the HRC

So I've been in Geneva for about 2 weeks and have just completed my first full week of work. I really like my job. Everyone in the office is so friendly and open and helpful. I never feel like an idiot for asking questions, since, of course, I just don't know how things work quite yet.

The 8th session of the Human Rights Council has been convening for the past 2 weeks, so what I've been doing is essentially attending all of the meetings, taking down, verbatim, what the delegates are saying, and reporting back to the organization with reviews of the day's discussions. It has been so interesting to observe the way that these diplomats speak to and about one another. There are so many careful subtleties that they use in order not to ruffle anyone's feathers. The delegate from Slovenia, who has been speaking on behalf of the European Union for this session, once said, in response to numerous interruptions by the delegate from Egypt during NGO speeches, "This is becoming a farce." A FARCE is extremely strong language when it comes to UN diplomacy. It's just interesting how careful the delegates have to be.

The languages used in the HRC are just as fascinating. The interpreters that work for the UN do simultaneous translating, which requires them to listen to what the delegates are saying and translate at the same time, while also listening to what the delegates say afterwards, while the interpreters are translating. It's incredible, to not only develop that kind of multi-tasking ability, but also to be able to have the kind of specific, technical, and also diplomatic vocabulary that the delegates use in their statements. The delegates themselves are so very articulate. Often, even when they are not reading their statements, it sounds as if they have already planned out what they have to say and are simply reciting it. No hesitations, no ums, no pauses, just perfect speeches. That's not to say that they always say something significant, but they can say nothing so beautifully.

I often listen to the French translation, or the Russian translation, just to hear the type of language that they are using. It's so technical. I find that I'm understanding more of the French than the Russian, simply because I never encounter that kind of sophisticated, technical, diplomatic language in Russian.

Here's a picture of one of the HRC sessions that I found online, which looks exactly like one of the rooms they have been convening in. I usually sit on the very far left, behind the divider.



I've also been working on several research projects, looking into human rights violations in Russia and analyzing the 2008-2009 members of the HRC in terms of their own human rights status. So many of them have terrible human rights records, so it's a shame they were voted in as members.

This weekend is the Fete de la Musique, a festival during which there is always some kind of band, orchestra, or group playing music all over the city. I'm actually going to leave soon to find some music to listen to! Maybe salsa? Or some blues. We'll see.

LISBON

In other news, Sarah (my friend from high school who has been spending a year in Geneva) and I just returned from a fabulous weekend in Lisbon. It is a beautiful city - very hilly, with tons of winding side-streets covered in streamers. My favorite street is below (I don't even remember its name!).

It's so steep! There were old ladies just sitting on their stoops with their small dogs all up and down this street. Old men were barbecuing, more old ladies leaning out of their shuttered windows. And the entire time, music was playing from every corner! Here's a video of the street - listen to the music. I'm pretty sure it's Amalia, whose voice I heard all through the secondhand market and very frequently being played from inside people's homes.



We visited the Tower of Belem, built in the early 16th century as part of a defense system. It was absolutely beautiful. The architecture iss very Moroccan, and was influenced by Moorish design. The tower is quite small, only about 35 meters, so it was hard to picture it as useful for defense. It was used for other things later on - a customs post, a prison, etc. Really cool place, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.



We also visited the castle in the old city, a second-hand market, the beach, numerous statue-filled plazas, a beautiful church, and we walked along the port. And we ate a LOT of seafood. Check out these snails! We ate them with toothpicks!

Also, the last night we were in Lisbon, Portugal won against Turkey in one of the Eurocup games, actually held in Geneva. WOW. People go nuts. Sarah and I were sitting in one of the plazas and heard hundreds of cars honking, people running around with the Portuguese flag waving in the air, people leaning out of car windows, through sunroofs, yelling...it was quite an experience. That night, a bar played only traditional Portuguese music and I danced with a very happy 55 yr old man wearing the Portuguese team's jersey, who then returned to his balcony above the bar, where he danced alone for everybody down below. He's the one facing the camera, dancing with someone facing away from the camera.

just got here

First impressions of Geneva plus things I forgot to check on:

1) Didn’t realize I wouldn’t be given towels here! Am going to have to air dry after showering until I find a towel tomorrow.

2) Didn’t realize I would need to buy my own laundry detergent! Must do this before doing laundry. Am in desperate need of doing laundry. Host family could not do laundry for past 3 weeks.

3) Geneva is a rather small, sleepy city that has been suddenly overtaken by football fans. Half of the Eurocup games are going to be held in Switzerland, and half in Austria. Two games were held in Geneva last night, when I was still in Lisbon. Everything is dead in Geneva on Sundays, and late at night, but this Eurocup has forced lots of places to remain open, which is great.

4) I swear, Europe has to complicate everything, even grocery stores. There are 3 different sizes of this one grocery store. The top level, the largest store, is located where? IN THE AIRPORT. The others are smaller and less cheap, apparently.

5) My roommates are nice but seem to be quite busy with their own stuff, and will likely be keeping to themselves for the most part, from how they’ve described their experience in the apartment.

6) Excellent designers, those Swiss. My room is very nice, simple, and sleek, as are the main rooms of the apartment. Here are some pictures of my room. I'll get pictures of the main rooms of the apartment up later.





I don’t currently have internet so I will probably post this tomorrow, when I will also hopefully have the following:
- Swiss SIM card
- Laundry card
- towel
- laundry detergent
- bus pass

Tomorrow is going to be one hell of a scary day. All I have on me (not online because I don’t have internet) when it comes to info about Geneva is a transportation map and a regular map. Where do I buy things? Where do I find bus passes? Where do I go grocery shopping in town? (I already bought some things at the airport grocery. THE AIRPORT. How bizarre).

The prices here are absolutely outrageous. A bottle of water at the airport was 6 Swiss Francs. A kebab in town was 12, and Sarah said that was one of the cheap places. Oyyyyy.