one-armed monster back at work

so, after 2 days off last week followed by the weekend, i came back to work yesterday - for half a day! had to leave in the afternoon since the medicin made me feel like i was going to melt away (and i had been freezing in the morning) and possibly faint - i desperately needed to lay down for a while and not possible at work (why don't we have a bed or even a sofa???) so left early. went home and slept for 3 hours and then felt a lot better again. luckily it was the last day of medication so shouldn't happen today - hopefully. and considering that i was in working for 2.5 hours on friday morning (2 meetings, so no computer work which i was told to stay away from) it feels ok to have left work early yesterday.

my arm i better, do not good. using my left hand on the mouse, trying to not keep it linger there. will get in touch with the doc again to get the physiotherapist contact etc, will probably also try a chiropractor which everyone keeps recommending to me, and i got a name for a good masseur - so hopefully this will soon all be a bad dream... keep your fingers crossed and any recommendations are welcome!

one-armed monster

that's me today - working in slow motion because only one hand for typing, and the left one!! going to see a chiropractor tomorrow, surviving on painkillers until then... poor me! ;))

bad day...

today is not the best of days. woke up with a bit if a sore throat... didn't feel taht much at home but once at work i feelt completely drained of energy and i was freezing!!! one colleague asked me if i thought i was in siberia considering that i was wrapped in two pashminas and more or less sitting on top of the extra radiator with a cop of steaming tea in my hand....

feeling better now after a comfort yummy lunch with mashed potatoes. however, my right shoulder which has been giving me trouble for some weeks now has really started to hurt today. changed hands for the mouse so using the left hand now which works fine, but my shoulder, forearm and hand are still hurting... need to get a massage but not sure where to go.... i must be getting old. perhaps time to change jobs - doesn't seem i'm made for sitting in front of a computer all day... or perhaps time for that trip around the world...one can always dream right? :)

stupid drivers..

just have to mention this stupid driver that almost ran me over yesterday. was out rollerblading with my N, enjoying the nice sunny spring weather. first went to tour carré on one side of the small lake in geneva, sat for a while enjoying the sun and having a drink. we then went to the other side, to join A for b-day party planning. anyway, on the last part of the way, when i was about to cross the street at a piedestrian crossing (and yes, rollerblading counts as walking!), following on N already crossing, i hesitated because it felt like the small smart that was arriving was not slowing down although N was just crossing and I was cleary on my way over... luckily, i hesitated, since the guy seemed to almost have speed up when he saw the situation, and if i had not hesitated he would have run into me :(( N was scared, I was scared, and it seemed that most other drivers were quite chocked and for sure after that the cars on each side stopped and let us pass... there are really some stupid dangerous drivers out there!

abba party

so, a bit late, but better late than never, i am going to celebrate having survived yet another year keeping the smile on my face, with a big (hopefully, we only sent out the invitations 5 days before the party actually takes place) birthday party. Together with my great friend, Anki, we decided that a nice theme for our 63 b-day party would be Abba - to make it a bit easier for our friends we made the theme bigger and included also Sweden -. Deem our surprise yesterday, when looking around for some pictures and costum ideas we found out that the day of our party, 19 April, is the official Abba day!!!!!

Bizzarely enough this offical Abba Day takes place in Roosendaal, the Netherlands!! Guess swedes don't like to celebrate our own groups as much... hmmmm

anyway, next to the party in NL, a Abba party is hence also organized in geneva :))

after snow comes....rain

following on yesterday's full day of snowing and freezing weather, today's weather i guess should be classified as spring since it is now raining... however, it's still freezing and can only be around 2° more than yesterday so to be honest, if this is what the weather is going to be like in april then i prefer snowing, actually i prefer to use my last money on some trip to a warm beach where i can forget about this horrible cold times! brrr

dream career

do you ever dream about changing jobs? i do!!! but i can never really figure out what i really want to do instead... any ideas? what is your dream career?

i want my bonnet!!!!

back after 3 days in spain, where the sun was shining most of the time and the temperature was around 20° - where in short it felt like April - , and what's the weather like today in geneva????? well, take this for a surprise - it's snowing!!!!!!!!!!!! it's 8 April and it's snowing! and this in a city where you usually see snow a maximum 10 days per year... if at least it was 1 April it could be explained as a weather joke ;))

brrrrrrrrr it's freezing cold outside and i wish i had brought my bonnet in to work! actually, i wish i had missed the flight in spain and was stuck there in the sun for a week ;)

guess the skiing season isn't over afterall. i knew there was a reason why i kept my skis in the apartment...

