49 - Week 7 5ieme: Pinky Swear - Geneve

Friday, April 11

It's here, my last day of work.  I promise, I'd work more if I could but my work permit limits me to the 13th, so I legally have to stop working.  Quel dommage!  😜 

At coffee today, I learned the names of the fingers: pouce, indice, grand, annulaire, et l'auriculaire.  It was a fun "aha!" moment: the index finger makes sense, middle/big makes sense, and annulaire simply maps to ring.   While pouce/thumb is unclear the explanation for pinky was easily demonstrated: it's the finger that best fits in your ear 😆 

A parting gift from my meeting earlier in the week with my head honcho was a chocolate bunny (they've been in stores in preparation for Easter).  Since my suitcase is too heavy for a 1lb chocolate rodent, I opted to share it with my colleagues.  But they had me do the cutting.

I'll miss our little sweets table and after-lunch coffees.  It's so neat to have this little bonding ritual occuring in various languages.

I've spent many hours with meeting people 1:1 and today I made my goodbye tour; visiting most of the people I'd seen.  I really can't believe how quickly this assignment has blown by but I'm leaving it feeling that I've done my best and have the contacts & connections I need to follow through on projects once I'm back in the US.  How things change for my role once I'm back in the US; well, that's a question for future John to worry about.  Right now, my focus is on profiting from my Suisse vacation!

A last view of the Rhône from the plant; I'll definitely miss the beauty of the surrounding area of this plant.

Dinner tonight was among my engineering colleagues.  It was very touching for our most senior member to invite us over to taste her Spanish heritage of tortillas, jamon, and empanada.  It was so much fun to get the gang together in a non-corporate setting to simply relax and catch up/reflect on life.  My colleagues complimented me on how much I'd integrated and noted the number of things I'd done/tasted in Switzerland; it was very nice of them all and I think the best capstone one could ask for with their team.  I've known many of them for quite some time but I feel I know them all a lot better now.  I count myself so fortunate to have a team like these guys.  

Enroute to the apartment after dinner, I knew I needed to savor these last scenes of Genève by night.

Carouge was quiet in parts and happening in others; I feel I've only scratched it's surface despite having lived here for two months.  I only managed to eat in a few of the restaurants here and didn't have the time to test out different bars and cafes for ambiance.  Oh well.

Your roots might be bizarrely Sardinian, Carouge, but I won't hold that against you 😜.  It was a pleasure to return to you every night.

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