INSPIRATION
No. 01
for the C U R I O U S M I N D
O C T. 2009 INTERVIEW WITH
MALCOLM PRYCE ‘A glimpse into her world’
“Quote”...MORE SMALL TALK
I N S I DE THIS ISSUE OF SCOOP
FORWARD
02
FROM THE PLANNERS CORNER THE ART & SCIENCE of STORYTELLING
F E A T UR ED T H E M E
05
THE
STORY FACTOR
07
THE
TOOLBOX
09
DANYA & DANIA, the Trailblazing Storytellers
13
Interview with MALCOLM PRYCE
HOM E T R U T H S
17
A GLIMPSE INTO HER WORLD
SM AL L - T A L K
37
REMARKABLE ‘QUOTES’
L A UN D R Y W IS DO M
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CURIOUS TID-BITS
October 2009
No. 01
COCO VIDELA Regional Strategy Director, Ariel CEEMEA HADI ZABAD Senior Strategic Planner, Ariel CEEMEA DOMINIKA BLACHNICKA Senior Strategic Planner, Ariel CEEMEA
FOR WARD
FROM THE PLANNERS’ CORNER
FROM THE
PLANNERS’ CORNER IF YOU’RE CURIOUS ABOUT ‘SCOOP’, GET READY TO BE INSPIRED.
Welcome to the first issue of SCOOP, your portal into the lives of women in our region. From Russia to Nigeria, from Turkey to Saudi, SCOOP will bring you, every four months, a collection of Xploring Stories, anecdotes, insights and all kinds of tidbits to keep you in touch with the everyday lives of women. Think of it as an ongoing source of stories and inspiration. Every issue will have a featured theme. A topic we may find inspiring, relevant to the moment or simply eye-opening. This issue is dedicated to the Art and Science of Storytelling - a powerful tool that has continued to entertain people, influence their behaviors and make a difference in their lives since prehistoric times. We picked up tips from English Novelist, Malcolm Pryce, inspiration from Saudi film-producer, Danya Alhamrani, and a Toolbox to brush up our storytelling basics. Other goodies that you will find in this and forthcoming issues of SCOOP include snippets from women’s lives in ‘Home Truths’ and ‘Small Talk’, as well as tips, observations and curiosities that we’ve picked up along the way in ‘Laundry Wisdom’.
Enjoy and see you in January!
Coco, Hadi & Dominika.
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03
POLAND MOROCCO
COL LE CTING
ST ORIE S
SAATCHI & SAATCHI
OCTOBER 2009
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RUSSIA HUNGARY TURKEY EGYPT SAUDI
F ROM D I F F E R E NT C O R N E R S O F O U R R E G IO N
THE ART & SCIENCE of STORYTELLING 1.11
05
THE
ART
THE STORY FACTOR
& SCIENCE
of S T O R Y T E L L I N G
THE
STORY FACTOR
The most powerful, most underutilized tool for competitive advantage. The road to Lovemarks is paved with stories. Stories that educate and entertain us. Stories that shake our beliefs and move us to action. Stories that become embedded in our unconscious without us even realizing it. Our favorite brands have mastered the art, and the most successful ones have embraced it consistently. Ariel is also full of stories. Some we have started to tell, some remain to be told. But the million-dollar question is, which stories are truly engaging and exciting to our audience? Which have what it takes to be heard, remembered and acted on? That’s where the Story Factor comes in: knowing the right story to tell and telling it right.
His company was originally called Mercury Sports. And the brand has been worn enthusiastically by many of the world’s best known athletes – most famously the runners of the 1924 Olympic Games featured in the movie, Chariots of Fire. But if you’re like most people, you didn’t guess Reebok. You guessed Nike. With good reason. In the 1960s, Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight added a special waffle pattern to his shoes to help athletes run faster. Their company was named Nike (after the Greek Goddess of Victory) and the brand has been worn by many of the world’s best-known athletes. Both companies share oddly similar beginnings. But only one is known for this story. Why? Nike has embraced the story of innovation and achievement, while Reebok has almost run away from it (despite their 70- year head start). While both companies began with passion for athletic achievement, today only Nike can tell that story.
