Surprise! Encore to the Bollywood Movie Marathon: Mardaani

Dec. 27: Mardaani (2014). 113 min. Directed by Pradeep Sarkar. Produced by Aditya Chopra. Starring Rani Mukerji, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Anil George.

I originally chose to watch this movie because it was less than two hours long. I also wanted to watch it because I knew it had a woman in the non-sexualized lead role (wooo feminism!), and it dealt with child sex trafficking in India, which is a huge illegal industry in India and elsewhere. The main character was a strong, even-tempered woman named Shivani Shivaji Roy, the senior detective of the criminal branch of the Mumbai police. When her twelve-year-old niece's close friend goes missing, Shivani suspects that something sinister is afoot, and dives deep into the world of organized crime, drug kingpins, and sex trafficking. Mukerji's character was great because she was so bad-ass, so smart, so caring...she wasn't an "oversensitive" detective with "too much personal at stake to keep a level head," as many women are expected to be. Shivani was the most intelligent and calculating character in the entire movie. There's even a scene where she works out. I don't think Mukerji had any makeup on at all in this movie.

There was very little of the usual cheesiness of Bollywood cinema, with the exception of maybe a couple of characters and one or two scenes. I think that lack of ridiculousness added to the serious tone of the film. The filmmakers didn't sugarcoat sex trafficking.

There was one moment in this movie where I was like "hell yes." I almost screamed it. My hand was in a fist, I pulled my arm down in a victorious yessss like this meme child. 

 That  moment was around the middle of the movie, where detective Shivani Shivaji Roy told the head of the police force that waiting for rape to happen isn't the way to prevent it.

English translation of what they said:
Police chief: "You know what Shivani? You're being unnecessarily emotional."
Shivani: "So one should only get emotional after girls are raped? What's the point in holding a candle in the march after everything's over?...You know what sir? The day our police force gets emotional for these girls, no one will dare to harm them."
Police chief: "Enough Shivani!"

If anything, the police chief was being the emotional one. He was the one who shouted, "Enough!" after Shivani explained calmly and rationally that the police should care what happens to women and girls who are forced into prostitution. This scene was, hands down, my favorite part of the movie. Shivani's is such a powerful statement to make, because it reveals the lack of prosecution against crimes against women in India. The police chief's sense of security was threatened: Shivani's spiel made him uncomfortable, as it rightly should. You should feel uncomfortable, you should feel upset when oppressed groups don't get the justice they deserve. Men are more likely to believe a man when he says he was robbed than a woman who says she was raped/harassed/terrorized/etc. (#patriarchy) Men are more likely to take action in response to a robbery than to the violation of a woman, which the film sort of touches on.

Major "India is great" moment: uh...the end where the kidnapped girls (not going to spoil it). Maybe when Shivani says "This is India." I can't really say that India's image was portrayed in a positive light in this movie. 

Theme of the movie: Good vs. Evil; Corruption vs. Justice.

Bollywood Movie Marathon finale: Jab Tak Hai Jaan

NOTE: This post is as long as a Bollywood movie. Fair warning. However, if you read to the end, you get to see some very flattering pictures of my face.

I was hoping to end my movie marathon with 15 Park Avenue, but it isn't on Netflix and I have watched enough movies for one week. It is on YouTube...but again, that whole enough-TV-watching-for-one-week thing is still valid.



Dec. 17:  Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012). Directed by Yash Chopra. Produced by Aashish Singh. Starring Katrina Kaif, Anushka Sharma, Shah Rukh Khan, Anupam Kher.
Loose translation of the title: As Long as I Live
French translation of the title, which I think is more eloquent: Jusqu'à mon dernier souffle (Until my last breath)

This movie plays right into what I was talking about with being in love with Shah Rukh Khan and then female leads being ten or more years younger than he is. It actually addresses both those things.

As with a large percentage of the films starring Shah Rukh Khan, this is a story of two women being in love with him, and him having to choose between them. The first is the woman from Major Samar Anand's past: a wealthy Christian businesswoman (Katrina Kaif) named Meera, his first love. Meera makes deals with Jesus, which is an unusual way to pray, and prays that if God keeps him alive, she will stay away from him. That's actually the the plot point that really keeps me from giving this movie five stars out of five like I definitely would have given Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham: the deals that Meera makes with God would have been less confusing to me if she had made them with the devil instead.

Praying in the church...or making a deal. Shah Rukh Khan as Samar Anand and Katrina Kaif as Meera.

This part was confusing. Image from anishok.wordpress.com

The second woman, Akira, is a young intern with the Discovery Channel in Delhi who happens to get rescued by Samar. This is in the present. He gives her his jacket and rides away on his motorcycle saying little more than goodbye. Akira finds his journal in the pocket of the jacket, reads the whole thing, and falls in love with him. She tracks him down and insists on interviewing him for a spot on the Discovery Channel.

