I have about 10 minutes, so I'll make this very worthy story as short as possible.
The other night we were typical Americans abroad, but I swear we didn't do it on purpose. Americans are usually viewed as loud and imbibing to foreigners, and that is exactly what we were in Madurai.
We were hosted by Lady Doak College for 4 nights, but our group was just a little too big. Half the group roomed in the guest house at the college, and the other half stayed in town at a hotel. The hotel had a wonderful rooftop bar with a gorgeous view of the ancient temple in the city. So, we spent our evenings "decompressing" on the rooftop. The first two were very casual and low key.
Then, Lady Doak College asked us to preform something at the International Cultures Event that we were scheduled to attend. This threw us for a loop, but ultimately we decided the best/easiest thing to do was to do the Cotton Eye Joe. We had a bit of a problem with technology in trying to get the song, but eventually we did. So, all we had left to do was practice. We decided the rooftop bar was the best place to practice, and of course we needed to have a little alcohol in our systems to loosen up enough to actually practice. Therefore, we were instantly transferred from a group of teachers researching the Millennium Development Goals to the loud Americans dancing and blasting music at a quaint bar.
The actual performance at the festival ended up being a blast, but no where near perfect. The best part of the whole affair is that there is no documentation of it since we were all involved :)
The other night we were typical Americans abroad, but I swear we didn't do it on purpose. Americans are usually viewed as loud and imbibing to foreigners, and that is exactly what we were in Madurai.
We were hosted by Lady Doak College for 4 nights, but our group was just a little too big. Half the group roomed in the guest house at the college, and the other half stayed in town at a hotel. The hotel had a wonderful rooftop bar with a gorgeous view of the ancient temple in the city. So, we spent our evenings "decompressing" on the rooftop. The first two were very casual and low key.
Then, Lady Doak College asked us to preform something at the International Cultures Event that we were scheduled to attend. This threw us for a loop, but ultimately we decided the best/easiest thing to do was to do the Cotton Eye Joe. We had a bit of a problem with technology in trying to get the song, but eventually we did. So, all we had left to do was practice. We decided the rooftop bar was the best place to practice, and of course we needed to have a little alcohol in our systems to loosen up enough to actually practice. Therefore, we were instantly transferred from a group of teachers researching the Millennium Development Goals to the loud Americans dancing and blasting music at a quaint bar.
The actual performance at the festival ended up being a blast, but no where near perfect. The best part of the whole affair is that there is no documentation of it since we were all involved :)
So funny. I do wish that you were able to capture the performance.
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