tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24582452288969903022024-03-05T11:03:15.247-08:00La Patoja ColochaAL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-68134159799703210962012-04-05T05:02:00.000-07:002012-04-05T05:02:46.953-07:00Sonnet 116It is hard to imagine a more perfect sonnet, even with all the beautiful words Shakespeare wrote. I remember hearing this when I was a teenager and was watching 'sense and sensibility' for the first time. I availed myself of a Spanish copy of the sonnets not long after that and to this day I can recite most of 116 in Spanish. Today, listening to NPR I found a link to the sonnet being read as it was probably meant to sound back when the bard wrote it... so without further adieu:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Let me not to the marriage of true minds<br />
Admit impediments. Love is not love<br />
Which alters when it alteration finds,<br />
Or bends with the remover to remove:<br />
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark <br />
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;<br />
It is the star to every wandering bark,<br />
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.<br />
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks <br />
Within his bending sickle's compass come: <br />
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, <br />
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.<br />
If this be error and upon me proved,<br />
I never writ, nor no man ever loved. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
javascript:NPR.Player.openPlayer(149160526,%20149170169,%20null,%20NPR.Player.Action.PLAY_NOW,%20NPR.Player.Type.STORY,%20'0')<br />
<br />
And for a paraphrase of it:<br />
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/116detail.htmlAL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-11175831262881058882011-12-25T16:55:00.000-08:002011-12-25T16:56:22.392-08:00Same time next year<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si_1mpmVECA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si_1mpmVECA</a><br />
<br />
<br />
I have this distant memory of being a little girl and seeing this movie with my mom. I remember how she thought it was so lovely and I remember the female lead's blond hair. In many ways, this movie has always been with me. Not so long ago, maybe only a few months ago, I remembered and looked it up. Watching it felt like this thunderstorm of feelings I didn't really realize I felt. <br />
<br />
Hearing the song, the little piano notes that serve as bridges for the scenes take me back to thinking about what love is. It reminds me that we never really know the part someone plays in our lives until much after. It also showed me that couples are not perfect, that fairy tales are not how they seem...<br />
<br />
Hearing the song makes me miss a life I didn't have and makes me like the one I live. Weird.AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-627869382864764962011-10-07T07:25:00.000-07:002011-10-07T07:25:24.116-07:00No(r)WaySo after three or so months of living in Bergen full time I can safely say that I will never EVER in my life seriously move here.AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-80069303233083634882011-05-19T00:50:00.001-07:002011-05-19T00:50:54.686-07:00BlackbirdAll your life you were only waiting for this moment to be free<br />
<br />
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P5CUHHGlQg0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-5325868396833795082011-05-14T12:54:00.000-07:002011-05-14T12:54:35.453-07:00Things that I haveWhen I moved to Umea, I left many things behind. I left my apartment and it's beautiful view. I left the house I shared with Ana. I left my clothes, my furniture, my paintings, my postcards and my life. <br />
<br />
So what do I have here?<br />
<br />
I have a green duvet cover that reminds me of spring when it's not here. I have some posters that give me colors when everything is dark or grey. I have a scarf that a friend brought all the way from Indonesia just for me. I also have pictures of the people I love and they are up in the wall in front of my bed so that I can see them every day. <br />
<br />
I have a small TV and a little potted plant with purple flowers. I have knitting books to help me make things for the people I love, an occasionally for me. I have winter boots and spring boots, and coats and sweaters. And I have a plate full of oranges so that I can just have one when I feel like it.<br />
<br />
I have a glass of wine I got at Ikea for 10kr and a little tea-candle holders that make my room seem like there are a tens of stars here, warming my night and lighting the dark. <br />
<br />
