Ants Don’t Like Bowls

I am back for the third time in La Reunion, I know I am quite the lucky guy and as always I plan to make the most of my stay here.



I used the short break between my stays here to go spend 4 days in Los Angeles to attend the Rock The Bells festival with a friend, there I got to listen live to one of my favourite hip-hop group: A tribe Called Quest. They haven’t released anything since they split in 1998 and it was great to see them for the first time on stage. They even played in its entirety one of their best album if not the best: Midnight Marauders. I can’t even describe how I felt when they first appeared on the stage, I can now remove them from my list of artists I want to see live.



This week-end was the first edition of "Les Guinguettes De Saint Gilles", there were things going on in the streets as well as concerts and theme parties. Unlike "Le Grand Boucan", this event was sponsored by the city of Saint Paul from which Saint Gilles is a part. If it wasn’t for the hitchhiker that my wife took we would probably have spent the whole week-end on the beach not knowing that something was happening in the city. There was almost no poster in the city to promote the event and there was even less outside of the city. I don’t know about you but when I spend a lot of money to setup an event I will make damn sure that as many people as possible come. Only at my scuba diver club did I find a huge pile of leaflets detailing the week-end activities: that is a little weird. It seemed like the city hall didn’t want any population outside of the people living in Saint Gilles to be in the know. On Sunday the main street was closed to the cars which is a good thing for pedestrians but the restricted area was so huge that it was easier to see that there were not that many people in the streets of the city centre. The organizers blocked some streets which could have been used as parking space or a concert area. The event gave this vibe of being a good idea but being setup at the last minute.



There were a lot of nice activities. A fest-noz was organized on Saturday evening near the beach, we had the opportunity to listen to traditional music from Brittany; I discovered that there was an association that promoted the songs and dances from Brittany because there is a lot of Breton on the island. I have to be honest I really can’t stand traditional Breton music but I love watching people dance, the type of dance would be announced before each song to tell the audience what step to follow on the dance floor. My ears really hurt but it was nice to watch people have fun. There was a salsa party on Sunday evening also near the beach that was very popular but for aesthetes the tango party was the place to be on the marketplace. My dear wife would love it if we could take tango lessons together one day but one can’t do everything so in the meantime we watched the people beautifully dancing to the rhythm. The advantage is that tango doesn’t hurt my ears.



There were a lot of other things to see but the best was undeniably the fashion show. 6 shops selling clothing for women in Saint Gilles gave some clothes from their latest collection for the show, that was very nice. Those shops found a good way to increase their revenue with some extra publicity, sadly they didn’t think of having the shops opened to welcome the customers interested in buying something after the show. In any case the women were beautiful and you can see my pictures of the show here.



For those who are wondering where the link is between my title and what is in this post, there is none. I discovered this morning that when you put sweet food in a bowl you will not find it later full of ants. I thought it made for a good title.

La suite!

Nice Office, Fun Office

During my stay in Belgium I have had the luck to work in a great environment. I usually work in old building with no windows and in the middle of servers that make a lot of noise. Thankfully it was time for a change.



I work in a brand new building that is filled with large windows for walls that completely negates the confinement feeling you can get in some office buildings. As you get natural light almost everywhere in the building you almost feel like you are outside when you are going for a walk. The open space have been so well designed that the employees don’t feel like they are crowded.
Everything is done to have relaxed employees, you can find coffee, tea, sparkling water and plain water dispensers in every open space; the building is completely smoke free, plants and couches are disposed here and there so that everyone can enjoy a comfortable break and not be far from their desk.



The office cafeteria is hiding the best surprises, there are stairs in the back of the cafeteria that lead to a playroom and a fitness room. In the playroom you will be able to play Table football, Pool, Pinball or Air Hockey. The best thing is that you will find 2 Wii with which you will be able to compete against your colleagues on Wii Sport, thanks to this game I managed to understand how Baseball is played! For fitness enthusiasts the fitness room will offer you all the necessary equipments to keep in shape. You can run, ride an indoor bike, use the steps or work on your abs. You now have the choice between fake sports with the Wii and the real deal in the fitness room.
I am quite happy to go to work in the morning!



Updated on November 23rd 2009

Today our customer organised a small bike show in its office because it is sponsoring a cycling team. You would find bikes for hardcore cyclists, I say hardcore because the feature bikes where worth an average of 4000€. You could buy every product of the karcher brand, try all necessary devices to turn your garage into a real bike garage, collect all the necessary accessories need by every cyclists, taste some power bars… Some cards with questions were given in the office in the morning, when you would give back the cards you would get a nice hat with the company’s colours, then at the end of the day one card would be picked and the winner would go home with a nice race bike. Cycling is an important thing here.


La suite!