Anushka Sharma as Akira

Here's an important tidbit about what Major Samar Anand does for a living: he is a soldier who diffuses bombs for the Indian military in Kashmir. He is known to some as "the man who cannot die."

"The man who cannot die"

In the film, Meera and Samar are about the same age, and Akira is about twenty years younger. Too young for Samar to take her seriously. In real life, Katrina Kaif is 18 years younger than Shah Rukh Khan, and Anushka Sharma is 23 years younger than Shah Rukh Khan. Younger fans of Shah Rukh Khan can relate to Akira in that she is much younger than the star she's in love with, and he will not love her back in the same way she loves him because he sees too large an age difference. She's not blind to it either. They both recognize that the difference in their age makes it hard for them to be lovers. They both know, however, that Samar tenders animosity toward Meera, despite her being his first love, for reasons I will not disclose. I've already said too much. Eventually, history repeats itself, testing Samar's feelings for the two women in (and no longer in) his life.

The cinematography in this movie was top-notch. You could really tell the influence of Hollywood cinematography on this film, although I would add that they probably had a really big budget and got some amazing cameras for this.  Additionally, the directing was phenomenal, though, sadly, Jab Tak Hai Jaan was Yash Chopra's last film before his death. He directed and produced almost one film per year from 1956 to 2012. There was a dedication to Yash Chopra at the beginning and the end of the movie.

Yash Chopra (1932-2012)

The sound mixing in this film was also incredible. There was this really dreamlike, ethereal sound that the filmmakers paired with awesome slow-motion pensive shots, suspenseful shots, and other really well framed shots. The song "Challa" is really catchy.

"Challa"

Major "India is great" moments: the scene in which Samar diffuses a bomb on a train in London; scenes of the Indian military.

Theme of the movie: living without love is a challenge to death each day. Something like that.


Dec. 18: I finished Jab Tak Hai Jaan today, but it was hard to concentrate on the subtitles because of headaches and jaw pain. Maybe I will watch some more Indian films later in the week.

This picture of a chipmunk accurately depicts how I feel.

Post-wisdom-teeth removal, day one:

At this point my lips are still numb.

Ice packs and pain meds.

Day two:

Hooray for chipmunk cheeks and general misery!

Day three: less cheek pain but I could barely stay awake all day. Also headaches.
Day four: taking less strong pain meds means more energy but also more pain. Why did the home phone ring at 2:45am last night?
Day five: the swelling has gone down considerably.

Bollywood Movie Marathon: Intermission

December 16: INTERMISSION. This is not the name of a film. If you need to go to the toilet, get a snack, or get a drink before you continue reading, now is the time. You have roughly fifteen minutes before the blog resumes.

 I didn't watch any Bollywood movies today. It was a nice day so I decided to go outside like a person who is taking care of their health and well-being. 

 Like...I know he's almost as old as my parents, but damn Shah Rukh Khan is fine. I mean, look at this selfie he posted on Twitter!

The man clearly knows how to use his front-facing camera. He could get me to sign up for Western Union (if you've seen any recent Bollywood movies, you probably know what I'm talking about). 

Point of contention: 
All the leading women cast across from Shah Rukh Khan are at least ten years younger than him or more. Why can't women who are roughly the same age as the men be cast? Better yet, why not cast a younger man? 

I know why neither of these things happen: ageism (discrimination based on perceived or actual age) and sexism. Older women "just aren't beautiful enough" to be leads, but they can be mothers or grandmothers. No one--ahem, men--wants to see older women in a lead role, right? Not enough eye candy, too old to sell to the audience. And yet we don't bat an eye when 50 year old men like Shah Rukh Khan or Aamir Khan are cast as men half their age, those golden oldies. I could go on and on about the disparities, which have an equal presence in American, British, and other cinemas, but I'll hold off for now. There's not enough time before the end of the intermission to get much farther.

Bollywood Movie Marathon: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

December 15: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). 177 min. Directed by Karan Johar. Produced by Yash Johar. Starring Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Sana Saeed, Farida Jalal, Reema Lagoo, Shah Rukh Khan, Anup Kher, Salman Khan, Johnny Lever.
Loose translation of the title: Something Happens

Thoughts while watching Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, one of the classic Shah Rukh Khan + Kajol films:
I sent my friends this message:  "For three of the last ten minutes of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai I totally thought the movie was going to turn into the family/pg version of Devdas and I was about to be like, wow that's dark for a family movie."

See all those actors' names from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham that are also in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai? Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Johnny Lever, Farida Jalal... They're all there and they all made another movie together.

