in-n-out

ok just a few words before I drop off the face of this page for a few weeks.  In the next three weeks, I move my office to a new building, train my replacement, throw a summer school party, finish writing an office procedures manual, give orientation to three new hires, attend a family gathering, attend a wedding, attend a good-bye party, wrap all my programs up at EACS, start a new job, attend an orientation for my new workplace, start looking for a new house, and welcome a certain Seth back (so excited about this part). 

I have no idea how this is all going to pan out, but I don’t think I’ll be writing much.  Happy end of August!

quick quick quick

I have to run to catch my bus (there’s a twenty minute window between its earliest and latest possible arrival times and I just never know), so I’ll make this brief.

Cool publisher. Cool book series. Check it out.  Akashic Books.  A series with a book for just about every city you can think of and all noir fiction (read grim, urban, downbeat, cynical).  Each story is based in a different district and written by a different author from that city.  I’m reading Toronto Noir and loving every dark and twisty turn of it.  I’m excited about Istanbul and Havana.

last day (for some)

We officially graduated the last group of students, seven in all, from our computer program today.  I’m happy and sad at the same time.  I’ve worked hard on the program and now I’m moving on.  As usual, we threw a party, ate great food, handed out certificates and took lots of pictures.  We had fun chatting about foods from the various cultures represented around the table.  We discussed how to say full, as in “I’m full”, in English, Somali, and Swahili complete with a lesson from one student on where to place the accents.  Somalis, I found out, have a hand gesture to indicate fullness: a thumb to the bottom of the chin.

This video makes me smile for several reasons.  One of which is that the standing man near the end is the one who keeps telling me how many camels I am worth.  He refers to himself as my uncle.  For those of you who have heard stories, well, here is the man in action. Ha ha.

A little peek into what my day often looks like.  Enjoy!

work it

I received a gift today.  An oversized t-shirt that states “I love my country” and displays a flag of Somalia in the middle.  I felt incredibly honoured. 

I have these days where I’m saying hello to both Abdirizaks, carrying on conversations with Abdulwali and Ibrahim and Mohamed, bringing Fartuun lunch because she can’t walk up the stairs, winding my way around Somali taxi drivers hanging out the office, arguing with Ubah for the third time that day, trying to speak on the phone over six men yelling and laughing, explaining to Bashir once more how to check his email, and I can’t imagine being anywhere but here.  Here where tiny girls have tiny hijabs and all the women smell like sesame oil and freesia and old men mutter endlessly and I had my first conversation in English with Abdi and I can’t go into my office because someone has turned it into a prayer space.

On these days, I don’t want to be anywhere else and the fact that I have only four weeks left leaves me a little stunned.  Has it really been a year?  Will my next job feel like family?

Yesterday.

Yesterday was not a good day.  Nothing worked at work.  A man that I don’t like asked me to be his reference for a new job.  My buses were late.  It was cold, my boss annoyed me, and I had a splitting headache.

Two things changed all this. 

1) Two friends, Amber and Garret, knowing that the last week was really rough, had invited me over to their house, where we took a long time making a meal, tried to make our own mayonnaise, and drank fresh-made mojitos (Garret bartends at Canlis).  Pasture-raised beef burgers, smoked gouda, salad from a CSA box, and bread from Great Harvest.  These two knew exactly how to make me feel loved.  They’re my Ms. Matthies of Seattle.

2) Seth called.  I missed the first one cause I was in the bus tunnel.  Can you hear me now, Verizon?  I got the second one, though, at Amber and Garret’s just as we sat down to eat our meal and Garret was pouring the wine.  Thirty minutes later, I sat down again to my cold burger and wilty salad with a perma-smile on my face.   It was so good to hear his voice. 

And for all of you wondering, he’s doing great. :)