I cannot believe

7 months next week i have been out here n Santa Monica and I CANNOT BELIEVE. I cannot believe how much i have enjoyed being here in California, I cannot believe how quickly how time has gone, i cannot believe how many nice and dear people (Nick, Val, Matt, Kyo, Allison, Stephen, Kaiser, Sheila, Claudia.....) i have met, i cannot believe how great running along the ocean has been, how fab it has been to see Rio grow up, how fantastic it has been to hang out with Arati and Matia.
I CANNOT BELIEVE how much i liked it, me the French sarcastic, 'i hate america' girl. I have loved every minute of it.
I think this is very ironic as i have always thought of LA as a fake, superficial town and i have found some depth with people, Marty, i never thought i would meet. It makes me smile and think about how life is full of surprises and i am so happy i have shared this adventure with Hursty, who pushed us into it.

So you may ask me, so when are you coming back....The whole relocation subject has been on our mind and doing it seems to make sense (read above), so we will see what life brings us as Marty has gone back to the UK to work but we definitely need to consider it.

It has been great!

Thanksgiving - A great holiday!

Experiencing Thanksgiving in America was the best. We had thursday and Friday off, 4 days off, that's what i am talking about !!
Apparently it is about spending time with family, eating more than you can handle, cutting the turkey and watching american football, and i guess we did it all (may be not fully on the american football). We went to Arati's sister, Lopa and had a fantastic day with Sanghe, Kwame, One, and Lopa's family. We played scrabble, gosh this game is infectious, i love it. I love discovering english new words, thinking about each new game as new challenge and strategising on the triple and double word!
We also went round the table saying why we were thankful this year and even if it sounds cheesy, well it makes you reflect and it's nice to hear people's thoughts. I enjoyed it. Saturday we started again with Allison and Stephen, mor the food, more giving thanks. Fabulous time

my first attempt to put images on the BLOG

a long time without writing

It has been nearly 3 months i have not written but i guess that's the beauty of the blog, u can let it go and when you want it back, it is still there.....cool, no?
Anyway a lot has happened during this time, not sure where to start but let the stream of consciousness start, Mag's style.
First why am i blogging again or shall i say why did i stop blogging. I think it is a more than one thing, like time, work was pretty intense to a stage where i did not even have time to run or spend nice time with Hursty. Not nice, it was too much and i finally managed to make it come down but it was definitely a challenge and fortunately i am able to look back and see, analyse, think about what went wrong, why.....learn about myself. I think i was a bit down by it all so writing in these times, it is not great.
Another thing why i stopped blogging, i guess the newness of being in america wore off and this is now my reality. so it seems a bit boring to write about my routine.
So why blog again, well a few things, first a few exciting events have happened, well aude and franck came out, we went to san fran at the start of september, to nyc for my 30th, marty took us up in his cessna, and the funniest of it all, Hala got me a book on blogs so soon it will look so cool......u know.
But why i really decided to write again is because hursty is leaving back to London and this is quite a step. It is the end of an era. He is now qualified as a Private Pilot and Instrument Ratings but his ex company called him back and going back makes sense, even though it does break our heart. Santa Monica and its way of life has seduced us in a way i never thought. The ocean, the people we met, the pace, it has been so refreshing but right now, going back makes sense, so we will go back to sunny London. A lot of attractive stuff are coming for us in London, friends, our hourse, proximity of family, however right now, i feel sad about the end of the era. But let;s not be too melancolic and enjoy the last days and think about great of a time we have had. What a fantastic adventure, more soon.

Watching the Olympics from the USA

So last friday the 2004 Olympic games started, friday 13th, good day to open (?), the opening was fun, at the European scale like my mum said, Bjork was amazing in her blue ocean dress which covered the whole of the stadium and became the globe. We watched it at Ricks bar on Main street with Brian Benkhe and we enjoyed commenting each outfit from each country....it was fun and thinking about it again that night, what a fantastic concept that all countries challenge each other in the name of sport.......anyway watching it from here is interesting. I have been watching the Olympics from France, the UK and now the USA and obviously the focus is always on the country and how great they are doing but here it seems a bit more over the top than anywhere else. I may be mistaking but my perception and impression is that if the American team is not doing so well, like at the Olympics Gymnastic the commentators still find excuses for the athletes or say at the trials the athletes did much better. They are not so humble and may be i need to go and watch it again from France or England to re-asses if it is the same there.
Another thing is the way the athletes here are expressing their joy of winning, i find it so aggressive and so linked to this winning attitude they have here,,,,,a bit too close to the corporate world......interesting.....

