this morning i felt better. enough of the way i was yesterday.
i was up early with the others and we got to the trade show early and i helped by wiping down the laminate floor, which is good karma. it was all scuffed and dirtied. when the mop wouldn't get it mo and i got down on hands and knees to do it. while i was kneeling a girl stopped me and told me you could see my hip bones. i showed a little more. she was young and pretty and wore green.
at the trade show delegation now they call me mehmet paul. there is mehmet arif -- that's mo. there is mehmet reşat -- that's his cousin. and now there is mehmet paul. they have given me an apron that says "Burhaniye."
i spent the day talking to musicians. a violin player sitting playing-- very much the opposite of people with titles and power ties and managed brands. a violin, you get your fingers and your ears and a string, and nothing more. talked to a very cool player of the ney which is a nine-segmented flute that the dervishes spin to. it is made from reed. the redness of the reed is the fire in your soul. the straightness of the reed is your integrity. to play it teaches patience, and mindfulness.
i saw a potter working at a wheel, weavers, bakers, chocolate artists, and a painter doing a fantastic red tulip bulb with the dark-inked word "Allah."
and i held a bergamot fruit in my hand, like a lemon, but big, and i scratched it with my fingernail and breathed in deep and the smell buoyed me up.
by the end of the day i'd had enough of the cigarette smoke though and the noise and also i saw someone at the tunesian booth making intricate bird cages the size of a melon, no bigger, and i was happy to see the end of the trade show.
we were treated to dinner at a fabulous restaurant where we brought our own olive oil and gave what was left as a gift for the chef. they put our raki glasses in copper dishes with molded ice so your glass slid right in and stayed frozen cold. they brought packs of cigarettes with dinner. so many courses. several appetizers. bread. cheese. kebabs. eggplants. roasted onions and garlic. meats. lastly a desert made of fried cheese. mo has taught me to say: sebap okenlorden allah razi olsen -- may g-d bless the one who brought this all to be.
