One thing that I have notices about Geneva is that people don't smile at each other. I found this to be true while in England and Italy as well. In the states, we are all smiles, but here, not so much. A few time I have just smiled at someone, and they have looked at me as if I were crazy. It is funny, they just give me this blank stare. My friend Teresa told me that it is best to just go with the flow of the city, keep your smile to yourself, and it is probably best not to say anything either. This was too much for me to comprehend, so last week I decided to take matters into my own hands. I quickly learned the importance of listening to my friend's advice. While at the tram stop, I saw a friendly looking woman who I thought would no doubt appreciate a greeting and... smile.
"bonjour" I said, smiling as I sat down on the bench next to her.
She just starred at me.
I waiting, thinking "okay, that was awkward, maybe she will warm up".
About a minute later she just started spewing out words, and I didn't understand anything, because let's face it the extent of my French goes as far as the following: bonjour, merci and... well, that is it. Then, she looked at me, well, stared at me, and then she started touching the tip of her tongue to her bottom lip, then her top lip, then her bottom lip, then her top lip. She did this repeatedly, French gibberish filling the breaks in between her lip licking. The whole time that she was doing this, she just stared at me.
The whole time I just kept on thinking to myself, "why Marie?! Why can't you just listen to people, when they give you their WISE ADVICE!" But no, no, I needed to revolutionize Geneva. Never again! Never again I tell you!
Next time I smile at someone, or try to strike up a conversation, believe me, it will be Helen Keller.
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