international women's day

today is international women's day and to celebrate, i went shopping. well, not exactly (but sort of: purple shoes - check, dress - check, 2 button down shirts - check, skinny black belt - check, fishnet tights - check, 2 pairs of work pants - check, scarf - check, green spring coat - check, bronze woven belt - check), i went to a function at the calgary public library last night with one of the greatest women i know.

we listened to senator pamela wallin and afghani journalist khorsied samad speak on the status of women in afghanistan and canada's involvement in the military and humanitarian efforts in the country. the event was hosted by the calgary based foundation canadian women for women in afghanistan and i was completely and utterly impressed by the speakers themselves and the work that this local ngo does.

the price of our tickets went towards a specific initiative to build libraries in afghanistan and 100% of all the money raised by the organisation goes straight towards the development projects. their focuses are on teacher training and building libraries, did you know that the annual salary of a teacher in afghanistan is $750? i am sure that many of us could afford that if we saved just $14.40/week for 1 year or even $7.20/week for 2 years.

one of the interesting aspects of the speeches included a discussion on the resurgence of the use of the burka for safety and security and that is was originally a fashion trend introduced to afghanistan by the indians (now pakistanis) as clothing worn by the aristocracy and it was only when the taliban used it to force women out of public society that it became a tool of oppression.

pamela wallin brought up many good points about military funding and if the canadian military had more money to spend, it could pave roads or use helicopters to travel in insecure areas to prevent improvised explosive devices from continuing to take canadian soldiers' lives. she also hit the nail on the head, as far as i am concerned, by calling canadians on their anti-americanism, which has come into vogue in the last decade and is completely against all that canadians claim to be - tolerant, accepting, and diverse.

after our educational saturday night, we went to divino and enjoyed a cheese plate of 5 of the most amazing cheeses i have ever had (seriously) followed by a crume brulee that ties the one that i had in paris for sweet, sweet decadence. i am not ashamed to say that it was so good it almost made me cry.
and at the end of an evening celebrating women and our achievements and challenges throughout the world, a nice gentleman offered to carry me through a snow storm to my car. and i didn't take him up on the offer! he was cute and charming and i am still kicking myself that i did not say yes and allow him to throw me over his shoulder and save my tootsies and their hot pink flats from the cold and wet.

as gloria says, the fact that i had a choice to be carried to my car, or not, is proof that women in this country have come a long way.

happy international women's day!

right bank/left bank

oh, paris...

confession: i think it had taken me so long to get myself to the city of love, the city renown for joie de vivre because i was partly afraid that it would overwhelm me or that the parisians would eat me during a 7 course gourmet meal because i can barely stumble through pleasantries en francaise (bad canadian, i know).

but i am not afraid to admit when i am wrong. and apart from the occassional surly server and the woman who snubbed her nose at me for whipping out my guidebook on the metro, parisians did not even want to take a nibble. they were lovely.

actually, i wanted to package up the loveliest amelie-esque woman who worked at our local bakery and bring her home with me, she was just that sweet. and yes, because i was in paris for 5 days i get to say that i had a 'local' bakery.

i am going to miss that city. all of the regular culprits included - that food, that wine, that architecture. but for all that we saw and did, i am mostly going to miss wandering the streets of paris, looking in the shop windows, finding my way around the streets, and stopping whenever i damn well felt like it to have a croissant, a meal, a glass of wine, or a rest in a park.

highlights include, in no particular order:

- the best creme brulee i have ever had. and i didn't even think i liked creme brule. i was wrong. very, very wrong.

- croissants and espresso in plastic cups from the local bakery in the mornings

- staying at the ideal hotel design. if you are going to paris, stay there. (and book it on ebooking.com so that it is only 60 euro a night). it is artsy and funktastic and just my style. the night guy was surly and did nothing to dispell the parisian myth (ok, that makes 3 sour parisians), but the other staff were very nice and they actually had a pink reception area, purple hallways, and olympics in french on fancy tvs!

- the centre pomidou. i loved this place. it was like a croissant, a cafe creme, and creme brule all rolled into one museum of deliciousness.

- going up the eiffel tower. now i thought, yeah, sure we are in paris and we MUST go up the tower but i cannot be arsed to stand in a line to go up an elevator and i am too cheap to pay more when i can just walk up, but my legs are protesting when i even lift one to put it in front of the other because touring around europe for 3 weeks is tiring, whine, whine, whine... so we went back first thing the next morning and walked up. mild panic attack and begging the soldier to let us turn around and walk back to the 1st level aside, it was pretty damn cool. sort of like a delicious bottle of bordeax sipped on the bank of the seine.

- sipping a delicious bottle of bordeaux on the banks of the seine. as per a great suggestion, we bought some wine, a baguette, some cheese that made me want to cry it was so good, and some vine ripened tomatoes and had a little riverside spread. at first we felt a little sheepish drinking straight from the bottles (one of which was purchased at printemps and was actually not the least expensive one there, proving that i am not cheap and have lots of class, and the other for 2.50 at a grocery store - i think they were equally delicious), but soon got over that and just enjoyed the sunset with other picnickers/drinkers and watched the world go by.

- checking out armour at the musee de l'armee and then nosing through the pinkness of fauchon and smelling the teas, drooling over their pastries, and picking up a few little treats (because that is what you call COMPROMISE)

- eating crepes on the street in all their goozy cheesey, eggy (who knew?) goodness

- meandering through the pere lachaise cemetary and finding the gravestones of jim morrison, oscar wilde, heloise & abelard and some french dude whose package is apparently full of such vigor, if you rub it, you will become pregnant (i just pretended)

- eclaires! in the morning!

- the gargoyles at notre dame, but not the line to stand in and the entry fee to pay to get up there to see them. but it was much more enjoyable for me than the soldier when i was all hyped up on caffeine and sugar from coffee and eclaires in the morning and bounced up and down the entire way.

- having a nap in jardin de tullieres

- all the people who take photos of art in galleries like the musee d'orsay. there were some people that i am pretty sure were not even looking at the paintings themselves (matisse, picasso, van gogh, seurat...) and just fitting them irregularly in their digital frame and snapping away to bore their neighbours back home during the slide show

- speaking of cameras, fearing that someone was going to run away with our camera at the louvre. i think i'd been in nairobi too long. but it gave us a laugh.

i miss paris already. and i must find a way to get back there. and ideally, find a way to get paid while i go back there because that city makes quite the dent in the pocketbook. i also made a little commitment to my life's To Do List to go back to paris when i speak french. i better get on that.

vultures!

yesterday was a rather liberating day. as days go. i formally declined the offer of employment made by my organisation and i sent out an email to everyone in my office to sell my stuff. i have already made some money for the Paris Fund and don’t anticipate having trouble getting rid of the rest of my things.

it is sort of fun selling all your stuff and i seriously recommend it, unless of course you need that stuff. it was a bit wild – all these kenyan women in my flat, nattering away, trying to bargain, and picking up EVERYTHING (even the stuff that is nailed down) and asking if it is for sale and for how much. i had to save my handbags before someone tried to pay me and walk out with them!

but today, i am spending the morning at home, with a cup of tea and the bbc (tea and the beeb are pretty much a running theme in my life) because i slept nearly 11 hours last night and woke up feeling meh. and i am so done with being sick, i am not going to work because sharing an office with 2 other people is a ticket to illness and if my colleagues are going to cough like they have tuberculosis and refuse to see a doctor, then i am staying at home with my tea and the beeb.