Security sector reform and....babies!

i work with SSR, SSG, parliamentary assistance, civil society and defence etc etc. you would probably think that this is a hard core tough'ish environment with lots of serious meetings, men and women in suits or military outfits, important research and so on, and you would not be completely wrong. though it is also a working place where people burst into laughter all the way into snorting, where jokes are shared, and today, where babies come to visit!!! two babies were here today, the first one, a little boy of almost 2 months and already all 6kg, the second, a one day younger girl of almost 4 kg, who already has been spotted behind the computer, sitting all by herself in her mummy's chair.... so today is more of a baby day than a serious SSR day - just so that you know ;)

autumn anyone?

walking in to work this morning, or actually to be honest, walking from the bus station, it really felt like a beautiful autumn day! The sun was shining, the air was fresh, so fresh and felt so good to breath in, the temperature was just like a day in October.... but it is spring you will tell me... and you're right. how do i know this? well because when i lifted my eyes towards the mountains I saw how much snow they are capped in, hence it is spring, normal. but i still insist: it felt like autumn, that crisp lovely air that I so look forward to in autumn, rather than the cold air that I am just longing to leave behind me at this moment when I am longing for bare legs, my lovely red spring coat, the opening of beautiful flowers (though not the sneezing that comes with it for me, luckily i know how to forget that fact until I don't have the choice anymore), the arrival of warmth, the long evenings (i went rollerblading after work tuesday and only came back at 20.30!!!) and the slow arrival of summer and all that encaptures.

in short, this morning was an autumn day which made me smile when coming in to work!!! and since i'm going south for the weekend (though seeing the mountains this morning i sooooooo wanted to go skiing) to zaragoza and madrid where they promise sunshine and at least 16° for Z and around 20° for M, i can enjoy having a stroll in the autumn weather :)

honestly though, i love all the different periods and am not sure i could live without them!!!

miss you M

Just had a message from my friend M who lives in Zambia. Felt so good to hear from her that i just had to share it here :)) I actually received a mail from her yesterday as well, but the difference this time was that I had just written to her less than an hour before and then got an answer - made it feel like she's a lot more closer than the actual geographical distance. So wish that I could go there to see her!!! It is definitely in my plans, especially since it seems that she will be staying in Zambia for longer than the originally planned one year. But there is the travel cost, and there are regretfully no cheap flights to Lusaka :((( Easy Jet, if you here this - start a flight ;)

This is one of the consequences of living in Geneva, this city so full of remarkable people from all over the world who move back and forth... The advantage is that I now have good friends all around the world - if I ever go to Zambia, to Washington D.C., to Angola, to Oslo, to Sydney, to Brussels, to Belgrade, to Paris, to.... I know that I will be well received and make my friends happy! The disadvantage, especially regarding those living so far away, is that they are far away and it's too expensive to go and visit everyone. Especially since I also have friends and family in Stockholm, and in Slovenia who I also want and need to visit. But i will try to go and see one person after the other. Possibly going to Oslo and then on into the Norwegian mountains in August for the wedding of one of my friends there. And then hopefully to Lusaka sometime in late 2008, early 2009. And probably Paris sometime in between.

For my dear family and friends living elsewhere, either far away or closer by, but not here with me - I miss you all!! But I am happy that you all live good lives in the place of your choice!

ps. since my brother told me that green is not a very easy colour to read and that my blog is difficult to read because of the colour and size choice of my text, I will from now on keep the text in black! hope this facilitates the read :)