Major "India is great" moment of the movie: Daadi at summer camp, taking down the British flag and the portrait of Mary Queen of Scots, and having the children at the summer camp perform Hindu prayers and sing India's national anthem.

Theme of the movie: You never forget your first love.


Quote from my Facebook Page:"[Today] I watched Kuch Kuch Hota Hai for the first time. I really liked Kajol's character as a college student because she refused to wear a dress or a sari, played better basketball than her best friend (who was a man), and saw people for who they were. I wish as an adult she stayed more unconventional. I honestly felt that the movie was pretty tame for Bollywood (though it was a must-see because of all the famous actors in it). I would be more critical except halfway through it, a friend told me it was supposed to be a family movie, and suddenly it made sense: that's why there were so many children in it, why the songs were so extra cheesy, and why there was so little conflict to drive the plot. Oh well. I can say I've seen it now. I guess it was cute for a family movie. Waaaay better than "RA One." 

I could not finish this movie. It was actually terrible. Great poster, though.

Bring on the next heart-wrenching, four hour long Bollywood movie!

Bollywood Movie Marathon: Queen

December 14: Queen (2014). Directed by Vikas Bahl. Produced by Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, and Madhu Mantena. Starring Kangana Ranaut, Lisa Haydon, Rajkummar Rao, Mish Boyko, Jeffrey Chee Eng Ho, Marco Canadea.

Characters Vijaylaxmi and Rani

Thoughts while watching this: from my Facebook post: "Today's Bollywood movie was Queen, about a woman who goes on her honeymoon alone after her fiancé decides he doesn't want to marry her---two days before their wedding. The beginning was slow, and the whole idea of "self discovery through travel" was kind of cliché, but what I liked about this non-mainstream Bollywood movie was that the main character was so relatable. Plus, she had all these funny discoveries about sex which continuously surprised her and kept the movie interesting." They really were funny. One of my favorite lines was "You mean...a lip-to-lip kiss?"

(In case you are not an avid watcher of Indian films, kissing on screen is a taboo practice due to censorship early in the Indian film industry, though it has become increasingly common, especially in the past ten to twenty years. There are other reasons, like it's just not something that <older generations of> Indian people do to display affection, but that's a sweeping generalization that I  hesitate to make.)

Rani goes to a nightclub in Paris with new friend Vijaylaxmi and dances like a wild woman to a Hindi dance song. One of the first poignant moments in the film was when Rani had a flashback in the night club to a scene in which Vijay reprimands her for dancing (too erotic?). There is also a scene in which Rani's fiancé told her she shouldn't take a job, even though she is educated and qualified, because he will earn enough money for the both of them. (I'm no expert, but that sounds sexist to me.)

I think one of the reasons I liked Rani as a character was because I had been in her shoes, traveling in Paris and Amsterdam alone. Traveling alone is lonely and can be scary when you have no one to share your experiences with and you don't really have a plan. While watching, I kept thinking, "I traveled in Paris that way. I met awesome people in Amsterdam too after a negative experience."

 Major "India is great" moment: Rani sells golgappa (panipuri) on the side of a canal in Amsterdam, and people can't get enough of it.

Theme of the movie: do not let the man who let you down dictate your life or your happiness.

As I was watching Queen, I realized that it is probably a more accurate depiction of what happens when real people in India arrange to marry than anything portrayed in the flashy movies. A lot of that has to do with the amount of wealth the characters have. Rani's family has nice things, but they are not enormously wealthy. Her family's wealth appears to be fairly modest. Her fiancé Vijay is better off, but his house is no mansion. There are certainly class differences that are apparent between Rani and Vijay, and their value is apparent in certain scenes. In nearly every film I have seen, with the exception of films where certain characters are intentionally impoverished, the main characters come from enormously wealthy families or have become fairly rich themselves. Extreme wealth is the dream, right? Not so much in this movie. The dream for Rani is to give herself opportunities to grow.

Bollywood Movie Marathon: Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham

Two years ago, my friend/roommate and I decided to take a Bollywood cinema class together. It was this class that got me hooked both on filmmaking and on Bollywood cinema. I used to watch at least two movies per week for this class (which is six hours of movie-watching per week, on average--I had a lot of time on my hands that semester). 

What is always interesting to me about Bollywood movies, especially mainstream, high-budget Bollywood movies, is that they always manage to slip in two main ideologies: one about relationships with other people, and one about the greatness of India.

Temporarily having a TV and an absurd amount of free time, I will be having a week-long Bollywood marathon. And really, one single movie is as long as a marathon itself. Let it begin!!!

