Thursday, July 16, 2015

Maleficent Duckies and their "Momma"

It all starts with a maleficent breakfast with my awesome cohort over at the Commons. Our usual plate of American platter of bacon, eggs, pancakes, etc. We headed over to our class at 8:45AM and waited for Day Two of Theatre of the Oppressed. Joanne and I ended up at the regular class day QiGong lawn and waited for further instructions about where to proceed. It so happens that our group was directly meeting at the auditorium so we tripped and slipped in the rain but eventually made it to class. We waited for the Teaching Fellows to arrive before starting the morning session. Because of the time circumstance, a third of our class went to the McNeil building for a lecture on Palestine and Israel Conflicts in Today's Society. The topic was alluring to many others but I knew I should finish what we started on the Theatre of the Oppressed so my will to stay put in the auditorium was stronger.

Over the course of the three hours, we did several exercises that were presented to us through a game form to attract our attention. Rather though, most of us thought of that as silly and pointless but as I recalled back to today's work, I could begin connecting Social Justice issues to the exercises we did. One of them was to mimic your buddy's expression plus body movement. It was awkward at first because it does require some physical interactions with your buddy but after the first several attempts, we got comfortable around each other. It felt as though I have just met my buddy a day ago, but after these series of exercises, I understood a little better how my partner functions and does things, so we shared personal life stories with our partners to see if we can learn something more from them. It was comfortable to talk to them now that we have been through so much 'doing' as a team. I think the Theatre of the Oppressed is about letting go of some of your unnecessary insecurities you may have when interacting with new people who do not necessarily come from the same background as you. I'm really grateful for Dr. Lisa Jo for putting up with us for the last two days. We may not be the most enthusiastic class but for sure we are the most attentive class when it comes to absorbing stuff into our brains. 
Pre-departure
When we got out of class at 5PM, we all met for dinner at the Commons before heading to the Quad to board the Duck Tour group. For the dinners served at the Commons, some of the foods were better than breakfast but most of other varieties are less appealing than it was in the morning. I guess this is one of the main reasons why this is my third time eating at the dining commons for dinner. I do have to say that Penn's very generous with their ice cream servings though. The thing is, how am I suppose to scoop it up when it's frozen like a rock???
Hmmmm.... Anyways we finished our dinner at 5:50PM and then proceeded to walk back to the Quad so we can sign in for the duck tour. There were an adequate number of people just to fit everybody on one car/boat. When we got to the boarding point, I saw the cute designs of the boat and the friendliness of the tour guide. She gave herself a Duck Momma term and I personally think that's very intimate and immediately I already felt as if I'm in a very safe and fun environment to fully shout and sing along with Duck Momma. She also named us Ducklings and we had to follow with what she said. At that point, I suddenly had a flashback to what we learned in class a few days back about leaders and followers, superiors and inferiors. I felt as if she was more superior in knowledge about the duck tour than us (which was definitely true) and we were attentively listening and not talking back. I've understand that depending on the circumstances, we should have a leader to lead everyone to a right path before branching off because what I think we need is equity and fairness, and not so much equality for all. The duck tour was amazing but I don't think I saw a single duck on this tour. However, I saw several ships and one of them happened to be the very USS New Jersey!
The whole experience was just so worth it and it exceeded my expectations of being on dry land and in water. I did not think we were literally going to 'drive; into the water. Overall this duck tour was so cute that I was laughing and blowing on my duck whistle the whole time back and I could've sworn some people pointed the middle finger at me for being excessively annoying with the sound. Owell, we can only have so much fun in life and if you think about what everyone thinks of you, you'll never be happy. I just let everything slide and laughed along with my cohort to end this wonderful evening with joyfulness.
Catching the beaming Sun

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