On a metro platform with my backpack and two carry-on bags scattered around me, I watched Lucille gracefully roll a cigarette, using the tobacco package balanced on her left forearm as a surface while the nimble, practiced fingers of her right hand did the fast work. She looked at me with bright eyes and spoke…
Tag: womantraveler
the importance of “compreesh”
When I’m wrapping up a lesson or concept in class, I ask my students, “Est-ce clair?” Is it clear? “Oui, Madame!” they shout back in unison. More often than not there’s one goofball student who responds with, “Yes Madame! I compreesh!” Volunteers hear this all the time: compreesh. It’s an English oops, a Franglais fail, that I…
a day in the life of a white princess
4:30am: I wake up with the same stomachache I went to bed with and run to the latrine. It’s pretty cold outside – harmattan is here. I go back to bed, wrapped in the fleece blanket I stole from the plane over a year ago. 6:30am: I wake up again to the sound of the ground…
biking through butterflies 