Dasha

She was my rock in Geneve. She was my athletic trainer, getting me on the bike and hike. She was my priest and listened to my confessions. She was my laughter at the UN internship. She was a twin musical taste. She wore me out and wore me under and woke me up. I hadn't had a best friend in a long time, and certainly not one so much younger than me. Her soul is old and mine is infantile.

Dasha comes to visit today, Saturday.

In Geneve, she came with me to the expat 4th of July in the park. We thought it silly and she took photos of me with the Obama cut-out and the hippie Uncle Sam. Saturday afternoon, she will again infiltrate the US ways and join me for Thanksgiving at a colleague's apartment where we will feast with other silly kids.

I have missed her and I'm so relieved that she's coming to visit.

The things I'm thankful for - the Paris edition

Besides being extremely grateful for my family (with whom I'll Skype momentarily), my good friends here and back home, my health, the Obama-factor, the fact that our study trip to India was not this time this year, and so many other things for which I am blessed and grateful for, I am also thankful for..... [Paris-specific]



Boys in the new, funny jeans with pockets purposefully low





French ladies and their puppies, who say Au Revoir to me when they get off the metro.





Excellent friends from home who visit to play jazz (Ben Sidran and - pictured - his son, Leo Sidran played at Sunset/Sunside Jazz Club) and friends who make you feel like you were never apart (Amanda)




Asian people and cute Jewish boys at the fallafel restaurant in the Marais




Super cool cars in Paris




Weird art under the Samaratine building .. and new people in the world.




The view of the Eiffel at sunset in autumn




The art vendors on the Seine




The typical Parisian view: love, sun, light, building, bridges





Clouds and reflections and my eyes




Life's questions




My luck of the draw





Awesome street art before its removed





Abraham Lincoln, for sure





Light and a camera to capture it




Awesome art near my school





Paris does, indeed, rock





...and.... humor

Success, relaxation, and hundreds of camels

I'm back to school this AM. The conference was a resounding success, although we still have the feedback evaluations to go through, which will tell the honest truth. Enjoyed some humbling sunrises over the course of those four early-morning days down on rue Jacob.

Last Monday I took the Eurostar over to London (or, under to London - as it goes under the Channel and all). Slept all days long at my friend’s LSE dorm. During the day I went out for a massage in some danky hair salon, lunch, brief shopping, and email-checks at the local cafe. Stayed up late enough to close the pubs down (a very strict 2am) and gained like 6 pounds drinking beer and eating fish & chips.

Thursday I left for Bahrain on British Airways, which offered free beverages including Blood Marys and wine. Flew over burning oil fields and felt solemn over Iraq. I hear that Saudi Air flies around Israel, as the final snub to their not acknowledging the country's existence. Bahrain was a fine-dust desert with tall glass buildings instead of cacti, the sounds of call to prayer and banging construction, an ex-pat party, being one woman in the souk of a hundred Indian and Pakistani men, driving through the oil fields, trying to find the Tree of Life, taking some sun on the roof with the pool, wonderful Middle Eastern food, and fascinating trips through the malls.

Last photos of the evening

I cried all the way home on the metro at 6h45. When I got off at my stop, the black guy sitting across from me for about 5 stops held his thumbs up and looked at me contentedly. I cried even more.

I can't believe it.

(Not a huge fan of his speech, but maybe they were aiming for modesty and American-centric. I thought McCain's was condescending at times and down-right rude at others, but was rather modest, as well. Did not like Michelle's dress at all, but she is still totally a rockin' First Lady.)


















Fox News calls it Obama - that's when we REALLY knew

i'm crying too much to post

i'm filming it all

we're all joyous and somber and excited and stunned

i'm just in tears and can't handle it

i miss you josh

"a beautiful day" mp3 from U2 needed

starman was right

by 6am we'll know

and it'll be Obama and who knows on Prop 8... we're still watching..

Election in a nutshell via professional pollster friend

"after the last two elections the nets have gotten much more conservative in their calling of states. so if they call something they have a high degree (est at 99.5% confidence) of faith that it's true. an early call in some place like PA means they most likely have a very wide margin of victory in the exit polls even if they aren't telling us what that number is. they also tend to use actual results from polling places they've collected to confirm the exit polling, but again those actual real results are ones that aren't publicly available yet."

but so it's all fake - exit polls people lie - there are no ballots .. how do you trust that?

