Mendhi night
I had a good time tonight. It was interesting, and different to the wedding I went to three years back - but then again, this wasn't a reception. It was cool though, to see how the Muslim Indian women are without men around. The family of girls who sat in front of us we all wearing midriff revealing clothes and pants, not dresses, and were all dolled up (Indian style), however when it came time to leave... on went the scarves and chadors (I know 'chador' is an Iranian word, but I don't know the right word in Urdu). I realised that when I see Muslim women in public I see them through society's eyes. This time, I got to see underneath the 'cover-all', as we dubbed it, and the women were so vibrant and personable and not at all the stereotype of a Muslim woman. I mean, I kinda knew that anyway, from Dina, but these girls covered up way more than she ever has. Dina seems like a bit of an anomaly to me sometimes. She's such a legend. Anyway, I don't know whether I felt sad that the women couldn't be themselves in public, or kinda pleased that I'd gotten to take a peek underneath, like it made those women, and the people who got to see their more private selves, somehow special for the seeing. Who knows? *shrugs* Anyway, not all of the women covered like that, only some. And I'm just musing again.
We finally got to see Dina dancing. She got up there on stage with a few of the other girls and looked great. It was interesting to see the different styles of dancing; some a more belly-dance type of style, some slower, more traditional, some fast and crazy like the type you see in Bollywood films. One pair of girls acted out a love / dance scene from a movie, with one girl dancing the part of the woman and the other the part of the man. It was good, and all just improvised. It's not like there were set numbers or anything, people just got up and danced. Some of the white women were on stage trying to learn, but that's not my style. I have no problem learning privately, but I'm not exhbitionistic enough to want to do it on-stage. In fact, I'm surprised that Dina got up, I really didn't think she would. She danced well, I don't know what she's worried about.
I bit down on a seed in my chickpea curry thing (or was it my tamarind chutney?) and hurt my tooth AGAIN! At least this time I know that it is just mild nerve damage and it will go away in a few days. It's not so bad this time anyway.
There were more whiteys at the event this time, and even if Tash was still blonde, she wouldn't have been the only one in the room. We were the most formally dressed white people in the room, but the Indian girls/women were all fully formally dressed (although not so much as they will be tomorrow night at the wedding). Problem was, I was dressed like a white person and therefore stuck out again. Last time I was underdressed (although still formally dressed for my culture!), this time I was dressed appropriately but compared to the other whiteys I was overdressed. Argh! Never mind. I looked reasonable, I think. Not my fave... never a fan of skirts or dresses, but it was presentable. Next time though, I'm getting a fricking sari! Orrrrr... I'll get one of those pantsuit things (which I forget the name of). Yeah, I think I like those better. Then I'll fit in. Heh. I'm getting better at this Indian culture thing. There were some teeny little girls there and they were soooo cute. All dressed in their little pantsuit things, or dresses/saris, and trying to imitate the women dancing. Just so adorable.
Tash and I ended up taking like five hundred long routes back home (it took us an hour to get back from Mt Gravatt! lol). We got onto the Pacific Motorway, then somehow we were off it again somewhere out the back of Tarragindi, so we went along expecting to find another turn onto the Motorway again, only to find ourselves back on Logan Rd (albeit way further down near Greenslopes). So then we turned and went along hoping to hit Ipswich Rd. Nope! No Ipswich Rd. The next thing we know we're in the outskirts of Annerley on the opposite side to where I used to live. Then we got to the top of this hill and could see the city.
"Aim for the city! Head for the buildings!" we cried, giggling madly. There's something about hanging out with Tash that makes me giggle. We always have fun just being silly together.