And soon I'll have to leave all of them behind again and start collecting new things and fill them with meaning and love. Every time I do it, it gets harder... and every time I feel like I need my life here more. I wonder why out of so many things that I chose to leave behind, I thought to bring my fear with me?AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-71140709204253525082011-05-14T07:40:00.001-07:002011-05-14T07:40:38.485-07:00HandsHands are one of the most beautiful part of the human body. We dress them up with rings and nail polish to try to make them look better but there is just something so warm and soft about a pair of freshly washed hands that makes them seem so earnest, so real. The kind of hands that are a little red from all the washing, are the ones that I like the best right now. You can always tell if someone washes their hands a lot because no matter how much lotion you put on them afterwards, the palms always look red and the nails always look wet. Working in a public health department and being surrounded with physicians and nurses, I can see red-palmed-scrubbed-clean hands all the time. They are all so different, but they all kind of look the same at the time.<br />
<br />
It makes me wish I was artistic (aka, had any talent other than singing out of tune when no one is around) to draw them, to play with clay and make them. Instead, I watch and try to remember how they make me feel: taken cared of and safe. It's always the littlest things that do that, isn't it?AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-85830810070205184332011-05-04T05:26:00.000-07:002011-05-04T05:26:59.481-07:00Running my time awayMy knees are sore. My calves hurt I have to do about twice as much laundry as I had to do before. I also seem to have developed a new found appreciation for those tight running pants and I always make sure I have a ton of bananas in my fruit plate at home.<br />
<br />
What has happened to me? I'll tell you: I have been running all semester long. I got my self a little training app for the phone and I do what it tells me. It basically tells me when to run and for how long to do it... and it lets me manage my own speed. It's been really nice and I can see how my days have changed since January.<br />
<br />
But there is always a but and I can tell how it's eating away at the rest of my life. This week I have to plan around doing that silly 90min run on Friday and still being alive enough to bike to my friend's house. I won't complain though. I figure that I'll burn so many calories doing those 15K that I figure I'll run that I can totally suck on a sugar cane and still be good.<br />
<br />
Secretly, that's what I like the most about running: all the chocolate and candy I can eat and burn :)AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-72821335318244517932011-03-03T10:23:00.000-08:002011-03-03T10:23:08.258-08:00Birthday monthJanuary came and left, and February mornings were far to cold in the north of Sweden for me to sit outside and smoke a single, guilty ciggie while day dreaming about what this year will bring. March is here and my birthday is just around the corner. This is a big year (but then again, they all are) and I'm turning 30. I don't quite understand how that happened, or when. <br />
<br />
I think about the past and the present, and I like the path I chose to walk. Sometimes, when I'm having fika with my friends and making K cry/chuckle I think about the sad little girl I used to be. When my family calls and says they miss me, I remember that for many years they never really cared (and that they do now makes me deeply happy). I have grown to be a woman that has wonderful, good people that love and care for her. And for that I am very grateful.<br />
<br />
Living in three countries spread over two continents means that I will never get to have all the people I love around for the anniversary of my birth (or for the celebration of me still being alive, which is how someone that has been sick like I have looks at her birthday). However, when I blow out my candles in a few days I will carry all of them with me, along with the wonderful certainty that I am not alone in this big, blue world.AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-78406967201295834792011-01-18T06:25:00.000-08:002011-01-18T06:35:00.623-08:00Jordan CatalanoI've been watching 'my so-called life' lately and not having seen it for the better part of a decade really helps me to remember what it was like to be Angela. We all were Angela, weren't we? We all had brave friends that seemed to fit into the social arena so well, and we all felt totally excluded from what was happening.