Not On a Bender, Just on Hiatus From Blogging

so the past wk and a half have been busy, thus posting stuff has been a bit slow. for those asking, this is what i've been up to.

mon, jul 17th - exhausted from my salzburg/prague/dresden/zurich trip, i made my friend jackie go out to dinner w/me cuz i was too tired to grocery shop. we couldn't find the thai restaurant we were looking for, but did find another place in Old Town. they have maybe 4 things on their menu, but the only one that mattered was their speciality: half a roasted chicken, a platter of home fries, a salad for about US$10 (b and baker - it's not fried chicken, but i know both of you could appreciate this). it was SO YUMMY! (and officially the 4th time i've had meat since arriving.)

tues, jul 18th - went to the paleo festival in L'Asse, about 25 mins away from geneva. hv no idea what the town actually looks like cuz the entire festival takes place out in the middle of an open field. was uber lucky getting the ticket cuz the wk was already sold out, and 3 of the 5 bands that i wanted to see were playing that night. this festival was awesome! everyone was so friendly! but not THAT friendly - it was woodstock minus the sex and drugs.

got the last minute ticket from a guy named jon, who happens to be irish catholic and plays soccer. how do i find these guys??? he's a fun guy from NY working in lausanne (about 35 mins away from geneva) and i'm glad to have the new friend. and no worries about me hanging out w/a stranger cuz i'm totally safe - he's already dating a korean girl from the states (hee-hee...the poor guy obviously doesn't have a clue what he's getting himself into!).

at the festival we got some beers. ruth, a chica from prague i met that evening, got the first round...

there were tons of people there.

eventually we made our way to the main stage. was uber excited cuz the pixies were playing and ever since they started touring again, i've never been able to get a ticket!

while we were waiting for the show to start i found this dude. after visiting prague, this mullet is pretty weak (tho most of the mullets there were on girls...).

for only about US$50, i got to see the pixies...

the shout out louds (even better than when i saw them in mpls)...

and ben harper. way too cool!

and despite the crowds (they estimate 20,000 people each night), it was pretty easy to get around.

found this pretty fountain on the way out. losing sleep that evening was well worth it. got back to geneva and my apt around 1:30am. and it was only tues.

wed, july 19th - at work they have a cheese and wine social hour every thursday (can we get that started back home???), but they moved it to wed to celebrate the ED's and the CFO's birthdays. the social committee got a special cake made for them w/the GAIN logo and were kind enough to use the type of candles that don't blow out. hee-hee! note: the swiss make the best bread and pastries, but they can't make cake.

after work i went out to a meet-and-greet for lonely displaced persons like me in geneva and the surrounding area. lost 30 mins of my life i'll never get back talking w/a dude from jersey who works w/the airport or near there. he lost my attention when he started ranting on about how much better the US is than the rest of the world. what an idiot! the evening wasn't a total loss tho. i did meet some cool folks including a guy named steve (you'll see his pic when i post my visit to lyon). originally from chicago, he went into the marines after high school. after that he failed out of Champaign-Urbana and became a car salesman. from there he got married, had 2 kids, and went back to school at the U of Iowa. now he's a PhD student in physics at Northwestern and working every other month at CERN. and he's only 25. what the hell?

thurs, july 20th - did laundry, which is a bit of an ordeal here. the dryer has never worked when i've needed it, and the washer takes about an hour per load. thot i would get to bed early that night, but didn't get done til 2am.

fri, july 21th - crashed.

sat, july 22th - went to Lyon w/steve (former car salesman turned physicist) and two of his cohorts working on their PhDs in Florida (will post those pics as soon as i get around to downloading them). afterwards got a tour of CERN, went to a boat party, and got home around 3am. recharging on friday night may not have been the best idea cuz i proceeded to stay up and chat on the phone w/people til 7am...

sun, july 23 - after getting no sleep i went to Chamonix to see Mont Blanc, the highest peak they let tourists like me go visit up close. this place is one of my favorites so far, tho thot i was going to pee my pants when i got to the top and looked over the edge. pics are coming...

mon, jul 24 - tried to catch up w/blogging.

tues, jul 25 - tried blogging some more.

wed, jul 26 - went to the cinelac w/my friend jackie. every summer for a month and a half they show movies on the lake. it's overpriced, but still pretty cool to watch a movie on a gigantic screen (pic is of it rotating up for the show) w/the lake and mountains in the background. they set up plastic chairs stadium-style and have a 10 min intermission right in the middle of the movie. and while some people could complain about the interruption (which apparently is a regular thing), i can't cuz they take that time to pass out free ice cream (i had chocolate). we watched X-Men III in french. didn't understand a word they were saying, but somehow i still didn't miss much...

ok, that should bring everyone pretty much up to date. will try to post stuff on last wknd's visits to lyon and chamonix before i run off this wknd. next tues, aug 1st is a national holiday so i'm taking monday off and running to italy!