Carpooling Zombies?

To me Halloween is a rare chance to be someone else, to play a role that on any normal day would seem impossible. Saturday presented itself as the perfect opportunity for just that. Having to work on arguably the best holiday, in a country that doesn't celebrate it, seems like as a complete and utter bust but I suppose I have acquired talents for making the best out of mediocre situations. Bright and early that morning I learned I would be the rapporteur for the NGO statement drafting to be presented at the UN Economic Commission of Europe Monday morning. That's jargon for the person who collects, organizes and writes the statement for the NGO group to present to governments (who will probably be daydreaming,) but either way its my words there not listening to and I like that. About ten women each from their own organization with their own priorities barked ideas at me that they felt necessary to present. Thankful for four years of lecture note taking and my keyboarding class in middle school I listened and tried to make sense out of there ramblings that they were expecting a document to come out of. What is more terrifying than any ghost or goblin was the expectations that were now placed on my shoulders, the stress rolled in the form of heartburn that ravished the back of my throat. It was this person who debated the necessary importance of policy implementation with seasoned feminists that I hardly recognised as myself. I was told I spoke like I was french by two women from France ( still not sure what that means) and also told happy Halloween from a women from Northern Ireland all in the same sitting. All of them looking to me, or a more professional, smart, elegant version of me for results which I sure enough produced, printed and distributed all before lunch. This life within the NGO world has become my norm, it feels permanent and comfortable making my life prior to this seem more and more like unfamiliar territory. But quickly enough I rush home and put on a much different mask, the lighthearted silly girl I present to my peers. Leaving all concerns of gender inequalities at the door. This girl listens to the monster mash while she draws on whiskers for her mouse costume in preparation for the cat and mouse duo that will bring mayhem to the streets of Geneva. Is the same person who drafted a UN resolution now dancing at a disco-tech with Napoleon Bonaparte? I suppose so although I hardly recognise either of them. I expected the holidays, like my birthday to be lacking in this strange city. But the girl who awkwardly turned 22 here two months ago now forgets sometimes that shes even in Switzerland, to wrapped up in the beauty of it all I suppose. Last night I saw a group of Zombies staggering down the street while we waited for the tram to take us home. They moaned with there arms out and they filed into cars and drove away. Carpooling zombies? I thought to myself, this strange yet uniquely Swiss event reminded me of what a time I'm having here in Geneva.