From Geneva with Love...
I can’t believe that it’s been almost 2 months since I arrived here in Geneva and started work at The Global Fund. Time certainly flies when there’s so much to do…
It’s been a really exciting and busy two months with me settling in at a new organization and new home. My shift here was made very smooth due to some wonderful colleagues at work and a few friends I made here.
In an attempt to make friends and really make the most of my stay in Geneva I have been attending many events organized by Glocals (in their own words ‘a community of friendly International folks - Expats & locals - living in Switzerland, in English’)
I even went for a Tango workshop about which I heard about from the Glocals, after all I had tried many other forms of dancing including Salsa, Jive, Cha Cha, Waltz… but this was one I had never tried!
It was quite an interesting experience to learn to Dance without speaking much as most of then mainly spoke French! (Luckily the instructor spoke English and explained the steps to me) It was also interesting the way it was taught as all the other dances I had learnt by counting the beats but here they made us dance with the eyes close to really feel the rhythm of the other person, and we always started by just walking to the music.
Among other things I’m also struggling to learn French, (though my working language is English, the people in Geneva mainly speak French) I guess the best way to learn a new language is by being immersed in that culture…
I had always heard French, Italian, Spanish being called Romantic languages and was wondering why… I thought it had something to do with people referring to French as the Language of Love, but I was surprised to learn that it comes from a completely different root.
‘Romance’, to speak in Roman was derived from Vulgar Latin (language of roman soldiers as opposed to classical) during the roman empire. I was actually a bit disappointed to learn this as I always pictured it to have a more ‘romantic’ (in the sense we use the word today) story. Apparently the word romance with the modern sense of romance novel or love affair has the same origin. In the medieval literature of Western Europe, serious writing was usually in Latin, while popular tales, often focusing on love, were composed in the vernacular and came to be called "romances". You can find out more about it here
Well as a result of my busy social life, I still have not completely unpacked my suitcases which I brought when I came here from Sri Lanka!
It’s been a really exciting and busy two months with me settling in at a new organization and new home. My shift here was made very smooth due to some wonderful colleagues at work and a few friends I made here.
In an attempt to make friends and really make the most of my stay in Geneva I have been attending many events organized by Glocals (in their own words ‘a community of friendly International folks - Expats & locals - living in Switzerland, in English’)
I even went for a Tango workshop about which I heard about from the Glocals, after all I had tried many other forms of dancing including Salsa, Jive, Cha Cha, Waltz… but this was one I had never tried!
It was quite an interesting experience to learn to Dance without speaking much as most of then mainly spoke French! (Luckily the instructor spoke English and explained the steps to me) It was also interesting the way it was taught as all the other dances I had learnt by counting the beats but here they made us dance with the eyes close to really feel the rhythm of the other person, and we always started by just walking to the music.
Among other things I’m also struggling to learn French, (though my working language is English, the people in Geneva mainly speak French) I guess the best way to learn a new language is by being immersed in that culture…
I had always heard French, Italian, Spanish being called Romantic languages and was wondering why… I thought it had something to do with people referring to French as the Language of Love, but I was surprised to learn that it comes from a completely different root.
‘Romance’, to speak in Roman was derived from Vulgar Latin (language of roman soldiers as opposed to classical) during the roman empire. I was actually a bit disappointed to learn this as I always pictured it to have a more ‘romantic’ (in the sense we use the word today) story. Apparently the word romance with the modern sense of romance novel or love affair has the same origin. In the medieval literature of Western Europe, serious writing was usually in Latin, while popular tales, often focusing on love, were composed in the vernacular and came to be called "romances". You can find out more about it here
Well as a result of my busy social life, I still have not completely unpacked my suitcases which I brought when I came here from Sri Lanka!
Labels: New Beginnings, Switzerland
posted by Roshanthi at 11:28 am
2 Comments:
It's good that you have started to write again.Your description about Dancing reminded me of the movie" Shall we Dance". I hope you could dance well unlike Richard Gere who started as a complete beginner.I also wanted to go to a dancing class with my wife before our marriage. but it has never happened. I still regret the opportunity I missed at that stage of life. God luck with your dancing.
how exciting! time flies when you are having fun....
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