<br /><br />I remember feeling like I didn't 'belong' and how amazingly meaningful one single line in a poem or a story could be. In many cases, I still feel like that. Like it´s easier for others to cope, to understand, to grow, to love. I am not a teenager anymore, and almost not even in my twenties, but I remember. I remember and I understand. One thing, though... I don't miss the angst I use to feel over my own Jordan Catalano...AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-24844999093088478072011-01-01T06:07:00.001-08:002011-01-01T06:27:30.558-08:00Party like it's 1999! (or 1995-1999)As any person with as many iconoclastic tendencies as yours truly will tell you, this time of the year posses terrible contradictions between our desire to free ourselves from symbols and cultural obligations and, well, just having time off from work and school. Usually, I cope by calling everything by its 'proper sociology of religion name' and wishing everyone a happy hegemonic deity birthday/randomly set beginning of the year not really marked by the solstice (like the Iranians, who celebrate new years on March 21, when the sun wins the fight for time against the dark and the cold) and by working.<br /><br />I will admit to going to new year's parties with my cousin Hugo and the lovely Marielos... and to randomly convincing complete strangers at the Café No Sé to chant wonderful pro-welfare state propaganda (yes, healthcare and eduation SHOULD BE FREE), as we all found out two years ago via a random MPHer from Johns Hopkins and a bar bet which I lost). <br /><br />This year I ended up at a party at Andy's (Mg's friend) and while I expected a quiet, fun night of puns, Monty Python references and a great dinner, I got me a dance party complete with 1990s flashbacks which made me feel like I was 15 again and getting ready for my fiesta de quince. So to the tune of 'rhythm is a dancer' I welcomed 2011 and then proceeded to walk the 5km back to Mg's house at 4 am (got home at 5.30). No more dancing today, thoughAL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-27207526777316012042010-12-28T11:54:00.001-08:002010-12-28T12:00:15.873-08:00Learn (useful) Spanish in 30 days or your money back!Learning a language is more than just conjugating verbs, confusing the polite and the familiar form of the second person singular or figuring out how to recognize and properly use the subjunctive. It is about communication and it is about saying -and knowing- the right words at the right time.<br /><br />So Mg got a wonderful present from his sister: a Spanish 'word/phrase of the day' calendar for 2012 and a Spanish language course. Already we are ripping the benefits since Mg has just learned his first truly useful phrase for someone who is planning to tour Guatemala. What is it, you ask?<br /><br />'¿Dónde está la estación de policía?' (where is the police station?)<br /><br />A phrase that a white European tourist will surely need in the land of everlasting spring :PAL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-51716815575940103442010-12-27T06:43:00.000-08:002010-12-27T06:49:06.509-08:00Something I will never forget againTwo weeks ago I was trying to figure out what to take with me for a month in Norway. I already know you don't wear that much stuff in the winter since basically you wear the same thing all the time. A few sweaters would do the trick... pajamas for staying indoors and woolen socks to keep my toes toasty would surely be enough.<br /><br />My problem now was a different one than when I was packing to spend the summer on 'the continent', where the sun is hot and I could indulge in wearing pretty dresses for weeks and weeks. When I packed my bag in June I wanted to take every single piece of clothing that wasn't made of wool that I owned. Now I only wanted to take a few things, but they were so bulky that I had to go for my bigger suitcase. So the morning of the trip I took out a few things and decided against taking sweatpants with me.<br /><br />That was a mistake. I am sitting here in front of a nice fire and all I have are jeans. I 'yearn' for my old sweats and promise to never leave them at home ever again!AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-41702339000580012972010-12-27T06:36:00.000-08:002010-12-27T06:40:38.006-08:00SongYou don't have to say you love me just because I can, you don't have to stay forever, I will understand...<br /><br />It just came on while I was sitting in the living room, knitting a pair of sock-booties for a friend back at school. It made me miss my friend D. and sitting in her living room, singing old songs with a glass of (ghetto) wine and a ciggie...<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sotRQXqfz9Y?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sotRQXqfz9Y?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />And one for the road!<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ycbgHM1mI0k?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ycbgHM1mI0k?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-88692003800099053232010-12-22T13:20:00.001-08:002010-12-22T13:22:06.780-08:00Truffles & PralinesThe only evidence I can find of the actual existence of a deity is my wonderful box of assorted pralines and truffles.