We can’t make people listen. We can only entice, inspire, cajole, stimulate and fascinate. Stories do that. Some better than others.
Stories that
Stories that
We tell stories about other people and for other people. Stories help us make sense of our world. And the characters that populate these stories become so familiar to us we feel like we ‘know’ them. Never mind that we’ve never met anyone like them or that they live in far off lands that exist only in our imagination. We identify with these characters in ways that transcend reason, in ways beyond words. Stories and characters resonate with us for lots of reasons, some of which we don’t seem to understand and certainly can’t articulate.
ELIMINATE COMPETITION Iconic brands embody the myths that created them Ironically, these stories are more often than not ordinary tales turned into extraordinary legends. They are made so by the brand itself and this will always give them a significant advantage over those with weak or forgettable stories. In fact, some brand stories are so ingrained in our culture that they are easily recognized with just a few details.
See if you can name this brand: Brand X got its start when the founder made innovative changes to the soles of his athlete’s shoes to help them run faster. The brand was named for an ancient god and over the next two decades was adopted by many internationally known athletes. In it’s more detailed version, it’s a story of seeking a competitive advantage, working hard, and achieving a goal. So what brand is it? Would you believe Reebok? In the 1890s, Joseph William Foster added spikes to the soles of his shoes to help athletes run faster.
MAKE THE UNFAMILIAR, FAMILIAR
An example of this is an interesting phenomenon that happens among Italian men in their 40s- they have a strange fascination with the city of Maracaibo, a place they like to call “the city of pirates.” When they talk about it you would think they were describing their favorite childhood place. In fact, most have never been. It turns out that Maracaibo was one of the cities in Emilio Salgari’s famous pirate stories, particularly popular in the early 70s. These stories took countless Italian kids to the far corners of the earth with their exciting, action-filled dramas. To this day, Maracaibo holds a special place in their imagination. The point is, stories had the power to make the remote city of Maracaibo “relevant” to Italian men, not because it’s a place they know or are familiar with, but because it’s a place that represents their childhood fantasies.
SAATCHI & SAATCHI
OCT, 2009
Stories that
OVERCOME
Stories that
UNLOCK SECRET MOTIVATIONS Dostoyevsky could not have been more right when he wrote this brilliant truth in Notes from the Underground, “Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone but only his friends. He has other matters in his mind, which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.” Most of the reasons why we believe and act the way we do are unconscious, yet we tend to base our messages exclusively on what people explicitly say. The reality is that many times we can’t articulate what we want because it is uncomfortable, intangible, or simply because we have no idea. If we want to connect with people in bigger and less obvious ways we need to pay attention to the unconscious, then figure out how to make the implicit explicit. By understanding the unconscious associations people make we can determine the ‘right’ story for the ‘right’ audiences. The renowned research consultant Howard Moskowvitz, famously reinvented spaghetti sauce under this principle. PREGO hired Moskovitz to help them come up with the perfect tomato sauce. Convinced there was no “one” perfect sauce, Howard created 45 different varieties for the tasting test. Then something interesting happened. The results showed that most people fall into one of three groups: there are people that like their spaghetti sauce plain, there are people that like it spicy, and there are people that like it extra chunky. This last fact was the most significant, because at the time, if you went to a supermarket, you couldn’t find extra chunky spaghetti sauce. Of course, PREGO went on to create the first line of extra chunky spaghetti sauce for one third of Americans who were craving it, and it changed the spaghetti sauce category forever. Howard fundamentally changed the way the food industry thinks about making people happy. For years PREGO conducted focus groups and asked people, “Tell us what you want in a spaghetti sauce.” In all those years no one ever said they wanted extra chunky. As Howard puts it, “the mind knows not what the tongue wants.”