December 13: Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001). 210 min. Directed by Karan Johar. Produced by Yash Johar. Starring Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Jaya Badhuri, Farida Jalal, Rani Mukherjee, Shah Rukh Khan, Hritik Roshan, Amitabh Bachchan, and some other people, prominent actors and not.
Loose translation of the title: Sometimes Happiness Sometimes Tears

(Kareena Kapoor and Kajol)

Thoughts: This was a great movie to start off with. As I wrote on Facebook, "Today's movie was Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham, which was three and a half amazing hours of music and dance numbers, dramatic irony, and famous people crying in (literally) every scene. It was great. :D" I loved every second of dramatic irony in this movie, and every second of the dramatic irony was made extra dramatic because everyone was crying the whole time. It even made my dad cry. The title is completely accurate.
 I won't spoil them, but the plot twists were really well done. 

So much crying, so much heart-wrenching sadness. (Shah Rukh Khan and Jaya Badhuri)

Major "India is great" moment: Kajol's character always gripes about how her son will never know his country or his culture, and she sings India's national anthem every morning. She and her mother also make fun of English accents at every given opportunity. Then, at a school function, he surprises her by singing the whole thing in front of a crowd of parents. I don't know if that counts as a spoiler or not.

The love theme in this movie was familial: the meaning of a mother's love for her sons, the father's concern with his social status/reputation superseding all else, including his family's happiness.

Also damn Hritik Roshan and those turtlenecks. You can keep wearing turtlenecks if you want, but leave the leather shirts with the cut-off sleeves behind. 

Sweaters. (From left to right: Hrithik Roshan, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan)

Quotes

These were some quotes that stuck with me this week. There's a theme here...

"Hope will never stay silent."
-Harvey Milk, LGBTQ rights leader

"People act, then think."
-My dad

"I'm a good person, not a nice person."
-Matthew Ponce

"People like the flavor of bullshit, the aroma. It's very rare that people will stand for a complete lack of bullshit in anything."
-James Randi, professional skeptic

"Nothing that we do as individuals matters, but that it’s vitally important to do it anyway."

-Mohandas Gandhi

 

Thoughts and words from the week

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015
"On and on and on..."
"I am going to be so late, we're never going to get another reservation for next semester."
"I have no idea what to say. I always blank on personal experience."
"It's hard not to see one kind of privilege cancelling out another kind of oppression."
"I still have a hard time seeing the forest through the trees."
"Wow there are so many people here who don't normally come to this."
"Back to square one."
"Wow that is really racist and I don't like it."
"Why am I mumbling?"



Friday, Nov. 13, 2015
"People think that if you have a camera, you're up to no good." -TA from one of my classes
"Why am I paying for this?"
"Wow this person who doesn't really talk much at practice is actually really cool. I am so glad they are running with us."
"What if I went to my car and ate that granola bar while everyone else is waiting for their food..."



Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015
"I really enjoyed getting to know this person this weekend."
"You aren't as mature as I thought."
"Downtown Richmond is a blast from the past. Look at that Rite Aid sign! I bet it doesn't even light up!"
"There's no way I won't PR."
"YES!"
"This race was amazing."
"Am I getting on his nerves?"
"I definitely screwed up my knee."
"I-85 between Petersburg, VA and South Hill, VA is one of the most beautiful stretches of highway I have ever driven through."

 Later that day...
"UNC,
 You have once again screwed me over for needing to conduct academic business on campus on a [football] game day. Obviously my financial, intellectual, and organizational contributions to this institution for the past three years mean nothing to you compared to someone's season pass tickets. You screwed me over last week, the game before that, last year, and it just goes to show how your contradictory corporate interests outweigh the needs of the people in the community who are actually affected by them. The system is rigged against the students and staff that fuel this university.
I have been up since 5:45AM and have not had a single break today because of how you've blocked my access to campus."

I am still upset about it and don't want to hear condolences like

'Oh, I'm sorry (but I am in a position where that doesn't affect me so I can't really say I care)'

or

'Yeah, that stinks (too bad, there's nothing to be done about it)'.

What I want is retaliation. I want answers. I want to find out and talk to the person in charge of the things I want to change for next time so that there will not be a next time.

Excerpts from my thoughts that illustrate my week

Some of these I said out loud, some of them I sent in messages, some of them I did not say at all.

Saturday, Halloween:
"I fear death by...suffocation...violent suffocation?"
"Yeah, have you talked to a priest?"
"Mother Teresa and Plank from that cartoon Ed, Edd, and Eddy. The mustache really pulls the whole thing together."
"Holy crap that guy is messed up."

Saturday, filming:
"Yeah. I do actually hope this goes viral."
"Why did I not stretch earlier?"
"I thought about asking you to come pick up all this stuff, but then I was like, I might be in the shower when you come, though."
"Oh no, so many humans."
"I have no idea what you're talking about because I live under a rock."
"My acting would be great if I could wear a mask all the time."
"I'm glad I was more involved in this one."

