Warm in the garden, rain during the Olympic closing ceremony

My day started with the events with the maintenance worker, which presented an interesting challenge. Then, the experiences during the Olympic closing ceremony piqued my interest. Every detail I observed prompted me to question my initial impressions and realize that there might be a deeper meaning behind each detail.

Saturday was a typical day. I helped the pastry chef. I napped in the afternoon and edited a blog in the evening.

In the afternoon, the director spoke to me about changing my schedule. The idea is that I help the maintenance worker two days a week and spend the rest of the time in the kitchen. These changes are notoriously not well thought out. They may know that the maintenance worker doesn’t want my help because he fears for his position. It’s not good to mess with the schedule because, for now, it’s more or less suitable for everyone.

So today, Sunday, I worked with the maintenance worker. Either he couldn’t give me a task, or he didn’t want to. He sent me out with rusty hedge clippers to the edge of the ditch. Meanwhile, I feel like he has no idea about the plants growing on the ditch edge. Some of them are useful plants. It wasn’t necessary to cut everything; it would have been enough to trim them back. So, the idea of working in the garden for two days is good. I doubt the execution.

In the evening, I watched the Olympic closing ceremony and had this observation: did anyone else notice how many times the Hungarians were cut into the picture? Maybe I’m a bit biased.

However, it felt good when my French colleagues congratulated me after each beautiful Hungarian performance.

Am I surprised when there’s a concept behind everything? It’s common here that behind things that initially seem chaotic, there’s serious thoughtfulness. For example, the music played during the Olympic closing ceremony, and the highlighted music at the pre-Olympic flame parties.

It’s also very interesting that in every city, they lit flames in the exact same shape as the flame under the Olympic flame balloon over Paris.

Les Baux, August 11, 2024, Sunday.