Hello Shah,
Lovely to hear from you. I'm plodding on. I saw a superb movie a few days ago "Hiroshima mon amour" (1959) by Alain Resnais, a French/ Japanese collaboration. It combines a lyrical trajectory in the text with stunning documentary images. Very innovative use of flashbacks to mark how memory interrupts the linear time of the present (a love affair, amidst the rebuilding of Hiroshima, between a French actress making a movie about "Peace" and a Japanese architect).
I've just had a disquieting visit from my mother who is full of anger about growing old and unreconciled to the way the world "respects" old age. I must bear the guilt for not making institutions or the young come to heel when called. So, I am going to take Molly and Butzi for a walk to blow away the Sunday shadows. Then maybe I can do some work for my thesis. The creek is full of water and the flowing very quickly. The dogs love to jump in and play, catching bubbles and water-drops. They fence with their snouts, then run out when they get cold, shake and race away across the oval, chasing one another and barking at the wind. Butzi is still very fit for a sixteen year-old (or older, no one knows), but Molly is fast and slim and sleek and happy—full of beans. They are fun to watch.
Alex came for dinner on Friday. He is fine and said we must make a date next week to see the new Heath Ledger film. Sam came for dinner yesterday (you would think they could get their act together). He is enjoying his new job at the Attorney General's Dept. Val has just come back from squash. Yoyo and Merry spend more time indoors, although Yo is suspicious of Butzi and sleeps with one eye open. Yes, it is cold here too. And I don't know where today has gone. We have some South African friends. Steve has a strong Affrikans accent. His father was Dutch/Boer and his mother Italian, and English is a second language.
Although he understands very well because he is a practising pathologist here. Alison has English as her first language, although she speaks some Affrikans. They have been in Australia since the early 1970's. Val is bilingual. Estonian is his first language, although he went to England when he was eight-years-old, then came to Australia when he was twelve. I asked him which language he dreams in, but he said he doesn't dream in any language: understanding is through mental telepathy. I have a young friend who is rehearsing his play for the OzAsia Festival in Okinawa with a Japanese/Australian cast and crew—cross-cultural venture. He suggests that it is very hard to reach complete cross-cultural understanding. Many things get lost in translation. And more about respecting difference, negotiating areas of conflict, staying open, working out what really matters in life...etc., etc.
Gotta go now and eat. I hate it when my stomach acid gurgles. Snack, then a walk with the dogs. Fortunately, the sun is shining and looks likely to stay that way for a few hours at least.
Cheers, Christine
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