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THE POWER
STRUGGLE
People don’t usually like to be told what to do, but when those “wishes” are sugar coated in story, they are much more likely to listen. Story has a magical way to turn demands into requests and avoid the power struggle. Here’s a nice little anecdote by Shawn Callahan to illustrate this point. Last week I returned from my morning walk to find my 11–year -old daughter filling the blender with ice cream to make a banana smoothie. My first reaction was to say, “What are you doing eating ice cream for breakfast? That’s a bad habit to get into. It’s unhealthy. You should stop having ice cream for breakfast.” The response was a dismissive grunt in my general direction. Hmmm, that didn’t go well. After we sat down to eat breakfast I started to tell my daughter a story. “When I was in high school my parents really had no idea about healthy eating and we used to drink soft drinks all the time, ate lots of bread and hardly touched fruit.” Then the phone rang and I answered. When I returned to the table my daughter said, “go on, you were talking about when you were in high school.” I continued the story, which conveyed the message that the habits you form now will be with you for the rest of your life. I made no mention of the smoothie. A week has gone by and ice cream hasn’t featured on our breakfast table.
Stories that
GIVE MEANING TO FACTS A subtle yet powerful shift occurs when we seek to influence people to make wise decisions rather than the “right” decision based on a fact. Contrary to popular belief, bad decisions are rarely made because people don’t have all the facts. Bad decisions are made because people ignore the facts, do not understand the facts, or do not give the facts enough importance. Why? Because basic human emotions like anxiety, greed, exasperation, intolerance, apathy or fear have hijacked our brains and directed us to the easy way out. At this point, more facts will not help to regain perspective. A story will. A story will help them figure out what all these facts mean. Take Smirnoff, for instance. For people who know little about the distilling process in Vodka, a claim like “triple distilled” means nothing, really. All it says is that it’s more expensive because someone spent a lot more time doing something to it. Nothing about the taste or the quality. But when they tell us the story of a couple that gets progressively better the second and third time it’s told, then we get it. Smirnoff has “edited out” all the bad parts of the vodka, so what we’re getting is kind of like a happy ending.
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THE ART & SCIENCE of STORYTELLING 3.11
THE TOOLBOX
TO O L B O X N o .1
THE SEVEN BASIC PLOTS
According to the British journalist and author Christopher Booker, there are only seven ‘storylines’ in the world. Although there are a multitude of tales and endless variety in the telling, he believes all narratives are really variations of the basic seven plots.
T E S T Y O U R S T O RY I Q B Y M AT C H I N G T H E P L O T T O T H E S T O RY. 1. Overcoming the Monster: The hero must overcome
and back again. On this journey the protagonist
a dark evil creature, person or entity that has exerted
learns things that give him a deeper understanding
destructive forces over a place, person or people.
of himself and the world around him.
2. Rags to Riches: The central character is seemingly
5. Comedy: Following a general chaos of
plucked from nothing to greatness where he is very
misunderstanding, the characters tie themselves and
often rich and of immense status. The hero often gets
each other into a knot that seems almost unbearable;
quick success, which is swiftly taken away and only
however, to universal relief, everyone and everything
regained after defeating a foe of some kind.
gets sorted out, bringing about the happy ending.
3. The Quest: This story revolves around a central
6. Tragedy: A character through some flaw or lack of
protagonist striving to meet an all important and
self-understanding is increasingly drawn into a fatal
often far off goal. The hero cannot rest until this task
course of action, which leads inexorably to disaster.
has been completed. Along this journey the hero will be met with obstacles and forces trying to stop him from achieving his goal.
7. Rebirth: In this story the protagonist’s imprisonment is derived from something from within his own psyche. The heroes liberation can only be achieved through
4. Voyage and Return: This story is based around a journey. The hero is transported to another world
the actions of other good forces like the redemptive power of love.
A. BONNIE AND CLYDE; B. LORD OF THE RINGS; C. SENSE AND SENSIBILITY; D. JACK AND THE BEANSTALK; E. ALADDIN; F. A CHRISTMAS CAROL; G. THE WIZARD OF OZ
N o .2
DID YOU KNOW
Stories can enhance memory retention by 2 to 7 fold, according to research studies done back in the 70s. Because remembering a story is easier than remembering sentences, and remembering sentences is easier than remembering word lists, story-based learning is thought to be essential for people who have small auditory verbal working memories.
