After a month intense study, conducting training, meeting
wonderful people from Iran, Kenya, Fiji, the USA, Bangladesh, Somalia, Germany,
the Philippines, Mexico... it is time to leave the Summer Peacebuiding Insitute
(SPI). As I prepare to go to Kenya after 6 months in India and Nepal, I feel a
need to pay homage to the 6 weeks spent between India and Kenya. Namely, the
USA and Switzerland. Coming back to the ‘West’ after India and Nepal was it’s
own culture shock. As I journeyed to the American South known as Virginia I was
amazed. The sprawling green hills, long low houses surrounded by lush perfectly
manicured lawns, acres of shopping malls spread before me. I was also greeted
by cool clean air and the sound of the unique southern American accents made
their way to my ear drums.
In my final few
days in the USA I was staying with my wonderful friend Anne in Richmond. We
were driving (which seems to be the only transport available in Virginia) and I
started wistfully sharing with Anne how much I am going to miss being somewhere
where people reply to emails, electricity flows regularly, there is heating and
cooling, the water comes drinkable straight out of the tap, the fresh
vegetables can be eaten straight out of the supermarket, credit cards work,
cash machines work... I think you get the picture. Anne said that she thought I
should write a blog about all the things I will miss about the USA, as the USA
gets a lot of bad press. I agreed that the USA does get bad press and I won’t
go into possible reasons for that here...
Eastern
Mennonite University (EMU) Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) staff are
FANTASTIC! It is because of their amazing talents that I am inspired to write
this blog. The rest of the USA may not be like this, but let me dream for a
moment about my experience at EMU during the Summer Peacebuilding Institute. It
went something like this...
When I asked for
materials to run my workshops, they appeared ahead of time. Microphones, video
equipment and IT all worked. Staff were where they said they would be at the
time they said they would be there. If something I needed was not possible
alternatives were offered and acted on immediately. There seemed to be a team
of people that communicated with each other and things got done. I got to set
up my workshop rooms the night before the workshop, all printed material was
ready to use and I could test and prepare everything. It was like I had died
and ended up in heaven somewhere. It is my ideal. There was no gap between the
idea and the reality. It all worked. I miss this already! As a student we had
coloured pencils and playdoe to play with in class...
Oh how I will miss
that 10am means 10am, that I do not need to be afraid to ask a question or ask
for help because I know that people will eventually understand me (sometimes
rapid speaking Australian needs translation in other English speaking
countries), that I do not need to panic about whether materials and venues will
be available for training I am conducting. I will miss that I trust people to
do the things they say they will do. I will miss knowing it will all work out
and there will not be any last minute surprises, such as no electricity, the
venue being locked. I will miss that I can be a control freak and it works.
And the
beautiful Switzerland! Let’s start with the chocolate! It is all great here. There
is no such thing as Cadbury’s here. Lindt is the common standard, and it is
cheap! Then there is the cheese (yes, none of this is good for my weight or my
health), then the bread, vegetables.... the food! The buses, trams, trains that
go everywhere. They are all clean, comfortable, not overcrowded, on time and
frequent. The only down side is that the public transport is expensive, but I
guess you get what you pay for! Everywhere is so well signposted. Getting from
A to B is not a hassle. I don’t have to bargain with people, worry that I am
being conned, worry about drunken rickshaw drivers, in fact I don’t even have to
talk to anyone as I get to consult a poster on a wall about where I want to go,
a TV screen about where in the station to find the train / bus / tram and
another screen to give me a ticket. The ATMs work, paying by card is easy, the
men are good looking and tall – although so are the women, but I won’t miss the
women! I quite like reading the German but have come to realize that being able
to read German does not mean I can understand anything that is being said in
Swiss German. Apparently everyone learns what they call ‘high German’ at school
and everything is written in high German, but it is spoken in Swiss German
which is another thing altogether. I will miss the dancing. The 5Rhythms classes
I did here were incredible. Apparently there are many 5Rhythms instructors
here.
The mountains are beautiful and close to everywhere. They even had some Bollywood idols up the top of Mt Titlis which was a great opportunity to combine India and Switzerland in one great package!
Switzerland has
everything and it is packaged into a neat, beautiful, clean and high quality
package. I love it. Nothing is too far away and everything is accessible. My
couch surfing experience has been wonderful in Zurich which has made a massive
difference. I don’t know how people travelled before couchsurfing. I remember
my travelling being more lonely and less fun when it was the world of youth
hostels. Couchsurfing. It has taken the stress out of travelling by myself.
Meeting locals who are happy to host me is wonderful! Local knowledge and
wonderful people!