Musées

Sorry for the long absence. I was sick and after the 10 hour days I didn't have it in me to write about what had happened. But, now that I am getting better, here it is.

We went to two amazing museums this week. The first one was the International Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC) Museum. Not to be confused with the American Red Cross Assosiation. Two very different organizations. I was in the group that got to be guided through the museum in French too!! Woohoo learning! The ICRC started in 1863 with helping wounded soldiers. It grew into a humanitarian relief organization that helps victims of war or internal conflict. The organization itself is completely detached from any one governments agenda. Meaning it will not undertake a mission and help just one side of the conflict because of political backing. It's completely independent which is why it is also so special.

But, the museum was really moving. It had a reproduced cell where 17 political prisoners were kept for more than 90 days. As you can imagine the cell was super tiny. It also had special rooms dedicated to land mine victims, the Rwandan crises and how the ICRC functions globally. When we all left the consensus was that we were all a little depressed. But, at least there are organiyations like the ICRC that do what they do.

The second museum was the Musée d'ethnographie de Genève. There was an excellent exhibit called Nous Autres. I'm not sure of the direct translation, but it basically means The Others. It went into the etymology of certain words like savage and whether or not we as Westerners consider 'the others' to be savages, models, or humans. It dealt a lot with ethnocentricity and supported the idea that we were all a little ethnocentric at the core. It also went over traditions and how they are seen as gross or disgusting, but how we have very similar customs in our Western 'civilized' culture too. Conclusion: very interesting. I really liked it because it went all through out history and showed the absurdity of ethnocentricty.

Other than that, the weather here has been gray and rainy. Good for night time, bad for daytime. I was going to go to the Olymipcs, but decided against it. Something I will probably end up kicking myself about.