So, there's this nice British guy that we met in Mamalapuram (I know, we've met a million nice British people, don't even try to keep track). He'd been volunteering doing some cool drama workshops about gender relations and empowerment, and now he's just kind of chilling out. Anyway, we were chating and I discovered that he's a big fan of The West Wing, which you may know is more or less my favorite TV show. I think I frightened him a bit because he was at the computer next to mine in the internet place, and he found this "West Wing Quiz" online and I knew all the answers. And then later we argued about whether or not Donna was a slut who slept her way to the top (she WASN'T). Occasionally other people would turn to us and say, "Are you guys talking about the West Wing again?" and roll their eyes disgustedly. He was fun to talk to, though, because he was very intelligent and knew a lot about real politics as well, especially American politics (which surprised me at first, but he pointed out that American politics matter quite a bit in terms of what happens in the rest of the world). In fact, he's reading Bill Clinton's biography right now. Apparently when Chelsea Clinton was really little she got to go the White House with mom and dad (some governor's ball or something) and she asked then-Vice President Bush where the bathroom was. How precious.
Anyway, one nice thing about going home is that I will start reading the news again. E bought a copy of The Economist last week, so I essentially know what's happening with the whole Isreal/Lebanon/Hizbullah/Hamas thing, but other than that I've been utterly clueless. But the nice part about it is that normally I keep up with current events largely out of a sense of obligation (because it matters for my profession and also for my role as a citizen of the US and the world) but I've discovered that after a while I actually miss reading the news, which must mean that I enjoy it on some level as well.
My posts have gotten a bit dull, I know. I'm too lazy to upload photos, and I just feel tired and sort of want to go home. I only have a week left, and we still have three more days of work to do, and I have lots of shopping left to do for people, and I want to take lots more pictures and all, but my momentum is really waning.
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2 comments:
It's the first of the month....
i went camping with some friends two weeks ago for five days. no cell phone, no newspaper, no radio, no tv, and it was such an interesting and somewhat freeing feeling to be up in the woods with no idea of what is going on (at one point we were looking at a particiulary pink sunset and saying "portland could have blown up and we would have no idea") in the rest of the world. sometimes it's nice to just live in the moment and only experience what is going on right there around you.
...but then i gobbled up the news as soon as i got home, too...
-mj
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