siiiiiiiick

yea i'm sick. yesterday i thought it was just a sore throat from the shisha bar the night before. alas, no. it's a full-blown constant coughing, barred breathing, stuffy ... sinuses? though possibly still from the shisha bar. yea, so you get it, i'm sick. on to better things.

last night, all the postgrad music students and faculty met at our department head's house. we all had to bring food or booze and we really didn't know what to expect but it turned out pretty rad.
david hughes, head-on-sabbatical was there and out in teaching mode.
and i finally met pretty much all of the students in my program. and there weren't undergrads around to confuse me and waste my time :)
and a guy played the didgeridoo. i'd never really heard and definitely never seen anyone play the didgeridoo. i was going on the assumption that it was limited to a very deep, resonanting sound, the resonance being the attraction. but i was pretty wrong. there's a lot of texture and alongside alot of spitting, there's a lot of pretty fantastic rhythm. AND circular breathing (which i am especially jealous of now, ps).
and the food was great. there was a korean rice dish, japanese dessert, indian(?) lentil salad, italian bread thing, tamarind etc etc. it was very impressive. i, of course, being the show off that i am, brought chips and dip and my partner in crime* brought brownies. we are REAL party people.

*helen is in all of my classes so we're together a lot. she's an england-born Francais. she studied the erhu (two-stringed, bowed fiddle) at the shanghai conservatory. i'm going to try to learn either the sanxian (three-stringed plucked guitar) or the pipa (lute).

it is hard to be at a university like this and be around people like those in my program and not feel a little underachieved. most people speak at least 2 languages, not including dialects. most have travelled to places i've never been to and honestly would never have thought to travel to. a fair amount have grown up all over the world. i may have to get a fro again just to feel interesting.