Patience
women
Routine
A couple is giving a final touch to their sunburn reading a book under the sun while children are playing around the pool. I’m reading my 5th book of this break and my legs are sore, thanks to 3 days walking/bicycling around temples (strangely always hidden on top of a hill with 5 billion steps…). It feels great. I walk and read to compensate all what I haven’t while in Yemen but for once, I don’t do the same with food and drinks (especially with drinks).
After almost 8 years working as a “humanitarian”, these breaks have become a routine, although I keep improving them, detaching myself further and faster of the previous months. I now frequently wake up, not sure of where exactly I am, between Yemen, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Thailand or somewhere in Europe. But I start missing a routine. A cafe where to read the news or a favorite restaurant with a waiter knowing my name.
Few months ago and for the first time in 8 years, I spent 3 consecutive weeks at the same place, sleeping in the same bed. With a longer break in the coming months, maybe now is finally the time to work on a place I could really call mine.
30 July 2016: Sigirya, Sri Lanka.
P.S: Tomorrow, Nourane will have been missing for 8 months. 8 fucking months…
Love, Smile and Two Flight tickets
– “I again spent the night with that guy. I really have a crush on him”
– “Is it why you look so tired? … :-)”
– “No, I was just so afraid of telling him “I love you” while dreaming that I did not sleep at all”
– “Love is tough…”
Friendships sometimes lies in details. Not in the amount of emails exchanged or in the frequency of your phone calls. Sometimes, it’s just about a story shared on skype, or a card sent from the other side of the world for Christmas.
Love lies in microscopic details…
14 January 2013: Sarah, Yaoundé, Cameroon. Thanks to her for the patience… [Click on the picture to enlarge it].
And if you think you are well settled, in your favorite leather sofa and clean apartment, without any motivation for going anywhere . Just watch this.
Challenge accepted…
I didn’t mean to tell you… But…
Last sprint before the end of my Master’s. I should submit my critical report in one week and the finalize version of my book in two. Everything would be fine if I didn’t have to take a few last pictures and if I was not completely exhausted. Unfortunately, it is not going to improve, as I also will have to start my check-out. If only I could go to South East Asia right after, to empty my head and fill it with internal silence.
27 October 2011: Darfuri women learning about food processing in Abu Shouk Women Center. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].
Henna 2: The Return
I received a few emails requesting for more pictures of the henna painter. And as I have been stuck all week with admin stuff… I don’t have any new pictures to show. So:
23 September 2010: Fatima Bahit (also know as Tata) is one of the most famous henna specialists in El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan. Self-taught and with more than 15 years experience, she frequently goes to Khartoum or even to Dubai to provide her services to women for weddings or Eid celebrations. [Click on the picture to enlarge it]
Just a quick reminder. WordPress compresses my pictures to create a thumbnail, leading sometimes to an impression of blurred picture. If you want to see the original version, just click on the picture.
Henna and Music
23 September 2010: Fatima Bahit (also know as Tata) is one of the most famous henna specialists in El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan. Self-taught and with more than 15 years experience, she frequently goes to Khartoum or even to Dubai to provide her services to women for weddings or Eid celebrations. [Click on the picture to enlarge it]
And by the way, being a big fan of music and traveling very frequently in airplanes, I just bought some Noise Canceling Headphones, the Bose Quiet Comfort 15. It’s not exactly inexpensive but I strongly recommend them. This technology really works, drastically reducing the ambient noise (AC, fan, airplane, etc…) and I now even use them at work when I particularly need to stay concentrated. Just one last advice, do not buy them in Europe but try to get them in the US, it’s really cheaper there.
Olivier Chassot 