I hope everyone has as great a Christmas as my family had!
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I’m sitting with Judy at the California Coffee Company across the St Stephen Basilica. Just finished my roasted hazelnut latte and I’m supposed to be writing my NaNoWriMo novel. The truth is, I will not reach 50 000 words on that this month, so I am taking a break to work with other much neglected projects. I just updated our coffee related blog, which is now located at http://2agentsblog.com and now I’m writing here at last. I keep ignoring the existence of this blog ever since we launched the other one in May. It’s a strange November, to be honest. Some of the strangeness comes from legal issues, the others from the fact that it was still warm enough for most of the month to run around with a tee shirt and thin jacket. Now it’s getting cold, like it should around this time of the year, but right now it’s so bright and sunny that if the trees weren’t bald and people weren’t wearing winter coats I’d think it’s spring. As I sit here, in the warm corner of the coffee shop I see the tourist groups come and go from the Basilica and I’m wishing I was somewhere else today, as a tourist, exploring foreign countries. I have a very lovely coworker. She is always smiling, always kind, both with the clients and with the rest of the agents. Soft spoken, vibrantly full of life, she is a joy to talk to. She has bright blue eyes and beautiful long, curly blonde hair. Today was — I believe — the first day she came to work wearing a hijab. Working a block away from a local mosque I am used to seeing white girls wearing the hijab, but as I ran into her by the coffee machine I think I forgot to close my mouth for a few seconds. The first thing after the surprise was how much her beautiful eyes stood out now. The second thing was noticing the small crowd around her, with questions like, “Did you get married?” “Are you always going to wear it to work now?” “Isn’t it hot?” which she all patiently answered. She showed how she was wearing a turtleneck, and explained how she had been wearing the hijab outside work for a while. Girls were more hung up on the fact that she chose to cover her hair than the guys, it seemed. “I feel sorry for your beautiful hair,” was an oft repeated comment. She explained that she didn’t cut it. Conversation shifted to when she should wear the hijab, and an idea of all girls parties was mentioned. I have to admit that later on some of us were still talking about her choice. One question was how she could use the headset with the hijab on, but since we have seen photos of the colleagues in Egypt and Qatar, this seemed to be feasible. Her choice, unlike that of our born again Christian colleague’s, carries a very obvious sign of religious profession. She will have to answer the same questions over and over again, and most everyone will be aware of her religious affiliation. While this is a choice I wouldn’t have made for myself, if this makes her happier or, I’m happy for her. Wearing a hijab won’t change her, she will be the same sweet girl she has been. The only thing that can change, but hopefully it won’t, is our attitude towards her. I refuse to feel sorry for little opressed her. From what she has told us, this was a choice she made based on her own beliefs, not based on family or cultural expectations. And this is where the French go wrong with cracking down on the niqab: they are taking away women’s freedom to choose the same way Iran and Saudi Arabia do. If they want to help women to break out of opression, they should provide assistance to women who are forced to wear a niqab rather than banning it all together. But yes, it’s a big deal. Because something unusual has entered our world. The novelty will wear off, as we get used to seeing the colorful hijab instead of our colleagues beautiful curls. No, not at all. I have been just concentrating on the other blogging project I’m involved with, called The Journey of Two Help Desk Agents. So I haven’t really had too much time to write here ever since this place got hacked. But I’m back. I hope. Kinda. Sorta. And will post two more things after this one. Tonight. Do you know what two hours of coaching on the roof/terrace kinda thing does to you after an awfully rainy spring? Yes, it gives you a farmer’s tan! Please visit
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