Saturday, Oct 31, Duke run:
"I'm the captain! I'm the one wearing the f-ing helmet, I'm the one who gets to make the f-ing rules!"
"As my friend Carolin once said, and I've been looking for an opportunity to reuse her words, 'I don't always run to Dook, but when I do you know I'm going to be wearing a Carolina helmet the whole time.' I also carried a water bottle the whole time."
"I love this two hour time span to just zone out and not think about all the things I have to do."
"We didn't get to sing the Alma Mater!" :-(

Friday night, Oct 30, costume designing:
"Number two plastic is the devil incarnate."
"I owe you a knife sharpener."
" 'Carving' 'pumpkins' is awful."
"I ask you this, as a friend: quit your job and come help me gouge the eyes out of these pumpkin masks."

Thursday, Women and Gender Studies discussion about sexual harassment:
"I feel like I can't say anything."
"I wish we had talked about the readings. I related to those a lot."
"Why didn't we talk about sexual harassment?"
"Why didn't we talk about the consequences of sexual harassment?"
"Only one person brought up a personal experience with sexual harassment. I bet there are more."
"Why are we all laughing at this? It's terrifying!"

Thursday, 1980s Aerobics workout (Taebo video):
"What?...No."
"We're kickboxing to Mario Kart songs."
"DOUBLE TIME!"
"They're all screaming in pain and loving it."

Wednesday, dinner at Café Symmetry:
"Carrot ginger lemonade...ugh I love carrots and ginger whyyyyyy did I not buy that?"
"I'm so full, but I could totally go for another."
 "I miss Alexis."

Tuesday, during a meeting:
"I should have nominated myself for a few more awards."
"Wow, I am actually appreciated." 

Tuesday, during the meeting before that:
"Tru Deli is actually pretty good. Is it something I couldn't make myself? No, but it is better than making it myself."
"We're speaking in French this time. Huh. Cool."
"Wow my accent is horrible. I need to go back to France."

Tuesday, during the meeting before that:
"Oh no I am guilty of all these things."

Tuesday, during the meeting before that:
"I don't feel like working out today."
"They already counted." :-(

Monday, Campus Movie Fest:
"I'm going to be late to practice today."
"Shit shit shit shit upload please please please please."
"I love the elevator sound."

Sunday, Oct 25, evening:
"I have so many meetings this week."
"I'm so hungry but I can't eat because I have to go run sound on a project at someone's house."
"SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS! They're actually quite catchy."
"Forget it, I need to go to bed before midnight tonight."
"I have so much editing to do."
"I have to get up early to move my car again." :-(

I stopped shaving my legs; I don't want to be silent

• Why I haven't shaved my legs
• Why I don't shave my legs
• Why I stopped shaving my legs
• Why I no longer shave my legs

These are all titles I considered for this blog post. "Why I haven't shaved my legs" wasn't permanent enough. "Why I don't shave my legs" would have been a good title, but I was afraid of the permanence of saying that. Ironic.
The question: why, as my mom put it, am I "going natural"?

• To spite society, convention, and male/female double standards 
• And yet, I have not yet dared to stop shaving under my arms...and I know why. Armpit hair is more noticeable and makes a larger statement than legs with hair growing on them.
• I discovered that I didn't need to shave in order for a male to be attracted to me
• I don't want...to feel like I need to shave my legs to please someone else
• I know several very cool women who do not shave their legs. They seem happy and comfortable with themselves and their bodies, which I both admire and aspire to.

Consequences:

• I feel like I get weird looks, or did initially, from other people, like they are judging me for not conforming to the idealized female beauty standard.
•  I fear that other people judge me for having hair on my legs, or I used to. Now that it has been over a month since I last shaved my legs, I feel less self-conscious about it. Looking at me from a distance, you can't even tell that I don't shave.
• Despite this fear, the only person who has asked me about it or said anything about it was my mom.
• My showers are shorter than ever and I save time and lots of water by not shaving.
• I feel more confident in my body, like it's less objectified than before.
• I still have self-doubts. Am I making a good decision by doing this? 

I can be quiet sometimes. A lot of times. All the time. Multiple people have told me that they didn't know how to read me at first, because I was so quiet: at least three co-workers at my summer food-service job have made this exact comment to me. It was baffling to them--what is she really like?

At least one person I went on a date with asked me why I never shared anything with him, my opinions, stories, why I didn't talk much...(It worked well to keep an aura of mystery about me in that case, but do I always want to keep people guessing? Eventually, they stop guessing and fill answer questions with their own assumptions. We only went on one date.) I could say that it takes me a long time to get used to new people, and I wouldn't be lying--it took me almost two months for me to finally feel comfortable around my host family when I studied abroad; it took me just as long to be courageous enough to speak to other students in my university courses in France; I have almost never been very talkative or comfortable around my male bosses, despite some of them being very open and approachable.

