Geneve oh Geneve...
I have told you all before that I was posted in Geneve, Switzerland, for almost 4 years, right?
My first diplomatic assignment.
The Third Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Indonesia to the United Nations, World Trade Organizations, and other International Organizations.
2007-2011.
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| One corner of Palais des Nations, GE |
And just like your first love, everything first will always be unforgettable, at least for me.
Although it's been quite a while and I am already moving forward to the next post here in New York, I certainly have tons of great memories from this beautiful place.
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| Geneve at night after Fete de Geneve 2009 |
Seriously, besides Indonesia, Switzerland has stolen my heart for its timeless beauty.
Nature at her best, I have to say.
And I am super lucky (and super happy girl) as my line of work continues to give me the opportunity to visit this lovely country.
Yesterday, I just come back from GE for another week of meetings. And again, no matter how many times I have visited GE, there will always be wonderful place to visit and lovely friends and family to meet.
Of course, like any other cities and countries around the globe, Geneve has its own perks as well as its downfalls.
And here's a little not I have about Geneve, written sometimes ago, but I guess it's still valid up until now :)
Ngga tau kenapa...
I don't know why, but to me, Geneve is like the Beauty and the Beast. Remember the movie?
Menurutku analogi yang pas buat Jenewa itu adalah Beauty and the Beast. Sounds like film kartun, hehehe..
Tapi aku bener-bener ngerasain persis Geneve seperti 2 sisi mata uang. The good and the bad, angel and demon, black and white...
The beauty is .... of course, Geneve is breathtakingly beautiful.
Peaceful and beautiful, as simple as that.
Whenever you look around, you will see great snow mountains afar, lush green (and yellow when it comes to Fall) lines of trees, and the vast, blue lake with crystal clear water.
Kotanya cantik, udaranya super bersih, pemandangannya breathtaking.
Another thing I love from GE is that it's situated in the central of Europe. Super handy for those having itchy feet like me and my family :). We were indeed traveling here and there intensively, almost on every other weekend, whenever we had a break.
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| Davos , Swiss, yang cantik di kala summer |
We managed to visit 18 countries there,- not much compared to those who have more time than us,- and I don't know how many cities we had visited so far.
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| Menikmati Gaudi's work, Casa Mila, Barcelona, 2009 |
All of them are very unique and beautiful on its own way. We flew and drove,- and combination of both,- from Geneve to all those wonderful places.
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| Blending in during Carnivale du Venezia, Italy :) |
Geneve itu bener-bener di tengah!
Jadinya, jalan-jalan itu super eenak, keliling Eropa Barat enak dan seru, soalnya deket-deket dan tiket pesawat murah :). Apalagi budget airlines di sini banyak ajaaa..mau Easy Jet, Fly Baboo, TAP, dan teman-temannya siap dipilih.
Juga kalau mau road trip ngga ribet.
Plus pengalaman kuliner, keseruan belajar masak, berinteraksi dengan berbagai komunitas, main angklung dan ngeband, dan pastinya menambah jejaring with new-found friends and family members that we have here in Geneve.
Pokoknya asyik deh..Bisa ngga habis-habis kalau cerita di sini :)
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| suatu sore yang berkabut di Lac Leman, danau kebanggaan Geneve |
Tapi behind all of those beautiful things, we do have issues with crime rates here. And I guess, up until now, it is still one of the challenges faced by GE and Switzerland in general.
We noticed that it got worse after the borders were more open as Switzerland joined Schengen zone. I am not trying to be judgemental or something but I was not the only one taking notes about it.
Ternyata Jenewa lumayan parah tingkat kriminalnya.
Secara kita menjadi korban gitu lho, terutama mobil kita tercinta selama di Jenewa, si Nissan Qashqai.
Mungkin mobil kita terlalu 'seksi' kali ya, sehingga everybody wanna get their hands on it.
Mulai dari di Milan, kunci pintu supir dibongkar..nothing taken, soalnya emang cuma ada makanan doang :p. Terus, pulang sholat jumat, bemper kanan depan udah scratch. Ngga tau kerjaan siapa, yang nyebelinnya asuransi ngotot kita yang nabrak. Coba ya! Siap tempur deh aku, maju terus pantang mundur untuk minta penggantian dari asuransi yang bayar sebulannya mahal itu.
Salah satu kejadian paling nyebelin di Geneve itu waktu kaca mobil kanan belakang dipecahin orang di depan Palais Wilson.
