New Orleans

First things first, I have not heard a single word of French in "La Nouvelle Orleans". Sure, they are trying to keep a certain French flavor. Hope it is not only for business purpose, but we are in the USA after all. I will not comment on the food either, except to say that it is worrying that this place is supposed to have the best food in the USA. What is really ironic about the French influence is that, on the other side of the Mississippi river, the main town is called... Alger.
The French Quarter is very lively, with the highlight being all these bars and clubs with live music bands playing all types of songs. I happened to be there just before "Mardi Gras" and they had a dress rehearsal of the floats and parade. Floats were making jokes at Sarah Palin, the Republicans, BP, airport controls, Wikileaks, etc. In-between floats, bands were playing. From the balconies over looking the parade, spectators were throwing down cheap neklace at passerbys. Got mine as well.
The architecture is indeed latin, with a mix of French and Spanish influence. Lots of patios for example. Indeed it is an old town which will soon celebrate its 300 years anniversary. They also have the oldest tramways (it is seems they have not changed it since...). Further, I did a tour of the garden district and its cemeteries - you cannot imagine all the problems encountered to bury the dead in this swamp area. Suffice to say that nice smelling trees such as magnolia and sweet olives were favored to cover the bad smell.
My last tour took me to the swamps. The temperature started to be warm enough for turtles, water snakes and alligators to come out of their hiding places and to enjoy the sun. I even managed to catch one!Finally, I must admit that during these three days, I did not see any scars left by Hurricane Kathrina. It might be that I did not go to the right neighborhood, but I would tend to believe that the authorities have done a good job at rehabilitating the city. Still, the 2010 census shows that the city's population has dropped compared to 2000.

Ski

After the first snow in Washington, I figured out if was the perfect time to go and ski. So we headed off to the Whitetail resort in Pennsylvania, less than two hours north of the capital. We arrive at a very compact place. The parking is situated just below the main entrance, where tickets for ski-lifts and equipment can be bought. Just on the opposite side are all the ski-lifts for the 23 trails.
I must admit that the slopes were not that big, with the largest difference in altitude being 285 meters. There was quite a huge crowd with long queues. Quite funny to hear fellow skiers speak Russian or Portuguese.
Still it was lots of fun to put skis on and to start again, first with the easy slopes. And then quite happy to do the "sidewinder". But I am definitely not ready to try the "Bold Decision"...
This place is very customer friendly. The cherry on the cake, we can ski under the lights.
Finally, a little video. You will obviously see that I slowed the speed of the video so you could still see me ski for a few seconds...

So far ... 26 % !

First happy new year! It did start very well. 2011 will certainly be rich in many more discoveries.
Indeed, the start of a new year is the occasion to look forward, and also backward. On this website: http://www.world66.com/myworld66/login?test=1&redirecturl=/community , you can generate your own map of the countries you visited. So I did tick the little boxes accordingly and this world map appeared.
The legend read: visited countries 58, which corresponds to 26% of the world total. Since the system does not weight countries according to their size, population, GDP or any complicated formula, it might seem little. There is lots of red on my map, but still there is a long way to go! This is fantastic - so much to look forward to.
The European map looks good indeed, except for the stretch from Poland to Bulgaria. It might take time to go there, especially when there are so many interesting and enjoyable European destinations to go back to.
The last map is the US states map. I concede that it looks pretty empty. Well then, it is a great coincidence that I am now in the USA. I already have plenty of ideas of places to visit. I will make sure to keep you posted. If I remember, I will post an updated map at the beginning of next year, and we will see which states have become "red states". For those who follow American politics, do not take this as an early indicator of Democratic success in upcoming elections.

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!