"By sampling enough people you reduce to a small percent the chance of enough bad info (ie liars) entering the survey to change the results"

"also, a key part of what they do is look in very fine detail at where geographically the exit polls are showing the leads and comparing that turnout to past turnout and results. my colleague at AV who knows obama won florida says it's based on obama extremely out performing kerry and gore in key areas. in PA the call was easy because the margin was wide and they could see how he was winning demographic groups, like college educated whites, who dems have never won there in 40 years."

so are you confident it's obama?
when does he win a Bush state?

"Confident it's Obama. I think Indiana of north Carolina will be official in the next hour"

......

My sister was #1233 in MN
Her boy pal was #98
She had no lines and things went smoothly.

Looking at Franken
And Prop 8 here

pre-ejaculat -- election happiness

If Florida falls to Obama it's in

Pennsylvania that's crazy!

They, supposedly vote with their guns and religion. I worked with a woman from PA who thought this day would never come.

Our party has gotten little quiet but enjoying the CNN entertainment. We're wondering if Jon Stewart is live online because we don't have full cable here. America Votes is calling Obama win. We're still watching the colors on CNN turn blue, red.

Battleground

CNN is going in all color on the States map. People here - all Americans and a couple of French folks - don't know what they're looking at and are bummed when something goes red, except for the Canadian guy who is confused because liberals in Canada are red-colored. We still feel good. The good cheese came out. The wine is still flowing. We're all watching

Star Trek on CNN

Dude, they're "beaming" people in for commentary on CNN. This woman commentator is like glowing. This virtual stuff is hilarious. Holograms... ha!

We're all laughing. Someone made caipirinhas. There's pasta in progress possibly. Wine still flowing. Some of the French folks left. The Americans remain. It's still early. Kentucky and Indiana closed so early - I hope other polls aren't closing early.

Sheesh.

election party arrival

Indiana and Kentucky closing polls at this hour c/o CNN...

Mingling with some French folks, some Americans, some I don't know where from. We've got CNN on and watching the strange interviews and probing investigations that still continue on TV.

On the way to the party, getting off the metro, a guy said loudly and over-spelled (I was wearing my headphones) "J'aime bien ton t-shirt." I replied, "Moi aussi. Merci!"

It's a strange thing to wear t-shirts for your candidates in Paris. People rather think shirts for Gore, Kerry, Obama are more fashionable than their own country's candidates. I'm flattered by this idea, especially as I'm sometimes one of the "anti-American elitists" that Palin talks about lately.

Anyway.

Wil and me.






A Sacramento expat (making power Obama heart.. or um... signs)




Sacramento again






A Sciences Po French supporter




I <3 Obama

pre-election night fiesta

Not getting out the vote this year, but definitely representing at school, on the metro, on the street on my way home (where a gentleman leaning out of one of the sexy-lady-bars asked me if he was going to win and I said, "Bien sûr! Il n'y a pas otre possibilite!"), and then later tonight when I get to a colleague's for the long night of result watching.

I hope we get to celebrate.

PS. Thanks, starman, hope you're having fun wherever you are!

Countown!

I was speaking to my cave guy tonight, when buying wine for the US election party tomorrow, and he's for Obama. Peeking over someone's shoulder who was reading the newspaper on the metro, and the US map was full of color: reds, blues, swings. Maybe electrons really do fly fast, but I can FEEL the energy from the US over here. So excited!!

But first, I have to get through final planning details of the conference, linen laundry, full day of class tomorrow (10am - 18h), run home, un-fold the futon couch-bed, pull out the air mattress, put away the drying clean clothes, tidy up last details, and then go to the Election Party. Stay up as late as I can (will we know by 6am Paris time?). Sleep during the day. Go to school. Help with registration and set-up. And then, hopefully be a joyous bundle of contentment at the fact that we'll have our first African-American President. Ooooo so excited!!!

I'll have a big, long post on conference planning in Paris because I tell you, it is an entirely different beast. Panelists we invited 6 months ago and started calling 3 months ago are still undecided. There isn't such thing as a conference center at Sciences Po. Accommodation with students and staff is hell because we all live in flats the size of bread-boxes or in a dormitory at Cite Universitaire. Panelists cancelling at last minute. Visiting students making irrational demands from abroad. It's been an interesting challenge. Kind of like running a campaign, including firing staff people, setting deadlines along the way, keeping it cool on the outside while I freak out on the inside, giving interviews to other students not engaged in the planning, schmoozing to get panelists, encouraging team members, etc. So, while I wasn't in the States to do my usual Get Out the Vote efforts, I've run my own campaign down here. Let's hope it goes as smoothly as Obama's!!

Cheers to all!