good eats

Last night, unplanned, i had three dinners, with three different groups of people. It was good to be thrust into a social atmosphere again after spending lots of time alone, and I found myself easily adjusting to the different expectations according to the context of what we were doing at the time. It’s good to know that a little solitude doesn’t take away social knowledge. :)

My first dinner date was on account of Payal, a friend from college who just recently graduated from Columbia Law (congrats!). She had encouraged her friend Kim, who is also interning here for the summer, to email me and meet up. We decided on a dinner date at Manora restaurant, which is actually an affordable buffet on the top floor of this department store (advertised as the largest in Geneva, but really super small compared to American standards…it’s likely smaller than the first floor of any major department store in the US). When I first encountered it, I thought of Central Department stores in Bangkok (these are seriously the hugest dept stores I’ve ever seen, besides the really super mega block stores in NYC like Macy’s) and knew that Thai people would be disappointed with the selection. In any case, we both had pasta since most of the booths were closed (I still have no understanding of the rhyme or reason on when certain things are open or not open…like why is half the place closed at dinnertime?) and chatted about our frustrations with professional school, our previous experiences working in developing countries, our ideas of ‘vacations’, and why we had reservations about coming to Geneva for the summer. It was really awesome to be able to connect with someone and have a good conversation without feeling like we were going through all the motions of small talk and bs that I feel like I have to do when I go to ‘new intern lunches’ at the WHO. We’re going to have lunch tomorrow and I’m happy about having a new friend (and grateful to Payal for introducing us!)

Second dinner – I kept being concerned that Mel, Pan’s friend who had graciously offered to come pick me (and my huge suitcase) up from France, would get there before I got home, so I kinda ended dinner date number one a little early to catch the bus back to FV, where I was living for the past week. When I got home, Mike had a BBQ started and offered me a beer and some sausages, the latter of which I accepted with Mike’s own ‘special sauce’, consisting of European hamburger sauce (which is a mixture of mayo and ketchup, I think, but it looks like Thousand Island dressing), chopped onions, gherkins, hot sauce, and some other things. Two of my housemates’ friends, a couple from their master’s program, dropped by for the BBQ and left after consuming the rest of the meat the guys grilled. Mel came a little later, while Mike and I were watching another episode of the Colbert Report. I’ll definitely miss watching the Colbert Report and having tea and conversation with Mike, but I’m pretty sure we’ll keep in touch – we have the same birthday, in any case.

Third dinner – Mel was super nice and when she rang the doorbell, I opened it and was immediately shocked to see that my luggage had disappeared (I had left it outside as a signal to Mel in case she forgot the address). Luckily, Mel had been super nice and loaded her car up already, so I just had to grab a bag and get in. On the way to Pan’s place, we chatted and I rightly guessed that she was Canadian (after my first guess, American, failed). She informed me that the dinner at a friend’s place that Pan had previously invited me to had been pushed back, so I was welcome to come. I accepted the invitation (of course) and walked with Pan a few blocks to her friend’s Paola’s place. (Pan, Paola, and Mel are all fellows for the World Economic Forum). Paola’s place was really nice, candles were lit, and I felt like I was a special guest at a formal dinner. Paola had prepared a super delicious dinner (salmon tartar on bread as an appetizer, followed by salad and sea bass and rice, followed by cheese and crackers, and figs cooked in spiced wine). Throughout the evening, the three women made fun of each other, gossiped about work, people they knew, talked about the future (and the past), and kinda fell exhausted on the couch and floor when it was over (at 1 am). it was good to see that they were so close…in a way, I think it’s nice to see where people are and how people live that are five or ten years older than me.

This morning, Pan frantically packed to get ready for her holiday and I lounged around apathetically for most of the afternoon. I ran out to get a doner kebab for lunch after eating this ridiculously good chocolate tart for breakfast (Pan had forgot to take them to dinner the night before and left them for my consumption) but was lazy and didn’t go grocery shopping like I had originally planned. Instead, I returned to the apartment, lamented the fact that it was raining (again) for the whole day, read some of Snow, took a nap, awoke to a telephone call that I didn’t end up being awake enough to answer, and weh’d for awhile to chris. I finally got my act together and decided to go eat dinner at a café I had found when I was looking for les 5 portes, café des artes. I had some yummy veggie tortellini and café renverse, which is coffee but with a disproportionate amount of milk, I think. I also was somewhat productive and read the access newsletter msf had put out for the world health assembly coming up next week and part of the CIPIH (Committee on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation, and Public Health) Report. I’m trying to think of where physicians (or myself) fits in the debate around research and development, IPR, etc., and will dedicate myself more to studying and research tomorrow.

Thank god I have reliable internet access now. Such things make me happy.