December Daily {:12:} Street Opera, Not Russians, Riddles

So worried was I about not having anything to blog about that I took photos to show you how I do laundry in France.  (Don't worry, the day got MUCH more interesting!)  And for those of you who are interested: my washing machine opens on top, like in the US, but the barrel spins the opposite way.  I love that bleach comes in little tablets so that I don't spill any on myself (maybe they have that in America now and I just didn't know?), and I have to add a de-calcium tablet every once in awhile to keep my machine happy.  Et voila!  The boring but necessary part of my day.

And since I don't have a dryer, and I don't have a line outside to hang my clothes on, I have this handy dandy little wrack that is in my spare bedroom.  Don't worry, there's no unmentionables on there!  Just lots of socks!

So the more fun part of my day began this afternoon, when I went out to meet a woman I didn't know.  She was supposed to meet with my colleague (the one who is sick and couldn't come to class yesterday), so I agreed to meet her.  When we talked on the phone, I was trying to tell her what I look like, and she said, "I'll just look for the only non-Arab person there!"  Sure, that works.  And it did!  I met up with Kay, and took her to the Center to show her where it is and what we do there.  She was so happy that a community center has opened in her neighborhood!  She signed up for both my classes and paid the inscription fee on the spot!  She seemed like a real sweet lady and I look forward to having her in my classes.

From there, I ran across the street to the local shop that is sort of like Goodwill.  I needed a White Elephant gift for my party on Saturday, and thought I might find a good one there.  Sure enough, it didn't disappoint.

Next, I went looking for a compass.  Not the kind that points north, but the kind that draws circles.  I need it for my quilting class.  Do you know, in all my life, I've never used a compass?  I don't even know how!  The ladies in the class had to show me how it works.  Eegads.  I found that and some bias.  Looks like I'm ready to do my homework!

On my way to small group tonight, I saw a woman singing opera in the street.  Well, not IN the street.  A woman dressed as a snow reindeer.  (I say "snow reindeer" because she had a white branch like thing with antlers coming up out of her jacket.  I can't make this stuff up, people.)  She was really good!  I shot a regular video with my camera, and then I switched over to shoot a little video on Instagram.  It was then that she began to sing Habanera from Carmen, walked out into the crowd, pulled a participant out, and danced and sang with that person.  The whole crowd was singing along.  It was so much fun!

When you watch the video, note the little toddler clapping his hands out of joy!  And listen for the crowd singing along!  

I feel kind of silly, but I didn't know that Carmen was a French opera!  I just assumed it was Spanish. It was really neat that everyone all around me knew the words and were singing along.  I scurried off from there to small group with an opera song stuck in my head for the rest of the evening.

At small group, we sang Christmas songs.  Lucky for me, one of the ones we sang was Silent Night.  I've gotten used to singing in Arabic and French enough now that I've learned a lot of the melodies, but I still appreciate when we sing a song that I know from English.  I know that I posted a video like this last week, but I wanted to put this one up so that you can hear a song that you recognize the melody.  Even though it's three minutes long, I encourage you to watch and try to follow along with my finger.  If you feel lost, and a bit uncomfortable, just think: that's only three minutes.  I LIVE HERE!  Haha.  

{Isn't it cool to think, that all over the world, Christians are celebrating the Word made flesh?  That Silent Night isn't just our song, but so many others sing it too?}

Later, as we were sitting around talking and eating snacks, one of the girls, Sophie, was trying to guess what was in the gingersnaps that I'd brought.  She guessed ginger and cinnamon.  Even though you can buy molasses in France, it's not commonly used at all and most people don't know what it is. I told them that it started with "m" and oh man.  For five minutes everyone in the room was shooting out every edible item they could think of that started with "m."  Only the director finally guessed molasses.  I laughed harder and harder as they were saying all sorts of things I'd never heard of, but knew they weren't say "molasses."

Sophie thought that was fun, too, and asked me to give them another riddle.  (I didn't know that guessing ingredients of a cookie was a riddle, but if she thought it was fun, okay...) I told them, "The man who built it didn't want it, the man who bought it didn't need it, and the man who had it didn't know it.  What is it?"

Seriously, that was some fun.  Can you figure it out without cheating and looking up the answer on the internet?

While Nick was walking me home and I asked him what happened last night with the Russians.  He thought for a moment and said there was nothing last night with the Russians.  I told him what I saw, and he asked me to better explain what they were wearing.  "Did it say 'Russia' right here, across their chests?"

Yes.

"Were they all drinking beer?"

Yes!

"Russians don't drink beer, they drink vodka.  Germans drink beer.  And the German soccer team is sponsored by a Russian sponsor.  And the Germans wear yellow and black, stripes, I think.  There must have been a soccer match between a German team and Marseille."

Oh.

See what I mean?  Lost.  Of course Germans will wear shirts and scarves that say Russia and I'm supposed to make sense of that.  And of course French sing operas where everyone has Spanish names and do the tango and bull fight but it's in French and not Spanish.  And of course Silent Night can be sung in Arabic.  You may have been lost for three minutes watching my little video, but me?

I live in a state of perpetual confusion, always trying to make sense of something.  Life's one big riddle here.