My friend Pam has come and gone. She was up at 4:30 this morning and off for the airport, bound for a business meeting in Sweden. As it turned out, we did have time to catch up yesterday -- I showed her around the school where Dave and I work, and then she joined me and my coworkers for a pub outing celebrating the end of the school year. That was interesting -- Pam from my Peace Corps past, who I've known 20 years, sitting down with my fellow librarians, whom I've only known a year or so. She could tell them stories. Fortunately she didn't.
We did tell my coworkers about our jobs and our sites, and I spoke a little Tashelhait Berber, which always proves entertaining, though in the past I have been accused of making it up. It's a real language, I swear.
All in all, yesterday was a strange, disjointed day. All my routines were blown apart. I had to go to work a few hours early, because we closed the library early. Besides Pam being in town, Olga was having more gastric issues (that dog!) and real estate agents were traipsing through the apartment.
Plus I still have this pesky cold, though it is mild -- really nothing more than a stuffy nose and a raw throat. It might even be allergies, but it feels more like illness.
I hope today proves a bit more settled.
(Photos: A man and a dog in Hyde Park, on Sunday, and a nearby super-cautious rabbit. We saw lots of rabbits, mostly behind a fence. Olga didn't seem to want to chase them like she does squirrels, but maybe she just knew she couldn't get to them.)
I imagine your immune system is working overtime given all the disruption to your normal routines -- I hope you feel better soon!
ReplyDeleteAnd as an aside, "Midnight Express" was the first R-rated movie that I saw when I was about 15 years old. I was on a date, and when the woman presses her naked breasts up against the glass in the prison, I thought I would die right there in the theater of embarrassment!
I think I caught your cold!
ReplyDeleteI hope your routine re asserts itself enough today to allow you to rest a little. And I too was indelibly imprinted by Midnight Express!
Midnight Express must have affected all of us! I know it did me.
ReplyDeleteI think it's beautiful that you and Pam are still friends. I think it's wonderful that you were in the Peace Corps.
I love that bunny. Good shot!
That's a great picture of the rabbit. I have a good friend who was also in the peace corps. He was sent to Indonesia where he lived with a tribe. He went back to visit them 20 or so years later.
ReplyDeleteYour comments about drugs, the Peace Corps and Morocco made me think about the James Michener book "The Drifters" that I read back in the early 70's. Reading that book during that drug fueled era had a huge impact on me. I think I avoided the drug scene because of that book.
ReplyDeleteFeel better soon!
ReplyDeleteI do too! Hope your day is more settled, I mean.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I know anyone else that speaks Tashelhait Berber and I wouldn't know even if they did speak it! Kudos to you and Pam for even remembering the language after years and years of not speaking it. I'm glad you got to visit with her. I love how you've kept in touch over the years with your Peace Corps friends.
ReplyDeleteCute bunny!