Parties, Inventories and Debra Winger

So this past weekend I was down doing my usual weekend in Lausanne with Andrea (I swear between Andrea and work Lausanne is like my summer home . . . ), although this time it was for the bittersweet purpose of helping Andrea pack up and inventory her apartment. Of course that didn't mean we weren't out having fun. Including a late night at the club, and a rather entertaining Mexican party at her friend Marcos's castello on the lake. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Friday night I arrived, met up with Mehdi, Ilham, Andrea, Ben and Vanessa (we've got quite a little crew going on these days). And I finally got to meet Andrea's friend Rania from Cairo. And (it's such a small world), it turns out that Rania is friends with the older brother of my college friend Saadia. Amazing. . . and random.

A crazy long night out at the club dancing led well into morning and a full day of Andrea going through her house while Ilham, Rania and I went out for a quick coffee. And no we were not abandoning Andrea! She had people coming by all day to pick up things that she had either sold or given away. It was a fun morning, a little shopping, a little coffee, lots of good conversation about Ilham's new business venture, The Wedding Architect. Very fun.

And that night we did the Mexican party that I mentioned earlier. Unfortunately it was pouring rain when we left to head there (and Andrea had decorated the yard so nicely!), but we arrived to a sea (ok maybe 40 people) of white. . . everyone looked amazing. And what a party. Marcos's friend from Mexico had cooked up the most amazing food (where they found Mexican ingredients in Switzerland I have no idea), the music was going, people were dancing. . . it was great. In fact I stepped away to take a quick phone call and by the time I got back Rania and Ilham were in the middle of a circle belly dancing! Not sure how that happened . . . and let me tell you they both were highly sought after for the rest of the night. . . :)

Now you may be wondering where Debra Winger comes into this weekend. . . well, as we're about to leave the party, this very random, quite intoxicated Spanish man came up to me. This is how our conversation went:

Random Spanish Man: "I'd like to tell you something in Spanish."

Me: "Um, ok." At which point he starts babbling in Spanish, and I'm standing there nodding my head with no idea what he's saying.

He finishes and I say: "I have no idea what you just said."

Random Spanish Man: "Let me translate in French."

Me: "Well, that won't do much good, I don't speak French."

Random Spanish Man: "OK, let me try English."

At this point, he's babbling at me in English and I can barely understand him because of his accent, so he finishes. I say thank you, he gives me a kiss on the cheek and I turn to Andrea and say, "I think it's time to go."

Before I can even get to the door Random Spanish Man is back with one last parting statement, "You look like a young Debra Winger from 'An Officer and a Gentleman'." And then, another kiss on the cheek and he turned and walked back to his friends.

OK. Right. I don't see it, but it's a random yet flattering comparison so I'll take it.

We finished the night off at Ilham's with amazing food (especially since it was 4am!). Moroccan sardines with tomatoes and spices, omelettes with Moroccon dried meat and of course cheese and crackers. . . by far the best late night snack I've had in ages! And then home by 5 am only to be up 5 hours later to start the valued inventory of Andrea's house.

All in all a pretty fantastic final weekend in Chez Fleitas! Although of course I'm headed down at least one or two more times before Andrea finally makes it off the continent. . . .