WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO?
Pretty Simple offers a variety of exercise programs, including some kickboxing classes that are taught by five time French Champion Hichem Abdel All, who joined us in Greece. Needless to say, Hichem is a mountain of a man... and not someone with whom you would want to mess.
As Hichem, myself, and a few others lined up for the Jet Ski activity on Sunday, the lady from the travel agency, Natalie, who is a real firecracker but only about 5 feet tall in heels, was giving some last minute instructions. Hichem was ignoring her, and chatting with a friend, so Natalie rolled the papers in her hand, reached up, and smacked him on the forehead.
THWACK!
Hichem got this look on his face like someone who had just swallowed a bug. It's probably a good thing his boxing instincts didn't kick in but I honestly believe he was too surprised to react. He glanced down at her with a bemused look, as if to say, "You did NOT just thwack me on the forehead, did you? I could break you into several bite-sized pieces. You know that, right?"
Natalie didn't miss a beat; she just kept on talking, while I tried to hide a smile.
CYRILLE'S HORSE STORY
My friend Cyrille Dubois, an excellent programmer and the top student in Hichem's kickboxing class, told a great story about his Horseback Riding activity. I won't do his tale justice but I'll try...
As I recall, Cyrille had never been on a horse before and he was very excited. He and the other riders lined up in front of the island's stables as the horses were lead out, one-by-one. They were big, majestic, and muscular beasts, with names like: "Black Lightning", "El Diablo", "Goliath" and "Thor".
Cyrille was last in line, and he was told his horse was named "Wind". He thought to himself, "Probably because my horse runs like the wind!"
Nope. They brought Cyrille... a pony.
Cyrille Dubois and his majestic stallion, "Wind". |
Cyrille said they walked through some deep sand and he could almost touch his feet to the ground. I had this image of him helping out by walking too, like a kid on a toy motorcyle.
Apparently, all the horses and riders lined up for a picture, but Wind kept running off. It's probably just as well, as I'm sure it would have looked like that classic movie scene, where the camera slowly pans across a bunch of faces, then reverses and pans down to the really short guy it almost missed.
In addition to the hilarity of Cyrille riding a miniature horse, once all the riders got to the beach one of the horses suddenly started leaning to one side. Philippe, the rider, shifted his weight in the opposite direction but the tilting continued.
Philippe jumped off his mount in the nick of time and down it went in the sand. THWAP!
As Cyrille was telling me this story I thought, "Was the horse drunk? Was it sick? Oh no, did it die?"
As Cyrille was telling me this story I thought, "Was the horse drunk? Was it sick? Oh no, did it die?"
Nope.
After hitting the ground the horse rolled over on his back and started to wiggle around, his hooves pawing the air like a huge happy dog. At that point, one of the other horses looked over and thought, "Hey! What a great idea!" THWAP. Down he went, too.
As a third horse started to join in the frolic, the horse wranglers hurriedly rounded them all up and got everyone moving again.
Sounds like a great time. Wish I had been there!
Sounds like a great time. Wish I had been there!
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To read more about Mykonos:
Click HERE for Day One.
Click HERE for Day Two.
Click HERE for Day Three.
Click HERE for Day Four.