But no matter what the ultimate goal of the Olympics is, why does it make the most nationalistic side of us come out? Is it insecurity? sense of belonging? I keep questioning myself but at the same time enjoy watching the dedication enthusiasm of the athletes, How inspiring are they?
Since Arati and I have been swimming feeling like we were there......not the same butterfly style but close!

Reverse surprise - a new Concept

So last week as we were spending the afternoon at a modern furniture exhibition, Arati asked us if we knew about the concept of Reverse Surprise. I listened and quickly understood that there was more to this little concept than this random thought something was on her mind, as we know she does not like surprises, (but actually i think she does really, she does not like being surprised but she likes surprising but anyway .... she explained that a reverse surprise was basically surprising the person who thought about surprising you and i guess it may sound a bit complex and deep but it makes sense and the great news was that Mag was coming to town . GREAT NEWS and what is the great about this concept is that both parties are excited in anticipation of the 'surprise' but you have to be quite smart and intuitive about the surprise coming and if it is a good surprise well you should not know anything....anyway we all went to the Bowling and waited for Mag who thought she was going to pick up Matia at a team event when really all of us were waiting there........we had a sign a cake, white elephant presents but
Mag was so jetlagged that she did not seem that surprised....funny!

Dancing in Delhi

So i have always loved dancing, ballet was the start but ever since i have always loved the dance floor . I have to tell you that my experience of dancing in Delhi is one of the best. First i went out dancing on Saturday night to F Bar which was so much fun, i totally gave it all even though i did not know any of Sundeep's mates but u know dancing is a form of communication.
This week so far i have had 2 team events with my team here and honest to god, they do not need any push to get out there on the dance floor....they're there before me......never in a team i have seen it....you always have the Jon Reay of the group but a whole team. They give it all to the music, it's wonderful, no shame, no second thoughts, fully genuine with one aim only have a good time....none of this nonsense, i need a drink first, i am tired, i don;t like the music, no whatever it is they are out there and enjoy, I am in my element!!!

I am also loving the whole dancing in a circle, punjabi style.....bring it on baby!
I find the ladies so beautiful with their graceful arms and subtle heads moves, the lads really go for it! Brilliant!
I cannot wait till saturday for more.......

Blogging from Delhi

So I am in Delhi….the place I have been dreaming to come to for a while, since school actually, I remember looking at a post card, in Sandrine’s bedroom, of the Taj and promising myself I will go there. (with her, this and Ayers Rock!)

I got exposed a little bit more to India when I arrived in the UK with the food ‘indian curry’, the corner stores but I guess my sensitivity towards India increased when I met my lovely friend Arati. I listened to some of her tales about her family country, her trips there, tasted some of the food with her (Cerritos in LA for Masala Dosa), went to Nepal with her, Mag and Marty, and then our company opened the office in Delhi where I tried to go work for a long time.
I guess Arati and Matia’s wedding helped me discover more of the culture, the traditions, the people with sharing some of the Indian experience like Mendhi, and also Usch and Dix’s wedding made me love it and wonder even more about it.
I was so proud of my first sari, kindly bought from Arun at work……and now no more wonders, imagination, I am here in Delhi for work which is a shame on one hand as I do not have as much time as I wished to discover but on the other hand, working here is another view on the society rather than being a tourist, a view which gives me a bit more insight on how the people live, interact, where they go…….so all in all I am very very happy.

Somehow it is everything I expected, the traffic is a bit more but the food stalls, the people, the cows on the street, the beggars, the ladies in sari….it’s all there but the most amazing is to be here. I love it and I have even mad dreams about Marty and I coming to relocate here and live the expats life for a little while, why not?

I just feel there is so much to see and to discover, the culture of the people, the people, the religions, the town itself, the food, the places to go out…….tonight Sundeep took me for a ride around town and I never cease to be fascinated by watching the side of the road, there is so much happening. We passed by the Indian gate at Sunset which was so beautiful and went up what really looked like the Champs Elysees except instead of having shops at the side of the street, it was grass and people having little promenades…..so pretty. We also went to grab a ‘Spicy’ Kebab in Khan market with Anand and Manob, two friends of Sundeep. In the car I loved hearing the chill out Punjab mix music and the more traditional stuff. It’s so cool I could totally live here, I wish Marty was here to share.

A few Hindi words : Dilli is delhi, buk buk is blabla, a guy is a cow so u can say what’s this guy doing in the middle of the road, J, tika is ok, okji is yeah yeah whatever, and whatever is west Punjab.