Sad goodbyes

Last night we stayed in the park quite late. You could tell we weren't looking forward to saying goodbye today. Maybe 20 of us sat in a circle and played whisper down the lane, except in a different language for each round depending on who went first. Phrases were whispered in Swiss German, Spanish, Romanian, Pashtun, Arabic, Gaelic, Italian, Swahili, French, and Polish. The final version of the phrase was totally mangled. What I loved was when the initiator told us the meaning of the pre-mangled phrase.

When I look into your eyes I see heaven.
(Romanian)
I adore you, I love you, I worship you.
(Egyptian)
It is good to be together.
(Afghan)
I have a rash.
(French)

There were a few I can't repeat. What was weird was how it was the men coming up with very romantic phrases and the women coming up with crude phrases. Is that because men want to be seen as romantic and women want to be seen as confident (as in, I'm not embarrassed to use crude words)? No answers here. One friend's interpretation: Men flirt in such situations whereas women say things that they think will get a laugh.

The final three days of lectures covered the Bangladesh Accord growing out of Rana Plaza; the intersection of trade law and labor law; and the rights of indigenous people. Heavy lifting. We saw a video of seals being shot and clubbed and photos of rainforest converted into gold mines. The point was to understand trade law refers to products, not processes. That is, if you want to trade in seal skins, you can't give preference to one country over another because you prefer their method of killing seals. This was from an EU case against Canada. The US ran into similar problems with its attempts to ban tuna caught with nets that catch dolphins. The point is, trade is blind to morality, whether it's seals or trees or humans.

After today's class, I went swimming then wrote postcards and packed. The whole class went to a dinner paid for by our organisers, then lots of goodbyes.

This is Stefano and Stephanie by the canal where you dive in.

And this is a museum I never went to because I assumed it was closed for renovation. I also didn't have time. I like the tower roof.

7-24