Home Again

You'll have to excuse my initial vanity here, but I really do love this picture that my "super-cool" (add nasal Parisian accent here) Ethiopian travel companion took. As we strolled in the Marais neighborhood of Paris, we spotted this lovely nook with appropriately French manicured garden. She apparently is very skilled at taking photos. That aside, I must admit that it is a bit hard coming off of a Paris sojourn to return to Texas.

Let's paint a picture. In a rather cramped, and essentially Parisian, restaurant I was surrounded by bewitching beauty. The delightfully sour smell of enjera, the promising kiss of roasting Ethiopian coffee beans, and of course an incredibly exotic mix of language, culture, and smiles. I was sitting with the various multinational friends of Ribka at a wonderful Ethiopian restaurant named Menelik. Our incredibly sweet friend, Miryam, who went to high school with Ribka in Ethiopia, coordinated a quasi-reunion of Ribka's friends currently residing in Paris.

French, English, and Amharic all raced gracefully across the table of 12. More than certainly, this was all quite dizzying to me as I was just getting a handle on understanding most of the French. It was pleasureable to be frustrated (very similar to my impression of Paris). In any case, conversation flowed about spirituality, film, wealthy Arab design clients, assimilation, and how even the truth can seem ridiculous when in Eastern European customs. Actually for those rare Pakistani national, Dubai native, London residents, the truth can seem absurd.