<br /><br />Could there be anything better than a wonderful little box filled with tiny chocolates?AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-8820124019137871522010-12-20T11:20:00.000-08:002010-12-20T11:23:27.378-08:00BloggingSomething has changed this last year. Somehow, I lost the will to blog. I was just talking about this with Mg, and telling him how easy it used to be. I would just sit in front of my computer and tell a funny story. A story I hoped my friends would find interesting and my blog was a way to prevent me from having to say the same story over and over again.<br /><br />Now it kind of feels like a duty, like homework. Maybe I expect too much of myself. Maybe it's my thesis and the stress of writing. Maybe I just forgot how much fun it could be to just throw random rants into the intertubes without worrying who would read it.<br /><br />I hope I start blogging again, and soon.AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-3920558402280233422010-10-26T04:53:00.000-07:002010-10-26T05:05:09.394-07:00Y todo lo que ya viví lo sigo cargandolo llevo muy dentro de mí, nunca lo he olvidado. Lo siento tan cerca de aquí, lo llevo muy dentro de mí.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_mOfdTCrF18?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_mOfdTCrF18?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-36738190228742521432010-10-05T10:07:00.000-07:002010-10-05T10:09:22.410-07:00Ready, set... go?I only have about a month left before my mid-term seminar. This means that I have done more than 50% of the work that I need for my thesis (which includes all my fieldwork, two papers, one internship and a boat-load of classes). I just finished filling the forms and will need to start working on my presentation very soon. <br /><br />I like speaking in public. I'm not afraid of that at all. I'm just antsy and can't help but wonder what will I do once I finish my PhD...AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-90935282888148730292010-09-14T01:37:00.000-07:002010-09-14T01:56:36.648-07:00HarvestSummer is over and now the leaves are turning and the wind is blowing. I can see it in nature and I can see it in people. In the street and in the office everyone seems to be dressing more formally, wearing (more serious) high heels, suits and looking just a little less relaxed than they did a couple of weeks ago.<br /><br />Autumn is harvest time and since I am getting ready to leave Geneva in just a few days, and it got me thinking on what I got out of these months away from friends and family in both 'my homes' (Guatemala and Umea). <br /><br />This is the first time in my adult life I've ever been homesick... but I missed two places at the same time. I wanted to see my family, my gramms, and my friends that got married, had babies and already went through a long time without me in their lives. I also wanted to go to dinner and make bread, eat chocolates, drink tea and laugh with my Umea friends. The last time I felt sad like this was when I was about to go back to Guate after my little stint with my godparents in Puerto Rico... but I was 11 so I guess it was OK to miss my mom!<br /><br />This is also the first time I realized just how many lovely, wonderful people are in my life (even if they are long distance). I never noticed when I made so many friends (specially because this is not something that comes naturally to me). This summer I got to meet with many of the ones that have been far away for years, and with all of them it felt as if time had not gone by. I got to remember why we were and are friends and learned things about myself and how I've grown in the years between the last time I saw them and now. I still need to be better at writing, though!<br /><br />...and even though I still like to make sweeping generalizations about people, cultures and places, I really feel like I'm more 'grown-up' now.AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-44146150073104842652010-08-25T00:27:00.001-07:002010-08-25T00:31:05.586-07:00The cautionary whaleSo I found some sort of 'shuffle' thing on youtube. It's a great thing to have while I'm trying to make my 'Word art' a little more professional looking. Of course I tried to shuffle Regina Spektor first but it eventually got into the Juno soundtrack (hence the title of the blog).<br /><br />This morning's song! <br /><br />Oh, and the title is a not-so-obscure reference to Juno :)<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tvkBSDeRRpw?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tvkBSDeRRpw?