My Classmates and World Adventurers,
Namaste! I’ve arrived safely and soundly in Kathmandu, and I’m already quite taken by Nepal--all the hustle and bustle of India, but with a distintintly East Asian vibe. After experiencing my fair share of cows and near traffic fatalities, I have to say: Julia, you’re stark raving mad! From now on, every time I have second thoughts about getting a difficult shot, I’ll just picture you standing in the middle of these crazy, crazy streets filming that cow!
I was super hesitant about coming through a middleman organization, but I somehow happened upon the one volunteer program that actually cares more about humanitarianism than money--100% good luck on my part. I’ve spent my first few days learning Nepali, exploring the city, and meeting my fellow volunteers, and this evening I have a sign language lesson with the interpreter for Nepali national television! I leave tomorrow morning for the Banepa Deaf School, and I couldn’t be more excited! I’m psyched to meet the chidlren and my host family (I’ll be living with the head teacher), and I’m eager to get out of the noise, chaos, and pollution of the city.
My biggest worry so far is on how the children will react to the camera. Not a new concern by any means, but it feels far more imminent now that I’m finally here and getting a taste for the locals’ reactions (or rather, overreactions) to tourists’ digital cameras. I fear the novelty of the camera will be difficult to overcome, and I also wonder how the kids will react to my divergent roles—first, as a highly interactive English teacher, and second, as a silent**, disengaged*** filmmaker. I’ve gotten loads of good advice from Stephanie and a documentarian I met through the volunteer program, and my plan is this: strictly use the viewfinder (so there’s no temptation for the kids to watch the LCD screen, and no way they can know of the camera’s playback feature), film exclusively in classrooms at first (where paying attention in mandatory), and make a clear designation that I’m in “work mode” when the camera is with me. If you have any advice, please let me know! And Elisa, I’m interested on hearing how you end up solving your similar dilemma.
I love, love, LOVE reading your adventures from around the globe—I save them to my USB so I can read them multiple times on my laptop. :) I’m looking forward to all the escapades you crazy kids are up to next! Keep on postin’ on!
* Oh no! I came up with the title before I got here, but I'm not quick enough on my feet to come up with an alternative. Sorry to rip off your "C" alliteration, Julia!
** You know what I mean!
*** or differently engaged, rather
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On the other hand, why not just let them react to the camera? There's truth in that! I'm guessing that they will get used to it pretty quickly. Let us know how it goes!
ReplyDeleteTy! You are a posting queen! I just found the "comment" button... :S
ReplyDeleteAhhhh, Nepal. Ben and I ahve been trying not to compare India to Nepal, because it REALLY is like apples and oranges and we definitely miss certain things about it. but I am still looking for my "cow-in-traffic" shot and trying to the potential metaphor here. Obviously fishing and fishermen present many possibilities for metaphor, but I am really feeling the time crunch (only 8 days left here!!!!) and trying to be practical with my shooting.
I also remember the same problem with children just wanting to goof and stick tehir faces up in the lens, but if you ahve the patience I think they will tire of it... the shooting in teh clasroom and only through the viewfinder sound like great ideas. Hope that works out for you!
If you go back to K-du, you should go to Pashupathinath and just across the footbridge, immediately to the right lives a local legend named Milk Baba who was the "narrator" of my film. He's fun to talk to (if he's around: he's often abroad). Stop in and tell him that ben and I said Hi!
best of luck,
julia