Party, Party, Party...
... at various places around town.
2 weeks in to living in a new country and I've already been to more parties that I can remember. First up there was the Celebrity Party, where the invite said to 'party like a celebrity' and Other Half kept insisting that we go as a Hollywood Couple and party as celebrities.
Then there was the dinner party where after the first litre of Martini, we lost count of the drink ration and found out later that umpteen bottles were consumed.
Midweek there was a few more occassions to go out, but at this stage I declined, as there were more events to attend on the weekend, and along with that I've started in my new role which demands rather long hours.
Anyway, there was a UN party on Friday which OH and I attended. It was in the Palais de Nations, which is an impressive building but the decor is still stuck in the 60/70's era. In the hall where it was held there were yellowing fluorescent lights which cast a dull glow on the creamy marble walls. Food was in abundance, and the journos who were celebrating this annual event were giggling and being racuous, while the diplomats which had to attend were all milling around in the shadows and sipping wine from the pint sized plastic party cups which were issued. The DJ was playing random tunes from the 70's and 80's, with people off all shapes and sizes on the makeshift dancefloor. One particular person stood out in the crowd, with bleached blonde hair, in white jeans and cowboy boots, she was probably carrying the flag for all of Eastern Europe. Much speculation was had if said lady that was gyrating wildly was indeed a lady, or had only recently become one. The group we were with were trying to catch an outline of an Adam's apple, but with the fading lights it was quite difficult.
The fun really began when a pop song from each country started up and before you knew it each delegation from that particular country were up and gyrating randomly. At one point, a really cheesy song came on and OH commented on the lyrical genuis of rhyming 'miss' with 'kiss', when suddenly I remembered where I'd heard this song before.
(Here is where my friend Stornisse will, I hope, wholeheartedly approve of the music tastes of the event)
It was from the Greek entry to the Eurovision 2005 Song Contest.
(I've tried to post a video here but its not working so I've inserted the link instead.)
After this, it was a free-for-all. For the next 2 hours we were treated to a roll call of some of the best (and probably worse, but they were in different languages so we couldn't really judge the lyrical masterpieces that they probably were). Some country and western found its way in, and we spotted a very dour looking woman in a red velvet dress and pearl studded alice band do the two step with a very American looking gentleman. We started to play Guess-The-Nationality.
As the evening wore on and more drink was consumed, I started to feel that the atmosphere was one of great familiarity. I mulled over it for a while and leaned over to OH and said, 'don't you think its a bit like the wedding party of some distant friend or relative?'
OH glanced round and the Eastern European Entrant was now gyrating to a Bollywood contribution with a rather portly and pedestrian looking man. We looked at each other, then stood up, quickly said our goodbyes, and left.
2 weeks in to living in a new country and I've already been to more parties that I can remember. First up there was the Celebrity Party, where the invite said to 'party like a celebrity' and Other Half kept insisting that we go as a Hollywood Couple and party as celebrities.
Then there was the dinner party where after the first litre of Martini, we lost count of the drink ration and found out later that umpteen bottles were consumed.
Midweek there was a few more occassions to go out, but at this stage I declined, as there were more events to attend on the weekend, and along with that I've started in my new role which demands rather long hours.
Anyway, there was a UN party on Friday which OH and I attended. It was in the Palais de Nations, which is an impressive building but the decor is still stuck in the 60/70's era. In the hall where it was held there were yellowing fluorescent lights which cast a dull glow on the creamy marble walls. Food was in abundance, and the journos who were celebrating this annual event were giggling and being racuous, while the diplomats which had to attend were all milling around in the shadows and sipping wine from the pint sized plastic party cups which were issued. The DJ was playing random tunes from the 70's and 80's, with people off all shapes and sizes on the makeshift dancefloor. One particular person stood out in the crowd, with bleached blonde hair, in white jeans and cowboy boots, she was probably carrying the flag for all of Eastern Europe. Much speculation was had if said lady that was gyrating wildly was indeed a lady, or had only recently become one. The group we were with were trying to catch an outline of an Adam's apple, but with the fading lights it was quite difficult.
The fun really began when a pop song from each country started up and before you knew it each delegation from that particular country were up and gyrating randomly. At one point, a really cheesy song came on and OH commented on the lyrical genuis of rhyming 'miss' with 'kiss', when suddenly I remembered where I'd heard this song before.
(Here is where my friend Stornisse will, I hope, wholeheartedly approve of the music tastes of the event)
It was from the Greek entry to the Eurovision 2005 Song Contest.
(I've tried to post a video here but its not working so I've inserted the link instead.)
After this, it was a free-for-all. For the next 2 hours we were treated to a roll call of some of the best (and probably worse, but they were in different languages so we couldn't really judge the lyrical masterpieces that they probably were). Some country and western found its way in, and we spotted a very dour looking woman in a red velvet dress and pearl studded alice band do the two step with a very American looking gentleman. We started to play Guess-The-Nationality.
As the evening wore on and more drink was consumed, I started to feel that the atmosphere was one of great familiarity. I mulled over it for a while and leaned over to OH and said, 'don't you think its a bit like the wedding party of some distant friend or relative?'
OH glanced round and the Eastern European Entrant was now gyrating to a Bollywood contribution with a rather portly and pedestrian looking man. We looked at each other, then stood up, quickly said our goodbyes, and left.
posted by Marmoset at
2:20 pm
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