Al Pocahone

For those who dont know me that well, I tend to love making an ass of myself, occasionally. These days I happen to make more of it than ever. Revolves around a night at the Norrlands nations which I thought was a Mafia themed night.

There were flyers all over the place about this 5 day event at the Norrlands nation. Going by the events I had been to earlier at other nations, I thought, simply going by the presentation of the flyer that it was a costume party of sorts with live Jazz music. Usually, google chrome and its translation helps me a great deal in deciphering Swedish, but for some reason this time, I overshot with confidence. The entry fee of 90 sek for students make me believe that it was a live band for sure. And so, I went there last thursday accompanied by two good friends of mine.

I was so confident that it was a gig, that I was growing a moustache to blend in with the mafia in there, just to make an ass of myself. I also wanted to go there in my dinner jacket strangled by a bow tie and a hat on top of the head. Luckily, for that day, I decided to go in with a shirt and all else because the land was slushy and I cycle everywhere. Didnt want to mess up my attire for a night of fun. I also got rid of the tache the day before as it didnt go well with my new haircut. I looked like a man with ambiguous sexual orientation.

Believe it or not, till it was time to pay for my booked tickets, I didnt know it was a musical in Swedish. Speak of all time shocks and stupidity. I decided to play along, as if I knew it was in Swedish and that I thought it was a good way to learn Swedish anyway. We went in, took our seats in a well laid array of chairs in the cellar. It was a housefull show, not a single chair went unseated. It was a play like I had expected, managed my students mainly, atleast some with some background in acting. Or atleast, they were convincing.

I didnt know a word they were saying as it was a mixture of colloquial swedish from different parts of Sweden (as explained by my friend). One had to have a good sense of of it to be able to enjoy it to the full. Yes, I was very much bored. The story was a mash-up of Pocahontas and The Godfather with singing in between. The entire act was managed by 12 people alone, with two randomly sprouting dancers (who needed more practise, I thought) and a Jazz troup who provided the music. The songs were dubbed tracks of Abba (no prize for guessing), the Godfather theme and the starting track of The Sopranos. I must say, one actor in particular was gorgeous, the one who played the part of the Mafia boss's love interest ( and a vamp). Worst of them was the "old lady" who couldnt help cracking up at some jokes, who had to look away from the crowd to hide her giggles.

One thing I learnt- the Swedish follow time with great accuracy and passion but not when it came to this play. For some insane reason, in Sweden during a play, its ok for anyone in the crowd to shout "Omstaat". That means once again and they can add a phrase with it like lets say happy, sad, slow-mo, fast forward. Which means  that the scene/line that happened just before that random burst from the crowd, has to be improvised to request. Like if one got shot, and someone shouted, "Omstaat, slow-mo", they d do it again. The downside to that is, the end time of the show is tentative. Moreover, most of the omstats were strategically shouted by the Norrlands staff members themselves. So, the improv itself was staged. At times it froze the play.

 Anyway, many seemed to have enjoyed it, luckily a friend wanted to leave early, so I joined her. We joined the entourage of our friends who were drunk silly and embraced our presence later at another nation with club night. Like they say, "All is well that ends well", right? Right!

Countdown

An update on progression in my academic conquest- the project work regarding my  masters thesis is going in good speed. Learning new scientific techniques regarding dietary fibre isnt just getting more aggressive, but also building up confidence to escalate to better career prospects.

The project being due end of fast approaching August is making me a little bit anxious. As everyone goes through the phase of tryin to plan out the next step post graduation, I realized the need to be proactive. Job sites, networking, updating the resume, looking for references and recommendations is all happening in a cascading manner. Having been here in Uppsala for past three terms, the feeling of having to leave (possibly) Uppsala is sinking in and its hard to keep it away from the subconscious. Now, I can relate to all friends and their feelings before having to say goodbye to Uppsala, indefinitely. Almost everyone that I was close to had similar feelings and lovely experiences in Uppsala.

Bright side- Valborg is around the corner, so is summer. The weather last few days has been as unpredictable as Lady Gagas performing attire(s). Also looking forward to see all friends coming over for Valborg, who were here previously on an exchange program. Only hope that the weather then will be very accomodating and pleasant for all festivities that will happen. A reunion is also planned with my friends from UK who are now booking tickets to come over to Uppsala to have a taste of Swedish summer with a bit of travelling and celebration. The smell of flaming BBQs and grilled goodies is already filling around.

Rest assured, a collage of pictures from Valborg is forthcoming.