Luxembourg 

Grave site of Frederic Chopin 

Guess where I was? 

Paris in Winter

I returned to Pakistan from the Netherlands this morning following a night flight that included little sleep and mediocre movies. I just wanted to go to bed when I arrived at the house, but didn’t have my keys. Therefore, rather then waking somebody up I slept on the outdoor wicker couch for an hour before finally being let in. After sleeping till mid-afternoon I went to the office to check for email and to ensure that the place hadn’t burned down. It appears that all have managed just fine during my absence.

My first week in Europe was split between Paris and Luxembourg. As it turned-out, my main activities consisted of sleeping, exploring some places of interest, relaxing, eating and more sleeping. I hadn’t been to Paris for 20-years and everything seemed to be bigger than I had remembered – the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, the city itself, and those long crusty baguettes.

My hotel in Paris backed onto the Pere Lachaise Cemetry where one could visit the graves of such notables as Oscar Wilde (The Importance Of Being Earnest), Fredric Chopin (Piano Sonata No. 3 and Piano Concertos In E minor and F minor), and Jim Morrison (Come On Baby Light My Fire). I will leave it to the reader to guess which grave appears to be most visited. Having seen Beethoven’s home in Bonn, Germany last October and now Chopin’s grave in Paris there is a developing sub-theme to my travels of a sort of pilgrimage to those who were a part of my joyful child-hood piano lessons. I wonder where they buried the guy who invented piano scales?

After a week of not thinking about MSF it was time to go to Egmond in the Netherlands for the 5-day MSF Financial Controllers (Fincos) workshop. Fincos from close to 30 countries were in attendance and topics included bookkeeping processes, budget issues, accounting codes, human resources and less exciting items (yes, it really is possible). We stayed in this nice hostel and it was far enough away from everything that we spent most of our evenings socializing and sharing experiences (fyi, beer consumed in Holland does not count against my Pakistan alcohol licence quota). Overall, it was an enjoyable and worthwhile session. I’ve now returned to Pakistan with a few new ideas and still have enough time to put them into effect. I’ve also returned with a stronger commitment to start exercising and end my physical decline. Hopefully, I will be successful on both fronts.

MSF Holland financial team in Amsterdam

Finco Workshop in Egmond, Holland