Heat Theory

I have a theory about drivers in the UAE and the heat.

As the weather cools down, the chances of a driver stoping and waving you across at a free right turn increases.

Since the heat is less stifling, everyone is happier and more patient, and therefore more apt to stop and let you cross the street.

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Dourmet Adventures

Dorm + Gourmet (alternately spelled dormet)

Something I really miss from home is cooking together and then eating with family and friends.

Sama dining hall is great, but sometimes you just need a home-cooked meal that does not contain Indian spices.

Because there was no rehearsal this weekend, I had some free time to cook and see friends.

Last week we cooked for my birthday (wonderful hodgepodge pasta), last night I went to play board games and cook with Vermonters and friends, today I hung out with the French-speakers (for the record, I don't speak French. I am not the best at languages) while they baked, and just now I crafted an amazing grilled cheese (apple, caramelized apple, and camembert) inspired from this newly-discovered blog: http://www.grilledcheesesocial.com/.

Important sidenote: Whatever spellcheck is on this platform accepted "Vermonters" as a legitimate word.

There is something about cooking for yourself and with others that just feels like home, no matter where you are, or what cuisine is being cooked.

Recipes connect us to the past, to people, to the act of creating, in a way I often forget as a student on a meal plan. It is also very adult-like.

This year I am cooking more for myself, thanks to the purchase of a small frying pan.

Though if I am being honest about my cooking, I am mainly making grilled cheese, drinking fresh ginger tea, and continuing my love affair with brie.

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Progress

Buildings here are considered 'old' if they have been standing for 10 years.

Always being torn down and replaced with buildings of pink glass, reflections, and ornately carved walls.

The concrete history is being torn down for the sake of progress.

But there is a beauty to the 'old' buildings that stand in the city, a nostalgia.

Something that calls to the past, the history, the creative mind, the crafter.

The new buildings call to modernity. Sleekness. Efficiency.

Towers that rise so high it is as though they are trying to touch the clouds, but fail to do so, because people are bound to the earth.

We cannot forget that connection to the ground, to the earth. The one embodied in the buildings of the past.

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Visiting v. Living

You can visit a place very easily.

But it is much harder to live somewhere.

To feel like you belong in the place, to feel like you are going back to a home and not a tower.

It takes time to live in a place, and it is usually the little things that create a living space, not a visiting space.

Things like making tea, and late night conversations with friends, and exploring the parts of the city that are unknown.

I will never understand this place. But I think I am beginning to live in it, versus visiting it.

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Typewriters

Something we are trying to procure for a theater piece is a typewriter. As a stand in, I and another apprentice made one out of a box, duct tape, and a marker.

(A project I was super happy to work on because I miss creating things)

But anyways. The making of this typewriter had us talking about typewriters, and how we still loved them, because you need to take time and care with the words - there is none of this backspacing business.

There is also a physicality to the typewriter that is missing with a computer - on the scale of human to robot, handwriting is the most human, computers most robotics, but typewriters fall on the human side of center.

There is an art to each word, a rhythm.

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A New Decade

So I'm 20 now. Not a teenager.

And that is really strange, that intellectual knowledge.

Usually, when people my age turn 20, they think about how much they haven't accomplished, all the things they should have done by now

(And typically, here, those lists include things like starting NGO's, making a scientific discovery, or solving the hunger crisis)

BUT

I think I have actually accomplished a lot for my 20 years, and as I enter my 3rd decade (thanks, mom, for that reminder), I know I have places to go and people to see, but I have come a long way.

For one, I am in a university which allows me to explore the world, and interact with many beyond my own borders, and that is invaluable. Because of that, I will need a new passport before my old one expires.

I have amazing family and friends who are some of the most supportive and loving people that I know.

I am starting to figure out myself as an artist, a theater maker.

And I know I am still young, and still figuring things out, and still have an amazing amount of naivety and faith towards the goodness of people, but I have also been through some flames and come out stronger for it.

I am entering my 3rd decade in a state of healing, growth, hope, and confidence. I am excited for the prospects this decade offers.

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I'm Not Lost, I Just Need a Place to Start

A difference between rehearsal and performance is that in rehearsal you remember what you did on stage.

After a performance, you remember the feel of the stage, the lights, and the few faces in the audience you picked out. You know you did the show, like you did in rehearsal, but differently, because the energy of a room is so different when people fill the seats. But you don't remember the little moments of being on stage itself, actually saying the words, doing the actions.

I think that connects to theater as a medium - it lives in memory, in impression, and that can't just apply to the witness, because theater is connected to community.

It also has to do with adrenaline. Which was running pretty high the other night.

RealAD was such an amazing experience. I became really close with people I barely knew at the beginning of the summer, confronted my aversion to improv, remembered that trust should come before assumed distrust, worked on my writing, and helped to build a show with an amazing group of collaborators. A show that I truly believe made a difference. Even if just for one person, (though I think it was many many more than that), it was worth it. It made me a stronger, more articulate, and more caring person. I am so thankful for that.

Anyways. In the last two weeks I spent 80 hours in our rehearsal space. Now that the show is over, I have a bit more time on my hands to catch up with work, catch up with friends, and catch my breath in this city that is both strange and beautiful.

I forgot that when you get mail here, you really shouldn't open it at DTC, because you are more homesick than you realize. 

My new obsession is ginger tea.

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Sophomore Year, Day 1

For some reason, I am not super jetlagged, which is nice.

My class schedule is also nice, with classes that are already inspiring with awesome professors.

First day back was good - I woke up early, made tea, went to class, reviewed the RealAD show, made grilled cheese, read Aristotle, and had the first meeting for the fall production.

Updates here will be a bit shorter/sparse these first 2 weeks, because I am working on two shows right now.

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Headphones

Again, a pair of giant headphones from Al Safa is one of my best back-to-school purchases.

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And We Go

I am (almost) all settled back into Sama Tower, ready to begin my sophomore year.

The trip here was fairly uneventful - we made our flight with a 3 hour layover in O'Hare, a feat I was impressed with. There was some turbulence, but the most noteworthy part of the flight was the flight attendant.

Who thought I was under 18. I guess my enthusiastic smile led her to believe I was a minor traveling alone.

Jet lag is present, but not too bad. I watched Project Runway at 1AM, and got some sleep. Breakfast was wonderful this morning.

I had the brilliant idea of taking to Lit cores the same semester. Result? 27 books. Which isn't the most I've heard of.

Even though our shower is the same size as last year (our room is basically a reflection of last year's), it seems to have shrunk.

Also, I have a planner. Good times.

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