Saket Vora

I just had a really great lecture in my Role of Religion in the Middle East Conflict course. It was about the history of the peace process negotiations in the last 20 years. It was fascinating and I learned a lot that I never knew before. The lecturer was a guest named Karen Agathon, who is the new head of Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies here in Lund. She did her Ph.D thesis on the Israeli-Palestinian peace progress during the 1990s and also spent a year with the TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron), which are international monitors for conditions in Hebron. Things in Hebron, which is a predominating Palestinian town in the West Bank, got very hot after an American doctor who emigrated to Israel as a follower of Meir Kahane and in 1994 entered the Mosque of Ibrahim in Hebron and opened fire with an automatic rifle, killing 29 before being killed by the remaining worshippers. There are approximately 450 Jewish settlers living in the heart of Hebron, and these represent probably the most extreme hardline Jewish fundamentalist movement. They are in Hebron because that is where the Cave of the Patriarchs is located, a burial site for the four fathers and mothers of the Jewish people (I believe). It is said that when the Messiah comes, he will first arrive at the Cave of the Patriachs and rise up the ’sleeping fathers’. In contrast, there used to be 40,000 Palestinians living in Hebron, but the hardship in living in this place in light of constant harrassment has made all but maybe 5,000 to 6,000 leave. But I digress. Heavily.

Anyway, it was a very interesting and informative lecture. Nothing though that makes me convinced that peace is just around the corner though.

Yesterday was busy. I went to the Christmas market at Kulturen with Frieder, then bought some mittens at Stadium and then went to the Lund Giants hockey game. To our delight, Franz got 5 to 7 minutes of ice time and even had a few good chances to score. The Giants won, but it was humorous to see the other team’s goalie pissed off. The Giants onced scored off a face-off with a slow puck! Anyway, due to part of the rink getting damaged we got out of the game a bit late and then met up with Christian, Norra, and Lishuang for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. We then met Laure at Filmstaden at 9pm to watch the Harry Potter movie. Funny thing about Swedish movie theaters: You first reserve your seats well in advance, then go to the theater to pick up your tickets. The theater itself is nicely furnished, but I thought the sound was certainly deficient compared to theaters back home. Only stereo sound from the front. There were Swedish subtitles. First impression of the film? Rushed. They were really anxious to get through the plot points. I wanted to see more time spent on the champions from the other nations. But the graveyard scene was done well.

I’ve also discovered that my entire approach to winter wear has been totally wrong. All this 100% cotton stuff isn’t actually the best, even though it’s more layers. I think I’m going to go shopping tomorrow and actually spend (gasp!) some money. I think honestly I’ve done fairly ok since coming to Sweden. I’ve bought a pair of mittens, two knit caps though I lost my good one in Norway :(, a Lund t-shirt. I also want to buy one of the cool Lunds Universitet hoodies i’ve seen, and another t-shirt and sweatshirt for gifts back home.

Anyway, some more movie and reading work to do tonight. Bye.

The past few days have been good. I’ve entered into a abnormal sleeping cycle, which was precipitated by staying awake until 4am one day because I couldn’t sleep. This, combined with no classes to go to resulted in a shift in my sleeping period from the usual 1-2am -> 8-9am to something close to 5-6am –> 12-1pm. I don’t like it very much and will try to end it tonight.

On Wednesday morning Eddy, Helene, and Marion left for their one week trip to Russia. They are going first to Stockholm, then a ferry across the sea. The corridor has been more quiet because of their absence. On the other hand, the rest of us are doing more things together, just a bit. Pablo had his family visit and Amalia went to Barcelona and Madrid for a few days with her boyfriend. The best part of their trip? The sun. :)

On Friday night I watched Sleepy Hollow with Frieder and Christian. In my mind I thought it was better, but now it seemed over-the-top in too many places. Tomorrow we will go see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the cinema. It will be a busy day: Frieder and I will go visit the Christmas Market at Kulturen, then from there go to the Lund Giants hockey match against Astorp, then we’ll meet Laure, Lishuang, and Christian for dinner, then see the movie. Busy, but a welcome change.

I also haven’t been eating much these past few days, but together with the help of Mom I made vegetable biriyani. It does the body good to have some familiar spices and food in you, and it was the most filling meal I’ve had in a few days. Christian is a remarkable chef, and made some Rötwein Kuche, or Red Wine Cake. He used the shape of a bundt cake, and it came out truly extraordinary. Not overly sweet, with a hint of cinnamom and hazelnut. And made with 1/8 litre of red wine, of course. I have the recipe, don’t worry.

It snowed here yesterday, and while the snow was not heavy it continued to fall for many hours. Today the ground was still white. In two days time it will likely disappear. The AF-Bostader (the care-taker for Delphi) also put up a large Christmas tree in the central courtyard and put white lights on it. It adds a very pleasing touch to the area. At one point, I saw the tree shaking violently and discovered that some drunk people were trying to topple it over. Frieder and I ran out to the balcony but when we got there they were already running away.

