The Week

I was so engrossed in trying to get enough sleep and rest between shifts that i didn't bother blog. Hohoho...

I watched An Evening with Paloma Herrera on monday night and skipped tuesday's(because i was too tired). An Evening with Iana Salenko and Marian Walter would've have beeb more apt. Anyways, i was never a fan of Herrera. If i watched ABT, i preferred Julie Kent(in fact she's one of the very few American dancers i like). Never liked her in Don Q with Corella too. She did Raymonda, a number by Twyla Tharp and Don Q, none of which i enjoyed. Sascha Radeztsky(who was Charlie in Centrestage) is hot, but he was horrible as Basilio in Don Q. Corella in the famous video, was better(but i don't really like him too). They looked awkward in Twyla Tharp's, but i don't blame them cos' her choreography takes something to look good in.

Iana Salenko and Marian Walter were the BEST! They're a married couple from Staatsballett Berlin, and they had PERFECT chemistry. They did Bournonville's Flower Festival and looked so youthful and playful! :) They did another modern piece which saw them having very dynamic partnering. It was SO GOOD. They're even better than ABT's Irina and Max(whom i watched in the ballet gala). They're one of the best i've seen live! :) Love them!!!

The rest were ok. Didn't like the Japanese pair from Tokyo Ballet. They were very showy, and it was too showy for Sleeping Beauty's grand pas de deux. I was *shudder* cringeing at their version of one of my favourite PDDs... They looked better in Carmen, which showed of their flamboyant style. The other couple is from SFB. Yuan Yuan Tan didn't come. Her replacment was not too bad, but i didn't like her Odette(as usual, American style with the classics don't go well). Ashley Bouder was disappointing. She looked a little 'bigger' than the standard ballerina, which made her Giselle look weird. Again, she's a Balanchine ballerina and she doing Giselle isn't all that nice. Her version of Balanchine's Tchaikovsky's Pas de Deux(music from Swan Lake) wasn't to my taste. Only because the best version(even in comparison to the greats of British, American, French and Russian ballerinas) was by Evgenia Obraztsova(previously seen in ballet gala) though she isn't a Balanchine ballerina.

All in all, Iana and Marian saved the day!!! Just like how Evgenia saved the International Ballet Gala! :)

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My 2nd week in IMH was ok. I was struggling during the morning shifts because of the lack of adequate rest. We built even more rapport with our patients. 1 patient seriously looked like he was going to rape and kill me, but thankfully he left after 1 night. Then another guy was admitted and he fell in love with me. NO KIDDING. Just to give you an idea(some of this came from Banu because he didn't dare to ask me):

- He wanted to see my face under the mask, and asked if he could kiss me.

- He wanted to marry someone who looked exactly like me.

- He gave me flying kisses whenever we left for the day.

- He explicitly asked me to give him a hug when we said our final goodbye just because another patient 'hugged' me(and my other friends).

OMG. So creepy and disgusting. That was not all. Just the most absurd ones. HAHA. Luckily we didn't reveal where we were going after IMH. We just lied our way through with all patients for fear of them stalking us when they're out.

We bought marble cake for their tea break on the last day and they were so happy! :) And when we said our final goodbyes, they were all so kind and tthankful, wishing us all the best in our studies etc. I was close to tearing. But oh well. One thing for sure, peope with mental illnesses are just like all of us, and like the patients in acute hospitals. It's just that their illness are manifested not physically but mentally, which makes it intangible and hard for people to accept.

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2 more weeks in the paediatric ward! Kids and more kids! But i know my heart will melt sometime during this posting. It's a bittersweet, love-hate kinda thing going on in me with kids.