So anyway, we headed towards the city, but we stopped at some lights. The city was out of view but we knew it was right ahead of us. The road ahead seemed like it could be a No Through Road, all dark and gloomy and badly lit. Abandoned buildings (or potentially just buildings with no lights on) lined the street. Considering this, we decided to be sheep and follow the majority, turning right. So we drove along... and along... and along... and suddenly Tash started seeing familiar landmarks. She realised we were on Cavendish Rd heading towards Cleveland, which is the way she drives to work in the morning. We wanted west si-id-e (sai-ee-dah!), not the east side! So we chucked a U-ey and headed back along until we saw the city again. Turned out we were now on Stanley St and had come out at the back of the Gabba (that's right, back over near Annerley!) and ended up passing where we'd have come out if we'd managed to get to Ipswich Rd. Then we got across the bridge, (that one with the big cream-coloured pillars that has one end in South Brisbane and the other end near Roma St on the city side - I forget the name of it... maybe William Jolly?), which took ages thanks to detours courtesy of the football game. We made our way up past the top of Caxton St, where we carefully avoided drunken yobbo dickheads lurching onto the road like a stampeding horde of Casey Novaks. We continued on until we hit the intersection opposite the Normanby Inn at the top of Kelvin Grove Rd, before I asked Tash if she knew where she was going. Suddenly, she realised that amidst our chats she'd blanked out and started heading back to her place (in Herston) and, not to worry, she'd fix up her error. So we did a big old loop, got back up Roma St, and got onto Milton Rd FINALLY. Off we choofed, past the XXXX factory and down Coro (where the traffic had thinned out, happily... on the way to the Mendhi night the traffic was insane), and got back past the drunken yobbos outside the RE (no lurching this time), and at last... we were home.
Rather, I was home, as Tash still had to drive back, but she had a boyfriend awaiting her in her nice, warm bed, so really, she had nothing to complain about. My girlfriend is thousands of miles away. *sighs*
My sister called at 11:39pm after I'd just gotten into my pj's. I'd already recounted the evening for Jun and debated Sandra Oh's ethnic background (Korean - Jun was correct, but I maintain that Sandra Oh is cool). I was just sitting down to rest my sore feet (work followed by shopping followed by walking home followed by several hours in heels which I'm not used to, results in aching balls of feet, in case you didn't know), when Jun tottered downstairs with the phone. I eventually got into the phone call (which lasted almost an hour) and we've made plans to meet for lunch on Sunday. She'll be in Brisbane visiting a friend, so it will be good to see her. Also, it's Tash's birthday celebrations next Friday night so I'll be out then... and I might go up the coast on Saturday so I can give Dad breakfast in bed on Sunday (Father's Day). He'll like that.
I'm really just blithering on now.
I wonder if Kari is feeling better? She's been sick for two days... I didn't get to talk to her today since I was out. I guess I'll talk to her tomorrow after Jun and I come back from the West End markets. :) I've never been to them before so I'm looking forward to it.
We finally got to see Dina dancing. She got up there on stage with a few of the other girls and looked great. It was interesting to see the different styles of dancing; some a more belly-dance type of style, some slower, more traditional, some fast and crazy like the type you see in Bollywood films. One pair of girls acted out a love / dance scene from a movie, with one girl dancing the part of the woman and the other the part of the man. It was good, and all just improvised. It's not like there were set numbers or anything, people just got up and danced. Some of the white women were on stage trying to learn, but that's not my style. I have no problem learning privately, but I'm not exhbitionistic enough to want to do it on-stage. In fact, I'm surprised that Dina got up, I really didn't think she would. She danced well, I don't know what she's worried about.
I bit down on a seed in my chickpea curry thing (or was it my tamarind chutney?) and hurt my tooth AGAIN! At least this time I know that it is just mild nerve damage and it will go away in a few days. It's not so bad this time anyway.
There were more whiteys at the event this time, and even if Tash was still blonde, she wouldn't have been the only one in the room. We were the most formally dressed white people in the room, but the Indian girls/women were all fully formally dressed (although not so much as they will be tomorrow night at the wedding). Problem was, I was dressed like a white person and therefore stuck out again. Last time I was underdressed (although still formally dressed for my culture!), this time I was dressed appropriately but compared to the other whiteys I was overdressed. Argh! Never mind. I looked reasonable, I think. Not my fave... never a fan of skirts or dresses, but it was presentable. Next time though, I'm getting a fricking sari! Orrrrr... I'll get one of those pantsuit things (which I forget the name of). Yeah, I think I like those better. Then I'll fit in. Heh. I'm getting better at this Indian culture thing. There were some teeny little girls there and they were soooo cute. All dressed in their little pantsuit things, or dresses/saris, and trying to imitate the women dancing. Just so adorable.