What I think I have become, in many of these situations, is silent. Silence is wrong. I, as a strong, independent female human being with thoughts, feelings, and ambitions, should not be silent. I should use my voice everywhere, all the time. I shouldn't wait for other people to ask me what I think and I shouldn't wait for people to tell me what they think. I should be confident and show people just how thoughtful and kooky and intelligent I am. I should just ask for things when I need them, rather than making myself struggle until I fail or explode. I see things and hear things and have opinions on them.

No one ever told me I should be silent. Not that I can think of. Growing up, not talking when the teacher was talking was a sign of respect. The teacher had the authority and the student did not. They said "be quiet," but they were never really addressing me. It doesn't matter: I internalized it. Now, it's different: I'm in a group of peers and none of us are above each other. The people who were never quiet in primary school are now really loud, and the people who were quiet before do not have much of a voice at all. Even professors, in some of my classes, I can tell, feel bad that when I finally raise my hand to say something, there is not enough time for my comment. "She was finally going to say something...What a shame." Guess I waited too long.

It's normal to be afraid, but eventually, I got tired of it. I started talking to the French students in my university classes. I decided to take down the wall I had been building up against other people.

I'm done waiting. I don't have time to wait any more. I don't want to lose my voice. It's time to speak my mind.
Time to speak up.

Stories from the Work Week

I have come to realize that my on-campus job at the university has its own set of daily stories. Maybe it is more interesting a job than I once thought...

Wednesday shift: Just saw a man get so angry that he popped a boner...because he got hit in that area with a basketball...suddenly Cards Against Humanity comes to life. 

Saturday shift: I normally don't work on Saturdays, but I picked up an extra shift to make some more money over the weekend. This particular day, there was a basketball camp going on in the courts, and many parents and their younger children were sitting around and watching their kids play. Some of the kids there were so small; they were so adorable when they try to run across the court chasing huge basketballs and it was all they could do not to fall on their faces. On the sidelines, I watched a perfectly able-bodied 6-year-old kid drag himself, face down, 20 feet across the floor with his hands and elbows to retrieve the basketball that had rolled away...then, with the basketball in one hand, he dragged himself, face down, all the way back. He won the scooching contest.

I see a lot of odd, funny things at my current job. 

Later: The kid who dragged himself across the floor was now muttering to himself happily like a lunatic.


Even later: I discovered that the basketball camp had thrown in the garbage lots of half-full, recyclable plastic water bottles, so a co-worker and I took all the plastic bottles out of the bin, emptied them, and put the bottles in the recycling.

Wednesday, shift 1: Today at my job, I played peekaboo with a 6 year old kid while his dad played basketball. He was bored and a little shy, but every time he passed by my desk, I said, "Now where did he go? I just saw him a second ago..." and then shrieked a little as though I was startled when he popped out to the side and said "Boo!"    "Ah! You got me!"

Wednesday, shift 2:  I don't normally work two shifts in one day, but I did this time to get out of working on Friday.
I have another work story... This time it did not happen in the basketball courts (wow, shocking change of location, I know, because I normally work in the basketball courts)--it was in the Equipment Room that no one ever checks out equipment from.
The security guard was telling me and a co-worker about how he met his wife and how their zodiac signs aligned perfectly, which they didn't know until their marriage. He was in the airforce as a young man, stationed in South Korea, taught himself Korean after a few months..(his wife is Korean).
So the security guard shows us the picture of him as a young man, his wife, and in their wedding photo they are both wearing traditional Korean garb and their headdresses are beautiful and ornate.
They visited the wife's brother in South Korea last year and people were amazed that this really tall, kind of old American man could speak Korean better than his Korean wife. (Many people, like taxi drivers, thought his wife was Chinese because her Korean was rusty.) They went to this temple together and the security guard waited outside because he was tired. He started talking to this elderly woman and they were having a nice conversation when the woman's granddaughter came out of the temple.
She said to him, "I'm sorry if my grandmother was bothering you." He replied replied, "No no, we were just chatting." 
"Oh. That's funny. My grandmother doesn't usually talk to strangers. Plus she doesn't really speak English."
"Oh no, we were speaking in Korean." 
She just looks at him (confused and amazed at this African American man) and says "Oh. You speak Korean?"
The security guard watches a lot of Korean soap operas while at work, while things are slow or quiet, it's kind of funny. He is excellent at his job and a cool person to get to know, also a talented artist.  

Thoughts of the Day: Second Day of Class

I only had one class today, ASIA 180: Introduction to Islamic Civilizations. What we talked about in class today, and actually today's reading, made me feel bad about the way I interacted with my last date in Montpellier. It made me question the validity of the information and opinions I discussed in the presentation I gave as one of my final exams last semester. I already love this class and I think the material we are going to cover is fascinating. I saw Kayla in that class, talking to Neel (who, having stopped to talk to her before leaving, had been in the biology class before that took place in the same room). I have known people in all but one of my classes so far. Weird. Such a large university, yet a small community.

