How we came up with the idea to start a blog’

It was a cold spring Wednesday morning with showers. I have to go to place des Fetes and make it on time to the appointment with a dear friend. So I had to take 7b and then catch metro 5 to go to Jaures. 

Paris Metro station Jaures (Photo from google)

Felt at ease when Shella texted me that she was going to be late; as I was talking on the phone. I decided to go to Mc Donald’s because it was easier to tell my location whenever she comes, as the neighborhood is very crowded with lots of restaurants and shops.

I remember the first time I came to this station, to register in the OFII. Boy oh boy, time flies. I can never forget the long queue with the refugees to register.  Let alone the hard time that I passed when I couldn’t speak French. Very stressful times have passed; imagine needing someone to accompany you everywhere because you can’t speak the language and even worse not knowing how to use the metro and trains. It is really complicated at first for someone who comes from a third world country. These memories are still a pang.

OFII office in Jaures Paris.

She just came right behind me before I was about to punch my order on the screen. Hello said she with her soft American accent. Even though we do not see each other regularly, we usually start a conversation about important stuffs and get carried away to the point that we never ask about our lives.

Don and Shella

Normally I am a cafe guy; I like to have one cup per day. I guess it is a Parisian thing because I never cared for a coffee when I was living in Eritrea.

When she comes, we decided to leave the McDonald’s and moved to a quiet cafe with a good view and gemütlich like as the seats were very simple and spacious. 

Expresso at one of the Cafes of Paris

Paris is a very beautiful city, but it can be bitterly cold and lonely if you do not have interesting friends to cruise it and to seduce the beauty of the city of love so that you can enjoy it. There is an interesting saying “when the good God is bored in the sky, he opens the window, and look at the boulevards of Paris." (Heinrich Heine). In some ways I agree. But still, I without friends it is nothing.

Shella in Paris Butte Bergeyre, 19e Arrondissement

It’s always a deep conversation with Shella, she is very lively and interesting to talk with. Plus she has the brains to back it up. She likes to talk about her country, a lot of times she would call it ‘The philipines.’ I found that strange and funny at first because, there is only one Philippines so why would she call it ‘The Philippines.’ I guess it is her thing.

She dresses casually and most of the times with boots. But whenever we talk about fashion, I end up feeling dumb and tongue-tied. She knows everything about it. I always manage to skip that topic with her.

We met at a French intermediate course. She was way better French speaker than me. I guess that is a girl’s thing.

Shella @ Eiffel tower Paris

Flags of Eritrea and The Philipines

Our conversation is fluid; we talk about Eritrea, Philippines, life, art, school, work and all the things around that. That is a given as our families are back home simultaneously. The next thing is about Paris. Life in Paris, arts exhibitions, museums, monuments, boulevards, places……etc

Shella likes to keep her answers short and to the point. Unlike the other girls that I usually meet, she doesn’t get carried away. She likes to break things simple, and most of the times she is straight to the point. Sometimes I feel like she writes better to speak, because she always surprises me whenever she releases a new article in her blog. You can check it out in this link. www.afilipinainparis.com

Her smooth flow of writing and her simplicity are the things that I like most about her.

After she takes a good sip of her tea, in the middle of our conversation…….

 ‘Don, we should start a new blog together.’
What?

‘I know you can write and I am already blogging so…. let’s create ours. It will be awesome.’

I was thinking about such things, but I always manage to talk myself out of it. I was not sure when to start or even how. So I was like here comes the day. It is like what the law of attraction says, leave the ‘how’ to the universe and just keep dreaming….

 Well the day has come.

In RER C, Paris life

So here I am blogging, just for fun. And as George Orwell says, ‘Never use the long word where the short one will do.’

I had fun writing my first article. I hope it was entertaining, short and to the point.

Photo of Shella and Dinar around Parc montsouris Paris.

See you guys with my next article.
Bisous Bisous