Sunday, March 20, 2011

Money: some have it and some have A LOT OF IT!!!


Last night was the American School of Paris Gala. A time to come together, have fun and celebrate the school. It is also a time to raise a little money through an online auction, silent auction and a live auction. Lots of cool stuff to bid on at the online auction which closed the night before the Gala. At the Gala, some of the silent auction items were a Louis Vuitton speedy bag with some LV accessories (I lost the bid on that one). But the fun of the night was watching the high rollers go at it. I must be naive about people and money, because when the Live Auction got started, it got INSANE!

I watched as 2 men went head to head on a dinner that was being auctioned off. It started off at 500 Euros and within minutes climbed to 9000 Euros. The auctioneer was clever and had the chefs who were going to be doing the cooking at the auction, talked them into doing 2 dinners and that one item brought in 18,000 Euros. What kind of crazy money do you have to have to just give 9000 Euros for a 10 course dinner? Oh, it was for 10 people, but 900 Euro dinner per person? that was just for the 1 dinner, they agreed to do 2, so each man bidding against each other got a 10 course 12 person dinner for 9000 Euros. That was just the beginning of watch thousands of Euros get bid on items that night.

Now, I know that this night was about raising money, so logic in what you spend goes out the window cause it is for a good cause (the school your kids go to) and is tax deductible. So you might ask what the point of the story is....I don't know other than, my naivety is gone and I rejoiced in everyone else's wins. It was a fun.

So when I didn't think the evening could get anymore interesting, on the way home, we drove by a huge park called the Bois de Boulogne. On one side of the park, is about a 2 mile long street. As we travelled down this street, it became clear that this was Hooker alley. Hoochie mommas all until we started seeing women standing on the side of the road with no tops on (nothing on top) and then 1 who was stark naked wearing only a fur coat that she didn't keep closed. Again, I am naive when it come to this and that it actually occurs, but here it was on the side of the road, made us sad.

My eyes are even more wide open than they were 24 hours ago and I am more cognizant of the world around me.

2 comments:

  1. John, a lot of those roadside attendants are Hoochie men too!!

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  2. Agreeing with Carol, and living next to the Bois, I often use the phrase... "She's a man, man"

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