Progress has been made on the movie, though it has been slow. The key trouble has been the opening title sequence. It seems easy, but we’ve had great difficulty getting it to a point where we feel satisfied. Eventually we decided to re-cut it and insert some more footage, and I rendered what should be the final version earlier. Frieder also noticed that movie studios also have a logo animation that plays before the film starts. On a whim, we did a Google search for images relating to ‘Delphi’ (the name of the studios and the housing complex where we live), and found a picture of a three columned structure at the real Delphi site in Greece. Add a 15 minute dash of Photoshop and we got this: Not too bad! Much time has been spent now in finding a nice logo animation.
The big things still left with the movie is 1) the sound mix; that is, balancing the dialogue, source audio, added sound effects, and musical score 2) the subtitles; which still need the Japanese from Yuko and proper syncing 3) the DVD production of it.

We’re targeting the 2nd week of December as the premiere.

That’s mostly it for now. Oh — next Sunday Frieder, Christian, his friend, me, Laure, and her boyfriend will be going to the FC København vs. Viborg football match! I’ll post about that later.

On Friday we threw a birthday party for Christian, even though his birthday happened 2 weeks ago. We did it then because he was back in Germany for his birthday and then most of the corridor went to Norway. I think it went well. I spent much of the day making the four pizzas for it. In the beginning it was relaxing with just our corridor and some close friends, but then later it got more crowded. Before the party started, Christian and Frieder were quite active in an impromptu game of football in the corridor…with a bouncy rubber ball 1 inch in diameter. They were getting quite into it! For gifts we got Christian two tickets to the FC Copenhagen vs. Viborg football match, and a Lund Universitet hoodie. Later on in the party alot of people left to go to a nation’s party and Christian went to his room with some friends and they talked. Amalia, her boyfriend, Frieder, and I began to clean up the kitchen. Amalia’s boyfriend is from Turkey, and I learned about the history of that country and the challenges it faces as it tries to join the EU. At the end of the night, the kitchen was nice and clean (one of the benefits of having a party). Christian came back after his friends left and he, Frieder, and I stayed in the kitchen talking about music. They showed me their love for Die Ärtze (The Doctors), whom they consider to be the greatest band in the world (at least from Germany, anyway). Christian and I continued to talk about what makes music great and our experiences with it. It was good.

On Saturday I went to the city center and bought a new toaster for the corridor. Earlier that week, I had forgotten to pop the toast three times, causing smoke to fill the kitchen and forcing us to spend a few minutes flapping towels around clearing it out the windows. (Our smoke detector clearly doesn’t work). Frieder and I also worked quite a bit on the movie today, working really late into the night. He cut together a great looking trailer, and I polished off a special effect that I’m quite proud of. The movie is set for release in the first week of December.

On Sunday I woke up rather late, and went to the lounge for some coffee. At the same time, our corridor elections were being held! Earlier that week, in response to one of Christian’s chickens being stolen from the fridge, Christian and Frieder wrote up a constitution for the corridor. It quickly snowballed into a rather intricate affair, and we were having elections for the various positions, like representatives of the people’s chamber, judge of the state, president, foreign affairs minister, party minister, etc. Frieder set up quite an elaborate voting station up, with registration via photo ID, a voting booth and ballot box. After many dubious voting irregulaties (I’m going to stage a revolution), the results were in: Christian, Frieder, and I make up the people’s chamber. Eddy is the president, and he appointed Yuko as foreign affairs minister and Helene (of course) as party minister. Marion is the judge of the state.

Later that day Frieder and I went to see another hockey match at the Ishall. It was a good game, with the #1 and #2 teams playing. It was tied 0-0 until the last 56 seconds, when the other team scored a goal. The Lund Giants lost 0-1. The worst part of the night was actually our fingers. They were freezing. We’re talking like the you-can’t-get-it-out-your-mind pain on the bike ride back up to Delphi. It was crazy. If fingers could cry, mine certainly were.

Since my last update I’ve also been watching the show Arrested Development. I never got around to watching this show while it was on, and decided to give it a try. And I’m glad I did. This is the best live-action comedy I’ve seen since Seinfeld, and it’s better than Seinfeld. This show is top notch, with brilliant writing and great characters. And wouldn’t you know it, Fox CANCELLED it. Sigh. So far just seven more episodes to go. Seriously everyone: watch this show. Start with Season 1, because one of the greatest parts is that the show builds upon itself. Watching episodes knowing the earlier episodes makes them so much more enjoyable.

Anyway, it’s about 4:40am, and I had better get to sleep. Our plane tickets for the December trip are booked, and my two essays for SAS 116 are finished. I will email them to Bo and Andreas tomorrow. Gute nacht.

