US, US, baby

You know what one of my favorite things about the Olympics was/is this year? The fact that our American athletes are pretty representative of who we are as a people.

Although while traveling, foreigners struggled to grasp the fact that not all Americans were white, I think just a quick glance at our Olympic contingent surely proves that we are a country of immigrants.

Seriously…take for instance that men’s gymnastics’ team…Artemev, Bhavsar, Estrada, Hagerty, Hamm, Horton, Tan. Even the names on that small team captures the diversity of our country.

If only we could have gotten the whole world to watch NBC these past two weeks…

“I see great things in baseball. It’s our game — the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us.”
-Walt Whitman

After a stressful, pimple-inducing week, a night watching the Cards play at the “old” Shea Stadium, is pretty much the perfect thing to relieve me from being the “nervous, dyspeptic” person I was becoming. Fourteen innings that stretched into the next day can mean quite a night. But walking away with a Cards win…totally worth it.

Man, I love baseball.

How good can a movie be that when you leave its premiere, nobody in your four-person group even talks about it? Even when one of those in the group was sort of involved in it? Not so good.

Wednesday I went with some old MU sports geeks to see the premiere of Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot. For those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s a documentary about high school basketball stars on the verge of NBA stardom. Directed by Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, the film centers around one of their games at Rucker Park in Harlem.

Sounds like a winner for a sports nerd like me…so why no love? Well, for starters, musician Yauch clearly considers himself more of a music man than a filmmaker, which makes for a pretty awful movie. I mean the end of the movie spent yards of film on music credits…detailing every mix in there, but does little to acknowledge the majority of the film clips used in it. Speaking of those clips…most were grainy Internet cut-and-paste jobs that not only make it nauseating to watch on the big screen but also — even before the credits started — left me with little faith that their makers got the same credit (or pay) that the musicians did for the film.

And the actual story? Well, I like documentaries. OK. I REALLY like documentaries. I love how they take the audience on a journey, and we get to see, hear, and feel what another person (or animal) sees, hears, and feels. But this movie doesn’t do that. This movie has no journey. And the whole thing was shot with just a week of following the guys (according to an AP article)…hardly the time it takes to really get to know a subject. Instead, we just get to hear that a court is famous, see some kids playing a game, and hear others talking about how hard they think their life must be (um, hello…”show don’t tell” is a pretty good rule of thumb when it comes to laying out a good story…why didn’t Yauch just SHOW us how hard their life must be?)

It got a lot of hype at the film festivals, and even the premiere drew its fair share of coverage (of course it probably helped that a few of the guys in it were going to be starring in the draft the next night and were in attendance for the big showing). But still, I have to say, it just wasn’t good enough. Fun to watch in the way that I’m sure it was fun to see Jordan play pro baseball…but all the time knowing that someone should just stick to his day job.

“Kansas surges past Memphis to NCAA title”

Out of all the years I’m out of country for a Final Four, I’m sure glad it was this one.

When I see others’ souvenirs, I’m always a bit amused as to what people buy or where they’ve been.

At the hostel I was staying at here in Cape Town, there was a Japanese guy who had these Chicago Bulls and New York Yankees stickers on his suitcase. Being a hippie-kind of guy, he made it hard for me to imagine him at a Bulls’ game. Another Japanese guy who spoke VERY little English had on a Brooks & Dunn shirt from Madison, Wisconsin. Try as I did, I could not imagine this guy with his rather tight and high-waisted pants at a Brooks & Dunn concert in Wisconsin.

But you know, I don’t actually know these people. Maybe old boy is a really big sports fan. And other old boy could really put me to shame with his Boot Scootin’ (Boogie).

I mean, I always find it quite funny when new friends are surprised by seemingly normal things to me…like that I drove a truck, that my parents are white, or that I was born with 12 toes. (OK, kidding about the last one)

Yes, yes. It’s a golf course. It’s actually even used for that sometimes. And it’s the most popular Sunday picnic spot in the city.

I have to admit, the part of me that grew up as one of the kids who didn’t have a Country Club membership, gasped at the blatant abuse of the links…I can’t think of anyplace in the states where this would happen.

I think this basketball goal at the same park where the playground was may just about be the saddest looking little basketball goal I’ve seen.

Oddly, there are a lot of sad little basketball goals around…and they’re rarely used, it seems. The whole time I’ve been here, I’ve seen two kids playing, and they were taking shots like a three-year-old with the plastic hoop. Part of me wanted to go over and give them a little coaching. Or at least see if I could play a game of H-O-R-S-E or something.

Apparently, playground areas in India are a lot like the ones in the U.S. They even have the randomly placed tractor tires.

Another thought: The best part of touring the city with one of the girls from the office…having an excuse to play on all the playground equipment, of course. And I learned the Hindi word for “swing” too. Hopefully it will come in handy later.

Breakfast is basically my favorite meal of the day. In fact I like it so much, I usually eat it twice; if I have cereal, I’ll have a heaping bowl (or two) first thing in the morning, then a few hours later I’ll have a proper breakfast of bacon and eggs, or hot oatmeal and fruit, or a couple slices of cold pizza.

In India, breakfast isn’t as big as in the states. I have, however, found some Kellogg’s cereals to make my mornings wonderful. For a long time I’d been eating Chocos…think Cookie Crisps but all-chocolate flavored. Last time I went to the little store to buy my cereal, they were out of Chocos but said they’d gotten a new cereal in. It’s called “Frosties” here, but I’m sure you’ll see the similarities to our good ol’ Frosted Flakes. It even has the familiar Tony the Tiger on the box.

