Mozzeenet

Had a fantastic weekend in Sydney starting with a night to celebrate Amit’s birthday on Friday which was a lot of fun. We arrived a couple of hours late because we had to fly up after work but it was great to see everyone again. It was upstairs at the Marlborough Hotel at Newtown. Amit and Dave had hired out one part of the pub which was good.

Saturday was very enjoyable. Andrew and I were staying at Milsons Point so we decided to walk across the bridge, through the botanic gardens to the Art Gallery to see the Giacometti exhibition at the NSW Art Gallery. It was brilliant. I didn’t know anything about his work before but I really liked it. A lot of his scultpures are of figures in this really thin, emaciated, rough-hewn style. They’re really interesting to look at because they’re quite detailed and look different at every angle. He also did some sketches. A lucky thing was that when we walked in a guided tour was starting. It always increases the appreciation to get some information and history.

Caught up with Mum on Saturday night for dinner at the North Annandale while Andrew met up with his sister. On Sunday we went for breakfast with Mum and Ian at Glebe then went for a walk back to Annandale via Glebe point. It was quite a relaxing weekend overall too which made a difference to the really hectic ones we normally have when we go up to Sydney.

I actually went to a Chinese herbalist on Friday for the first time because I was tired of having a cough and the remainder of the flu symptoms. I don’t like to take cold and flu tablets and antibiotics for too long. I did take a course of antibiotics this time including a repeat because the flu was so bad and that did help but after they had finished I still had the cough and felt lethargic. He gave me some herbal tablets and I also had a massage.

I noticed yesterday and today that I haven’t been coughing and my chest is clear so either they worked or my body just finally recovered. Anyway, I was happy with that. He was recommended by a colleague from work and he was very professional. His rooms are set up like a surgery and there are other naturopaths in the building, close to where I work in the city. I don’t want to know what is in the tablets though! There were bottles of ‘interesting’ looking ingredients around the waiting room! He also does acupuncture but I’m not keen to try that.

During the week Andrew and I went to a movie fundraiser, organised by some students in my course who have set up their own NGO, New Hope. They are raising funds to support a teacher training centre in Cameroon. It was a documentary called ‘Scared Sacred‘.

The director, a Canadian man called Velcrow Ripper (he changed his name when he attended a convention of hippies years ago and someone came up with the name Velcrow instead of Steve - his surname is actually Ripper!), visited places around the world where there has been awful tragedy and hardship and talked to survivors e.g. Bhopal in India where 8000 people died from a deadly gas released in an accident at the Union Carbide (an American multinational) pesticide plant located there; people in Cambodia who experienced the Pol Pot regime; people in Bosnia who lived through the war; a family whose daughter was accidentally killed by Israeli soldiers; people who experienced the severe restrictions of life under the Taliban e.g. bans on wearing white socks, kite-flyng, movies and music; survivors of Hiroshima; and New Yorkers after September 11. He was actually brought up Bahai but doesn’t identify with any one religion now - he is influenced though by Buddhism, Sufi and Bahai. During the making of the film, he took time out to meditate with the Tibetan exiles in India and a senior female Buddhist monk in America spoke during the film.

The point of the movie was, rather than running away from all the tragic things that happen in the world and fearing them as he did, he wanted to come face to face with them and when he did, he found that within them, he discovered hope and the sacred. The movie was very sad in parts but also inspiring. He was actually there on the night and answered questions afterwards. Andew asked what kind of trouble he had experienced during the making of the film. He was shot at in Palestine by Israeli soldiers but he said in places like Afghanistan he filmed on the pretext of being a tourist. He would also hook up with other activists in each country who helped him.