N o .3
THE BOTTOMLINE
Aristotle may not have been a man of few words, but when it came to storytelling, he had it down in four:
E X O R D I U M . N A R R AT I O . C O N F I R M AT I O . P E R O R AT I O . Lead them in, tell your story, let them out, leave them thinking. (Correct answers: 1d, 2e, 3b, 4g, 5c, 6a, 7f)
OCT, 2009
SAATCHI & SAATCHI
N o. 01
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No. 02
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No. 03
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THE ART & SCIENCE of STORYTELLING 5.11
SPECIAL REPOR T
BY COCO VIDELA
D A N YA &DANIA THE
TRAILBLAZING STORYTELLERS.
Meeting Danya Alhamrani forever changed my notions of Saudi women. I first saw her on the food and travel TV show “No Reservations.” She filled the screen with charisma and laughter as she introduced host Anthony Bourdain to the culinary delights of the Kingdom. I was so taken by her enthusiasm, I vowed to meet her if ever I went to Jeddah. A couple of months and many google searches later I found myself in the family section of an authentic Saudi restaurant chatting and feasting away with Danya herself and her equally fascinating business partner, Dania Nassief. Together they created Eggdancer Productions, the first production company in Saudi owned and managed by women.
This is their story.
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11
THE ART & SCIENCE of STORYTELLING 6.11
SPECIAL REPOR T
In the summer of 2006, I partnered with my friend Dania
Most people probably wouldn’t put Saudi Arabia on their
Nassief to establish our own production company in
list of vacation destinations. Unless you’re coming for work
Jeddah. We wanted to tell the world the stories hardly
or pilgrimage, there is no easy way to get into Saudi as a
ever told of Saudi life and culture. The paper chase was
tourist. In general, people don’t get to see Saudi Arabia
long and drawn out. Currently, Saudi Arabian regulations
unless it’s in the news where it is usually painted in a less
require the general manager of a production company
than flattering light.
to be male. As women, we not only wanted to own the production company ourselves, but we also wanted to manage it. It took us some time to petition the government for this right. But finally, two years later, Dania and I are licensed and practicing.
Eggdancer Productions, serving as the field coordinator for a program on the Travel Channel, recently had the opportunity to show the world a little bit about Saudi Arabia – that Saudi women can be strong in charge, that we have malls similar to those in America, and that we like
Our goal at Eggdancer Productions is to produce inquiring
to enjoy our time with family and friends, like everyone else.
and moving programs that examine social, cultural and
I had won the first-ever “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
religious issues. We believe in using the media to affect s
FAN-atic Special” casting call competition for a television
ocial change and are committed to fostering dialogue
show on the Travel Channel. The contest required individuals
and greater understanding amongst the people of this
to send in videotapes explaining why the show’s host,
region, and to bring their stories, concerns, values and
chef and author, Anthony Bourdain, should visit the
ideas to the rest of the world.
contestants’ hometowns.
SAATCHI & SAATCHI
OCT, 2009
When I first met him in New York City as he was vetting the
very much at odds with the kinds of humorless fanaticism
contestants, Tony asked me repeatedly whether I thought
I was led to expect”. I think Tony’s revelation helped a lot
he would have fun in Saudi, reflecting a common bias in
of people see a different side of Saudis than that depicted
Western media that Saudi Arabia does not value leisure
on television or in movies.
and recreation, and that local inhabitants are somber, serious, or even evil.
In other attempts to transform perceptions, we have filmed people performing the Hajj for the documentary, “The
When he arrived in Jeddah, we dined together at a local
Straight Path: Pillars of Islam,” a teacher’s aid for high school
fast food restaurant, went fishing for fresh fish in the desert,
and university students in the West. Using interviews and
and played air hockey at the local Red Sea Mall. His answer to my frequent question:
“S O ,
ARE YOU HAVING FUN?
observational footage filmed in colorful locations in Mecca, the documentary introduces a non-Muslim audience to the basic tenants of a Muslim’s faith.
