Friday, I didn't get to bed till late because I went out for the evening with a group of co-workers and we are planning a trip snow tubing and white water rafting when the weather permits for either activity. You know me! all they had to say was the word wine and I was agreeing to everything:-)
Saturday:- early to rise and off to meet Wagner, then we got to the Baltimore Museum of Arts (BMA), then of course trust my luck, the first movie 'Juju Factory' which I really wanted to see as I am familiar with The Matonge district of Belgium! Well something happened and the film failed. Then on top of all that the writer of the film Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda was supposed to have come for the screening or the discussion, but he had visa issues and couldn't come! How sucky is that?
Then we saw 'Meokgo and the stick fighter'...it was too artistic for my tastes... I was not really feeling it. I mean it was sci-fi-ish, and I'm not too keen on science fiction, which is why I didn't stay for the last movie 'Les Saignantes' because that was a clearly marked sci-fi :-)
The one I mosted enjoyed would be the Nigerian film, 'Mama Put', it was both sad and hillarious. It's a story about a struggling widow with four kids who develops a strange relationship with some armed robbers. It's sort of like she was dependant on them and they were dependant on her food! It's not in any way shape or form like the Nollywood type movies. This was well written and directed by Seke Somolu and is only 30 minutes...and no you don't have to wait for a senseless sequel!!! It was a real crowd pleaser as evidenced by the loud applause:-)
We also got to see the Matisse exhibit free because of all the technical difficulties they were having. I am not a great fan of the Matisse sculptures, but I find his charcoal and the color paintings quite cool. I wondered into the BMA's little Collection of African artifacts...not really impressed. They had a neat chief Lewanika stool from 1800 Zambia, and that made my day and put a major smile on my face!
After the films, we went out to Donna's restaurant for dinner. First, they sat us in slanting chairs, then the tea was not hot enough and the dude didn't give me enough sugar. So already you can tell I didn't enjoy dinner:-), then the useless waiter gave me the wrong dinner and had the audacity to charge me double...:-) Oh and worst of all, I had to go in and get my own salt from another table???? Needless to say, his tip was $1 and that's only because I was feeling highly generous!
You know, I find tea very personal...I don't enjoy having other people make it for me unless they know me! I really love a great cuppa...it's just one of those simple pleasures I enjoy.
After this, we decided it was best to eat dessert elsewhere, and while we we're walking, I heard a great rendition of Stings 'Shape of my heart' coming out of starbucks...so we walked in and ordered a few warm gooey cookies and listened to Eva Cassidy.
On the way home, I bought 5 putumayo CD's on sale....how happy I'm I??? Over joyed! I also found the most perfect shirt at Cloud 9, in brown...but the bastido's only had huge sizes and even though I wanted to just 'buy it any way' I couldn't do it! The top was $90... It had to fit right for me to get it:-)
Spent the night drinking wine and dancing salsa and didn't get home till late!
Sunday: Went back to watch the rest of the films. First for today was a documentary 'A love during the War' by Osvalde Lewat-Hallade. It's about a couples unplanned separation during the Congolese war in the 1990's and what was going on in the country. It centers mostly on the consequences when rape is used as a weapon and just goes into detail about the astrocities taking place in the eastern part of Congo during this time period...and most likely going on now! They had several rape victims ages ranging from 2 years old to 80 years old. It was quite disturbing.. It allows you to take a short walk in the shoes of several women, one- a 15 year old girl, who is now the mother of a child whose father is unknown. She was taken from her grandmother at age 13 by the militia to "service" them in the forest for a long period of time. She talks matter of factly about the whole incident and sounds as if she feels lucky that she was selected to only sleep with the top 3 men, while her sister's (?) had to sleep with 20 men a piece!
I can not imagine my first sexual experience being rape....I had too many emotions going through me to name just one! So I wont say how I felt because I am not sure I know the right description.
The next film was a funny Ethiopian parable by Taye Workou 'Menged' which displayed what could happen if you take the advice of everyone you meet:-) quite funny actually. We needed it after that heart wretching documentary before.
'Growing stronger' directed by Tsitsi Dangarembga (author of Nervous Conditions). It's a documentary on people living poositively with HIV. It's about the Model Tendayi Westerhof who went public with her HIV positive status while on separation with her husband Clement Westerhof who was a soccer coach from Holland. I "met" Tendayi at a meet and greet of some kind after she went public. I am stunned that when I mention her name a lot of Africans from my region have no clue what I'm talking about! She was in every Southern African tabloid, how could you forget that beautiful face? I think she's really gorgeous! I wasn't that impressed with the documentary itself because I suppose I expected more...but I guess it would help someone live positively.
I was too tired and hungry to see 'Clouds over Conakry' by director Cheick F. Camara... so I left before that started and ended up at someones house for a tête-à-tête. I am home now, feeling really tired...I need to get my old bones to bed! Oh today is the super bowl...which as you can tell I am not watching. I have stakes in the game though. I put some money down on both, so i don't particularly care who wins because I will:-)
If nothing else, this weekend has greatly improved my french! Lack of use has reduced me to franglish or my favorite franja (french-nyanja) i.e je suis nkala dans le mupando! (classic!). Today though, I felt like there was a major improvement as I sat speaking to the man next to me...I was impressed!
I also heard some of the sexiest voices I will ever hear...one's is Roberto Poveda from Cuba and when I heard him croon Sueño Mama, it was over for me!!! The other would be Bebe (pronounced Beh bay), I think siempre me quedara is a really sexy song and goes well with her voice.
I'm sorry....I have just had a really nice weekend:-) I can't help going on and on!
1 comment:
Wow! I would have liked to see these films! Where did you say they are showing next?
classic guy! je suis nkala dans le mupando???? lol!
Post a Comment