Days Nine and Ten: French, Origami, Indian Head Massage and Belly Dancing

Right then guys, sorry I haven’t done that much for GIAG over the last two days considering the amount of events they’ve got going on, but here’s a quick review of what I have been up to.

Yesterday, the were only two events and I chose to attend the French masterclass (boy oh boy am I going to be top at languages by the end of this week, I’ve got Spanish tomorrow!) and you know what? I was really suprised how much I’d remembered from my school days.

Although we only touched on the basics, our tutor, Mark Orme had designed a session that was aimed at intermediate students of French.

We began by learning the basic greeting and general polite manner that the French try to adopt, but I have admit this threw me slightly as the French I had been taught in school was the informal, rather than the formal, so it was only the odd word that helped me to understand the sentence.

Following on from that we learnt how to ask and reply to questions such as; where are you from? are you married? and are you a student?, before going onto learn how to order things in a restaurant.

Unfortunately, by that point time had beaten us and we didn’t get on to asking for directions, but the worksheet Mark had produced gave us all the information about what we had learnt and the rest of his plan for the session.

I have to say his enthusiam for the language and culture really came through in this short session and it was quite nice being in such a small group (there was only three of us) because it meant we could stop and practise and perfect our prounounciations, which helped a great deal.

An interview with Mark will be going up on Friday (I’ve decided to hang on to the few interviews I have and get them all up together).

So, onto today! Well, I began my day by trying my hand at Origami, one of those annoying things that sounds easy but is really tricky in practise.

During the session we made a square box that didn’t have a lid (though you could make one by making another box and fitting it on top, a small lantern type thing that didn’t look much until you blew into it and it formed something that when decorated, could make a nice Christmas decoration and finally, we made a crane (the bird form I might add).

It’s suprising how a small , insignificant piece of paper can be turned into something so different, but the annoying thing is that it’s so tricky, yet so simple to do. All you have to remember is that everything starts off with a square sheet of paper and it’s all about the folds and bends that you make that will hold it in place when you have finished.

On top of the session, we were given a small piece of origami paper, which is what the professionals use and probably makes the finished product look much better, whilst also being a better quality paper to work with and we also got a introductory sheet into the Japanses culture, which is where origami comes from.

Might I just add that I’m proud of my crane, even if it looks a little too skinny and won’t stay upright on its own!

Unfortunately, I was so involved with this one that I didn’t get any pictures and I’m sorry to say the rest of today’s activities turned out to be the same, but for this one I didn’t even manage any interviews, but never fear, I did get some for Indian Head Massage and Belly Dancing so keep an eye out for them.

And that neatly takes me onto my next activity of the day, Indian Head Massage.

Now I was gutted to miss this event last February, so there was no way I was letting it go by again and I’m glad I didn’t.

As with last time, our instructor was Eddie Burgess from Reflect UK and he led us as we partnered up and gave the techniques a try taking it in turns to be the giver and the reciever.

I cannot explain to you how relaxing it felt. We began by “saying hello to the head” by placing our hands on the top of it and then began to warm up and massage the back, neck, shoulders and upper arms using a variety of massage techniques. It really helped to get you in the mood and I could feel my whole body relaxing.

The soothing music and lavender scent that I could pick up in the background was an immense help and if you closed your eyes (which helped when the actual head massage began and my hair was in my eyes) you really felt like you were drifting off into a tranquil state.

The head massage however, was a bit, shall we say, not quite what I’d expected, but then I’m not sure what else I could have expected.

Basically, the same movements that you would do in a normal massage were applied to the scalp and at times it was done with the same pressure, which was an odd experience. I really didn’t expect my hair to get quite so messy though!

We followed that we soothing little massages across the forehead, temples and across the eyes, nose and cheeks, before removing our hands from our partner’s head and “flicking” (yes, that’s right) the excess vibes away (or at least I think that’s what it was about).

Apparently, the whole idea of Indian Head Massage is to oxygenate the head and I have to say, I certainly felt that was achieved and I think my partner for the session, Tom Richens would agree as I have sneaking suspicion that he was drifting off as I massaged his head!

And so, onto the last event of today – Belly Dancing. This event was such a laugh because my technique can only be compared to that of a ‘Thunderbirds’ type puppet! I have no movement in my hips whatsoever and although I tried, I think I probably looked completely awful.

However, our tutor, Sally Smith is a 3rd year Dance Performance and Teaching student and took lessons as part of her course and she looked much more professional.

There was a good turnout at the event, although it was all girls, even though traditionally the dance is taught to both boys and girls, but pretty soon we were all giving it a go and most seemed to pick it up quite easily.

Apparently, it’s all about the movement of the hips, so you should concertrate on where they are moving and your legs will follow, but remember to keep your torso straight. Sally told us that when the right outfit is worn, the skirt is so long that you can’t see the legs and feet moving at all and so it looks like it’s all down to the movement of the belly.

We learnt how to roll our hips, move them in a figure of eight and tried to, well the only word I can use to describe it is ‘jiggle’ them, which is pretty tricky because you want to move your entire body and therefore, look like some weird vibrating mad person!