On my way into the gym today, I opened the door for an international student. He was taller than me, had blond dreadlocks and a tan, and a thin braid hanging down from his forehead past his chin. "Are you exercise and sports science?"
"Sorry?" (It was a little noisy.)
"Are you exercise and sports science?" He asked again.
"No, but I work here."
"In the gym here?"
"Yeah, in the basketball courts."
We walked down the hall to where I was going to clock in and he was going to find his classroom.
"Where are you from?" He asked.
"Me? I'm from here,"  I said nonchalantly.
"I would have guessed you were from New Zealand or something, from your accent."
"Nope, I just sound weird," I replied.
He went to class and I clocked in. That's that.

Today is the first day of Marathon Club practices! Oh la la la la...

Once again, I am conflicted by my choice of majors. French and Communications are the ones officially declared, but... Asian Studies is calling my name again. I'm conflicted because I am enjoying learning the techniques of film production, the media theory behind it, and getting more involved with UNC STV. At the same time, I also want to pick up Arabic again, maybe learn Hindi as well, travel more, go back to France, other places in Europe, go to Senegal, go to Asia (India, now Japan and South Korea too, Taiwan, Hong Kong, The People's Republic of China, Singapore, maybe Pakistan), develop a skill...But Communications teaches a skill and is highly project-based...gaah how do I choose? Do I want to go to all these places by becoming an English teacher? There have to be other ways that involve getting paid, too...

ADDENDUM: On Sunday I ran into Camille in the Undergraduate Library! It was great to see her again!

Thoughts of the Day: First Day of Class, 3rd Year at UNC

First Day of Class Reflections:

Most of my classes let out early.

I wore my reversible shorts inside-out on purpose, but I didn't mean to put my underwear on that way, too...

Coffee and tea with Renata and Lucas after French class was wonderful! It was nice to catch up. Lucas is hoping to study abroad in Cairo, Egypt in the spring (I am jealous, why did I not continue with Arabic???). Renata had a great time in Poland and Wednesday is her birthday woot woot! She is having an ambiguous party of some sort on Friday.

A person my friends know is in my women's studies class, and I was surprised to meet her there. Also a person from a group I was in last year is in that class.


Today in my political science class on the analysis of public opinion, I learned that the class counts as a QI (Quantitative Intensive course)... I accidentally signed myself up for an applied statistics class...I had no idea. It wasn't listed on the course description, was it??? Oops. I hope it's still interesting and doable...
I could tell immediately from all the enthusiasm and the project descriptions but lack of real content in the syllabus that the teacher was a graduate student and not a professor. I picked up on that immediately because I myself was like that as a camp counselor. During political science class, we went around the room and said who we were, where we were from, why we were in the class and what our favorite book was. There was a very well dressed male French (?) student who likes Fahrenheit 451, a book by Ray Bradbury for which I wrote an essay that won me $75 in an essay contest when I was 14. I am a fan of Ray Bradbury's writing, it's so beautiful. Anyway, going around and hearing people's book choices, I had a strong urge to snap every time I liked what one of them said and a sudden wave of nostalgia came over me. My eyes nearly teared up as I thought about how much I missed that, sitting in a circle at Lac du Bois, cabin council or réunions de staff where we did snapped our fingers whenever we agreed with or liked what someone said. Good times.

STV Open House is tonight and I am so pumped!!!

Marathon Club starts tomorrow and I am also so pumped!!!

I am so bad at getting homework done, here I am on the computer not doing it...

Ce que j'ai fait pendant mon travail comme boulangère

Second half summer totals:
791 loaves of bread (including dinner rolls, just to be clear)
107 cakes (including cupcakes)
1094 cookies
30 mille feuilles
186 custardy things (île flottante and other items)
781 muffins
56 pizza crusts
1 cool new burn
1 smashed rainbow
I can't even count how many times Luna said "goddammit"
3 movies and most of a tv show
2 knitted...rectangles
2 instances of eating Korean food
2 I-Days
Innumerable friends made
4 (?) game nights
1 night under the stars
1.5 weeks of waking up in the middle of the night
1 skunk
1 porcupine
2 trivia night outings
0 tears
lots and lots of laughs

Jour 26 dans la boulangerie du Lac du Bois, deuxième moitié 2015

Des câlins
Mon déjeuner
De bons souvenirs

Highlights from second half of the summer (wow look English!):
Stargazing and shooting stars
Cool lightning storms
The Aurora Borealis
A really fat porcupine
Game nights
Piñata-busting
Anpan
Korean food
Senegalese Day
All this week's meals
Making new breads and desserts
Mille feuilles
Sourdough
Pirate cake
Movie nights and knitting
The exchange day with Arabic camp
Trivia nights (yay we didn't lose!)
Spending time with a villager from first half
Conversations about female empowerment
Getting to work and become friends with some really amazing and talented people
There's so much more I want to say but I don't think a Facebook post will be enough.

