At the start of this trip I had two destinations, Miami ( to catch a ship) and back to Portland Oregon. In the mean time I knew there would additional intermediate destinations. But I really have been trying to stay open to the next destination it Seems there are no ferries from Spain to Tunisia and Algerian visa's are expensive and hard to get and tourist vistas are impossiable to Lybia... And Atali said come to Geneva.
Ive been warned many times by assorted people about the Calvinistic nature of the people of Geneva, about Swiss laws that say that if you see a crime being committed and do nothing to stop it then you are an accomplice. I was invited to a party my first day here and was greeted warmly and told that work was easy to find and that I should stay. But then not long after someone I met kind of hid from me in public, people here tell me that is normal behavior for people from Geneva.
Someone just asked me if I had any rolling papers.
Then Atali started acting distant, told me to buy my own food... I had been, then while we were talking she sat back and accused me of being judgmental??? Barked at me about making a fool of myself I front of her friends and got really cold...
I like the music in here, electronic, 60s sounding, all French, loyce e os gnomes Brazilian guitar fuzzy
More and more pleased with my biking set up, new handle stem, handle bars, and mounted at a little bike shop that did its best to be invisible, no sign, off the street, down two sets of stairs then back under the street in an area with what look like embassies.
Many used bikes in all states of repair. One bike was being moved and it's back wheel wasn't rolling, I noticed a unlock between the frame and rear wheel.
in Carouge, checking out a bike shop and looking for a used rear bike rack. It's raining so I stopped into a shop, turns out to be a little restaurant, Fanta place mats, country western swing music playing, but old paint on the walls little tables, a man in the visible kitchen, I walk back and ask
Do you speak English?
No, wife ( and points)
She walks up
What would you like
We negotiate for a minute, they indicate that they are making salad and resoto with chicken, I say yes, pleased that I've found a place that only serves one thing each day
Proz jean Michel
He said " i love to hear, it's nice to meet you"
Sex pistols are playing in the next room, I couldn't pack anything but a back pack to that music, Golda is packing her entire room and moving out. I don't understand, yes she is finishing up her studies in pedagogy, doesn't have any money but she thinks she can't stay here anymore even though she invited me to stay, and I'll still be here after she a leaves this old decaying student apartment. 6 bedrooms each with sinks, one toilet and one bath, wood and tile floors, balconies, wood and glass double doors all over the place. And the elevator... Wood paneling and doors, steel grate outer door, nothing automatic. at first not sure if it's even safe, maybe an operator should be running it, but there isn't enough room for one.
Bikes locked to the stair railing, mines just out side the room I'm squatting.
After Atali wrote me " you can't stay anymore because you didn't say hi last night" I met up with Reto and Rafaela for beer, Reto said he had found a couch for one night, I started talking to Rafaela's two friends and they said, " you can stay with us" then I learned they didn't really know Rafaela.
At football two days before I was given a bike, then at pétanque I was offered a car. I think I've found and visited all of the used bike shops in town and successfully outfitted my bike for the journey onward, but I was just offered two weeks of work.
I can't hear the sex pistols any more but birds and street sounds.
