(Dedicated to those who've died recently in East Asia.)
Let me invite you into my bed...so to speak.
I suspect many of you who live in earthquake prone areas will understand exactly what I am about to say; what it feels like to wake up a minute or two before an earthquake hits. You can sort of hear it coming. Not with your ears at first, but with your body. Then the sound seems to rise up into your ears and straining into your pillow, you can feel/hear the echos of The Deep roaring. It is a very strange sensation, and one that I'd become accustomed to while living in Japan (and growing up in Southern California). It is something you only really hear while you are in bed, not moving, with the whole world quiet and at seemingly at peace. When you are stripped of your protective mental devises and at your most vulnerable.
It makes living on the edge make sense. Make the only sense, in a way. But it also makes one edgy. You shake it off the minute you get up, but it stays in the body. Especially if you are "hearing" earthquakes four to five times a month.
My dorm bed is firm and comfy...but I've noticed on the mornings I wake up early--too early to rise, that I am waiting and listening hard for something. It was only recently I realized it was for earthquakes. But there is no subtle roaring from the pillow, from the mattress or the floor. It's nice, but it makes my heart ache for those having to deal with aftershocks and all the rest.
Ground that doesn't move under your feet. Can we start with that?
Oh to be a cat with nine lives, and with the flexibility and swiftness to jump from most any height and always land upright.
In the meantime, no more wasting time waiting for pillows to speak to me.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
tree hugging and London a la Mexico and Riverside
Today in my physical theatre class we were taken out to the grounds of the college, deep into a wooded thickety area where we had to do a kind of one-sided contact improvisation with nature. (For those of you who don't know, Contact Improv is a form of improvisation where you are in direct body contact with your partner(s) and physically responding to the nuances of bodily pressure and movement from...it is very funky. It looks like those bizarre snakey dance numbers, because, well, it is.) So, back to nature...anyway, the next thing I know, I am gently caressing the trunk of a slender tree, letting my fingers slide up the bark and following along an extending branch arching my back as my fingers followed the branch to the one of its lengthening twigs...sounds pretty sexy, eh?1! I felt kind of idiotic, truth be told, especially when we realized that there were two students sitting on a nearby bench watching us and smoking...something. I'm sure they REALLY enjoyed our show!!
Speaking of physical theatre, last Thursday night I went with Jorge, another international student, to Greenwich to see a performance by Josef Nadj. http://www.josefnadj.com/ It was a brilliant! (Really. If you ever have the chance, GO!) It was also a bit of a buzz to be showing someone else a bit of London. (Jorge came from Mexico about 12 days ago to study directing.) I felt just as absorbed at "seeing" London as he seemed to be, and it really did take on a new quality for me. One that I've not really experienced before. Perhaps always before, it was I who was the stranger. But when you can explain the transportation system, walk from one area to another without getting lost, chose a spectacular Indian restaurant...well, I felt almost...native (almost!!).
A new Taiwanese MBA student moved onto our hall day before yesterday. We bumped into each other in our hall's kitchen and chatted a bit. And lo, and behold, if she didn't spend a month studying English at UCR!!! When we came across that information, we looked at each other incredulously for a split second then gave each other a big hug. We had this very strange, but cool sister moment!
Despite my joy at being here to study theatre, drama and many of its applications, by far the best part is getting acquainted with all the people here. There's Georgie, an lovely English girl in my program, who spent a year in Philadelphia working with people with handicaps and learning disabilities. There's Naomi, another amazing local, who teaches drama to high school aged boys and set up a drama program for problem students. Sarah the Scot is using applied drama techniques to work with refugees in local areas. The physical theater student GURU is undoubtedly Tom, also a drama teacher for A levels. Tom, all 6'4"(?) of him, artfully and gracefully did a back-to-back roll over me today in class. (Imagine being on all fours next to another on all fours. Okay, now, the person on the left straighten's out their knees, reaches wide with his left arm and leg and arcs across your back, shoulder blade to shoulder blade, bum to bum, rolling over your back, landing like a cat on the other side. That was Tom. Impressive, huh? Me? I slide halfway off the first time, had to double kick my start, starting to roll somewhere in the middle of his back, and flopped to my finish. Not graceful at all!
