The moon looks out of the clouds for a few seconds, a charming and rare composition i was about to miss just to catch a living room window, arty but much less evocative, if it were not for the two chinese ladies who showed it to me and made me wait for the clouds to let the eerie white ball through. They were very eager to see my shots at the moon , they showed their approval and then in few minutes they were already back to ..ehm ...work. The Belleville boulevard is studded with these ladies that wear discret make up, smile and chat as buddies meeting after having prepared dinner to their husbands, and are wisely covered up in thick coats to stand there for the winter.. Whatever they might do they have a contagious laugh ... and definitely a good eye for the pictures !
Belleville is a place for everything and everything is never at its place here...
These are not from the Boulevard it is much earlier, around 19 when the rue de Belleville is gently turning to calm after the bustling day of commerce.. The rain is very festive here and put on carnival of colours on the damp streets.
The area is full of all sorts of immigrants , very tough life for most of them, either to struggle without permits and official papers or to make a living and find a place to stay.
Yet the colors and the scents of other places nourish the soul; i come here once a week to teach some rudiments of french to some of the migrants, motivated , big heart chinese, egyptians , brasilian , philippines, bangladeshi and tamoul. Most of them they have worked for 10 hours , sometimes at chilly and freezing weather, and still show up to get to learn french . They do not come with papers but a lot of heart and laughs to spare, and i get back with a little of their infectious joy of life
everytime.
Neil Young used to sing that in Heaven "cupboards are empty but streets are paved with gold", who could deny this tonite in Belleville ??
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