The other day I got an invitation to a Ramadan night party from a hotel our company dealt with only twice in the whole past year. The great thing about the invitation is that they considered me -and not the manager- the company’s official representative.
Anyway, the invitation was for one person, so I called to cancel since I can’t go at a late time alone. To my surprise they said: no, we’ll make an exception for you, you can bring your husband with you.
Anyway, we went, it was last weekend. At the entrance I was shocked that they recognized me, and knew my last name as well! I introduced my husband, got a nice bag stuffed with things, but didn’t find it really appropriate to start checking what’s in it immediately, so I just smiled, got an envelope, smiled again, and was asked to pick a piece of paper with a number on it from a basket to be counted in for the night’s tombola.

We entered, the place was amazingly beautiful, decoration was out of this world, and the whole atmosphere was comfy. There was this band, candles everywhere, some people scattered here and there, and no one I knew. The tables were filled with appetizers and we were served tea, juice, more sweets and more delicious things all night long.
Anyway, my husband and I checked the bag, it was stuffed with brochures and samples from CLARINS, one of the party sponsors. I got a set for facial care, and a full-size product for body care. As for the envelope, it had an invitation for 2 people to play bowling in the bowling section of this fancy 5 star hotel 🙂 Ah, what a great surprise. Made me love my job 😉 I really love bowling.

Anyway, few minutes later, I saw the first familiar face, it was a former coworker and her boyfriend, and obviously she didn’t want me to see her, she avoided me, but I saw her and I’m blogging about it, lol. I find this so typical of ladies. If you don’t want to be seen in public, then it’s something wrong, why do it in the first place if you’re gonna spend the whole night on your nerves fearing you’ll be caught?
Anyway, we kind of liked the idea of having the whole yummy table to ourselves, but soon enough I spotted the woman who works next door. I told my husband, he remembered her, it was the same woman he met in a market once, the one I keep telling to speak Arabic, but insists on French. She’s a nice person actually, but could get really annoying when she insists on speaking French. I hate this. Arabs should speak Arabic, but people became obsessed with the false fact that speaking a foreign language will make them sound cool and educated. Anyway, between all those people, she saw us, so she came running, and sat beside us. We chatted a bit, it was nice, but during the whole conversation I was wishing she’ll finally stop speaking French. She got out her mobile phone, and took a pic of us, after showing us the pic, she was like :
She (1/2 Arabic, ½ French): You know, all my thinking is in English.
We: hmmm (in our minds we were like: you liar)
She (French): Even my mobile settings are English coz my work and my clients all speak English.
I: (WHATEVER!)
She (French): I can’t. This is me, I think in English, and I find it easier and more practical that I do so.
We: (that’s so obvious, specially that you didn’t utter one English word)
She(French): I don’t like French, English is the best. I THINK IN ENGLISH and I just love it.

Anyway, the first round of tombola was up, and our number was among the first to be withdrawn 🙂 We got a beautiful decorative wooden piece, with an amazingly beautiful decorative table cover, and a delicious smelling scented-bag for decoration as well. A beautiful set that suits our home colors PERFECTLY 🙂

We listened to more music, songs, a comedian who made me laugh like crazy although his jokes involved many Tunisian words used in the village accent not the city, but still I enjoyed myself. A famous singer came, amused us with his weird multi-cultural dancing, and his feminine moves. At 12:50 a.m. we were totally sleepy. We went back home with big smiley faces 🙂
It was really nice.

On Monday while reaching out for the office keys, I met the woman next door and she was like: Bonjour Imen, comment vas tu? Il est froid aujourd’hui, n’est-ce pas! Ton mari est très gentil. Ah, je ne peux pas porter des chaussures! mes pieds sont ………. blah blah blah………you think in ENGLISH alright !