Only two weeks before graduation!!! I met our landlord for the first time on Tuesday. He fixed the toilet, which smelled pretty foul. On Tuesday night, I invited a few friends over for dinner. I had been promising to invite them since Singapore… I prepared several courses:
1) Cooked shrimp with sauce, with oven-baked garlic in olive oil
2) BBQed artichoke with sauce
3) BBQed salmon filet with fresh oranges and basil based sauce
4) Boiled secretly-flavoured broccoli
5) BBQed rabbit legs in Leffe and maple syrup sauce
6) Cheese platter including Stilton, Reblochon, Epoisse, BBQed camembert
7) BBQed banane flambée with St James Martinique rum and Peruvian equitable brown sugar
In my opinion, the artichokes were so-so but the rabbit was extremely moist and tasteful.
On Wednesday night, we entertained again for the Deutschland-Poland game. About 25 people, most of them German supporters, came by to enjoy the game on our medium-screen TV. We BBQed a bunch of stuff, but nothing fancy.
On Friday, I played in another INSEAD golf tournament at the Fontainebleau golf course, listed as a Top-5 course in France. We were playing from the back tees, which made some holes extremely long. There isn’t a single water hazard on the whole course.
I played very poorly, but managed to get a birdie. I then had lunch at the country club with Fred and Brendan, 2 Canadians. Brendan actually won the tournament. On Friday night, I went to the African Week party at Villecerf. They had 6 drink stations, a BBQ, a bouncing castle in the shape of a giraffe, a bond fire etc etc. Unfortunately, only about 100 people showed up, so the large front yard felt a bit empty. I had a good time nevertheless.
On Saturday, I went to Paris with Leo and a couple of friends he met while working in California. We first went to the Catacombs, which opened our appetite. We then had lunch on a terrace, followed by a long walk in the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise. We paid our respects to Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Pisarro, Modigliani, Oscar Wilde etc. We then walked around Chatelet, Ile de la Cité, and St-Germain-Les-Prés. After dinner in le Quartier Latin, we took the train back to Montgeron and drove home.
I planned to take it easy on Sunday. My plan failed. At 10am, Ben called me and offered to participate to a company-sponsored (competitor of BCG) paintball game. The complex was about 20 minutes from INSEAD. They had 6 different fields, complete with obstacles, bridges, little houses etc. There were 9 of us in the group. We played about 8-10 games. I got shot on top of the head, which hurt a bit. I also have a couple of nice bruises on my legs and chest. I got a few good shots in as well. I tried to “freeze” an opponent while rushing him, but he turned around with his gun so I repainted him pink. I’m pretty sure he felt it in the morning. It was a great weekend, even though I didn’t leave the greater Paris area.
In other news, I am going to Egypt next week with Leo. The plan is to fly into Luxor, take a 3-day cruise down the Nile River to Assouan. Then, take a night train to Cairo, where we’ll visit the Pyramids, the Sphinx etc. I look forward to it! Great pictures to come, I’m sure!
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