However, to start out with, I thought I'd post a picture of my computer screen as it looked this morning.
It's not too easy to read--what with a photograph of the computer screen and all--but essentially, it's an announcement that I won a contest! One of my favorite writers, Gayle Roper, posted an online contest where she asked participants to describe the interior of a cafe that would appear in her next novel. If you won, she would use the design you'd described in your submission, would mention you in the acknowledgements, and would get you a copy of her new book. And what do you know? She chose my design! As I'm sure you can imagine, I was pretty much jumping for joy when I saw that I'd won this. I told everyone I ran into about it. So, watch for Gayle Roper's book Death by the Numbers.
Secondly, I wanted to tell you about a sudden burst of inspiration I've had this week.
An American team came to help us with our literacy classes for a while. They don't really speak much French, but they decided to do a craft with the women instead of having typical classes. (That's always fine with me...) So, the ladies brought along plain canvas bags, ribbons, buttons, tassles, etc., and in place of our literacy classes, we decorated these bags. I had the most fun gluing buttons and ribbons on the canvas (above, you'll see three of the bags I made), and have decided that designing bags is my calling in life. I was strutting around my room, in front of the mirror, saying, "Yes! This is a Katie Fleetwood bag!" and it felt so nice that I thought I'd like to do it forever. Maybe one day, I'll branch out into leather bags or something, but for now, I'm pretty pleased with the new Katie Fleetwood Collection.
And lastly, A Fun Monday.
This Monday, another teacher asked me if I'd like to join her when she went over to one of our students houses for tea. I was quick to agree, because I've heard rumors of this woman's good cooking, and plus, it's so fun visiting other people's houses. You can see their decorating style and meet their families and see their baby pictures and be all-around nosey without seeming out of the ordinary.
Anyway, so I went along...
When we walked in, the woman clapped her henna covered hands together and said to the my friend (who'd just spent the past year in Morocco, learning the language), "Praise Allah! You've gotten fat!" My friend looked at me, and said, "I'm going to believe she's saying that as a compliment."
We all sat down in the sitting room, which really didn't seem like it was in Paris at all. There were these benches lining three walls, all covered in red and gold fabrics. The walls were papered in ivory and red peeling wall-paper that looked like it came straight from Morocco. There were bright red and black rugs on the floor, and one enormous picture of the family's oldest son on the wall above a wooden cupboard.
The woman made Arabic crepes flavored with honey and butter. She placed little bowls of nuts all around the table that she'd set up in her sitting room. We had Moroccan tea and bits of chicken scewered on sticks, loaves of bread and cookies dipped in chocolate. All for a tea! She barely sat, though. She had on her long, brown house dress and her hair tied up in a scarf and was scuttling back and forth between the kitchen and sitting room.
Her daughter-in-law came over to visit after a bit, and I was so impressed with her. First of all, she had really great taste in clothes. She wore these classy black pants underneath a silk knee-length dress covered in lime green, orange, and red flowers. And she spoke three languages, which I find really impressive when I'm still struggling through my second language. Although, humble as she was, she complained that barely anyone nowdays speaks Arabic, so she's forgetting it despite the face that she speaks it daily with her six-year old daughter (whom she'll soon send to Arabic Saturday school), so that the little girl will learn the language too. And besides all this, she's starting up a computer company, all while mothering her two little girls.
So, we sat around and talked for over three hours before we realized how late it was and hurried off to catch our respective metros home. But as I was riding back to Ponto, I just couldn't help smiling, because sometimes I really love the immigrant community in France. Where else could you consecutively be in Paris, France and then Rabat, Morocco?
Well, anyway, this was kind of a rambling, not quite connected hodpodge of thoughts here, but here it is. And I'll leave you with that.
Good night, world.
1 comment:
What a cool experience! You are getting to see and experience so many unique things! I'm so excited for you! :-) I love your bags by the way! VERY nice!
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