I loved that the back of the box also had tiger cardboard cutouts. My favorite was the “Be a Tiger.” Too bad I don’t have proper scissors with me to cut them out and decorate my desk. Hehehe. But I thought I’d do the next best thing and put up this post in honor of my beloved Tigers’ great/heart-breaking season.

Life is of course better after the last self-pitying post. In fact, I’d say I had a pretty fabulous weekend.

So what did I do this weekend? Well, here are the Top 10 highlights…(all thumbnail photos can be clicked on for the full-size version, too…)

Friday Morning
1. sprained my ankle-I am a complete clutz and honestly cannot do anything else while walking. I was trying to read a billboard, but unbeknownst to me, the sidewalk ended. But I didn’t. A good 2-3 stair drop later, and my bad ankle (old basketball injury) was in the worst pain I’d had in years. As I’m crawling — literally — toward the rock wall, I look up to see two older men just staring at me. They’d clearly seen me fall but offered no help or questioned if I was OK. Heck, they weren’t even laughing. But nevertheless still staring! Completely annoyed at them, I’d nearly collapsed against the wall when three college students rushed up to see if I was OK. They carried my bags and helped me back to the office. Yeah for friendly young’uns! Oh, yeah, and I also got to try some local Khasi home remedies on the ol’ ankle too. Did they help? Well, the pic above is taken the next day, and you can still see a bit of swelling, but the pain was gone. Either way, though, local meds are always fun!

Saturday Morning
2. computer came back to life-After a run-in with a local software guy, the computer had been worse last week, and I feared his self-implosion. And a way-too-long Thanksgiving Day conversation/search with the family turned up no disc that I needed to save him. Luckily my Yankee ingenuity and the old computer science guy at the office were able to figure out how to get Sonny back up and running. Yeah, so we’re friends again. And I can upload pictures on him for the first time in a month…including this fun one from a “sacred forest” last weekend.

Saturday Afternoon
3. ate a Khasi lunch-We went to the team leader’s house for lunch. Her mother had made a traditional lunch in memory of her mother’s death. Such yum food!

Saturday Evening
4. picked up my salwar suit-After choosing the cotton material last week and taking it to a tailor, my first Indian outfit is ready for the workshops this week. Yeah!*
5. ate dinner at a photographer’s house and found out what my name means-His mother made a delicious Muslim-Indian spread for a group from Impulse. And if you’re thinking my plate looks a little sparse in the pic, don’t worry. This is only my first serving of three. While eating, I also found out why so many Indians pronounce my name “Jana.” Apparently my name is a term from Persia or the Middle East that is frequently used in India now and pronounced that way. And Jayna actually means horrible foot rot. Just kidding. It is a term of endearment that means “my precious one” or “beloved.” Aw…sweet, no?

Sunday Morning
6. woke up by 7:34 a.m. phone call-If you know, me, you’ll know that any phone call that wakes me up is usually NOT a highlight. BUT this call was to tell me that the Tigers were up 14-0. Definitely worth waking up for. Thanks, Hez. And right after we hung up I got a text with the half-time score (still 14-0), too. Thanks, sis.
7. checked my e-mail-The Internet is MIA at the office since Wednesday, and there is only one cyber cafe I’ve been able to find in this city that opens before 10 or 11. But at that one, I got to check my e-mail and get the e-mails, drunk Blackberry messages, and ususbaby comments with game updates and messages that people back home were thinking of me. Yeah! It is honestly so nice to feel loved and remembered while I’m away. Especially when it’s for things like Tiger football and hot dogs. Thanks y’all.
8. the Tigers won-Of course the whole reason I went to the cafe so early was to check the MU-kU score updates. I nearly beat my head against the wall refreshing Yahoo! sports in the game’s last 20 seconds. But Missouri came away with the win. And if you’re wondering what I’m doing in the picture…obviously, it’s after the game, and I’m listening to the Missouri Waltz on my iPod at the cyber cafe. Obviously.
9. saw my first in-theater Bollywood movie-Om Shanti Om isn’t just any Bollywood movie, either. It’s the country’s biggest seller of the year. Things to note about the theater: the entrance fee was Rs. 30 (about $.75 USD); a Kit Kat and sour cream and onion chips were Rs. 15 (about $.38 USD); people smoke inside; and people spit betel juice on the floor. Things to note about the movie: it has great music (will be buying the soundtrack soon); the leading woman is drop-dead gorgeous and new to the Bollywood scene; the bad guy is just as hot and apparently a famous model; but the leading man is — I’m sure a wonderful person but — a bit of a butter face but a good dancer.**

Sunday Afternoon
10. watched traditional Indian dancing-This dance performer wasn’t doing dances traditional to this area but from the mainland. I’m up in the air on whether or not I liked it. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed going to the performance and seeing something different. But would I want to watch it over and over? I’m not sure. But, he did have a tough act to follow coming after the Bollywood blockbuster and all.

*Pics and more outfits will be coming, I’m sure.
**Stay tuned for more on the movie.

Oh, and although it’s not actually a part of the weekend…the Tigers are now No. 1 in both the AP and BCS. Grrr! Yeah, I’d say that’s definitely a highlight of the year.