now i can breathe!

saturday was a rather hair-pen-ning day. the otago singapore club organised a lunch to celebrate national day at the golden harvest restaurant. it was a hearty affair for those with a hearty appetite. i ate to my heart's (and stomach's) content, walloping as much of the chilli stuff as i could. made a mental note to go back there for dim sum or more of the yummy food we gorged on. we also received some of the ndp stuff which you guys back in singapore might have received at the parade, like that ridiculous-looking fish hat (i seem to totally dig ridiculous-looking hats) and this really cool hand-held fan with some laser thing that spells out "happy birthday singapore". impressive!

managed to rest for a while at home before heading for the otago indian cultural night, held in conjunction with india's independence day. though entertaining and educational in some places, i was sore that there was no bhangra!! bhangra, to me, is one of the coolest dances there is! the energy and passion and forcefulness of the dance is just awe-inspiring. i think i've never seen so many indians in one place before in dunedin. and people were all dressed like it was deepavali or some indian wedding!!! i think that's cos they hardly get to wear their gorgeous indian clothes in dunedin, inclusive of blings-blings and jing-a-lings. mansi was incredibly happy and i can tell that she, together with so many of the other indian nationals, are fiercely proud of their country. i remember asking mansi(my flatmate from india, look how happy she is in the photos!) how to sing her national anthem and she said we had to stand at attention to do it and i was thinking, man, sometimes we just rattle off our own national anthem in such a joking manner and here's someone who wouldn't sing it until she was in the correct disposition to. the programme ended with the anthem and as i looked around at the faces of those singing it and listened to the chorus rise, i couldn't help but be amazed and whoa-ed because you could really feel their passion and their love for their country.

the after-party was held at 10 bar. i've not gone clubbing in quite a while and was reminded why i don't anymore. something about crowds really unleashes some violent tendencies in me! haha. i mean, i can't dance when my hands are all glued to my side. unless i was mr bean. and because it was so crowded and squashy, alot of pushing wass going on, people were getting drinks spilt on them, staring competitions ensued, couples got closer. but anyway, the crowd wasn't such a big problem and i was there on a mission. it was a special night in 10 bar because they got a renowned dj down from aukland who was known from spinning good indian music. everything sounded totally foreign to me (yes, i'm indian) but it didn't matter. i just wanted to know what an indian party in a bar in dunedin would be like. i just danced and danced, immitating and inventing and improvising moves. it was fun, and funny, especially when you see the ang mohs trying to copy those moves as well! haha.

i also think we are successfully turning winnie (my hong kong flatmate) into an indian. she now loves indian food and she was there with us, partying and bobbing to indian music and even attempting to learn the dappankuthu dance. which i think is one of the more energetic and crazy dances i've ever seen!

as a consequence of all that dancing, spent the whole of sunday nursing my bruised body. i was aching everywhere and i think i was just...exhausted.

monday's come and i have to really slog like a dog (dogs don't really slog, do they?) before my north island trip during the break. wow, i can't believe that the MID-TERM break is already almost here! really fast!

i gotta go cook dinner now. winnie is starving! haha. we're gonna try something new. wish us luck!