5 movies to watch when you're feeling under the weather

Movies… That aaaah moment. That moment of letting go and just being. Movies are made to suspend the viewers belief and let you into another world. The world created on screen. Where Superman flies. Where war rages and where we crush meteorites to prevent the earth from blowing up.

Recently I’ve found myself at the lesser part of the scale. Hating my life. Hate is a strong word – let’s go for: less impressed with humanity.

I went back to what I love: except traveling and Indian food, the movies. I’ve made a list of 5 movies to watch, when you don’t exactly feel like happy sunshine you.

      1)    Juno: A quirky love story with a wonderful graphic opening sequence. Juno is 16 and falls pregnant. She is awkward, not cool, about to become very big and decides to give up the baby for adoption.

Why I love it: Right after giving birth, Juno wakes up to find her dad at her bedside. He tells her: “One day you’ll be back on your own terms.” Cool line. But for me, Juno decides to give the relationship with Bleeker a chance. Happy ending, all good. Very typical, but when you’re down in the dumps a bit of a sunray.

      2)    Men of Honour:  Carl Brashear is a young boy with a big dream: he dreams of being a navy diver. He is black and the year was 1948. He became the first African American to join the Navy Dive School and lost his leg serving. You can ask my mum, it’s been my favourite movie since I saw it in 2000. Suddenly I wanted to become a naval diver, and although that dream came and went (with my two broken ankles) I cherish the navy: the friggits, the uniforms and the ocean.

Why I love it: for all of the above, but also because Chief Carl Brashear wanted to be a Master diver all his life. He fought became one, he lost his leg and then had to fight to stay one. Lesson here: depends how badly you want it. We are created quite amazing, our bodies and our minds can withstand a lot more than we think and will is a strange thing. Depends how badly you want it.
3) A Beautiful Mind: John Nash is a mathematical genius. Ivy School genius. He enrolls at Princeton and sets up his life with a beautiful woman and a good job. He gets ill and is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. 

Why I love it: mind over matter. After john is released from the hospital, he decides to take his life back. To go back out in the world, do stuff, see people and contribute to society. Never mind what you are thinking: perhaps just get up and show up. Mind over matter. Sometimes you just need to do it.
John tells his arch enemy, now friend, Hansen "you have to feem them to keep them alive..." He talks about his "friends", but he also refers to dreams: some stay, some we work on, some breaks us. Knowing when to let go, knowing when to stop feeing the dream, the wish or the ideal you so deeply cherish.
4) Out of Africa: based on the biography of Karen Blixen, it tells of her lifestory, where she moved to East Africa, Kenya. I visited her house in 2013 and although it is now in a lush neighbourhood of Nairobi, 2 bus rides from the airport, her hous is surrounded by hills of green. Beautifully old architecture with a huge landscape of exactly why we love Africa: the green.
Why I love it: I am a child of Africa and will probably spend my life exploring our glorious continent. Karen came here with no references, internet searches or guidebooks. She made it happen. She made her life happen, and although her coffee plantation failed, she fell in love, gained the respect of the locals and lived an astonishing life.
5) The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: A group of British retirees book themselves into a hotel for the 'old and beautiful' in Jaipur, India. Facilities are not what they expected, but this crazy subcontinent charms them. I guess this is my go-to movie for all under the weather days. It reminds me of happy days, carefree walks, age-old forts and peacocks screaming in the morning. I completely fell in love with India.
Why I love it: Sonny, the partial owner of the hotel is an innovator and hopeless dreamer. He gets a shove in the right direction and suddenly he flourishes. My favourite line: "Nothing happens unless first we dream." I dream big. But no plan, idea, journey or job ever starting without someone dreaming about it. Go on: dream...

Perspective

It’s been a rough couple of weeks. Weeks where nothing seems to work out. I wake up tired and by noon I wish I can crawl in under the bed.

I took a big risk a couple of weeks back. Something that can either turn out amazing or that can ruin me. I’ve been thinking about it 24/7. I wake up at 4 in the morning, shivering from fear. I did my research and still feel like I’m not ready for it. I feel young, unprepared and scared. Very scared.

A couple of nights back I took a friend to his new hostel and spend a couple of hours chatting while looking out over the city, having a beer.

I loved the industrial feel of the hostel with a huge couch in the one corner, the original fittings, the raw brick walls and the concrete floors. Turns out it was a printing press during the Apartheid years. I found out as I read the posters on the wall. In the 1960’s blacks were gathering, writing and distributing their dream: the news a free world they imagined.  It’s now a youth hostel.

