The sushi party

After our late arrival the night before we decided to take a rest day. Ja sent emails and coordinated with friends, Amanda sat at the computer and did research for our upcoming trip to Florence, and I lay in the dark and cool den downstairs and read through Celine's collection of French comic books.

I can't really read French but with the pictures you can puzzle out most of the words and situations. I found several pretty good comics. I especially liked one about Peter Pan with a subplot where he met Jack the ripper.

I wandered around the house a bit and found more evidence of the neighbor screwing with the flow of the stream to fill his swimming hole.

At noon we had a short siesta then Ja and I got up to make rice for dinner. We were going to a party with one of Ja's coworkers in the outskirts of Monaco. Alex and Carlos live in a small house crammed in with hundreds of others on a steep hillside just outside the city.

Alex could speak a little English but Carlos knew none at all (he was Portuguese) but they were both very welcoming and despite being unable to participate in any conversations, we understood the intent.

They had just gotten back from Japan and were excited to try making sushi. Ja and I brought a double batch of sushi rice and when that ran out we made a second pot. By the time we were done their fridge was filled to the brim and several more trays spilled out onto the counter. We made enough sushi to completely stuff 9-10 people and still have some left over.

For dessert we had blueberry and apricot pudding and a selection of flavored Japanese teas (including grapefruit and cherry).

Almost ten people arrived for the party and after preparing the sushi we put it aside and everyone sat around the dinner table and chatted for more than an hour. Amanda and I grew increasingly hungry as the night wore on and the sushi remained on the counter. Ja had made a pot of sugared popcorn as an appetizer and our short dips into this bowl grew more frequent. Maybe it was a French thing to prioritize the conversation over eating but it seemed unusual to this American.

Carlos, despite the language difference, was excited to make us try every liquor in his cabinet. He seemed to approach drinking like an adventure and though he drank little himself, he kept our glasses full and seemed impatient for us to finish our drinks so he could pour us something different. He asked if I wanted a Japanese whiskey and I agreed thinking he meant saki - but he meant whisky and I had a hard time finishing the glass. Afterwards I was careful to watch my glass otherwise he would have sneaked up and filled it with something else.

Despite continuously returning to his liquor cabinet like a box of treasures, he didn't drink much himself. As the night wore on we learned why. The week before they had held a party and he had drank too much. Sometime in the middle of the party he had some intestinal distress and went into the bathroom and locked the door. He had to use the toilet but in the process of bending over to take off his pants he had to puke, and tangled in his clothing, he puked, pissed, and shit all over himself, covering the floor and splattering the walls. When he didn't come out of the bathroom Alex and others checked to see if he was all right but he only replied "I'm fine!" through the locked door. He stayed there the rest of the night and when the party was over and the guests had gone home he emerged from the bathroom naked, threw his soiled clothing into the washing machine, and went to bed.

Alex stayed up until 4am cleaning up all the bits he missed.

Amanda and I had some difficulty understanding the story as it was told in rapid French but the other guests roared with laughter and it was hard not to laugh along. Afterwards Ja filled us in on the details.

Before heading to bed we stayed up to catch fireflies.