day in geneva

i haven't had much chance to write here in geneva except for some angsty poems. i arrived here in april of this year.
 
of all the places i've been this is the loneliest by far. i find the people a bit colder and sometimes indifferent than most country but it's their culture, i guess. i have to get used to it. it's also the first country where i've encountered a language problem. francophones are prouder of their language than most native speakers. tough for me. wish they could adjust though. i mean, we don't expect them to speak tagalog/filipino when they're in the philippines.
 
aside from the culture-shock, language is the hurdle i have to get over. when i was in the states, english came easily for me since i was only nine years old then. when i went to abu dhabi, arabic was spoken side by side with english so i had no problem. now that i'm here, it made me mute. i couldn't speak out even if i was at the point of being "abused." it happened in a grocery store. my brother was ignored by the cashier and i wanted to ask the cashier why she did that but i couldn't phrase my sentence in french. so, i didn't speak. the incident ate at me all day long so i had to fight back. i had to learn french.
 
there are many impetuses to learning a language, i'm just disappointed that this was the reason i had to learn it. i generally love languages and i work well with people but since uprooting myself here to geneva, i was quite taken aback. europeans, and i don't mean to generalize, i perceive hold us in contempt at some point for invading their continent. i don't know if the feeling is continent-wide but i get the feeling they don't like us very much.
 
it's sad to note that.
 
i hope to write some brighter spots of my day...i'd like to recount the travels i've done.
 
i was just in egypt for the fourth time last june. it was such a refreshing break. people are generally warmer, the loud nature of the people was invigorating, i felt alive again. i was there to attend the wedding of my muslim cousin who married an egyptian too. it was fun to see and very indicative of the traditions of the muslim faith.
 
i am due back there in september but i'm afraid i might lose my job for excessive vacationing.
 
egypt is a place to visit...i recommend it to everyone. its history is rich and the sights are beautiful. one might say, "it's just stones" while looking at a statue of pharaohs and gods. but it's more than that. it's history and representation of the greatness of egypt then. one of the cradle of civilizations, its pyramid is the only ancient wonder left standing to date. that's called engineering.
 
but let me continue another time...i have to go.