Is it worth?

Traveling is always a delicious thing. You have the preparation time, when you savor the thoughts of every little thing you gonna do when you get to your target place. Then, it comes the trip, you enjoy the place as much as you can. At the end comes...nothing less than.... the end. When you start savoring all the things you left behind, all the undone jobs you promised you would do and you did not finish because you were checking all the schedules of your trip.

But only one thing you probably didn't think about: the trip itself. I really mean it. We can list in it waiting time in airports, time spent inside the airplanes and time spend complaining about your broken luggage.

When waiting in the airport, you start to wonder about those people who will flight with you. Come on, look around, some of them are kind of weird, aren't they? Look that family with the mother alone with some kids, yeah those kids who look like angels now, they are actually the ones who will scream the entire trip and not let you sleep all night! And what about that girl dressed with such a short skirt that she can hardly seat, and you wonder how she is gonna spend 11 hours sleeping X seating X spending time in a closed and tight airplane seat? To avoid self pitty you think of your MANTRA: the nice beach where you gonna dive and walk and all the delicious things you gonna eat....

Boarding time!!!! Finaly we got there! Of course the objective of a transatlantic flight will be to carry as much people as they can in the best price (for the airplane company!why? you thought it would be for you?). So boarding time means, for you who didnot buy at least a business ticket, waiting on a long line for some miiiiinutes. To avoid self pitty you think of the nice beach where you gonna dive and walk and all the delicious things you gonna eat....

Inside the airplane you realize that all that money you spent in the ticket is not well employed by the company and they do not give you a confortable seat (unless...). Instead, you will think about all those times you promised yourself you would actually engage in a diet! But you didnt't! Why? IF you travel by TAP (the portuguese airlines) you will have some problems with your seat. It is so tight that if you are a little bit taller than the average, your shoulders will touch the shoulders of your neighbours. Unless, of course, you are lucky and you don't have anybody seating besides you (which is kind of rare). To avoid self pitty you think of the nice beach where you gonna dive and walk and all the delicious things you gonna eat....

After a night spent in the airplane, with the very cold (or hot) air conditioner, with a drunk neighbour who woke you up all the time to go to the toilette to do only God knows what, the other one who snored the entire night in your ears together with drooling, after the fantastic dinner, after the crying-running nose-kids who ran up and down the entire night finally got asleep, after you started to actually follow up all the minutes left to the end of the trip, you wake up (given that you could sleep) and run to the toilette to enjoy those few minutes that it is still not so, let's say, used. To avoid self pitty you think of the nice beach where you gonna dive and walk and all the delicious things you gonna eat....

The airplane landed!!!!! This is the happiest time ever since the beggining of the trip. You run to pick up your bag praying it came with you and you can go to have a shower after this incredible night. You pass a pleasant half to one hour in the passport control queue and to avoid self pitty you think of the nice beach where you gonna dive and walk and all the delicious things you gonna eat.... Now, where is the bag?After a moment of suspense, there it is! A bit scratched and with some handlers missing, but IT is there! Happily you forget all the bad moments and from now on it is just pleasure!

But is it? All of this, is it worth?

Well, I hope you don't ever pass through these 'funny' passages, if you do, just think about the MANTRA: think of the nice beach where you gonna dive and walk and all the delicious things you gonna eat.... See you walking in the crunchy warm white sand in the breezy sea shore with refreshing cold waters.

Copenhagen meeting...

Scientists and politicians of several countries met last week in Copenhagen to talk about the weather changes that have been happening in the last years since the Kyoto signing and to decide what to do next.

It is a fact that our little blue planet has changed since we were kids. I remember a different weather when I was a kid, probably my grandma remembers the same thing. My city, Brasília, the capital of Brasil (that's right, it is not Rio de Janeiro) has a period of June to September without any rain. 40 years ago when my mother moved there, right after the inauguration of the city, there was rain by this time and temperature was not so high around 25-28, today the temperature is around 28-30.

It is also a fact that we have our dose of guilt in the CO2 emissions and still some people believe that global warming isn't caused by men! This sounds unbelievable. Of course, there is the natural course of nature, but since the industrialization time, it increased absurdly.

I hope politicians will get to positive conclusions and we will do our best all around the world to avoid a bad future for the sons of our sons. I live here a video, as I see it is a fashion to use 'poor' Hitler to different reasons, but this one is quite good and about how everybody is concerned with the weather. It is in german, but at the right low corner of the video there is a closed caption for the "English text."



Well, we can do our part, trying to minimize our shower time, and turn off electric machines when not in use (not leaving them in stand by), buy the ones that have clever energy usage, solar energy is an alternative (Germany is quite good in that, told me a German person) and some other things that can be useful...
Think about it, it is worth while!

Event of the year in Geneva

The Escalade, invasion plan

I heard from natives that this celebration is one of the most important ones in the city, it is called Escalade (like in 'climbing').

It starts one weekend before the Dec 12th with a race in the Vieille Ville of Geneva, where serious runners and also disguised runners go to run.

The main time of the celebration is on the night from Dec 11th to Dec 12th. Why? Well, everything started in 1602 with Charles Emmanuel, duke de Savoy (one of the french regions right besides Geneva). He was a duc whose ambition didn't have any limits and he decided to surprisingly invade Geneva with his army and like this save its people from heresy.

