I have some essays I’d like to read – I have lots of lists.
Do you sell tobacco?
I knew the daughter of a priest.
She was wasting her time with it, and I never wanted that for my life.
I think breakfast starts at 7:30.
Turkish was hard for me. It didn’t connect well in my brain. And Hungarian? Nope.
I’m sometimes so frustrated by the idea that people who think a lot less are able to find the shortcuts.
She’s a pastry chef.
The orchestra is a microcosmos because it doesn’t matter where you’re from. All that matters is your rhythm and intonation.
West of France?

While traveling the world, some of my favorite moments have occurred when I remove myself from active participation. Sitting with people I’d just met earlier that day – maybe around a fire, or over dinner and coffee – and going mute. I’m a good talker but I’m an even better listener, always curious to absorb little tidbits of other people’s lives. I’ve found I can often be more present when I’m silent. One night, during my two week stay in Jordan’s Wadi Rum desert, there was a group of tourists at the Bedouin camp. I sat around the fire, losing track of how much tea I’d sipped already, and I listened.

There was a pastry chef. A woman who lived near Rennes, France. She currently bakes at a restaurant called La Marine. It’s owned by the three-time Michelin star awardee Alexandre Couillon, who was also featured in the Netflix show Chef’s Table: France. She creates and designs intricate desserts: cookies oozing with salted caramel and marshmallows, cakes ornately decorated with fresh fruits and fondant, perfecting the ever-tantalizing croissant. She does it all. She’s made pastries for Roland-Garros, the French Open tennis tournament. Pierre Niney – the lead actor in The Count of Monte Cristo (2024) film – has tasted her baking. She put more olive tree wood on our fire.

The older man from west Germany had a childhood dream to play music. He came to Jordan as a retired oboist, having professionally played the oboe in traveling symphonies and various orchestras around Germany. He joined his first symphony right after the Berlin Wall came down – It was quite adventurous times, he’d noted. His worst nightmare happened when he was filling in at a show for a different player with an orchestra he’d never practiced with prior. The person responsible for putting his music sheets on the stand had made a mistake. The conductor realized something was wrong after attempting to bring in the oboe solo twice – but he couldn’t play; he had no music. Eight bars of an awkward ambience later, the rest of the orchestra finally joined. After decades of embracing the intense life of a full-time oboe player, he decided his next dream was to own a factory. He now runs a wildly successful company that produces oboe reeds (and the products to make your own oboe reeds). His business essentially revolutionized reed-making, and now works worldwide. The desert wolves began howling, as they do when the sun goes down.

Now it was the journalist’s turn to speak. He works for a newspaper simply titled Ouest-France (West France). He’s young, but his career has already allowed him to touch upon many subjects: politics, culture, law, travel. He now specializes in sports, mainly soccer. Excitedly, he explains how important soccer is for the French. I looked down to notice he was wearing Musa Al-Taamari’s jersey – the only Jordanian soccer player on France’s team, he told us. He loves his job, even through its difficulties. In the past, he’d worked on exposé pieces for large companies or corporations and received backlash from them. He’s content writing his sports articles now. I finished my tea. I wanted to fill my cup again, but wasn’t sure if there was any left. I didn’t want to ask and interrupt.

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