The Day I Had Coffee In Geneva With Luboš

It was an exhausting weekend after a hectic last week of a crazy month of February.


January intensive language course (B1.2) was fun. It gave me an obligation to go to daily, it allowed me to meet people, I made great progress in my German skills. It was in the morning and the world was kind. You don't like winters? Find yourself a language course =)
February intensive language course (B2.2) was demanding, and in the afternoon. Enough said. It was hard to focus, and my day was out the window - so I haven't translated a single line of the book in over a month. You want to save your winter with a language course? Have it in the morning.

But I passed. And quite well too! I haven't seen my test yet, but considering my grade, it must have been something very close to 90% !! You know?! I can really do this German life! Soon, I'll be able to tell a joke in German! (And people will get it and laugh!)

Now, back to my book.... "The" book. Its plot has some fun parallels with my life. It is a fictional novel, set in very real background of the Exodus of Israelites from Egypt. Now, a lot of people think that the story ends simply with the Ten Commandments that Moses brings to his people, after they were rescued from the mean Egyptians. After the big exit, they were supposed to cross the distance to the Promissed Land in a few weeks, but instead they ended up combing the desert for 40 years.
I moved here with great expectations. The plan was to work in some language school until I found a "real" job. Well, it's been 7 months. Still no real job. And although I love it here, and I'm grateful for my friends and their help... I find myself longing for my captivity and my personal egyptians. I find myself wondering, 'Why did I leave? Was it really that bad?'
Well, Egyptians had beer. You don't believe me? Google it, I dare you. They didn't manage a whole nation of Israel because they were dumb - rather, rest assured they were wicked smart and had advanced knowledge of astronomy, algebra, architecture (you can't argue against that), organizational skills, and obviously, psychology.
One thing they didn't have was spiritual wisdom... Just think, it took 10 plagues... it's all there in chapters 7 through 11 of the book of Exodus (in the Bible, here's the link).

You can't reach your Promissed Land (whatever it is) complaining over Egypt. You have to get up and leave the beer behind, and believe that milk and honey are better.

But don't get me wrong. My personal egypt was extremely difficult to leave behind. (And I'm not a beer drinker!!)

So... After a long, cloudy February, with a hectic last week and an exhausting first weekend of March, on March 3rd, I found myself by the Geneva lake, drinking coffee with my friends. The three of us were heading to the airport from the Swiss mountain village where the Bible School was held. Luboš from Prague, Czech Republic, joined us and we ended up stopping in the city. Sitting in a cafe, I looked at the lake, and thought about the month behind me, the land I was promissed, the sunny days like this Sunday, and uncomfortable days like Thursday when I almost ended up wandering the streets on Geneva the entire night (long story)... and of the writer with a beautiful soul from whom I still haven't heard back after my second E-mail... I realized it was a beautiful day with great people after an inspiring weekend at the end of a very productive last week of a successfull month. And that day shall always be remembered as The Day when I had coffee in Geneva with Luboš.

Milk and honey can wait. In the mean time, I can have coffee. Because let's face it, it's not all about beer.