i heard back from studio today and i have an interview scheduled for monday. i’ll try not to get too stressed about it. it is what it is.
today i had two interesting social engagements. the first one took place at the american ambassador’s residence which is on one of the fanciest streets in paris. it is a few doors down from the elysee palace, (where the french president lives), and has a HUGE garden in the back. (it’s surprising how many hidden gardens paris has. now that google satellite allows you to look down over a city, they are no longer so secret.) the building itself was beautiful, of course. gilt ceilings, beautiful furniture – the whole baroque thing. anyway, the event was organized by the smith college club in paris (my alma mater). the president of the club had been in istanbul and had heard a young smith alumnae speak. her name is farih pandith, and she has been assigned to a newly created position called the “special assistant to the secretary of state for the muslim communities”. hillary clinton is her boss. her job is to have conversations with muslim communities around the world. she travels to all the countries that have muslim communities. many of the countries are not normally associated with islam. scandinavian countries, south american countries, as well as the more traditional muslim countries. her job is to talk to the ordinary people and listen to ideas and connect people to others to help the ideas move forward. she is a very energetic and dynamic woman. i was very proud of her. unfortunately, today the u.s. just started bombing libya. don’t think that will help the conversation too much. the host of the event was the wife of the american ambassador, who is also a smithie. i looked up the ambassador, to find out who he was. amazingly – he used to work in media. he worked at a computer graphics production company i had contact with years ago in san francisco – “wild brain”! he also was CEO of the muppets! his wife is beautiful, poised and well spoken. gladly, it is now recognized, how much the spouse of a diplomat can contribute to the job.
my second event was a potluck dinner organized by the parent group. it took place at a function room for the australian embassy. the host was australian ambassador to unesco and his wife. they were very nice and friendly. the apartment was so close to the eiffel tower that you could only see the bottom half, unless you walked right up to the window. i made a kilo of garlic-lemon shrimp. there was champagne and good wine and very good food for the 50 people. it was a good group and the evening was a lot of fun.
meanwhile, jj’s friend, f., arrived from the u.s. jj went after school to meet her on her own. her parents have rented an apartment on the ile st louis, looking out on the seine, probably the most exclusive spot in paris. jj brought the whole family back to our neighborhood and took them across the street to the “cafe du commerce” an old and authentic brasserie. it was perfect for them, since f.’s dad and friend of his who is also visiting, love the old fashioned french cuisine – all those innards and extremities of animals – kidneys, livers, heads. afterwards, jj took frankie to our home to stay the night. p. left the potluck a little earlier, to go and be with them.
Print this post
No comments:
Post a Comment