Tash and I ended up taking like five hundred long routes back home (it took us an hour to get back from Mt Gravatt! lol). We got onto the Pacific Motorway, then somehow we were off it again somewhere out the back of Tarragindi, so we went along expecting to find another turn onto the Motorway again, only to find ourselves back on Logan Rd (albeit way further down near Greenslopes). So then we turned and went along hoping to hit Ipswich Rd. Nope! No Ipswich Rd. The next thing we know we're in the outskirts of Annerley on the opposite side to where I used to live. Then we got to the top of this hill and could see the city.
"Aim for the city! Head for the buildings!" we cried, giggling madly. There's something about hanging out with Tash that makes me giggle. We always have fun just being silly together.
So anyway, we headed towards the city, but we stopped at some lights. The city was out of view but we knew it was right ahead of us. The road ahead seemed like it could be a No Through Road, all dark and gloomy and badly lit. Abandoned buildings (or potentially just buildings with no lights on) lined the street. Considering this, we decided to be sheep and follow the majority, turning right. So we drove along... and along... and along... and suddenly Tash started seeing familiar landmarks. She realised we were on Cavendish Rd heading towards Cleveland, which is the way she drives to work in the morning. We wanted west si-id-e (sai-ee-dah!), not the east side! So we chucked a U-ey and headed back along until we saw the city again. Turned out we were now on Stanley St and had come out at the back of the Gabba (that's right, back over near Annerley!) and ended up passing where we'd have come out if we'd managed to get to Ipswich Rd. Then we got across the bridge, (that one with the big cream-coloured pillars that has one end in South Brisbane and the other end near Roma St on the city side - I forget the name of it... maybe William Jolly?), which took ages thanks to detours courtesy of the football game. We made our way up past the top of Caxton St, where we carefully avoided drunken yobbo dickheads lurching onto the road like a stampeding horde of Casey Novaks. We continued on until we hit the intersection opposite the Normanby Inn at the top of Kelvin Grove Rd, before I asked Tash if she knew where she was going. Suddenly, she realised that amidst our chats she'd blanked out and started heading back to her place (in Herston) and, not to worry, she'd fix up her error. So we did a big old loop, got back up Roma St, and got onto Milton Rd FINALLY. Off we choofed, past the XXXX factory and down Coro (where the traffic had thinned out, happily... on the way to the Mendhi night the traffic was insane), and got back past the drunken yobbos outside the RE (no lurching this time), and at last... we were home.
Rather, I was home, as Tash still had to drive back, but she had a boyfriend awaiting her in her nice, warm bed, so really, she had nothing to complain about. My girlfriend is thousands of miles away. *sighs*
My sister called at 11:39pm after I'd just gotten into my pj's. I'd already recounted the evening for Jun and debated Sandra Oh's ethnic background (Korean - Jun was correct, but I maintain that Sandra Oh is cool). I was just sitting down to rest my sore feet (work followed by shopping followed by walking home followed by several hours in heels which I'm not used to, results in aching balls of feet, in case you didn't know), when Jun tottered downstairs with the phone. I eventually got into the phone call (which lasted almost an hour) and we've made plans to meet for lunch on Sunday. She'll be in Brisbane visiting a friend, so it will be good to see her. Also, it's Tash's birthday celebrations next Friday night so I'll be out then... and I might go up the coast on Saturday so I can give Dad breakfast in bed on Sunday (Father's Day). He'll like that.
I'm really just blithering on now.
I wonder if Kari is feeling better? She's been sick for two days... I didn't get to talk to her today since I was out. I guess I'll talk to her tomorrow after Jun and I come back from the West End markets. :) I've never been to them before so I'm looking forward to it.