Wow. That was pretty interesting. Christian invited me to the kitchen for some Glühwein, which I happily accepted. That was around 8pm. I got back from the kitchen at 1:15am. We had the Glühwein, which is a warm beverage served at Christmas markets throughout Germany, then started talking. Marion, Helene, and Eddy were there but had to leave for finish their papers. I was happy; Marion got a ‘VG’ (Very Good) on her final paper for her environmental class, she was very appreciatative that I had helped her with the English. Helene asked for me to give me a read-through on her paper as well. So it was ultimately just Frieder, Christian, and I. At around 9:30pm I was feeling hungry so I started to cut vegetables. I made dinner, watched a little of Men in Black with Christian, then Frieder came back and tightened the screws on the chairs. Then Christian came back and we just kept talking. About all sorts of things. It was nice.

Tomorrow we are having a birthday party for Christian, though admittedly rather belated. I will be making pizza so I will have to make the crusts tomorrow morning. AND work on my Harry Martinson essay! Didn’t get much done today that’s for sure.

On Wednesday we were presenting our papers for Scandinavian Culture, and one girl completely butchered Niels Bohr. She said the play Copenhagen was a musical! Ahhhh, my eyes were burning. It was also hilarious to see how no one understood what it meant to give a five minute summary of their paper. They would ramble on for two minutes, then announce “my paper has five parts” and proceed to list all five. The professor had to cut off so many people and we wasted time asking people if they could do it in five minutes or not. Sheesh.

For the third time this week I burned toast in our dysfunctional toaster and caused smoke to fill the room. So tomorrow I will go to the Lund city center and buy a new toaster for the corridor.

This Sunday Frieder and I will go to another hockey game. Later.

Wow, long time no post. But I have sort of a legitimate reason. I think. From November 2nd to November 9th I was in Norway with my corridor mates and friends, and I figured I would late until returning to make some new posts.

Norway was incredible. For natural landscapes, it is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever visited. It fit what mental picture I had of Scandinavia when I saw the Norwegian landscape.We had a large entourage. From our corridor, we had me, Frieder, Eddy, Helene, Marion, Judith, and Yuko (the last two came later). Eddy’s friends Geoffrey and Yahia came, and Frieder’s friend Paul came too. Paul and Eddy drove us all the way up from Lund to the house where we stayed, a good 7 hour drive. Helene had found a secluded house that was about 45 minutes northwest of Oslo. The house blew away any expectations we had. It was actually two houses, a large one and small one. Each were completely furnished with full fledged kitchen, spacious living areas, comfortable rooms, and house stereo, tv, dvd player, everything. It was located just 5 meters from the Tyrifjord/lake. They had boats and canoes and we could use all the equipment. It really was amazing, and all for an extremely affordable price because we were there during the off season.
It was mostly a time of relaxation for everyone, and relax we did. Woke up and had coffee while gazing out over the fjord with its fog shrouded mountain ridges. Went out onto the lake with the boats and admired the Norwegian landscape.
Watched movies and played games at night. One day we took a day trip north of the house to explore more of the country-side and do some hiking. Another day we went to Oslo to see the town. It’s a modest unassuming capital. Another huge thing we did was to film a scary movie. Frieder and I thought of the idea before leaving, and we worked out loosely the story we’d tell. And during the stay there, we used everyone and did a lot of filming. It was a little tricky to manage it at times, because it was supposed to be a vacation but doing the movie does take work to do. We filmed everything there and currently we are working on finishing the movie. It so far runs at around 21.5 minutes. We’re going to eventually make a DVD of it. But we also had a lot of fun while filming it too. It was great fun. Back here in Lund the weather has finally turned wintry. It has been overcast/rainy with heavy winds. It is getting dark here too very early like it did in Norway. At around 4:30pm it is completely night. I have to write an essay in the next few days for my Scandinavian Culture class, which is ending in about two weeks. I am presenting the essay I finished before Norway on Wednesday. I also need to start working on the final essay for the Role of Religion in the Middle East Conflict class. That will be about 10 pages long, but there is a lot of material for it.

Last Thursday Frieder, Paul, and I went to another Lund Giants hockey game. It ended in a tie, but I got a game puck that flipped out of the rink after being deflected off the goalie’s pad. It is a great souvenier. Poor Franz didn’t get any ice time, but we’re hoping he’ll play next game. Lishuang is off traveling through Germany, Austria, and Italy. Eddy, Helene, and Marion are heading to Russia and Estonia next week. We are having a birthday party for Christian next friday. Today was very strange. I woke up at around 11am or so after going to bed at 3am. I felt ok, but fell asleep again. I woke up next at almost 3pm! It was crazy…really heavy intense REM sleep. I really haven’t been dreaming much while I sleep over here, but I guess today my brain just said enough is enough and did a LOT. Really weird…

Anyway, make sure you check out my Norway pictures here: http://www.saketvora.com/photos/norway/index.html and email with how you are doing. Leave comments!