Monday, 2 January 2012

How Strange . . .



I was on to music, on You Tube, drifting back and forth through the years . . . et la nostalgie. Torn between Georges Moustaki's Solitude or Liberte, when I noticed his song "La meteque" that I'd totally forgotten about (until tonight). La meteque is a (sometimes derogatory) term used to refer to an immigrant in French. There was another version below in another language . . . El extranjero  . . . As I listened to that and stared at the title I soon realised it meant The stranger . . . again. Of course, then it made sense . ..  immigrant, foreigner, stranger . . . I'd just never thought of the song La meteque meaning The stranger. The decision was made. It's a strange word is stranger.

9 comments:

  1. Serendipity at work. Your last post touching on the growth and comfort you have found in being a stranger and now this, just to rub your face in it. The world is frequently a very weird place.

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  2. Sorry, I haven't gotten by here in awhile. I liked the last post, and the comments. Here is what I know...there are no "rules" for how our children will turn out. I have seen kids from the worse circumstance turn out great, and vice versa. I have a PhD and a heroin addict in my two kids. I treated them the same!! They went on the same vacations, got read the same bedtime stories!!!

    I see you trying your best to be a good mother. I see you love your children. I believe much of it is out of our hands, and in God's hands.

    Best wishes in the New Year, I hope you find..love?..money? LOL, whatever it is you desire;)

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  3. Over here, when we travel into the Latino/Mestizo areas, we are gringos. Another strange word with derogatory insinuations. However, in our little village in Belize, we are not strangers to everyone now which is both a surprise and a comfort.

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  4. The Elephant's Child,
    A very weird place indeed. Just read your spider post . . Was gonna comment "Things can only get better" . . . Then you said it for me. I hope things DID get better.

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  5. Lou,
    Yes I think you're spot on, there are no rules . . . that's why I added my "disclaimer" at 3am (!) Just in case any one thought I was feeling "safe" that my kids are ok . . . I know these things can change at any time.
    There are quite a few things on my list for this year . . . As I head for the big "Five O".
    I showed my son (16) your photo . . . you know, THE photo, and told him my abs would look like that by the end of the year :-) I can't tell you how much he laughed . . . Every time he catches me with chocolate, which has been too often with it being Christmas, He reminds me of what is now reffered to as "my joke" . . . I'll show 'em ;-)
    Happy New Year to you.

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  6. You've just reminded me of one of my favourite books,
    A Stranger in a Strange Land by R.Heinlien.
    Cheers

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  7. Jeannie,
    It's good that you've been made to feel "at home" so soon. Do you intend to live there?

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  8. Jeannie,
    Just read your comment on previous post. Yes I think you're right about honesty. My parents were and still are full of secrets . . . how awful. I know that I have a brother that allegedly my Dad "made" my Mum give away at 18 months . . . But my Mum didn't know that I knew until recently (as my aunt had told me "in secret") and then she'll say dont tell your brother (the one who I'm close to) or don't let your Dad know that you know . . WTF?? Weirdos. Why all the secrecy? Also her second Hub of 30 yrs left 4 kids behind, which none of us are supposed to know about. We "pretend" that he didn't have kids in his previous marriage! Yet we were taught to tell the truth, that lying was bad. Their whole family history is a tangle of lies and secrets. I don't get it. No truth can be as bad as a lie. Simple as.
    Someone once said to me "Where do you tell Hamper G you are taking her when you go to see her Dad?" . . . Erm? Prison? . . . How about the truth.
    Since I touched on all that "not fitting in" business I've given it much thought and probably will expand on it in a post. I wonder how people feel who do "fit in" . . Don't suppose we'll ever know :-)

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