2 weekends, 2 different lives, same place, same girl. Talk about contrasts. Somebody up there decided to make sure that I have a clear idea of where I was and where I am now.
So enough of the cryptic references..........
2 weekends ago I had the privilege of spending 3 days with two of my best friends on the Cote d'Azur in a jewel box apartment right over the harbor of Villefranche-sur-Mer. We drank champagne while gazing at the boats bobbing directly beneath our balcony and watched the cruise ships come and go from the bay.
I was in another world - the one I used to live in and the one my friends still do. They were vacationing from their big family houses with some kids still at home; celebrating long marriages and contemplating futures that I used to share.
I'm not begrudging of this - just noticing really.
So fast forward to the next jaunt back to the same Cote d'Azur two days later. This time to Cannes, glitzy home of the film festival and full of bronze bodies parading the boardwalk. No subtle elegance at this end of the Med.
I know that I won't evoke much sympathy but these four days were not fun in the sun. This was work. "Team-building" with my French colleagues and for me - a study in cultural differences.
We arrived to a lunch poolside before our first session. We weren't told to bring our bathing suits to the meeting but before we adjourned to the conference one of my co workers could not resist the pool. No bathing suit? - tant pis -she proceeded to strip to her underwear (leopard print) while the rest of us fully-clothed-rule-followers, meekly dipping our feet in the water, watched her dive right in. Her bra quickly became a bother so off it went. Her late-fifty-something body frolicked before our eyes. She displayed not a bit of shame (and not much puritan modesty either).
We work for a top European business school - the Harvard of France - could you imagine this same scenario happening in Cambridge?
Neither can I.
Stripping and swimming naked, or close to it, in front of the people you pass in the hall every day, turns out to be a normal activity. Our dean decided that the lapping waters of the Mediterranean were too much to resist after our wrap-up dinner on the beach Saturday night. She stripped to the skin and swam out into the moonlit waters. She inspired several followers who also traded their party wear for skinny dipping.
Is this normal? Do the deans of the Harvards and the Whartons of the world all get naked in front of their staffs and I've simply been in the dark all these years?
Probably not.
In any case, I am now part of this group and though I am an etranger, I seem to be accepted, even if I kept my clothes on.
Voila - a bit of my past and present lives sur la Cote d'Azur.
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