Language

My second visit to Morocco, I forgot my camera in the plane on my seat. We went through customs and its while waiting for our lugguage that I realised it was missing. I went to the nearest officer, told him what had happened and was directed to the lost and found desk.

A young woman was sitting there and looked bored out of her mind. She asked me whether she could be of any assistance without bothering to look at me. I told her I'd forgotten my camera on the plane and handed her my boarding ticket, she looked up at me and asked me to come back in 15 minutes.

I left, got my stuff and decided to give her 5 more minutes and came back 20 minutes later. She was tending to a group of french speaking moroccans who had lost a "valise". I turned to her colleague - who seemed to have just joined her. I explained that I'd been there earlier and that his colleague asked me to come back later. He said fine and before he could ask her, she turned to him and told him in arabic to tell me that they didn't find it. He asked her still in arabic whether she had called to inquire and she annoyingly told him no, she needn't have bothered they wouldn't have found it anyway. The colleague just stared at her and dialled a number, told them that passenger so and so had lost a camera seat number so and so. Since he'd just called them, I guess they must have told him they were going to look or something like that. anyway, he put the phone down and said "madam, am going to give you our phone number, please call tomorrow morning. If the camera has been found, you will get it." His lady colleague said something that sounded like "whatever". I took my boarding ticket back and said to him in perfect arabic "thank you so very much Sir for taking the trouble to call and inquire. I will surely call tomorrow. Will you be at the desk? Yes? Good, I would prefer having to deal with you. Thank you very much. Have a good day."

He looked at his colleague who was looking at me her cheeks red and her mouth open. I was going to ask hr to cloe it otherwise she would trip on her jaw but decided not to push it.

Tags: C'est la Vie :.: Fiténa :.: Morocco :.: Language :.:

Facebook

I cannot believe it's been a year since I last blogged; 18th february 2008. Is it that I had nothing to say? Was the urge to write no longer there? Did I find another receptacle for the thoughts rattling in my head? No. I found facebook.

On facebook, I have been doing a lot of thigs:

1. Poking (its not at harsh as it sounds). You poke your friend. He gets notified that you'd just poked him. He pokes you back. You get notified that he'd just poked you back so you go and repoke him and he rerepokes you. To make a long story short, the poking can go on forever.

2. Chatting to friends, relatives or whoever you wanna talk to provided they are online. Well, some of them happen to be online but chose the invisible mode because they don't want to talk to you.

3. Adding friends and being added by friends whose friends want to add me and since I don't know them I don't add them. Only there is no "Don't Add" tab on facebook. It just says "Ignore". I've been ignoring a lot of people. Not very nice.

4. Commenting on my friends' pictures, notes, posts. That's neat.

5. Joining Groups. There are totally useless groups like RGLS which is actually Ridiculously Good Looking Sudanese - am a member - and serious groups like - Stop FGM (Female Genital Mutilation). You get to learn a lot.

But the most important thing is that Facebook did do me a big favour. It made me reconnect with family I haven't seen for 20 years. I've just been too busy keeping myself updated to blog.

Tags: C'est la Vie :.: Fiténa :.: Facebook :.:

Interviewing a Diamond

Ever heard about GIE? No, well you should! Neil here can tell you all abut it! Anyways, I decided to play and got to interview une charmante maman living in Canada -Saskatchewan. The first time I was at Sarah's, I couldn't help scrolling up and down through the pictures! Beautiful pictures of her babies! I managed to get off them and we settled in for the purpose of my visit.

So here goes the GIE:

Fitèna: "Our children give us the opportunity/chance to be the parents we wanted to have". Does this apply to you?

Sarah: I think this applies to everyone. I'm not sure everyone thinks aboutit in this way. I'm not sure I've ever thought about it this waybefore. I certainly learned a lot about parenting from my parents (I'man only child with four parents, so I had a variety of examples toobserve), and some of the ways in which I was parented I really reallywant my children to experience for themselves, and some, well, not somuch.
Whatever my parents did, right or wrong, I grew up and turned outokay, and now it doesn't matter so much anymore what I wanted as akid. I try to focus on what my kids need, as the individuals they areright now, rather than imposing on them needs based on some perceivedlack from my own childhood. All in all, I had a pretty good childhood,and I hope my children will look back fondly on theirs.

Fitèna: I love you answer. Would you consider me "gooey on top" if I tell you that I think, from what I've read from your posts, that you are a nice person Sarah?

Sarah: On the contrary, I would be delighted and extremely flattered, and when this is all over I might just turn right around and interview you back to find out more about you and your fascinating life

Fitèna: I'd love that. You've made me smile a lot and laugh with your posts about your Lit. Club, am tempted to ask how its fairing and if you were still the only member attending last the time but my question is "what does reading add to your everyday life?" and of course you can still tell me how that Lit. Club is fairing! :)

Sarah: Oh right! Book Club! I'd almost forgotten about that. I may try starting that up again, if people seem interested and if Michael finishes the sweet application he was building for it. But not for another couple of months, at least.
Now: "What does reading add to my everyday life?" I don't know. I can't imagine my life without reading in it. I get sort of twitchy and lost feeling if I don't have a novel on the go. I read while I eat my lunch, I read in my quiet moments alone while the kids nap, I read before bed.
Before I had kids, I never left home without a book in my bag. I'd read on the bus, at the bus stop, in line at the grocery store, anywhere I was sitting or standing relatively still. I don't read as much now as I did then, but I still read at least a little bit every day. It provides entertainment and escape. Like a mini-vacation you can hold in your hand and take for a few minutes any time you like.

