The three juniors holding our first cord.. surrounded by beloved seniors ^^
I've gotten my first capoeira belt! =D Well I'm nowhere near being even a remotely good capoeirista, but as my mestre said: "You are now officially part of the Zambiacongo family." =)
Wow.. I can't believe I first joined capoeira only because the schedule fits my free time haha.. Throughout the four days of capoeira camp I was so inspired by Mestre Luizinho, by SMU and ITE Zambiacongo members... the movements, the flow, the music, the energy.. I've always thought capoeira is such a beautiful game, but I think I've just seen a whole new level of beauty and awesomeness to it!!
As always, talk is cheap.. this time, here's a video for everyone who thought capoeira is just a dance and there's not much of a fight aspect.. Enjoy!
"Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time. Serenity, that nothing is." - Thomas Szasz
Few nights ago, I could not go to training because of my injury, so I went for dinner with the CS peeps instead. Great crew, great conversations - as often happens when almost everyone has a different nationality - and then someone said, let's head out for a drink.
Now, I'm glad to enjoy drinks with friends, but I've never drunk in a club, just because I don't like crowds. I.e: I've never went "clubbing", just because I've never sought out the opportunity and totally had no idea what that entails. That day, though, I did not really care because.. I had to get rid of that gnawing, irritating feeling that I could not train capoeira. (I know this is silly, but it's true.. Capo is a serotonin fix and I needed to get my fix from somewhere else.)
Turned out, clubbing was totally the wrong substitute.. Entered the club, obligatorily marched to the bar to get my beer, then joined my friends.. Listened to the deafeningly loud music, then the live band, shook my head and body a bit... and ended up wondering... uhm.. Is there all there is to it?
Because, you see, it might just be my fault but I got the feeling that clubbing is just incredibly, incredibly boring.. and that's even counting the fact that: 1.I was with a great bunch of people whom I'd really like to know more (the loud music kinda dashed all hope of a proper conversation), 2.beer was free-flow (I like the taste of beer, but there were just too many people around the bar), 3.the band was great and the selection of songs was cool (though too loud).
In the midst of all the boom 'n gloom (boomz n' gloomz, if you like Ris Low), a friend spoke into my ear, "THIS IS A GREAT PLACE TO FORGET PEOPLE!!"
Hmmm... is that the point of it all? It's incredible that one comes to such a packed place just to feel lonely, but yeah, what with the alcohol, dry-ice smoke and strobe lights, that might just work..
After almost two hours, I finally made my excuses because I could not stand the boredom anymore.. I mean, watching drunk people getting it on, fat old lao wais struttin' their stuff alongside their nubile Asian girlfriends were actually pretty interesting, but you can't depend on that for long...
Well, it also made me think, "Will I be like all the other clubbers at one point in life? You know, bored by the routine of work, too tired to think where to spend time, no family, friends can't really spend time with me, so heck let's 'go clubbin'?" That freaked me out.. Having an almost pathological fear of boredom, I'll be doomed the day I "don't know what else to do, let's go clubbing.' huhuhu...
Ah well.. Bear in mind, dear Reader, that this really is an amateur opinion, just my two cents' worth. No offense whatsoever to clubbers out there, in fact I salute you for being able to bear hours amidst those boomz!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
"When we find someone whose weirdness is compatible to ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness.. and call it love - true love." - Robert Fulghum
"I felt beautiful when I was in Cambodia. I was sweaty, and my hair was matted and all over the place. I was happy and hot and accomplishing a lot and running around, and I could feel my heart beating, and I felt beautiful." - Angelina Jolie, when shooting Tomb Raider in Cambodia
It's been 2 weeks since I came back from Cambodia.. I've been meaning to write a piece on my travels but well, kept postponing it. Now the impressions I have are not so fresh and it seems that there are a lot less things to write about.. but still, the country merits some observations..
First things first, I had a great time in Siem Reap! (the only place I visited, due to time constraints). Before landing, I had an image that the airport was going to be.. you know, small, cheap looking, with the usual concrete-plaster-tile ensemble.. Couldn't be more surprised because the whole building shows great use of materials.. Raw concrete with smooth finishing (class!), combined with wood, sculptures, heck they even have glass-rimmed courtyards with beautiful gardens inside! Oh well, I took it as a sign of greater things to come, and dutifully marched to the line of immigration officers. After seeing my nationality in the passport, the officer serving me wanted to learn some words in Indonesian haha.. n I learnt my first Khmer word, "Soksabay" which means "How do you do?" =D
The city itself was pretty small, and well, honestly the buildings are simple and nondescript. Funny atmosphere of a city that you know is fast developing and building, but also retains a kind of village feel.. Reminds me a lot of smaller cities in Indonesia..except for one thing.. Siem Reap's clean!! Not-much-litter-lying-around clean.. which made me think, "What's wrong with Indonesia that we cannot do such a thing?" Hufh, anyway, it was also bloody hot and dusty, even with the large amount of greenery around.
