i don't even know how tonight, during dinner, i got to talking with two of my coworkers about our elastic-hopping pasts (a thing we have in common in spite of
being at least a couple of years apart from each other, and from three different countries). so i remembered my little icon on this blog, which is actually taken from the photo on the left, where my friend andreea and i are chinese jump roping the day away - each with our own "elastic" held up by sticks instead of legs, because we didn't have the necessary third partner and couldn't play properly. (and yet we persevered! amazingly enough, we had two different elastics on us at that picnic; someone's come up with the phrase "elastic till you lose consciousness" to describe the type of dedication to the game that we felt, and i find it quite perfect.) anyway, we were about 10 here, and it's another picture that i love, just as much as i used to love this game as a kid. and it's so awesome that both tsveti and francesca agree with the sentiment. :)
one interesting thing about it, though, is how "the elastic" was exclusively a "girls' game"... we talked about it tonight, too - the guys who were with us seemed kind of embarassed by our strange bonding over the memories, and barely knew what we were even talking about; there was a note of disdain beginning to show in their reaction so then we moved on to other, safer topics.
sigh... this whole dynamic quite fascinates me. there were plenty of unisex games we played around the neighborhood as little kids... and both andreea and i were major tomboys back then (aka "the time before puberty when we were just ourselves" - to
quote somebody else's inspired words). i certainly didn't care if what i played were "girls'" or "boys'" games. but some were clearly segregated, and for whatever reason this one game that i was very into was among the "girly" ones. i have to think about that. ... what's "girly" about jumping? really.
oh, oh, i found a couple photos of some kids playing this game in uzbekistan (there's boys too!):
and in
mali (they're using chairs to hold up the rope):
and in
brasil:
and in
washington d.c.:
and in
new york city (chinese jump rope vs
double dutch):
AWESOME. i think this should be the next soccer. :)
speaking of girls' games, jumping skills and double dutch:
- it's a group called
double dutchess and they're impressive.
and finally i LOVE this:
on a different topic: i never got into k's choice much though people have tried to convert me... but the singer,
sarah bettens, possessor of what no one can deny is one of the best voices around, has a new solo album and also
this video on her site that i enjoyed a WHOLE lot (the imc logo makes an appearance in it, even)!
being at least a couple of years apart from each other, and from three different countries). so i remembered my little icon on this blog, which is actually taken from the photo on the left, where my friend andreea and i are chinese jump roping the day away - each with our own "elastic" held up by sticks instead of legs, because we didn't have the necessary third partner and couldn't play properly. (and yet we persevered! amazingly enough, we had two different elastics on us at that picnic; someone's come up with the phrase "elastic till you lose consciousness" to describe the type of dedication to the game that we felt, and i find it quite perfect.) anyway, we were about 10 here, and it's another picture that i love, just as much as i used to love this game as a kid. and it's so awesome that both tsveti and francesca agree with the sentiment. :)
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