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-85564169785217517312010-08-24T07:20:00.000-07:002010-08-24T07:27:51.268-07:00En la vida...Hoy vine a la OMS un poco después de las ocho de la mañana. Tenía ganas de sentarme y escribir, de avanzar, de tener ideas. Ahora son las 4.23pm y estoy cansada. Reorganicé mucho de mi borrador, tuve una conversación muy interesante sobre la equidad en salud y las ideologías dominantes (qué rico, me hizo sentirme como que estaba en la clase de Isa Rodas) y ya no me siento con tanta inspiración como hoy en la mañana. <br /><br />Hoy decidí escribir en español por la canción a continuación. Me recuerda a tener 21 o 22 años y sentir la pasión por la sociología, por la teoría, por entender. No es que no la sienta todavía pero como todos los amores, éste se ha transformado con el tiempo, ha madurado y me ha hecho madurar a mí.<br /><br />En fin, qué mejor que los Fabulosos Cádillacs haciéndole burla a los Backstreet Boys y una súper canción<br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/e1JuFKFJAKk?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/e1JuFKFJAKk?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-5443102871272102072010-08-23T11:31:00.000-07:002010-08-23T11:38:15.452-07:00Gotta have it, really need it to get by...Nope, I'm not talking about the sugar high Renée Zellweger sings about in that iconic 1990s movie 'Empire Records'... I'm talking about decent, high-speed internet.<br /><br />I really can't complain much about life in Geneva. The weather has been awesome, I get go to out and run through wonderful old houses and the huge gardens in Grand Saconnex and its surroundings, I've had friends come and I love going to the WHO everyday. <br /><br />But there is always a 'but', I guess. With the really bad internet signal I have in the 'hell hole' (aka as the John Knox Center, which is where I live), I can barely log into Skype. I miss my regular Sunday chats with my mom, my e-beers with everyone and I have to say, it's really made me homesick. <br /><br />Today, after more than two weeks of unsuccessful attempts at Skype I finally got to call my mom... for 1.45 minutes.<br /><br />I should just go to the Parc des Nations with my Ipod and call her from there... seriously.<br /><br />*sighAL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-81858173598598552282010-08-13T00:35:00.000-07:002010-08-13T00:37:02.338-07:00'The illustrated guide to a PhD'So does this mean my thesis is like a pimple in the face of knowledge?<br /><br />That actually explains quite a lot.<br /><br />Thanks for the link :)<br /><br />http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-91989455427290717102010-08-10T00:59:00.000-07:002010-08-24T07:38:18.765-07:00There's a small town in my mindI've been homesick lately. I think I just move around too much. It's hard to pack up your life every three months and start again, even when you're coming and going from the same two places. <br /><br />To add complexity to my nomadic circumstances, this summer I added Geneva to the mix and lately I've been feeling a little blue. Not for Guatemala though, I miss Umea. I miss my friends and my small-town life and I think I might just be tired of moving around.<br /><br />So last night before going to bed I was listening to my Ipod and this song came on... and truly, there is a small town in my mind right now.<br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/d4Orww5gkRw?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/d4Orww5gkRw?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-25488246991215322762010-08-03T00:48:00.000-07:002010-08-03T05:37:21.727-07:00A Royale with cheese...I just noticed that my usual shampoo has a different name in Francophone countries. Instead of it being 'Elvive' it's 'Elséve'. The funny thing is that I've had that bottle for over a week and I didn't even look ar it. I guess I'm too used to not understanding what's written on stuff from living in Sweden to even care anymore. I just get whatever looks like what I usually buy.<br /><br />Have to admit, it was a total pulp fiction moment... although I'm not as cool as Samuel L Jackson (but almost).AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2458245228896990302.post-49305556285360940162010-07-28T10:55:00.001-07:002010-07-28T11:10:15.420-07:00Things you pick up along the wayIt was exactly a week ago today that I came to Geneva and started living in the house of a nice family that puts up with my French and find my sock-knitting amusing. I really like it here and were it not for the fact that I can't seem to find a walking-distance supermarket, I would not mind staying for the rest of my three month stint. <br /><br />But I digress. The real purpose of the blog is to say that in Switzerland, people keep their shoes on when they go into a house, which is not the custom in Scandinavia... and having my shoes on in the house feels weird (This despite the fact that the first time I went to Umea it took me forever to get used to it).<br /><br />So while I'm home alone here, I'm instituting the 'no shoes indoors' rule... both to save me a little cleaning time and to make me feel a little more like home (away from home).AL Ruanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637049363145597614noreply@blogger.com0