Fitèna: "Like a mini-vacation you can hold in your hand and take for a few minutes any time you like". I couldn't have said it any better. A poet too Sarah?

Sarah: I used to think so. I haven't written a poem in many years, but I used to do it all the time, when I was filled to the brim with teenaged- and then twenty-something-angst. Now I try to make word pictures for the blog.

Fitèna: Malcolm Forbes said : "Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one"? What do you think about that? The reason am asking is because according to some statistics, 33% of the British think that Winston Churchill is a fiction character and a radio trottoir asked some americans to name a country starting with U and someone said "Uthiopia" :)

Sarah: That is hilarious. I love Stupid American Anecdotes, because I am Canadian. I'm stunned by the Churchill thing. I expect more of the British, somehow. I really like the Forbes quote, too. I think education that's worth the time and trouble does just that. Filling people's heads with trivia (much as I love trivia) is not the same as teaching them to think.

Fitèna: When I started blogging, I thought I've be doing it everyday for a long long time, and its not the case... How long do you think you'b de blogging?

Sarah: I don't think I ever really thought about how long I'd be doing this. When I started the Baby Blog during my first pregnancy, I didn't really see any further than the birth of my daughter. By the time she was born, I was addicted. Over the past four years and a bit, I've gone through phases of posting anywhere between three times a day and once or twice a month. A year ago, I felt tied down to writing only about my kids by the Baby Blog name, and I started this site instead, with the idea of having a broader palette about which to write. To a certain extent, I've used it to that purpose, but my kids are still the people with whom I spend the most time, and the subjects about which I think and write the most. That's as it should be, and I can write my dental floss reviews here, too. As to how long I intend to keep this up, I can't imagine not having the blog there for when I need to say something.

Fitèna: Thank you Sarah!

Sarah: These have been great questions. I've had a lot of fun. Thanks.

Fitèna: One more look at the pictures....

Tags: C'est la Vie :.: Fiténa :.:The Great Interview Experiment :.:

Rumours

It’s been a while i know, but never mind! Here's one to make you forgive me being away so long!

.................................

We took our seats and my friend said: “you have heard?” I said, from the look at her face, “no”. Nothing I’d “heard” that day could bring that expression to her face. She then went on to fill me in about what I hadn’t and should definitely have heard.

A shoe polisher was minding his own business when a bat fell at his feet. He jumped up startled and picked a shoe to hit the bat. That’s when he had the biggest surprise of his life hearing the bat telling him to “please don’t hit me”. He was then even more amazed to see the bat he’d been on the point of crushing transforming itself in a man. Late forties I am told. The was-bat-and-now-is-a-man went on to explain to the shoe polisher that “this is not where I intended to land.” And that “I was actually going to that building there to kill my daughter.” The shoe polisher was sceptical of course as course and the gathering crowd too shared his scepticism. What did they do I wanted to know. My friend told me they accompanied the creature to the building and inquired if so and so daughter of so worked there. A lady appeared and said yes I am so and this is my father. Then what I prompted. Then the cops took them all to the police station said my friend.
Since I wanted the details, my friend told me that she’d heard it during the day from some colleagues who were heading to work and that some of them had even taken pictures but blast after the transformation only!

I reached home and forgot about it till we sat to watch the CAN football.

I started telling my cousins about it when my sister interrupted me. That day she’d been at a judge’s to handle some business I’d asked her to take care of. So she goes “that bat guy right!? I heard about him too! The judge’s assistant was talking about it! Said they are even going to show it on TV.” Everybody wanted to know what we were talking about. We told them then everyone turned to our cousin controlling the remote control with pleading looks. “Please turn the news on, please.” He said no way but he couldn’t enjoy his football because all we talked about was the bat guy.

Next day. My friend greets me laughing and says “have you heard?” “No” “Well, what happened is this…”

…The bat guy was some poor man suffering from Alzheimer. He’d been reported missing for four days. He happened to be around his daughter’s office by sheer chance when he’d recovered his senses waking up from sleep behind a tree. It’s when he came out from behind the tree that he was seen by a woman who, startled, started screaming witch man…


Tags: C'est la Vie :.: Fiténa :.: Côte d'Ivoire :.: Rumours

English v/s French

French language is said to be very complicated, but what about the English language…
 
French:
1H58 à 2H02 = une heure cinquante-huit à deux heures deux."


English:

 from two to two to two two" 
 
French:

"Trois sorcières regardent trois montres Swatch. Quelle sorcière regarde quelle montre Swatch ?"


 English:

"Three witches watch three Swatch watches. Which witch watch which Swatch watch??
 
 
End this one is for the specialists... 
 
French:

"Trois sorcières suédoises et transsexuelles regardent les boutons de trois montres Swatch suisses. Quelle sorcière suédoise transsexuelle regarde quel bouton de quelle montre Swatch suisse?"
 
English (sit tight):
"Three Swedish switched witches watch three Swiss Swatch watch switches. Which Swedish switched witch watch which Swiss Swatch watch Switch?"*

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Am flying to Mali on Friday!!!!!!!