Work

Time to talk about the reason why I am in Washington: work! Indeed this time of the year is quite special for the big multilateral financial institutions: it's the Annual Meetings. 187 countries' governors (in most cases, central bank governor or minister of finance) convene here. A good test is to recognize all the flags. My knowledge rate is around 95%, still having trouble with a few Pacific and Caribbean islands.In between the restricted breakfast, the bilateral meetings, the regular summit, the press conferences and informal exchanges, the ministers and governors quickly posed for a family picture. An even better test is to recognize them. At least, the first two rows should not be too problematic... I must admit it gets more and more difficult the further up one goes.
Behind the smooth and efficient Annual Meetings, there are many dedicated people, including me! Here my office where inputs, speeches, statements are initiated. Nice office, good colleagues and interesting work. Maybe I should not mention the pay...

Shenandoah

Being finally allowed to drive my own car, the visit of a swiss friend was the perfect opportunity to discover the area. First stop: the Shenandoah national park. Most of it is about driving along the Slyline, a panoramic road up the Appalaches mountain range, with a great view over the Shenandoah valley.
Other highlights include great walks in the lush forest. We did a four hour walk to reach a serie of waterfalls. On our way back we met other tourists on horses. I surely would not have minded highjacking - or horsejacking - them. No, actually for us swiss this was like a walk in the park.
My friend wanted so badly to see a black bear. We were not so lucky - so she got herself a T-shirt with a funny bear and a motto "I'm beary tired". Still we got to see some chipmunks but they were too fast for my camera. At least the deers were more accomodative. Almost made me feel like being in an african national park.
It is written all over the park: the national park benefits from the American fiscal stimulus program. View points, parking spots and trails are renovated thanks to the "recovery dollars". But I have not seen these dollars being used to upgrade the lodges (they could definitely get a facelift) or to expand them. I wondered whether additional tourists would be attracted by spotless parking lots or by cosier and environmentally friendlier lodges. It is quite possible that the return on these dollars will be very low. But here is probably not the place to discuss the effectiveness of fiscal stimulus...!

Football in the land of "football"

All is not lost to civilisation in the USA. Indeed in the land of "football", there are many people playing Football ! Indeed, we managed to build up a team to compete in an internal work cup. 20 teams entered and each team played three first round games of 25 minutes. Our team did really well with two wins and a draw. Lots of nice running and sweating. Good spirit and fun - at least during our games. We saw another player demonstratively push down his opponent's goalkeeper. He got a redcard for that - well deserved.
We played on half fields and 7 against 7 with a lot of substitutions. Our "grey" team qualified for the next round. But I had to leave and my team promptly lost in the quarterfinals. Surely us economists could find a strong causal relationship there!!
The cup took place at our club. There is a golf course and plenty of tennis courts... Great but far and expensive... Not too say a little touch of exclusive. Still it was a fantastic day with temperature above 30 ! Already looking forward to next year's cup!

New home

The search for a new home in Washington was firstly a very good way to get to know the city, its streets, avenues and milestones. Since I had to move around without my car (a later entry on that shortly), it also was a good workout for my legs... I contacted an agent through which I visited a few flats. Then a colleague told me to check on a website. This was much more productive and allowed me to visit quite a few places. Of course, in some cases, they would ask for your social security number or for your credit score... all foreign concepts to a foreigner... Then I found this flat and fortunately the owner is an Eastern European who worked for the World Bank. But the agent was not pleased that I found something on my own, and required that I pay her a fee equivalent to half a month's rent. After enquiring with the Embassy and my employer, I did not reply to her demands and have not heard anything from her yet.
September 2 was the move-in date. My belongings had arrived the week before at Norfolk after an uneventful crossing of the Atlantic. Whereas in Switzerland, it was a team of Balkan people who packed my things, on this side of the Atlantic, it was a team of black people. They were efficient and quick. They put everything back in functioning order. Nothing was broken during the trip. Nice to have everything back in to rearrange stuff in a much bigger space.
The flat is in a fairly new building, on the 8th floor (from 14). It has all amenities, such as washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, built-in store space, two bathrooms. The building itself has a fitness room, a community room with a pool table, a poker table and a TV (with the tennis channel), a garage and a big roofdeck. This deck is apparently hugely popular on the 4th of July for the fireworks display. My Geneva friends should definitely plan to come around at that time and compare with ours!
This downtown building is situated on one of the main street and part of an area that has improved a lot over the past years in terms of the quality of the buildings, the social activities and security. It is a 20 minutes walk to my work and there is a direct bus (the circulator) just on my doorstep.
You might have noticed that there is no picture of the guest room. Well this should be taken as an invitation to come over. At least, there is a little bit of a surprise for when you come around. Surely you will not be disappointed.