On the streets, the most popular mode of transportation is tuk-tuk.. which is totally cool if you can appreciate the slower things in Life haha.. Seriously, though, the feeling of breeze in your hair (even if it's 40 degrees Celcius breeze..) makes it a nice experience. Motorbikes abound too, and what's so amazing is that all of them are seemingly for hire.. As soon as you make eye contact with a guy on a motorbike, he'll ask, "Motorbike, lady?" Once, I was right smack in the middle of the road trying to cross when a motorbike passed in front of me, and the moment I looked at the rider, he asked, "Motorbike, lady?" totally taking his eyes off the road and looking back at me when he was moving forward! That's what we call determination.. Anyway, it somewhat awes me that the pace of vehicles are so slow there, since the road is actually good and wide enough (unlike Hanoi with it's crawling traffic jams..). What sets the 'pace' of a place, I wonder? Coming from a place like Singapore, I think I'm starting to assume that everyone will surely go faster, faster, faster if they can, and it calms me down that there are still places people take it slow.
Talking about slowness.. DO NOT wait until you are very hungry to go into a restaurant in Siem Reap, because by the time they serve you the food, you'd have been almost willing to eat the table.. Ah, the downside of the slow pace I loved.. Great food though, mostly different kinds of curry the call "amok" (Somehow because of the expression 'run amok', I kept having an image of someone running around after eating that curry...)
The buildings, the pace of life, the food, and then.. there's the Cambodians. I have a very good impression of Cambodians, though yeah, my friends and I had several glitches like the boatman trying to extract a few more dollars above the agreed price, etc. I guess I'm comparing them to other SEA people - Thais, Vietnamese, Malaysians, Filipinos, fantastic fellow Indonesians - and I find Cambodians... sincere..
Hmm... yeah I think the word sincere describes my impression well.. When I was shopping around in the Old Market, the vendors asked me to look at their wares, but none were forceful.. The moment I smiled they'll just smile back and not try to 'detain' me, and funnily enough they seem to use this line a lot when saying good bye: "Good luck to you, lady/sir.." Anyway, I just feel that everyone is around doing their business but also accepting me as a tourist in their midst, and I don't feel like an intruder but I don't feel like a 'walking wallet' either.. Wonder if it's because there are still relatively few tourists in the area, but I sure hope things won't change with more and more people coming.. (which will surely happen, seeing how charming Cambodia is)
An incident I still remember... at one point, I was exploring a temple early in the morning, and a Cambodian lady selling scarfs approached me and said good morning.. Wanting to be nice and thinking I had lots of time anyway, I chatted with her a bit (Indonesians are still somewhat exotic to them hahaha..), but the whole time we were chatting I was waiting for her to start selling her stuff.. After about 5 minutes, she was like, "OK lady, good luck to you, have a good day!" smiled and started walking away just like that! I was dumbfounded hahahaha.. Half of me was glad because it seems she was curious about me without seeing me as a tourist, half of me was like, "Uhm, I don't look like the kind of people who buy scarfs?" hahahaha..
Next up: on the famed Angkor Wat and 'the other absolutely amazing temple', Ta Phrom.
"He divines remedies against injuries, he knows how to turn serious accidents to his own advantage; whatever does not kill him makes him stronger. " - Frederich Nietzsche
Hufh.. Trying to practice handstand last night and fell on my left knee and toe.. Juz came back from x-ray-ing it and thankfully just a sprain.
Still, it's a very irritating, saddening, maddening feeling to see people doing all kinds of things with their bodies and I'm stuck on the side watching.. I've always been a somewhat reckless person, so yeah injuries like this reminds me not to be so reckless, because it may well cause me my freedom.. Now that I love moving around so much, I love the way my body is getting stronger and more flexible, I love pushing the limits of what it can do and even loves having muscle fatigue on places I've never had muscle fatigue before.. I am so, very afraid of having all that taken away from me..
Yesterday when I fell on my knee, it was very painful in the beginning, and I was, like, "Please, God, not my knee.. I know sometimes I am more happy to go to capoeira training than to church.. but please, don't teach me a lesson this way..." while imagining all kinds of handicapped-for-life scenarios.. Classic run-to-God-when-there's-a-problem case.. but yeah, having my physical freedom compromised or taken away definitely ranks up there as one of my worst fears..
That said, you know somehow when you're doing something kinda dangerous you're sure that accidents will happen but you're not sure when, so you're just kind of holding yourself back when doing everything.. thinking "will it be this time? will it be when I'm doing this move?"
Well, in a way with this injury I feel like a kind of curse has been lifted hahaha.. And I won't have that kind of fear another time =D
Oh well, now I'll just hope I'll stop walking like a penguin sometimes soon..
"Funnily enough, that's the best word to describe.. Cunning with a conscience.."
"Yeah, it was so difficult to make appointment with my friend, he's like.. free but busy.."
"The real training starts AFTER training.."
"Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt" - Shakespeare
High from capoeira roda.. Getting somewhat better at doing the moves and playing longer, which just means more adrenaline is pumped into my bloodstream each time.. ah well not complaining.. Where the axe calls, I go!
The three juniors holding our first cord.. surrounded by beloved seniors ^^