Late at night they prepare in Plainpalais to climb the city with portable stairs and arms when a group of Swiss soldiers coming from the Monnaie gate (which can be visited only by this time of the year) interrupt them! Meanwhile they fight, a soldier (Isaac Mercier, who became famous) shoots his arquebus and the alarm is given, the bells in the Temple of St. Pierre start to ring and all citizens wake up and go to fight.



According to Genevois legend, Catherine Cheynel, originally from Lyons and the wife of Pierre Royaume, ("Mère Royaume"), a mother of 14 children (wow), seized a large cauldron of hot soup and poured it on the attackers. The Royaume family lived just above the La Monnaie town gate. The heavy cauldron of boiling soup landed on the head of a Savoyard attacker, killing him. The commotion that this caused also helped to improve the townsfolk to defend the city.



After losing, the Duke of Savoy was obliged to accept a lasting peace, sealed by the Treaty of St. Julian in July 12, 1603, and forget the fact that his trial to end up the influence of Calvin (died 1564) was over. The Escalade was from that time onwards destined to become a symbol of the independence of Geneva, celebrated since every year.

Now you might be asking, why is it so important they celebrate it? Well, think about it. If the French would have won:
1. Geneva would be capital of Savoy region (a very different European map!) and;
2. it would be Catholic instead of being this strong Protestant city it has been since Jean Calvin lived and made this city the Reform head quarters.
3. Another consequence, this one economical, was that some of the more financially-minded Protestants, feeling safe in the haven of Calvin’s city, set up Geneva’s original private banks!

Escalade celebrations include a large marmite (cauldron) made of chocolate filled with marzipan vegetables and candies wrapped in the Geneva colours of red and gold. It's customary for the eldest and youngest in the room to smash the marmite, while reciting, "Ainsi périssent les ennemis de la République! " (Thus perish the enemies of the Republic).




we have to make our own video with our own Marmite!

Other traditions include mulled wine and a large serving of soup, and children in Halloween-like costumes singing Escalade songs for money. And, of course, people disguised in clothes from that time go in procession around the Old Town role playing the important events of that night.

Welcome back...

yeah, WELCOME really for me.

I spent the entire last week in Gödöllő city and what else?Working? After a time like this it is kind of healthy.

I left Geneva on Saturday in the direct flight to Budapest and arrived 20 min before the forecasted, isn't that rare?

Then with the husband parents we went to a restaurant to celebrate the 'name day'. Honestly, I hate this kind of celebration, through all the years I lived there the older people always tried to push this 'event' on me. Not to mention that in the lab the people of my generation reallllly didn't care about it at all. Well, I am sorry but this is how it stayed for me.

Discordances apart, besides the husband parents, other two relatives of his immense family were there, and this accounts for almost everybody (a bit amazing for me, because my close family is composed of about 25-30 people). The restaurant located in the outskirts of Budapest was very cute and with the shape of a boat. The food was good although it is difficult to find a restaurant in Hungary whose food is not hot (on the meaning of veeeery spicy) at all. Well, the meaning is that who needed reading spectacles, didn't have them. I know what this means, since I used glasses for 15 years!

They have a very funny tradition this family. They borrow among themselves the reading glasses, isn't that amazing??? What happened? The waiter overheard they mentioning they can't read the menu so he came and offered what? No, not a menu with bigger letters, instead he offered reading glasses according to their degrees!

Then I passed a homy week working in Gödöllő at the ABC (or MBK). Oh gosh, how I missed being among those funny people and breathing some scientific air. Yeah, Hungarians are funny besides what I listened around here....they are serious when they have to be!

I also enjoyed the price (I didn't know that in Switzerland it was already available) and the time to take the H1N1 vaccine. For those who are curious about the side effects, I didn't have any, just my arm was hurting for a while.

After all experiments were over, I had time to visit the Vörösmarty Xmas market, one of the best around here in Europe and one of the few opened on Sundays! We have kind of a tradition, every year he have to go there or to other Xmas fair. The square is very beautifully decorated, the handcrafts you can buy are amazing and stylish, the food is delicious (and hot) and the mulled wine is fantastic (it is worth to keep the mug that comes with it, we have a collection!). One of the little shops calls foreigner's attention a lot: the kürtőskalács one which is a sweet bread prepared in the wood fire and covered with sugar and walnut/cinnamon/chocolate when it is still hot, it has mouth-watering smells meanwhile it is baked and when it is ready the smells are incredibly tasty!

The night can then be finished with a walk around the boulevard and after at the Andrassy street
with its Xmas decoration. Actually the Xmas illumination of the entire city is extraordinary.

I also came back with the direct flight Budapest-Geneva. one of my sorrows is for how long this flight will be kept because both days I flew the airplane had no more then 20-30 people. Otherwise, if they close it we will have to go to Zurich or by EasyJet.


Now it is back for the same life than before, but with other eyes of course.




The Xmas market view

What now?

Well, Switzerland decided with 57% of the votes to not allow more minaret constructions accounting for the first European country to do this. Lots of people thought the construction wouldn't be banished.

What will happen from now on? The party that favors these results, the rightwing Swiss People's Party and the ultra conservative Federal Democratic Union, say that Muslims should interact and integrate into society. What the religious people, 4.5% of the Swiss population, will say about it? On Sunday, after the voting results some went to manifest their rage in the gare Cornavin, in the center of Geneva. A few glasses were broken.

So, they will have to keep praying in the four existing minarets in Switzerland or in the 200 mosques and prayer rooms spread around here. Further requests to build minarets are pending.