Can you imagine? Palais Wilson is one of the premises of the United Nations, but apparently that does not guarantee the safety of our car as they broke the rear window of our car in order to get our bags in our trunk. In our trunk! not the bags that I recklessly put on our seats so that they can clearly see from outside.
Kita tinggalkan mobil tidak sampe sejam et dia ambil tas tanganku aja. Nyebelinnya, di tas itu ada paspor diplomatik aku et Udi, secara kita baru belanja di ELeclerc yang letaknya di perbatasan Perancis (makanya harus bawa paspor) paginya et 1 set kunci rumah, mana ada tagihan lagi, jadi alamat rumah kita terpampang jelas. Sebel banget kan!
Jadinya kita musti minta regie ganti kunci deh dengan segala kerempongannya itu :(.
Yang lain sih ngga begitu berharga ya, karena semua uang, dompet, kamera dll dah dipindahin ke tasnya Bo. Jadi all in all, tuh tas kagak ada isi uang sama sekali :p.
Tapi kan again ribet tuh ngurus paspor diplomatik...harus tunggu dari Jakarta deh!
Kayaknya mereka memang sudah mengincar tuh, mungkin mereka lihat pas kita mindahin barang ke bagasi. Dia pikir duitnya banyak kali or ada laptop ya..or mereka pikir kita rombongan Arab yang memang sedang banyak mengunjungi Jenewa untuk liburan musim panas secara udi jenggotan, huahahaha...
Padahal others are doing the same thing as well, tapi kecele die..duit kagak dapet, mobil gue rusak kacanya! Untung kita sempet ketemu Mas Herman, salah satu staf lokal di kantor, di dekat kantor polisi Servette, jadi dia yang mengantarkan kita ke kantor polisi yang buka 24 jam di Paquis.
Tapi itulah, mungkin karena sistem juga ya, I doubt that those criminals were captured. Kayaknya penjahat-itu pada ngga ketangkep deh di Jenewa.
Apalagi liat polisinya yang gimanaaa gitu (baca: rada cemen, hehehe) Masuk ke kantor polisi aja kita harus tunggu lama karena mereka screen orang dulu coba :), gimana mau ketangkep penjahatnya kan, udah keburu kabur duluan.
Waktu kita lapor di kantor polisi, ada satu pasang diplomat yang kayaknya bermasalah dengan mobil mereka juga, karena menunjukkan surat mobil et ID diplomat. Dan ternyata, ada 2 orang lagi yang antri mau lapor kejadian yang sama. Padahal udah hampir tengah malam!
Frankly, aku sendiri sudah pernah lihat dengan mata kepala sendiri yang namanya copet et jambret di tengah jalan.
Orang lain pada cuek aja, gue doang yang teriak maling, walaupun ngga ada yang ngerti juga karena teriaknya pakai bahasa Indonesia, hehehe.
Belum lagi cerita delegasi yang juga kena dikerjain...
Dan memang di Jenewa kalo ada apa-apa, termasuk kehilangan seperti ini, semua diurus dan ditanggung asuransi, dengan catatan mereka punya asuransi rumah dan mobil yang hukumnya wajib untuk semua diplomat.
Jeleknya, people tend to take it for granted. So, whenever they lose something, they just go to the police station, make the report and claim it to the insurance.
Di negara maju yang katanya standard hidup paling bagus kita malah jadi sasaran kejahatan mulu. Tinggal di Jakarta yang katanya sarang penyamun alhamdulillah kita aman2 aja tuh, all good! Atau mungkin, kita aja yang ngga hoki ya, banyak dosa, hehe..
Well, lesson learned, intinya kita harus selalu hati-hati, di mana pun berada. Mungkin karena mind-set kita bilangnya semua aman di sini, karena di Eropa atau di negara-negara yang uda maju, kita jadi kurang hati-hati. Dan ini bukan hanya di Jenewa, tapi juga di banyak kota lain di benua Eropa.
Memang sih, at the end of the day, semua kejadian yang kami alami di atas diganti oleh asuransi, tapi kesal hati bow, apalagi tau penjahatnya masih merajalela di luar sana. Geregetan!
But anyway, I will still love to go back to Geneve, of course.
And explore more of the city as well as Switzerland.
This time, I stay alert of my surroundings.
Be back with more story about my recent trip to CH :)
