Christmas in Switzerland

The test is done: Geneva is indeed just seven hours away from here, that is when airports are open... I arrived while it was snowing, so I scraped through. And when it was time to return, the flight to New York was cancelled, due to snowfalls on the other side... In Geneva, I experienced a "white Christmas". The festive spirit was all around to feel, but the best place to see it was by the lake. The trees were illuminated with lots of classy and fancy lighting. That was brilliant...
The spiderweb-like lighting was particularly well done. Unfortunately, like a spiderweb, it is too elusive to photography.
In this spot, you had to ride the bicycle to get the trees colored accordingly. With the cold temperature outside, it was no problem to ride fast.
And then the organisers certainly wanted to have fun by including pacman !! Good memories for a whole generation who started exercising their fingers on this very basic videogame. I was just missing the music. What would Christmas be without the Christmas tree... and the gifts underneath it... Not the same! The good thing this year is that the violin strings were broken, so not much singing.
Being in Switzerland for four days resulted in me trying to fit the best into my program.
The best includes a cheese fondue. This time we were treated to a very special and secretive mixture. And it was excellent!
How ironic, that I am gaining weight when I am Switzerland, and not in the USA... But I mean with food and desserts as good as these, who could resist. That's definitely the best black forest one could dream of!
So as not to feel bad about indulging, nothing better than a game of tennis. A great sweat. And I am looking forward to trying my new tennis racket - a good Christmas indeed.

Christmas party

Oups... it should actually read "Holiday party" - that is the official and politically correct wording here. So no talking about a Christmas party.
It all started with a fancy invitation via e-mail with a link to a website and a page to register. The work ID gave the right to one single extra ticket (still more than 2000 people attended). A leaflet described all what would be on offer all over the two main buildings. Did I mention the party took place on a Saturday?
Quite strange then to go to the workplace on a Saturday evening. Even stranger to see how the place had been made over. In particular, the lighting was great. Still stranger to see colleagues partying and socialising in the very same place where we usually have very formal meetings. The place filled quickly and people rushed to enjoy various types of food. As to the drinks, the waiters were very generous. Never had such strong vodkas... even in Russia and Belarus! The "Christmas" tree was standing in the main lobby. I did not get it why there were presents below it and especially who they were for? We moved around to enjoy listening to live music from oriental, Jamaican, classical, international bands. The quiet and thoughtful meeting rooms were turned into sweaty and loud dancefloors. Let's see if the festive spirit is still there on Monday.
All in all, it was great to see that the IMF is truly an efficient and international organization. Everything was well managed and people from all over the world mingled and interacted. A colorful evening !

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!