”
Most stories in or about Saudi Arabia are done from the
was a resounding “yes.” Although Tony never spoke to me
perspective of non-Arabs or non-Muslims, and are sensation-
about his expectations of Saudi Arabia, in the narration of
alized versions of the same story being told over and over.
his Jeddah episode he commented how he was surprised
We want to tell different stories, from the perspective of the
to find that Saudis were people with a sense of humor and
people on this side of the world, tailored for a western
who could laugh at themselves: “There’s a cheerful,
audience so that we might do our part to help build bridges
whimsical, good-humored and sophisticated atmosphere
of understanding between these different parts of the world.
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INTERVIEW
THE ART & SCIENCE of STORYTELLING 9.11
INTERVIEW WITH
MALCOLM PRYCE NATURAL-BORN STORYTELLER.
Malcolm Pryce is a natural-born storyteller mostly known for his series of noir novels about Louie Knight, Aberystwyth’s only private eye. Born in the UK, he studied beer drinking at Warwick and Freiburg universities before setting sail to distant lands. OXFORD. SEPTEMBER, 2009 Conversation with Coco Videla.
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THE ART & SCIENCE of STORYTELLING 6.11
After a variety of jobs including BMW
assembly-line worker, hotel washer-up, the world’s worst aluminum salesman, and deck hand on a yacht in Polynesia, Malcolm became an advertising copywriter in London and Singapore. He now lives in Oxford where he continues to chronicle the saucy tales of Aberystwyth’s criminals. Malcolm’s next project will find him teaching at his Skool of Midwifery for Writers,
“the only school of midwifery in the country that specializes in the birth pangs of writers.” To jump-start his midwife career, we asked him to hook us up with some storytelling tricks. Here he gives us a scoop.
INTERVIEW
TORMENT THE ONES YOU LOVE In addition to curiosity there is the curious power of empathy. First the author makes you like a character and then he gives that character a hard time. Torments him, puts him in jeopardy. If that happens you are hooked: you can’t stop yourself worrying about the fate of someone you care about. Writers know this and torment you accordingly.
ENJOY THE COMPANY OF YOUR CHARACTERS Reader seem to enjoy spending time in the company of characters in the same way we do with people we like in real life. The only
GIVE IN TO DELICIOUS AGONY Lots of things are at the heart of a good story, one of them being what you might call the ‘delicious agony’ of suspense. The chief aim of the story-teller is to keep the reader hooked and one way to do this is arouse her curiosity - ask questions but delay giving the
difference, I suppose, is in literature we can also enjoy the company of loathsome people.
SOME THINGS ARE ONLY HUMAN
answers. It’s called teasing. For more in-depth analysis I suggest you
I once read about a 19th century explorer who took the first camera
ask your grandmother about how ‘good’ girls in her day were taught
up-river in Borneo and arranged a photo shoot with one of the tribes.
to get a man to the Church door without going via the bedroom.
The chiefs all turned up on time but they had to wait an hour while the ladies got ready. He observed that this was a universal female characteristic the world over. Fortunately he was allowed to make
WHEN IT COMES TO DETAILS, IT’S A BALANCING ACT. .. Be careful not to trip I suspect we don’t need half so much detail as some people imagine. Detail is essential for supplying corroborating proofs of the fictional lie, but often a few brush strokes can evoke a world. I remember reading an account by George Orwell of a public execution in Burma in which the condemned man walks to the gallows and steps out of the way to avoid stepping in a puddle. An entire volume of commentary is contained in that one detail.
such sexist remarks in those days, I wouldn’t dare. Love of gossip also seems to be universal, particularly around a source of fluid like a village well or a tea pot. This is why TV soaps are so popular and, no doubt, literature too. This is a huge subject but I think you can distill almost everything you need to know about human psychology into a remark I heard a footballer say once in an interview. I can’t remember who it was, maybe Johann Cruyff or Franz Beckenbauer. He said,
‘When you are on the substitute’s bench you want your team to lose.’ I think that is quite brilliant.
SAATCHI & SAATCHI
OCT, 2009
IN ADDITION TO CURIOSITY THERE IS THE CURIOUS POWER OF EMPATHY.
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A glimpse into her life (done)
GLIMPSE INTO HER WORLD
The following pages are filled with short, little glimpses of moments, thoughts and experiences from the women we have met.
