Chin forward, look at the camera!

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I hear a gentle knock on the door…I whisper a soft “yes?” and I see blond curls poking out. With shy smiles and eyes slightly looking away, Charlie and Lizzie make their entrance in the toy room where we occupy the whole floor with our big grown-up bodies. I think I hear them mutter a lovely “happy birthday” and my suspicions are confirmed when they hand me two hand-made birthday cards. Lizzie filled hers with fairy stickers and Charlie drew me with my four weird prominent dreadlocks. He also proudly presents the drawing he made of his house, skilfully designed as a big boot with windows. I am so charmed. I never thought I would have such a touching birthday morning in a country so foreign. They hand me a bag in which I find the softest pair of slippers and as my face is twisted with the greatest expressions of surprise, Mom and Dad come in to encourage me to dig deeper in the bag. I can’t believe all these proofs of affection from a family I just met! My digging is well rewarded when I stumble upon a piece of paper. So far nothing special. Then I read what the colorful ink proudly states: a dinner for two at Blue Train Café, value of 100$. What? Are you kidding? That`s a bit too much…Then they assure me they only paid 40$ for it. Still…woooooow! How can you pay 40$ for a 100$ dinner?

After many “thank you”, they leave for work and I am left with Marc and my astonishment. I always say I could not justify paying 100$ for food at a restaurant…but this situation is slightly different, and I realize I am very excited for my birthday dinner! It is really shocking to see how little you actually get for 100$...and this café was far from being an expensive one! What jumped the bill were the two drinks, which cost as much as a main dish does…So we really enjoyed them: a good old “Mojito” and a very chocolaty “Toblerone”. I can assure you we looked like two bozos when we took photos of the bill!!!

The deal was found on a web site called “Scoopon”. Every day, it presents a deal like that, which can’t be missed. Out of curiosity, we went to have a look. Next thing I knew, I was quite excited because in a few hours I was about to visit a world I couldn’t have explored without the help of Scoopon…

I got to Exclusive Photography with my old colourful, patched travelling clothes. I was offered champagne in the shadows of huge painting-like portraits ornamenting the walls. Someone was there to do my hair and make-up, and then the real thing began. Damien, professional photographer, skilfully staged a sort of dance for me to perform while he was moving his equipment around. It was very funny to do the classical star look under the lights…soon enough Damien realized that I was not the glamorous type and started to take funky crazy photos. After 2.5 hours of fun, an elegant lady invited us in a lounge where we had a look at the photos on a giant screen. Fabulous work! Paying 29$ for a makeover photo shoot of 354$ value is quite a deal. So you know that the company expects you to buy many photos, if not all of them. They are all so beautiful, how can you resist?? I was already prepared not to buy any, but I just inquired about the price to please her… 1100$, just for the 18 pictures CD, and 200$ for each 8x10 print. Well, you can guess that she was disappointed with me! Thanks to Scoopon I paid 29$ for 3 hours of magic and a 5x7 professional photo! Hihihi! Anyway, I travel with the best photographer…

P.S. Thanks so much again for my birthday presents!

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