Living in halls is SO FUN!! Not because we are always having a party, but we do often end up cooking our meals together in the kitchen and chatting with whoever...whoever includes Ajay (PhD in physics) from Grimsby (northern English) who claims the name says it all! He shoved jokes under my door and is my new little brother. Then there is Charlie (MBA), who must be the president of the Taiwanese Social Society! Great cook,too, that Charlie!! Shu Ting aka Natacha is also doing an MA in theatre, but her emphasis is playwrighting. She's beautiful and artsy. Peggy from Taiwan is doing her MBA, too, and seems very down to earth. And then there is the shaved head of Haddi, a very cool nice Lebanese guy doing an MA in Systems Security. Haddi is great, except for the fact that he claims he can't cook Lebanese. I told him that really is a flaw! Then there is Demitris, a Greek doing his PhD in music composition, David from Mexico City studying mathematics(much more exact than physics, he says!), Doug who makes sure the block parties are organized and attended and....just a ton of interesting people.
Life is good.
Speaking of physical theatre, last Thursday night I went with Jorge, another international student, to Greenwich to see a performance by Josef Nadj. http://www.josefnadj.com/ It was a brilliant! (Really. If you ever have the chance, GO!) It was also a bit of a buzz to be showing someone else a bit of London. (Jorge came from Mexico about 12 days ago to study directing.) I felt just as absorbed at "seeing" London as he seemed to be, and it really did take on a new quality for me. One that I've not really experienced before. Perhaps always before, it was I who was the stranger. But when you can explain the transportation system, walk from one area to another without getting lost, chose a spectacular Indian restaurant...well, I felt almost...native (almost!!).
A new Taiwanese MBA student moved onto our hall day before yesterday. We bumped into each other in our hall's kitchen and chatted a bit. And lo, and behold, if she didn't spend a month studying English at UCR!!! When we came across that information, we looked at each other incredulously for a split second then gave each other a big hug. We had this very strange, but cool sister moment!
Despite my joy at being here to study theatre, drama and many of its applications, by far the best part is getting acquainted with all the people here. There's Georgie, an lovely English girl in my program, who spent a year in Philadelphia working with people with handicaps and learning disabilities. There's Naomi, another amazing local, who teaches drama to high school aged boys and set up a drama program for problem students. Sarah the Scot is using applied drama techniques to work with refugees in local areas. The physical theater student GURU is undoubtedly Tom, also a drama teacher for A levels. Tom, all 6'4"(?) of him, artfully and gracefully did a back-to-back roll over me today in class. (Imagine being on all fours next to another on all fours. Okay, now, the person on the left straighten's out their knees, reaches wide with his left arm and leg and arcs across your back, shoulder blade to shoulder blade, bum to bum, rolling over your back, landing like a cat on the other side. That was Tom. Impressive, huh? Me? I slide halfway off the first time, had to double kick my start, starting to roll somewhere in the middle of his back, and flopped to my finish. Not graceful at all!
Living in halls is SO FUN!! Not because we are always having a party, but we do often end up cooking our meals together in the kitchen and chatting with whoever...whoever includes Ajay (PhD in physics) from Grimsby (northern English) who claims the name says it all! He shoved jokes under my door and is my new little brother. Then there is Charlie (MBA), who must be the president of the Taiwanese Social Society! Great cook,too, that Charlie!! Shu Ting aka Natacha is also doing an MA in theatre, but her emphasis is playwrighting. She's beautiful and artsy. Peggy from Taiwan is doing her MBA, too, and seems very down to earth. And then there is the shaved head of Haddi, a very cool nice Lebanese guy doing an MA in Systems Security. Haddi is great, except for the fact that he claims he can't cook Lebanese. I told him that really is a flaw! Then there is Demitris, a Greek doing his PhD in music composition, David from Mexico City studying mathematics(much more exact than physics, he says!), Doug who makes sure the block parties are organized and attended and....just a ton of interesting people.
Life is good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)