R USSIA
LI V I N G I N A D O LL’ S H O U S E
I love dolls. I have them all over my home. In the foyer, the living room, some even in the kitchen. Between my husband and two sons, there’s an overload of testosterone in the house, so I need to create a balance with my feminine touch. My dolls are there to remind them that I’m not one of the guys. I’m a woman and I want to be treated as one. Letting yourself go is the first big mistake women make when they get married. I asked my husband if he would still love me if I got fat and ragged, and he politely saicurse.” I almost slapped him. “Why would you do that?” I said. “If you really cared about me you wouldn’t let me get fat and ragged.” I can’t hardly expect him to fancy me if I look nothing like the girl he fell in love with. I know I wouldn’t.
R USSIA
P I N O T N O I R TO T H E LA S T D RO P
I used to work in wine tasting events before I got married. I found them quite fascinating. It wasn’t so much the wines that intrigued me as their ability to attract loyal enthusiasts despite their faults. I guess wines are not so different from people that way. As a single girl I got teased by my colleagues who thought I should go for Pinot Noir fans. It’s often described as being a difficult grape to deal with, but those who appreciate their qualities are passionate and devoted to this kind. They weren’t so wrong. I may be difficult, but I think I’m worth it. Like a Pinot Noir, I’m unique, but require attention. I’m full-bodied but at times too spicy. Exquisitely complex but terribly moody. Perfectly strong but utterly delicate. Luckily, I found a man who was attracted by my “pinot noirness.” When he complains about my high maintenance, I like to remind him that he got the whole package.
T URKEY
A LL D RES S ED U P I N CO N V ERS E
In two weeks I’m going to meet my boyfriend’s parents. I’m a little nervous because I really like my boyfriend and I want his parents to like me too. His father is also in the military like mine, so I can imagine he has high expectations! For the occasion I’m planning on wearing a black dress. It’s the one I wear for graduations. It’s simple, classic and makes me look thin! I will keep the jewelry simple as well. The make up natural. As for shoes, I’m wearing my converse. They always make me feel right. I feel like myself.
T URKEY
ZELILAH A LI T T LE F U N O U T O F LI F E
I am what I am. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to be my friend. That’s what I recently told an ex-coworker who criticized me for having too much fun during a work party. I don’t know why women feel like they can’t enjoy a little dance, a little music, a little fun, only because there are men in the room. It’s normal to want to protect your reputation, but shutting yourself down is not the answer. Men with integrity and confidence do not feel threatened or speak badly of women justbecause they are getting a little fun out of life. So why settle for boredom?
T URKEY
S ONG UL T H E G I R L W I T H T H E S I LV ER TO N G U E
I talk. That’s what I do. Unless I’m talking and expressing myself with my body, I don’t feel like I exist. My friends come by all the time because they know they are never going to be bored with me. I’m happy when I can talk about my opinions, about my TV shows, about my grand-son. We can talk about little things like what we made for dinner yesterday, or big things, like what I want to do for the rest of my life. It’s all valid. Talking is healthy, therapeutic and something no one can take away from me!
H UNGARY
ANDRE A
S O M E T H I N G S A RE F O R EV ER , TAT T O O S D O N ’ T H AV E T O B E
I got these tattoos when I was younger and still with the father of my child. The marijuana leaf on my wrist was my way of rebelling against my parents I guess. I am getting it removed by laser and it is already now just half gone as you can see. The other tattoo is this wedding ring on my finger. I will remove that next. These tattoos are part of a person who does not exist anymore. My past is over and so are the mistakes. When I think of my future I want to start from a clean slate. And I have my daughter Natalya to fill it with meaning.
H UNGARY
YASMIN B RE AT H I N G N E W LI F E I N T O A F U R COAT
I once got a really nice and quite expensive fur coat as a present. It was very shiny and thick. I wore it a few times but it actually made me too warm and I got bored with it quite soon. I made something else out of it so it wouldn’t just sit in my closet gathering dust. Now, whenever anyone over they almost always compliment me on the rug I have lying in the hallway. That always makes me laugh. If only they knew.