The Concordia Language Villages in Minnesota are a great place to work if you like foreign languages, teaching foreign languages in a fun way, kids, food, international cuisine, making friends, lakes, woods, lakes in woods, the Mississippi River, and line dancing. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for work or an internship next summer! There are counseling, kitchen, and other positions available.

Jour 25 dans la boulangerie du Lac du Bois, deuxième moitié 2015

Jour 24 dans la boulangerie:
12 sourdough artisanaux, mon dernier cadeau en quittant le Lac du Bois cet été
12 pains "eh"
3 thaikry sans gluten
9 thaikry sans produits laitiers
12 biscuits au Nutella, sans gluten
16 miches au boulgour et à l'avoine

Hier soir on a vu les étoiles filantes et des coups de foudre en même temps. C'était incroyable.
Aujourd'hui j'ai eu l'occasion de voir Elisabeth avant de partir, ce qui m'a rendue contente.
J'ai adoré la nourriture que la cuisine du Lac du Bois a faite cette semaine et je suis heureuse que la Journée Sénégalaise soit ma dernière ici cet été. La "glace" à la banane, le mafé au poulet, les snips ;-)
  J'ai du pain et des biscuits pour mon voyage, aussi du mjadarah, du poulet, des anpan...
Pour fêter mon dernier jour au Lac du Bois, ce soir nous avons frappé le piñata arc en ciel avec la moitié d'une vieille baguette, quelques unes d'entre nous sommes sorties à Sup Sogi HoSu (écriture?...) pour chercher à manger, finalement Becca, Audra, Leandria, 'Ryn, Anaïs et moi avons regardé les étoiles filantes spectaculaires.
Enfin, c'est l'heure de chanter une chanson de Francis:
"Je dis bonne nuit au Lac du Bois
Lac du Bois
Même si j'ai pas envie
Lac du Bois
Mais il faut dormir, le Lac du Bois
Lac du Bois
C'est la belle vie au Lac du Bois"

Sourdough boules

I tried to carve Becca's French name, Luna, into a loaf of brioche...again...

Jour 24 dans la boulangerie du Lac du Bois, deuxième moitié 2015

10 miches et 3 petits pains au Nutella déconstruit
10 boules de sourdough d'une pas trop bonne recette
12 pâtes de sourdough d'une très bonne recette

Aujourd'hui j'ai fait du pain pour le congélateur, vu qu'il soit possible qu'il n'y ait personne à faire le pain pour la semaine de familles... Je suis sortie à Mi Rancho avec mes amies et on a eu de discussions sérieuses et intimes, puis on est rentré et quelques unes entre nous avons décidé de regarder "Endeavour!" ensemble pendant que l'on tricotait et peignait. Mes amis au Lac du Bois et aux Concordia Language Villages me manqueront énormément! Aieeeee o là là j'ai pas envie de rentrer vendredi matin!

Jour 23 dans la boulangerie du Lac du Bois, deuxième moitié 2015

55 baguettes pour le dîner d'échange avec Al-WaHa
18 miches de pain de campagne pour le déjeuner demain
120 muffins pour le petit déjeuner aujourd'hui, puis encore 95
Waouh quelle journée! J'ai démarré sur le travail à 7H après 4-5 heures de sommeil en raison d'avoir longtemps passé du temps avec mes amis de Concordia. Aujourd'hui j'ai beaucoup cuisiné, même sans assez d'espace et assez de places pour tout le pain.

Jour 22 dans la boulangerie:
120 muffins à l'avoine
La pâte d'une pizza, sans gluten
J'ai roulé beaucoup de pâtes de pizza et je suis sortie à quiz night à Brigid's avec mes amis de Concordia Language Villages. The Lollipop Guild n'a pas perdu, mais on n'a jamais été sur le point de gagner...

Jour 21 dans la boulangerie du Lac du Bois, deuxième moitié 2015

Un gâteau tropique à la pirate pour Beau
Des bars au citron
29 baguettes (toutes mangées ce soir!)

Jour 20 dans la boulangerie:
des biscuits voyageurs
brioche pour le pain perdu
4 gâteaux yaourt
Et je me suis brûlée le bras sur la moule à miches hourrah

Sharp gifts from the core staff

So I never deleted this picture

La dernière tranche, épongée de rum

Lemon bar shenanigans and pictures I said I would delete but didn't