Unwrapping my own fear, my own feeling of inadequacy and nothingness I spend time with three foreigners.

Some of them spend longer in SA than others. Some saw the Kruger, the Drakensberg and Durban. All of them saw the fairest Cape. None of them saw Kakamas or Montagu – my favourites. And some were planning to go see Soweto. Whatever their itinerary consists of, they all agreed to come back.

They described it as vibrant, so much to learn and experience. They liked how eager people are. Eager to show them around, eager for them to experience the rainbow nation. Interesting stories to hear and little corners to explore. Oh, and beautiful blue skies.

Perhaps, they feel about this place I call home, like I do about India: I will spend my life going back to try and understand it.

Perspective, for my own very confusing life, comes in the most unlikely places.  At that moment I felt better.  It was just what I needed. With good conversation, a bit of gratitude from strangers for this new country and the city skyline at night.

8 cheap and easy activities in de Caab!

This is a bit new from my normal blogs... 

Cape Town is known for its iconic mountain, beautiful beaches and the forests that host the protea species, most of the 92 of them. I spend three months on a job in Cape Town, and so it became more than just pretty, it became my home. It’s an old city, filled with ancient stories of people coming in from all over the world. Each making a corner of this world-class city home…

So here’s to happy, laid-back Cape Town with its spectacular views, cut-off highways, narrow streets and the heart of a big city.

1)      Eat ice cream in Camps Bay.  Buy, turn around, walk 5m and you’re on the beach. More summer than this is hard to find!

2)      The area closest to the Seapoint pool, on the promenade, becomes a random dance club on Sunday afternoons. Whether you’re watching the sea or the dancing, grab some Mexican food at the stands.

3)      Take a bit of drive to Bloubergstrand: this one is one of my favourites, as it grants perspective of just how intriguing beautiful Cape Town really is. And it offers a splendid view of the mountain.

4)      During full moon, hike up Lion’s Head. It’s well lit, all naturally and you can pack snacks for to enjoy the view up top. Definitely a doable climb, just wear sensible shoes.  

For more information: http://www.capetown.travel/activities/entry/lions_head

5)      Walk through the streets of die Bo- Kaap. Die Bo- Kaap are those iconic colourful houses that are so well known on post cards. Just off Buitengracht street, park your car and walk through the neighbourhood. Its colourful, homey, a piece of history and it offers some amazing Cape- Malay foods. Oh so lekker!

For others like me that like reading the history: http://capetownhistory.co.za/?page_id=236

6)      Take the train to… Well, you can choose where you get off, but if you take the Southern line it travels to Muizenberg, Kalk Bay, Fishhoek and Simonstown. Each a little gem – but if you’re me: Simons Town, because it’s home to the South African Navy. Little things as beautiful as Friggits!

For more information contact:    http://www.capetown.travel/content/page/travelling-by-train

7)      Take a walk through the Company Gardens – right in the middle of the bustling city lays an age-old garden. Originally planted by the Dutch East India Company in 1652. The idea was that Cape Town or De Caab – as it was called in those days become a halfway stop on-route to India, to stock up on fresh produce. Not only is it pretty, you’ll make friends with the squirrels!

For more information on the Gardens: https://www.capetown.gov.za/en/parks/Pages/TheCompanysGarden.aspx

8)      Milkshakes… because we can! Mr Pickwick’s in Long street is a must see or rather must drink. The little shop with tons of cool people offer lists and lists of milkshakes. Oh so heavenly! You know you want to…

      https://twitter.com/mrpickwickslong

Tired

I’m normally the one that bargains on the glass being half full. The one that sees the positive. The one that tries to support people.

But, I’m tired.

I’m tired of being the nice one, because people take advantage of my nice-ness. I’m tired of being supportive, because when my heart is breaking I’m alone. I’m tired of being helpful, because people’s favourite response when I ask for help seems to be ‘I don’t know’ with the all too well known shoulder shrug.  I’m tired of being easygoing, because it means people do not take my feelings or views into consideration. I’m tired of expecting people to be nice, when all they do is talk behind my back. I’m tired of being considerate: because people steal from me and have zero regard for me.

Most of all, I’m tired of giving people chances, because...
Because I can.

Small blessings

I had a particularly bad Monday. But then again, Mondays are a bit strange – it’s that day with a bad reputation, early meetings, traffic jams. Or is it just us, making it up to be all that bad?

Mine was bad though. I had a page in one of the newspaper layouts gone wrong – not by human error – by some IT bug, I guess. It had to be redone. A few mistakes needed to be fixed for a page later this week. A sub needed my attention to explain something. And none of that is on the to-do list. It was before 9am. I walked into the boardroom to catch my breath. 

