Spectacle!

Today was a work sponsored "spectacle" in Gieres. I really like this custom, and it is apparently done at many companies in France. I thought ours was pretty good until I heard about the one at a nearby Biotech which sounds even cooler: kids get a catalog of toys from which to choose, and they go to significant effort to make some kind of giant Xmas fair. Ours was a magic show, with the added bonus of Santa Claus! We all got onto buses at work and then took the inexplicably long ride to Gieres via the hateful Rocade Sud (a ring road where you always seem to be driving for hours to go a very short distance. It's like the Bermuda Triangle of Grenoble). Anyway, like last year, they kept the doors closed (WHY?!) while the kids and parents became irate, but eventually let us in. Next came the magic show, which involved things bursting into flames, ribbons out of the mouth, etc etc. With each trick I could see the audience full of engineers and scientists carefully dissecting the sleights of hands in their mind. There was lots of eyes squinting, cocked heads, and then slight knowing smiles. At various points, kids were called up to become assistants, but this backfired comically. The first volunteer was very nearly in tears by the end of her assistantship, and the second figured out the trick involving nested magic wands, and began intently trying to disassemble the trick wand. In each case, the magician reacted smoothly and was a real pro. The show ended with balloon animals, at which point the kids swarmed him. Despite a few cries for help, most of us parents left him to die. There weren't very many balloon animals to be had, and Zoe is pretty shy about things like that, so I was happy to see that the magician gave her a little balloon duck. Last but not least, it was time for Santa Claus, who was handing out bags of chocolates and books. Excellent!



Then it was back to the work cafeteria for snacks, which ran out very quickly.