25 ( tout en anglais)

So, yes, i'm 25..... a quarter of.... arrrrrrrrhh don't want to think of that

I'm going to spend this 25th birthday in Barbados, i asked around ideas of things to do to celebrate. My friends suggested a nice dinner with friends, drinks in a bar, and party. It sounds nice, but it's what we do every time we go out, so i want something a bit different.
Not that i'm very happy to be turning 25, nooooooo !!! but... i guess, this is a birthday not to miss, a day to remember.
Let's go the Karaoke/pool bar Nelson's Arms.
I've had some of the best times in my life in this little bar.

I went only once to a karaoke bar in Paris, and i was paralized with shyness. I didn't really enjoy it,
but here.... I don't care and just have fun. 

I'm not being kind to Barbados like " ooooh i looooove this country, this is the best thing that ever happened to my life aaahhhhh it's ammaaaazing  !!! bajans i love you allll !!"
No. But...I admit that if i had to do like a end of the year statement i would say that i've lived one of the best year of my life. Honestly. 

Friday, december 9th 2011

Nice "milkshake" performance.

So many songs.... doesn't make the decision easier to take.

Merci singers for this nice musical time.

Well, this friday karaoke session wasn't that good for me because  I think I knew about 5 songs in the hundreds of ENGLISH songs that were in the book, so I didn't have a large choice, and even the songs I chose, I didn't know them enough.
I hope I'll be able to transport the new chilled out Pauline to France and go to sing at Karaoke in freeennnnch in Fraaaaaaance in a few days  !! 

Online card from my Mom : " I woke up thinking of that day, 25 years ago, when I became you Mom.
Happy Birthday my beautiful. Your Mommie"

I think this 25th birthday is putting me in a "take stock of my life" mood.
I'm thinking of...everything... my past life, what i've achieved, what i failed, what i can be proud of, what i've lost...
I feel like i'm sooo different today, here, than the Pauline I left in France.
I changed a lot, i feel like i have 2 lives, one before and one from Barbados.
I hate some parts of my french life, i love and miss a looooot of others.
I don't love everything about my expatriate life but i don't hate anything.
Is it a good thing to have 2 lives? Or am i going to be missing one or the other forever?
Loved ones in France, loved one here...
I feel like i have 2 worlds now, and they will never be together, but i don't want to choose...The happiest childhood in France, the funnest young adult life experience here.
Home in France, foreign here.
Shy in France, happy here.

I've always seen age, especially 25 and 30 as old, as the way down to old-age, responsabilities, seriousness, end of the fun, enf of the carefreeness, time for a stable job, a mortgage, a husband, kids... dogs....
Nothing exciting, nothing to be looking forward to.
But what if this way was a better point of view: this is actually the begining of life, not the end.
I'm starting to accept this idea....
Yes i have 3 white hair, but this guy in a party 2 days ago thought i was 15, so maybe i still have hope.
What if babies were not only crying and eating your money and energy? What if wrinkles were sexy? What if commitment was a beautiful thing and not a prison? What if alcohol and parties were not the only way to release stress and have fun?

Ok, i might have many things to reconsider.

The age corner has to be turned, i don't really have choice, and i actually want to see how it looks like on the other side.
About the place to live in, the 2 worlds... i don't have the answer today...
follow you heart as we say !!! ...

Well, to me, this statement is poetic but doesn't really help ahaha


Let's have a look at my crazy birthday week end now

Saturday on the beach with Melissa, the rain made us move out


Merci Melissa for this nice relaxing time.

Then we went to the Venezuelian Fair, at the Venezuelian Embassy...

...danced latin dances...



... i tried AGAIN, to learn salsa and other "one, two, three" steps dances....

It's still sooo hard for me, i don't know why, I have to focus extremely seriously, I'm thinking a lot of my feet and can't move my hips, or shoulders...
But i think today (according to Melissa) I improved !

Warriors's feet.. I mean dancers's feet

Merci Maria for this nice venezuelian time.

This jumping castel in the back can't be only for kids, let's go !!

the castel went down with us inside !!!!

Merci Melissa for this crazy time.

It was a looooooot of fun !!!!
When i was a kid i was scared of these things, too violent for me, i was too fragile, but now....
next step : the Chefette Playground !! 




At night I went to dinner at the Christmas Party of the Shell company.
Accompanying Neysa.
The food was aawwwesome, I won this nice bunch of flowers from a sticker placed under my chair,
nice luck for my birthday.

 

Merci Deanne for having rebuilt it.

I met some of Neysa's coworkers. They seemed cool, especially this french couple. I didn't talk enough to the others but those ones are reallllyyy cool, not because they are french !!
(Ok maybe the fact that they knew "l'Ecole Boulle" and its prestige in Paris, made me feel really happy.
It was the first time in Barbados that someone could recognize
the quality of the school where I graduated.)

But apart from that, they looked simply friendly, human.
So this kind of professional relationships actually exist in Barbados.
It is just the exact opposit of what I'm experiencing at the Advocate.
The shell company encourages its employees to have nice relationships between each other???? What???? In my Company we are asking not to socialize....

I personally find more pleasant to go to work and be happy or at least not sad about the people you are going to meet and spend your day with, rather than knowing you won't speak to anybody or will be careful of everything you say, and be looking forward to the end of the work day.


Anyway, I'm going to enjoy this birthday night with these people I don't know and this crazy "in-law"

...

well....

really?

Merci Neysa for this nice Shell time.

Sunday, december 11th 2011

Food,

dominoes,

football,

let's go to the beach

Some people are ready for a sunbath:

Some people are hidding from the sun:

Korean games:

and their punishments:

Merci Ki-beom for this nice playing time

Back at the picnic tables to eat my birthday cake, made with love by Melissa

Birthday gifts from Melissa:

At night: 

For french readers:
Carols by Candlelight = Chant de Noel à la lumière de la bougie.

A hill, kind of, somewhere, ahah, i couldn't really see at night and with the crowd.
Families sitting on the grass ( or chairs, or blankets) singing Christmas Songs, waving candles.
It's kind of hard for me to feel the Christmas mood with such a warm temperature. Being outside, on the grass and celebrating Christmas just doesn't feel... natural hehe.

But what I do felt was a.... how to say.... like a Love atmosphere, totally peaceful, kids and older ones (like me for example ahah), just enjoying singing and being together, I don't know, this may sound silly but it felt magical, like a real feeling of shared happiness.

Merci Rohan and Deanne for this magical time