On Tuesday, after soothing myself on Monday night with a glass of wine, I had a better day. Through the two deadlines before 12, and the sitting behind my computer to go over a piece before submitting it, I ate lunch.

On my way home, I was much calmer. I like driving, listening to the radio and singing along. Not getting stuck in traffic, but a little driving and a little looking at the sky goes a long way to calm me down, especially after a rough day.

Trees. That’s one thing I still like about my city – the streets lined with trees. The winding roads with the sun shining through the branches and the bits of blue sky somewhere in-between.

And so my drive home becomes my sanity, because I get to see blue skies, age old trees and sing along to the top of my lungs. Because I can.

Weird things happen when…

Sometime ago there was a social media trend: ‘That moment when…’. I must admit, even though I never shared a post that started with those words – I found myself laughing when I’d speak to myself while being stuck in traffic & the sentence started with ‘that moment when…’

A couple of months ago a great Art director called me. 24hrs later I had said yes, was on my way to a lovely coastal city and had a bit of a jump in my step. I was working in Art department. 

Weird things happen when you work in Art department…

I’ve never had a pretty notebook. In my mind, notebooks are practical: mine has always been those plain schoolbook types. All of a sudden I have a green, ring binder notebook with beautiful antique clocks on the cover.

The word 'porn' gets a new definition.  Not the image you just thought of. I promise. Porn is that moment when a plan comes to life, when a reference is now touchable and when after rigging, moving, painting & building for days a set comes to life: its bigger than the TV screen and you walk around it looking at the bits sourced with great care, making part of a whole.

The crew discussions centre on shoes. Yes – shoes, not celebrities or music. Merrell, Solomons or New Balance are reckoned to be the best, but each to its own. Standing, running, moving, rigging, climbing for long hours everyday: comfortable shoes are a must & developing a weakness for casual shoes: entirely possible!

Suddenly, budgets aren’t measured in camera’s per days, but in building material, screws, cement, nail guns, pop-rivets. Its harder to stay in a line item, because leftover pieces of wood and perspex are used in games that did not pay for it. Stuff breaks, designs are improved, briefs change and so… well, the budget becomes set pieces. The upside of it is – trying to explain to the Accountant where the money went: priceless, because he smiles, because its beautifully crafted pieces, logo’s and sets.

It turns out, its all about the high-visible vest: its like a superpower. A can do. A moment of dirtyness, turned prettiness.

Fitting in

I returned from India 10 months ago.

I expected the strange feeling to set in as I walked into my mother’s arms. I expected the sudden rush to be gone: I was home. This is normal: I get to have a closet with clothes in again, not a backpack. I was home.

But I never quite figured out how to sum up India for those who asked.

Beautiful. Wow. Challenging. Interesting.

Because I go numb when people ask how it was. My heart warms and I think back to the standing on the Metro platform feeling the wind of the metro passing me. I think back to the first monsoon storm I was caught in on my way home & the cup of tea that came from the mechanic in whose store I went to for cover. My heart warms and it’s as if words fail me. I think about how happy I was walking home from work, looking up to the night sky and words aren’t enough.

I’m very opinionated. Anything: ranging from politics, democracy, animal cruelty, development in African countries, women abuse, choice, freedom. You name it.   India turned my opinions to mash. Broken pieces.

Because all of a sudden I’m learning why they do arranged marriages or why they have marigolds hanging on their door frames. Or why dowry still exists. It didn’t make sense. We should be past all of that: choice, remember? I spend 6 months learning, reading and trying to understand everything that makes India India: child marriages, arranged marriages, extreme poverty, dowry, the place of women in society… But for them its life.

I tried. It’s a complex society of hundreds of years, several rulers, more religions and enough war. But a beautiful society with patient people who opened their hearts and homes to me. Helping me understand who they are.

It changed me. It turned my fierce opinions into bigger blocks: because the world is not one-dimensional. India is most certainly not & although I merely scratched the surface with trying to understand it, it left me quiet and grateful and longing to learn more.

It also left me with a collection of Indian clothes & a craving for paneer curry every third evening…

It left me without words. My opinions, now, are so different from most people around me. How do I explain what I learned, what I saw and how I miss the crazy, colourful life that is India?  How I woke up to peacocks screaming and how the milkman at the Mother Dairy around the corner knew my life story and knew which ice cream I liked best?

I wonder how I ever got stuck in the place where money is everything, where having the right title, the right address and the right car means Ive arrived.

I don’t know how to fit into this place I call home.