Basketball

After having enjoyed great games at the Maracana Stadium in Rio (football), Roland Garros in Paris (tennis), Newlands in Cape Town (cricket), the Velodrome in Marseilles (rugby) and the Arena in Berne (ice hockey), it is time to experience a great game of basketball in the Verizon center in Washington. This evening, the Washington Wizards were playing the Charlotte bobcats. Suspense suspense, not really, since the Wizards lost 85-93, after having led at some stage by 6 points. Their shoot success rate let them down. Still there were some impressive combination and rapid play. In the end, this is not enough to help their standing in the league.
The match is not the whole experience though, with almost as much activity during the breaks and off the field. Very striking is the live singing of the national anthem at the start of the match as well as two reminders to the audience to stand up and cheer for the war veterans.
Then there was the crowd... the super noisy crowd. Behind us was seating a big group of young African-American ladies who would continuously shout, whistle and woo for their team. My seven co-spectators said that I should not be so cheap (did I ever hear that before...) and have gotten better seats! I just looked at them like some sort of local vuvuzela! Finally, there were also the cheer-leading ladies, the beers and the hot-dogs - all what the crowd needs to leave happy.

Car - finally

One thing that I thought I knew was that America was the land of cars. So many road movies, so many famous firms, even a way of life. Yet my experience of it is definitely not that. Indeed, before coming to the USA, I bought a car (VW Rabbit) from a colleague and trusted that I would be able to drive it the next week-end. Well, I was all wrong - and by more than a mile! Here is what happened - hopefully you will not get bored while reading it...

On my very first week-end here, there I go for the first time to the Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV), after having read their requirements on the website, and asked to get temporary number plates. I was promptly told that this was not possible and that I would first need to get a local driver's licence. And there was a long list of requirements for that, including getting a social security number. A tad ironic in the land of free market (another symbol... or is it all what is left - a symbol). But a foreigner can only apply for a social security number 10 working days after having landed in the USA. And it takes another three weeks to receive it per post. So there flew a whole 5 weeks without being allowed to drive my own car.

In the meantime, I could happily drive a rented car !!! The international driver's licence is fine as long as it is not to drive your own car - how absurd !

There were other requirements clearly stated in three distinct categories: proof of identity, proof of residency and ability to drive. In the first category, on top of the passport, visas and work permit, I had to obtain a letter from the US Department of State stating that I did not qualify for a diplomatic immunity. I also got an insurance. Then I had to translate my swiss driver's licence into English and have it certified.

Once all this paperwork was done, I went to take my written test. I queued to get a numbered ticket and queued again until my number was called. The written test consisted of answering 25 questions on a computer. I could have taken the test in French, German or Spanish, or even Amarhic, Arabic, Japanese, Hindi and so on. Let me say that I passed the test and got the required 80 percent pass rate. Yes! There I got my credit-card format driver's licence and the temporary number plates.

Around a week later, I had to go to the vehicle inspection center to get my car certified. I had applied online for a 15-minute inspection slot. This went well, quickly and efficiently. Got the OK. But it was not the end of it.

I had to go - for the fourth time ! - to the DMV to get my definitive number plates. There again, I had to queue for around 3 hours. The reward was a nice number on my plate. But the bill to register my car was far less nice.

All in all, it took me two months, 4 visits to the DMV offices, approximately 10 hours of queing and costed almost 1000 dollars. Still, all ended well. What a relief to be finally able to drive my own car. Hope to make the most of it now!

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!