Happy Birthday II + "I Vant to Be Alone"

Happy Birthday II

The Watermelon Dance that I had been dreading turned out to be great. It turned out that Nancy Stark Smith, a pivotal figure in Contact Improvisation, and my friend Natasha from Ekaterinburg, did an unannounced performance outside the dining hall just before Varya and I did the Watermelon Dance. Out side the dining hall there are two sets of tubs, marked, one on each side marked "Wash" and two on each side marked "Rinse." There are also towels marked "Dry." Nancy and Natasha both have very long hair. They replaced the water in the tubs (which is usually disgusting), and then chatter while they washed their hair. It was very relaxed and then very funny. Then the audience was told to go into the room next to the dining hall where they found me, Varya, six watermelons, and lots of kids who couldn't resist the chance to roll watermelons around on the floor. Varya and I tried valiantly for art, but the kids won, and we had a great time rolling around the floor with the watermelons. Then we all went back to the dining hall and ate lunch and watermelon. Varya, I and others all chipped in so we had a lot of watermelon, but it all disappeared rapidly. Russians love watermelon although so far I haven't had a Russian watermelon nearly as good as an American one.

Then I took a birthday nap. At supper I was warned that there would be more attention paid at the evening jam, so I braced myself. The jam was structured by a structure Nancy devised called the "Undersoore" so there was no talking. It happened that I ended up looking into a Russian woman's eyes for about an hour. Then suddenly a bunch of people appeared and they picked me up and floated me threw the air. Because I was spaced out from the looking, and well-oxygenated because we had been breathing together, I began releasing energy immediately through laughter. They laid me down and sprinkled me with water. After the Underscore, I was given a cake which I had to cut. I cut it brilliantly so there were lots and lots of pieces. It disappeared instantaneously. Then, I really couldn't take anymore, so I went to bed.

"I Vant to Be Alone"

One of the things I have discovered on this trip is that I have less resiliency than I used to and I need to be alone a lot more. I think I need one day alone in bed and one day alone out in the street, for everyday I spend traveling with somebody. This seems excessive to me but I think it is the fact. I am going to try to organize my future travels accordingly. I used to feel guilty about spending a day alone in a hotel room by myself when I was traveling, but I now see it is essential. I get over-stimulated so easily.

That's why I loved stopping in Brighton on my way from Coventry to Russia. I have been there twice before. Both times I arrived sick and took to bed in Caroline's parents' house. This time I wasn't sick but I was tired. I only had a day so I couldn't spend the whole day in bed, but I slept in. Then Caroline and I took a walk through Brighton. I love Brighton. First, it has so many literary allusions from Jane Austen through Charles Dickens and Graham Greene and beyond. It is such an elegant, tacky seaside town. Now that the West Pier has burned down it is less tacky than before, but it is resisting efforts to rehabilitate it completely. We went to my favorite thrift store, run by Banardo's, and we had a great South England breakfast at a local cafe, and walked by the merry-go-round and the Regency Sea Front and I felt restored.

Then we overnighted in Moscow for one night. I had no time alone, but I love Moscow because I have had a lot of time alone here and because it is a very Russian version of Los Angeles.

That's it for now.