Highlights of the Amman workshop, before they totally fade from memory:
Meeting a group of highly accomplished, strong, loving, happy women.
Presenting my blog to these amazing ladies and feeling very appreciated and affirmed. What a gift. Thank you ladies. Feelin the love.
Sitting on the sunny terrace dreaming up a fictional character with “the fiction group”.
Doing portraits of each other, with Christina (Denmark) and Rita (Egypt). We each came up with 3 questions and took turns answering them. The answers diverged in all directions, giving us a good thin-slice of each others lives. I learned about “bawwab culture” in Egypt (what will the doorman think? ) and being a vegan in Denmark.
Hearing the adhan (call to prayer) from the nearby mosque and feeling it stir up my cells in a way that was both home and foreign.
A crazy whirl-wind tour of Amman with Hala and her friends. Saw the Roman theater, Citadel and old Ottoman railway station. They were all closed but it was the best tour ever. Beat the crowds.
The discussion about whether or not to use English as the language for our collaborative work. Some felt that English was the best tool, despite the fact that it wasn’t anyone’s native language (except me, so I mostly kept quiet on that one). Others felt that it was an inauthentic way of expressing themselves and preferred to blog in Arabic, French or Danish, even if that meant less accessibility. I appreciated the dialogue that place, it felt very real and for lack of a better word, very democratic.
The excitement of working on a collaborative project with my fellow bloggers, to be presented at the next workshop in Copenhagen. Content is being added as we speak to the website www.blog-on.net Ahem, some of us are a little behind with our contributions.
Meeting a Dane who spoke excellent Arabic. That’s some dedication.
Being interviewed for Danish TV about being a woman blogger. Me: I’m a little nervous, reporter: nah, you’re a natural, me: thanks, I’ve been practicing all my life. Jokes aside, it was another good opportunity for me talk about the same stuff I blog about…appreciating beauty in the smallest of things…considering the needy around us…the positive experience I’ve had on my spiritual path…discovering photography…food of course…and basically looking at the ordinary in an extraordinary way.
Did someone say food?
This one is hummus, bits of meat, and pine nuts:
Tea or coffee:
Sugar. Good thing my kids weren’t around, my kids + freely available sugar = disaster.
Artsy photo of something old:
The best ceramics workshop on Rainbow street:
This style of ceramics is originally from Jerusalem (an hour away). This little store is reviving the tradition. A few tiles made their way home with me:
Arabic calligraphy that reads la ilaha illah Allah, Muhammad rasulullah. No god but God, Muhammad is a messenger of God.
Life in Marrakesh 