E GYPT
NEGU S O M E T H I N G O F M Y OW N
I loved being a teacher, but after my second child my husband’s family was pressuring me to spend more time at home with the children so I gave up teaching altogether. I really struggled with this. I hated the thought of being completely dependent on my husband and being stuck at home day in and day out. I was very unhappy. One day, while visiting my mother in her home town, I bought a couple of beautiful dresses as an investment. I sold them among my friends very quickly. Seeing that there was an interest in these kinds of dresses I went back for more. Now I sell them on a regular basis. My husband is happy because I bring home a little extra money and I’m happy because I have something of my own. My dream is to open the first shop in Tanta with only baby clothes! Over time I learned that as long as we manage our family’s expectations and fulfill our duties we can do whatever we dream of. It just take persistence and creativity.
P OLAND
KASI M ES S AG E I N A S A N D W I C H
Every morning I feel like I’m opening a little sandwich shop in our kitchen. With 3 boys and a growing daughter we go through as many as 20 rolls every morning. Each has their favorite. My oldest son loves it when I put extra butter. My daughter hates it when I mix ham with cheese. My husband likes it spicy. And the youngest cannot go without his nutella sandwich. You can imagine how long it takes! But I really love this moment. It feels like I’m sending a personal message to each of them. No roll is the same. It’s not a factory. It’s a bit special every time. I imagine that when they take out their sandwich they feel that I’m with them somehow. My heart grows. Once my daughter came home excited because she had shared her sandwich with a girl she had always admired. She said she felt happy to offer her a good bite. I know it sounds a bit cheesy, but I loved this moment.
SMALL TALK
37
REMARKABLE QUOTES
SMALL TALK
I MAY NOT BE A GREAT BEAUTY, BUT I AM A GREAT MAGICIAN. mighty mouth quotes SONGUL _ T U R KEY
If I was logical all the time, I would never bring anything home. OLGA _ RU S S I A
THE LAW MAY PREVENTS US FROM TAKING THE DRIVER’S SEAT, BUT NOT FROM TAKING CHARGE. DANYA _ S AU D I A RA B I A
SAATCHI & SAATCHI
OCT, 2009
38
AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT’S NOT A CRIME TO LEAVE DIRTY DISHES IN THE SINK EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE. LISA _ MOS COW
I FEEL MY CHILDREN HAVE INHERITED MY FORTUNATE GENES. ANDREA _ H U N G A RY
I’m in a fight with time but I still enjoy my cup of tea every morning. VIVIEN _ H U N G A RY
Last year I had cancer. I lost my hair, lost my composure but I never lost hope. KRISTINA _ H U N G A RY
LAUNDRY WISDOM
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LAUND R Y WIS D O M –
CURIOUS TIDBITS
Curious Tidbits. LAUNDRY DAY SMELLS GOOD
In Hungary, where most apartments don’t have balconies, clothes are hung dry indoors. They are placed on racks that are pulled up on a pulley system towards the ceiling, filling the whole room with the lovely scent of fresh laundry.
CATCH 22
Ironically, one of the biggest sources of rust stains in Egypt is the wooden clothes peg with the metal spring that they use to hang their clothes dry. The metal spring starts rusting due to the wet clothes and then inevitably starts to seep over time - especially evident on white clothes of course.
TERMS OF ENDEARMENT
In Egypt and Morocco women inadvertently give their clothes endearing human qualities. For example, they refer to bright colors as “colors that breathe” or muggy clothes as “clothes that need some sun.”
SAATCHI & SAATCHI
OCT, 2009
ISN’T IT IRONIC?
“When I'm looking my best, with my lipstick and makeup on, that’s when I keep a distance from my husband so I don't get any stains on his shirt.”
ZIPLOC IT
To keep your embroidered valuables intact (and preserve their pristine whiteness), a woman in Morocco taught us this very clever and easy trick...just put it in the bag and ziiiiiip it close.
SCISSORS DIPPED IN VINEGAR
If a Hungarian woman suddenly blurts out something like this, don’t panic. She’s not out to get you, she’s out to get a toughie stain. This cheeky idiom refers to those unfortunate stains that are practically impossible to remove. Note of caution, if she’s holding a pair of scissors, run.
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back cover
This magasine was printed on percent recycled paper.