Her opening line definitely had charm, also because it was just a little bit slurred, and she was dark and pretty and young.
” You look fun. I’ll sit beside you ! ”
She squeezed her way past a rotund Ukrainian teacher sitting next to me, a Turkish plastic surgeon next to him, and a Canadian lawyer at the top of the table. This was in an upscale sushi restaurant in Istanbul 2 weeks ago, celebrating Caterina’s birthday. The lighting was low, the seating was rather cramped, and the noise level was high.
” Here we go ! “
She lurched down beside me, not spilling her huge tumbler of cherry red alcohol and clacking ice cubes, and started chatting in rootless international English.
” I’m Ailiyah. Do you live here in Istanbul ? I just adore this city, don’t you ? I’m from Qatar, well, I was brought up in Qatar, but I’m not from there. My husband’s from California, he’s so sweet. And he’s cute and rich. People keep asking me, ‘what do you do, Aliyah? ‘ “
She stirred her drink with its black plastic straw, laughed impishly, and sat closer, conspiratorial.
” When they keep asking me what my job is, I just tell them, ‘Well I’m totally in favour of independence and all, for women, but I’m smart. Look at me! I’m a gorgeous chick from the Middle East and we don’t do work. We get our men to do all that stuff . “
Out There & In Here 