December in Paris

Ogilvy Christmas!

Mid-December witnessed one of the most clichéd and amazing experienced of my time in Paris: the Ogilvy IBM team holiday party. The first portion was a traditional Christmas dinner at an English pub. The food was good, the beer was flowing, and the Secret Santa gifts were quite creative, but the highlight of the first half of the day were the Christmas carols. My boss, Tonya, had instructed everyone to choose a song in their native language and sing in groups according to nationality. The Germans, of course, came fully organized and prepared with placards so the audience could join them, prompting jokes about German efficiency, as usual. The Americans sang a hilarious version of Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer, and the “Commonwealth” team joined in with “Silent Night.” Many more followed, of which I partook in both the Spanish and Russian versions. Interestingly enough, it was quite humorous because the Spanish version was an upbeat happy song [my favorite Christmas carol since the age of 10…my family detests it because I start singing it nonstop right after Thanksgiving….and in college, I sing it to them over the phone] about fish jumping from joy at the birth of Christ…whereas the Russian one is a sad one about a tree being cut from a forest to be used for decoration. So incredibly telling of the national characters, no? [Look at my photos for December to see some of these antics captured on camera!]

After a hearty lunch, we headed off for the second portion of the afternoon: bowling!! I, who had never bowled before, absolutely loved it! In a very French way, everyone drinks wine while they bowl here so the bowling gets progressively funnier and more dramatic as the sets go on….let’s just say it was a very enjoyable treat!

Events!
I went to an Orishas concert with Gladys and Asia and it was one of the best concerts I have ever attended. It was held at Elysee Montmartre, which is one of the most famous music venues in the city....and Orishas is a group of Cuban musicians based in Spain…they combine traditional salsa, guaguanco, son sounds with less traditional sounds like rap, reggae, etc. The result is an incredible fusion of sound that I could not help but dance to!

In terms of ballet, I saw different ends of the spectrum this month. First, I went to see “The Nutcracker” at Opera Bastille and was thoroughly disappointed in the performance. However, when I saw “Paquita” at Opera Garnier with Elana later that week, I was floored by the emotion of the performance, the precision of movement, and the costumes. I think this may be in part because it was not choreographed by Noureev [like “The Nutcracker”] and I have never really liked any of his pieces.

Two other noteworthy sidenotes in this [very short] summary of December:

a.) I thoroughly explored the Marais, both by myself and with Elana. I really like the general feel of the area, despite hating shopping, AND I found a delicious crepe restaurant! I also visited my boss’s boss’s stepson’s perfume boutique [did you follow those degrees of separation?]…let’s just say that the names of the perfumes are more than a bit risqué.

b.) Elana and I went for dinner at Laduree. We were sitting calmly, minding our own business, when the couple next to us paid and left, leaving TWO perfectly normal maracons intact on a plate. After much debate [not internal, but between Elana’s manners and my hunger], I reached over and ate them. Classy, right?