USA - first impression

There is probably no better way to start a new episode in one's life than to be upgraded from business to first class on the flight to the new destination. Well, there I got it. I should even have gone all the way and ordered some champagne... I guess my protestant education still restraints the full enjoyment of freebees.

The first impression about the US and Washington is that people are very polite, even friendly. Then there is quite a huge bureaucracy and it takes time to settle and to be full functional. The most frustrating for me is the fact that having bought a car (and holding the keys) and having driven for more then 15 years, it will take me more than one month to be allowed to drive my own car! Then there is all the other paperwork... Hopefully I can report more positive news on my next entry.

For me to feel welcome, you have got to give me tennis as well. And there on my very first week in town, there was an international ATP tournament.

My very first week-end was spent watching great tennis at the Washington international tournament. The stadium was really nice and the games in the evenings were certainly favored by the players, in view of the very hot and humid conditions during the day. Compared to what I am used to, I must admit that the crowd behaved so differently. First, most people do not care if players are playing, the walk in and out of their seats anytime. No gentlemen here. Worst still, some people come with their take-away food and eat their own their next. Nice odor of thai food next to me at one stage - the only thing well respected is the "no smoking" policy.

Back to the players, it was two of the injured "old" guard who made it to the final: Nalbandian and Baghdatis. It was a good match with an impressive and dominant performance by the Argentine. The crowd was happy! I think that for once I was relieve not to be the one of the court - I was sweating just sitting and watching...

So Nalbandian won it. And the awards ceremony was very interesting. Such a long list of sponsors who got to say a few words. Also big applause for young tennis players who benefit from private sponsorships. And finally a huge check (we can see it on the picture) given to the winner.

Welcome to America!

Packing

And then it was time to pack things... actually to have things packed for me. That is the beauty of being sent abroad by the workplace. Anyway, it took just three hours for three men to pack all my belongings in these little boxes, including my big wooden giraffe. Is there a sign, here? At least, things in each box were neatly wrapped and each box was clearly labelled. Much more order than in real life, I would say.
Once everything was packed, it was time to load the container. A colleague of mine would laugh if she saw its name was "evergreen", especially in view of my not-so-perfect ecological track record. Then again, all my things did not even fill hald the container. Ok, maybe it is then a good sign that I am not yet half way through life. I think I would rather go for another explanation: I was very good at keeping only the necessary stuff and got rid of all the excess bagage. The container is now making its way to Hamburg, before being loaded on a ship to Norfolk. It should get there on August 14, quite a quick journey. Then, it will have to go through customs, and I hope my kudu horn will make it! So watch this space.
Then, it was time for me to leave Berne and catch a ride on the usual train to Geneva. The big flight will be on August 1, our "national day". As I told my colleagues, I am really the most patriotic swiss since my "national day" will not last for 24 hours, but for 30 hours. That gives time to sing the national anthem many more times... provided one knows it...

Good to be at home

Is it because I am soon leaving that here is another entry about my home province... Of course not, it is simply because it is the best province. Here is why? First, the transport are world class, with a train ride in which it takes 45 minitues to cover 20 kilometers. And then a telecabine that might be out of business next year, because of a small group of hyterical green fundamentalists.Second, the food is so tasty, light and delightful. A sort of mushroom pie for starters and then a toasted cheese with ham and egg for main course. Thankfully, there was a glass of white wine with it... I think I will not mention this to my doctor when he says next time that I should watch my diet to lower my cholesterol...
Third, a meal is incomplete without a nice dessert. And there I had the famous "gâteau des Ormonds". It reminded me of my childhood when my mother cooked it. Well, I must admit that my mother's recipe was better.
Fourth, the landscape was stunning. Here the view from the terrasse of the restaurant! When one looks closely, we should see the start of the glacier. Ok, with global warming it has shrunk a little bit.
Finally, the village has retained this traditional feel. For example, the school building is still more or less the same as for 80 years... Let's hope the content of learning has changed. Anyway, a charming little village that contributes to my province being the best. Keep it up!