Nevertheless, it’s definately something I’d like to try again and there are classes available in Preston (details of which I’ll get up tomorrow), but I feel, as with most things, it’s something you have to keep practising so I better get jiggling!

Well, that’s it for today! Amongst tomorrow’s events are the Student Life Fair in 53 Degrees, Spanish Language Taster and Table Tennis, so I’ll be back with all of those for you.

Tata. x

Day One: Cocktail Masterclass and a quick round up of Day Two

Hey everyone, really sorry I didn’t get back on here last night, felt a bit too tipsy after the cocktails! I got to say, it’s the cheapest way I’ve seen twenty-odd people get tiddly!!!

Right then, so to start where I left off. Last night I headed on down to the Atrium where an array of spirits, liquors and mixers had been lined up and the guys from Mojito in town were ready and waiting to show us how to make some great drinks.

To start off with we were all treated to a cocktail called Cham 69 (or at least I think it was called that) and then a choice of either sambuca or tequila, which really helped to loosen everyone up and started off the tipsy feeling in me (I’m such a lightweight it’s ridiculous!!!).

Throughout the night we were offered more drinks if we wanted and Blue Lagoon and Sex on the Beach were available, but the really fun bit was when we each got the chance to make a cocktail. I’ll be putting up some pics tomorrow of people making their various ones and how they all turned out, but I have to say I don’t know how the guys working behind a bar remember everything that goes in! Not to mention not breaking anything when they are flinging the glasses and bottles around (which I’m reliably informed is known as “flailing” in the trade!), but not much of that went on last night.

When it came to my turn I made a Key West Cooler, which has at seven different ingredients that included vodka, midori and I think orange juice went in there as well. I was pretty pleased with the effect too because it is meant to be layered and I think everyone who made a layered cocktail achieved it so we were all pretty chuffed with our efforts.

One tip not to forget when making your own cocktails is: one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong and four of weak!

I think the highlight of the evening was when Hayley Stubbs had to make and drink a Flaming Lamborghini. I have absolutley no idea what went in it, but it was meant to be on fire when she drank it (though there wasn’t enough sambuca left to get the effect) and as she drank it two more shots were put in it! Hope your hangover wasn’t too bad this morning hun!

But, in all seriousness the idea for the masterclass wasn’t so that everyone could get drunk for £2.50. It was a great way to try out drinks that you may or may not like and learn a few of the techniques needed to make them. The question and answer session that the guys did was helpful, but my only wish was that there was a receipe list handed out at the end.

Interviews with Hayley and Chek who runs Mojito will be up tomorrow with some pics.

So then, on to today. Well, I’m happy to report I didn’t have a hangover, just a lecture 😦 but after that was done I headed off to the Arabic Language class that was on.

Unfortunately, I did get to this half way through, which didn’t help me to pick it up, but I have to say I found out more than I had though I would.

The booklets that we were given were fantastic and we used them to spell our names and learnt how to hold a basic conversation in Arabic.

But, I also learnt how important it is to be polite in their culture. It might sound like a nag but I think too many of us tend to forget our ‘P’s and Q’s’ in today’s world, but our tutor for the session, Summer Mouallem told us how important politeness is and how easily you can offend someone if you forget.

Now, I have to admit I struggled to pick up the lingo and the writing still doesn’t make sense to me and I wasn’t great at getting my tongue around some of the words, but I think it was a great taster session for anyone hoping to take up the language as an elective or certificate and even if they chose not to do Arabic it was a great advertisement for the University’s language department.

An interview with Summer and some pics will also be going up tomorrow.

So then, what else happened today I hear you ask?! Well, to be honest today was a relatively quiet day for GIAG 08. Unfortunately, Irish Dance Class was cancelled due to lack of interest, but the Ikea trip certainly generated enough people’s attention and the Cooking and Eating event held tonight in the Atrium was a sell out by lunchtime.

I didn’t go to either of these due to other commitments, but I can tell you that those of you who went to Ikea should have gorgeous looking rooms and houses now (I have to say most of room is covered in Ikea products) and those that went to the masterclass should have some great ideas to eat healthy this year. Not only that, but you should be pretty stuffed too!!!

I went to a similar masterclass last year and it’s still on the site if you want to read the review, but for those who missed tonight’s event, have a look to see if the Cooking Masterclass taking place next Thurday (2nd Oct) evening isn’t fully booked yet. It’s a similar event and a good excuse to try some great grub!!!

Right well that’s all for now, but come back tomorrow for those pics, interviews and little bit more about what’s been happening in GIAG, including the Clubs and Socs Fair, Lacrosse and the Pie Eating Contest in Source tomorrow night!!!

And if you have been to any of the events or are planning to go, let me know, send me your reviews, pics comments and anything else you think would great on the site and I’ll get them up. My email is pfeatures@uclan.ac.uk.

Remember, it’s your union, your GIAG and this is site is yours too so let everyone know what’s going on!!!

Bye. x