October 22, 2008: Paper Two, Day Two – Over-Compensating?

Dear Friend,

My theatre movement classes are offered every Monday and Wednesday. Traffic was insanely busy this morning, so I thought I wasn’t going to make it. I was about five or ten minutes late, which, in Romania, means you’re doing pretty well. If I hadn’t made it, I would have just gone to the office and worked on my paper. I made it, though.

Today in class we did a lot of “roll downs.” We call them “roll downs” at Northwestern, but I’m not certain what they’re called here. Essentially what happens is you stand with your feet about shoulder length apart and then roll yourself down until you’re bent completely over. Our instructor told us to concentrate on the uppermost top of our heads as being the highest point of our bodies. As we rolled down, that uppermost top point would move along the back of our head, down our backbone, and finally to our tailbone.

These “roll downs” were much more complicated than the ones at Northwestern because we actually had to concentrate on so much more. Usually at Northwestern we just bend over, do some breathing exercises, roll back up, and call it good. Not so here. Aside from concentrating on the uppermost part of our bodies as we rolled down, we also had to concentrate on what the rest of our bodies were doing as we rolled down. This became very nitpicky and precise. When we were bent over, we did some shaking to loosen up our bodies, and to raise ourselves up we had to imagine that our tailbone was lowering to the ground and thereby straightening the rest of us. I took this literally, and every time I straightened up (we did the “roll downs” a number of times) I would start by squatting and lowering my butt closer to the ground and then stand up. After the lesson, the instructor told me I was supposed to imagine it not actually do it. I was over-compensating.

The rest of the lesson was walking around again, observing the way others in the room walked. The group was smaller today than it was on Wednesday. I was the only guy, other than the instructor. I remembered with some amusement an interview Jay Leno had with Sir Michael Caine a couple months ago about why he had decided to do theatre. Sir Michael responded by saying essentially that all the girls were in the theatre classes in high school, so it made sense for him to be there instead of playing basketball with the guys. Back in middle school, that’s essentially how I got into theatre, but that’s another story altogether.

At the office, I bulldozed my way through my paper. It was gratuitously agonizing, a lot of sighing involved. I decided not to worry about the page length. In fact, as I wrote the paper, I constructed a defense for why my paper was longer than six pages. I predicted my paper would be about ten to twelve pages. Page length was actually not discussed concerning my papers, but I felt that some explanation had to be given. My explanation involved, among other things, the sheer impossibility it would be to condense Boal into six pages. When I finished, it was two sentences over ten pages. Over-compensating?

The feeling one has when a paper is done (alright, I still have to proof read it, but it’s done!) is indescribable. As Iris and I made our way back to her flat I expressed this feeling, which she understood very well. She has written a number of grant proposals, each of which involve some sort of “gratuitous agonizing” as well, so she was able to understand my relief.

Once we returned to the flat, I asked Iris how I could tell her mother that I would be moving on Friday. Friday, aside from being the due date for my paper, was the end of my homestay. Iris told me her mother knew this, but I wanted to have the decency to tell her myself. I wrote down in my notebook as Iris dictated to me, “Eu mă mut vineri.” (“I move on Friday.”) I then told this to Iris’ mother, who actually (from my understanding) took it better than I had expected. I keep forgetting that Romanians aren’t offended easily. She expressed her apologies for not being able to provide as much for me as she would’ve liked and even acknowledged that her home was not the most comfortable, but also how she had done her best. I told her, “Apreciez tot ce faci pentru mine,” which I had expressed to her all those weeks ago.

I felt bad about the whole thing. I know everyone was doing there best, but I also knew that my moving had to happen for a number of reasons that I believed would benefit everyone. I do indeed appreciate everything the three of them have done for me, and despite all of the craziness I will take many fond memories with me as I leave. Lord, bless this family a thousand fold for each blessing they have bestowed upon me. Thank you.

Blessings.
Kailen