screaming "I am the one".  It was the one!  Love at first sight!  Now I can be done with shopping for the rest of my life!!!!!!

Well, almost done.  I need two more items: a webcam and a mini-SD card for my Blackberry so that I can enter even deeper into the black abyss that is the dark side to consolidate my personal and work computers.  Let the vicious cycle continue...

the Plastic

I've got my own Corporate American Express card.  Plastic green. One step further to having my identity taken over completely by the "man".  Wow, is it nice to know that I can just swipe this sucker and someone else is going to pick up the bill, though...This week I have really been forking it out. Over $1000 spent on a professional wardrobe, shoes, luggage, vitamins and toiletries for the trip.  Then, I get the great news at my oil change appointment that my tires are bald.  $850 later.  Poof went my sign-on bonus!

Today my body was at work but my mind wasn't.  Every mouse click was zombie-like...I'm wondering/hoping the fatigue is a result of the three vaccinations I had like bing, bang, boom yesterday.  H1N1, Seasonal flu, and Polio all in the left bicep.  I had my travel consultation at the Cleveland Clinic - wow, is that place incredible.

The Cleveland Clinic deserves its own special paragraph.  What a beautiful, deep and moving place that is.  It is all white with clean lines and smooth surfaces, architecturally designed into what appears to be an art museum more than a hospital.  To make it even more like an art museum, there were statues and amazing artwork throughout the entire building.  I think a lot of famous hands touched that place.  It is truly remarkable to walk through the tunnel leading to the main entrance, with all of the colored lights delicately changing from one calming tone to another, while sensitive music notes permeate the hallway.  It really makes you reflect on your situation, thoughts and feelings, and also makes you curious about those around you.  I found myself wondering what everyone's purpose for being in that building was.  Most people were fully clothed with their thoughts not on their pace or direction, but somewhere else - about what was happening behind those doors in the hospital to their loved ones.  I thought that this place has to be one of the most emotion-filled places on earth and also one of the most beautiful places I have been.  Each person in this building was a true work of art, with a complex composition of emotional layers.

I felt ashamed that I had to consciously restrain myself from rudely passing a woman that was moving a little bit slower, as she was taking a break from her bed-- pushing forward step-by-step in her hospital gown with knotted hair in the back, pushing her IV cart which had about four other liquids feeding into her veins.  I hope spending so much time behind a computer is not turning me into one - uncaring and unemotional.

The rest of the story about the Cleveland Clinic is boring - I got enough malaria pills for 6 months stay...I have to take one a day.  I also got plenty of anti-diarrheal and sleep medicine for about 40 trips to India.  I should be set.  I was also informed to not have sex, wear bug spray every day (with DEET), to not let monkeys sit on my shoulder, not to feed dogs, not to drink the tap water, not to eat vegetables (or anything for that matter that is not either steaming hot or straight out of a package that I open from a reputable source, like Coca-Cola).  I am going to take it one step further and not even drink the tap water if it is boiled and not drink Coca-Cola.  The water probably has heavy metals and the Coke, fermaldehyde.  I think I will just try to buy a ton of Chia seeds and survive on them while I am there.

Thursday night in at the Hampton Inn

The birth of my newborn blog has taken place here at the humble Hampton Inn in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, "Sunny Cleveland" or "the Cleve", which has served as my home for the last 6 days.  My first week of work at my new job is nearly complete, but could honestly hardly constitute being termed "work"... The majority of the time (and the time of our gracious administrative assistant and my mother) was dedicated to ensuring my computer/mobile device/immunizations/anti-malarials/voicemail/wardrobe/luggage/e-mail account/badge/business identity were set up and in-line prior to my world travel.  


As one might imagine, after quitting my job, moving all of my global possessions to storage in Fayetteville, Arkansas, then jumping in the car for a 16 hour marathon to make it just in time for a three day strategic planning session complete with over 300 powerpoint slides coupled with the week of business logistics hell - I am exhausted.  After reading the last few sentences I wrote three times now, I am still not even sure if they qualify as complete sentences. Please forgive any disconnected thoughts, or anything disconnected, for that matter from me over the next 4.5 months.  This blog stems only from the sudden burst of energy supplied by the China One chinese food we had delivered directly to our hotel room this evening.


On to the details...


My travel commences on February 15th with the following five-week (of the total 4.5 month) itinerary is as follows:
February 15th - Travel (first class!) from Cleveland, OH to Pune, India
Two weeks later - Travel to Morges, Switzerland
One week later - Travel to Casablanca, Morocco
Three days later - Travel to Hengelo, Netherlands
Three days later - Travel back to Pune, India


You can't actually see it, but all the environmental work that I completed over the past year + has now been negated by that simple, innocent little five line itinerary...Hard to imagine that all that travel is to do environmental work!  I'm not even going to try to do the math on that carbon footprint - I think it will probably just depress me.  I will just refer to the "old trusty" fallback reassurance: at least I have a job.


I apologize for the broken links.  I am too tired to fix the HTML template right now - heading to bed.