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Pakistan Zindabad!
Aug. 17th, 2009 05:03 pmThat was the cry from most of the floats at the parade we went to yesterday -- a parade celebrating Pakistan Independence Day (which actually was August 14th, but they held the parade on Sunday). It means "Long Live Pakistan." That parade was one of several events taking place in the South Asian part of Chicago this past weekend -- as India also celebrated Independence Day on the 15th with a parade, and our South Asian Friendship Center held a block party on Saturday to coincide with both events.
I was in charge of the food tent for the block party, which involved free water, lemonade, popcorn and watermelon. I didn't really have my head on straight properly to be on top of things for the block party, due to arriving from our trip to New Jersey only the day before -- so I wasn't actually set up well enough before the inrush of thirsty folk after the parade. It was almost overwhelming at first! Also, I was stiff and sore from falling while setting up -- I tripped on a curb and fell on the grass, and bruised my knee severely (a bad bruise on top of a healing bruise from last time). I'm such a klutz these days, I've fallen down hard twice this month! Just rushing too much and not watching, I guess. Anyway, that didn't help me at all to get around like I needed to, but I managed. People who knew I had fallen helped me out a lot, so that was good!
We had a lot of volunteers from area churches to help out, which was wonderful, but my "assigned" ones always disappeared when I needed them! Thankfully, I had a capable fellow manning the popcorn machine all day, so I didn't have to do that. As it was, I was so busy frantically serving drinks and the other food (along with my helpers) that I hardly got a chance to even look at people, let alone chat with them. And we were right next to one of the speakers which was blaring Hindi/Pakistani music -- fun stuff with a great beat, but so loud we couldn't hear ourselves think let alone hear what our customers were saying to us. :-D
Local people kept taking my chairs and sitting in them along the street, so I never had one when I needed to sit down. And I had to run back and forth a lot because we kept running out of lemonade and water. It was a hot day, and people had been standing in the sun watching the parade, so we were a popular stop for a free drink -- plus the popcorn and watermelon. My right arm is still stiff and sore today from slicing watermelon and pushing the spiggot on the lemonade jug repeatedly all afternoon!
In spite of all that, I was able to meet and chat with a number of my friends, as well as a bunch of kids who frequent the Center where they get help with English and schoolwork, so I was pleased about that. And everything really went well and people had fun, and I got compliments on my Pakistani outfit -- which is nice because it's as old as the hills, but seemingly still in style and fitting properly. ;-)
We were so busy with the block party that we didn't get to see any of the India Day parade, but we did get to see the Pakistan parade on the following day. We actually skipped church to go see it! It wasn't anything fancy, but it was fun to stand on the curb behind the police barricade, dressed like a Pakistani and wearing buttons that said Love Pakistan. ;-) It was overcast all morning, and sure enough, before the parade was over, a storm blew up. Those poor people on the floats, lol! We got soaked walking back home, but it was still fun. We met lots of people we knew, and chatted a bit when the rain wasn't soaking us. There was supposed to be a gathering in a nearby park afterwards, with booths for food and performances and such, but I didn't go. It rained a fair bit, and then, even though it cleared up, it was really soggy out.
Anyway, I'm moving real slow today, as I'm quite stiff, and my bruised knee is a sight to behold. I'll recover soon enough, hopefully! It always takes a few days to recover from such a weekend, even when one doesn't fall all over the place and hurt oneself! Too bad our lovely relaxing week in New Jersey got all used up in just two days, though! We'll need to take another vacation now. ;-)
I was in charge of the food tent for the block party, which involved free water, lemonade, popcorn and watermelon. I didn't really have my head on straight properly to be on top of things for the block party, due to arriving from our trip to New Jersey only the day before -- so I wasn't actually set up well enough before the inrush of thirsty folk after the parade. It was almost overwhelming at first! Also, I was stiff and sore from falling while setting up -- I tripped on a curb and fell on the grass, and bruised my knee severely (a bad bruise on top of a healing bruise from last time). I'm such a klutz these days, I've fallen down hard twice this month! Just rushing too much and not watching, I guess. Anyway, that didn't help me at all to get around like I needed to, but I managed. People who knew I had fallen helped me out a lot, so that was good!
We had a lot of volunteers from area churches to help out, which was wonderful, but my "assigned" ones always disappeared when I needed them! Thankfully, I had a capable fellow manning the popcorn machine all day, so I didn't have to do that. As it was, I was so busy frantically serving drinks and the other food (along with my helpers) that I hardly got a chance to even look at people, let alone chat with them. And we were right next to one of the speakers which was blaring Hindi/Pakistani music -- fun stuff with a great beat, but so loud we couldn't hear ourselves think let alone hear what our customers were saying to us. :-D
Local people kept taking my chairs and sitting in them along the street, so I never had one when I needed to sit down. And I had to run back and forth a lot because we kept running out of lemonade and water. It was a hot day, and people had been standing in the sun watching the parade, so we were a popular stop for a free drink -- plus the popcorn and watermelon. My right arm is still stiff and sore today from slicing watermelon and pushing the spiggot on the lemonade jug repeatedly all afternoon!
In spite of all that, I was able to meet and chat with a number of my friends, as well as a bunch of kids who frequent the Center where they get help with English and schoolwork, so I was pleased about that. And everything really went well and people had fun, and I got compliments on my Pakistani outfit -- which is nice because it's as old as the hills, but seemingly still in style and fitting properly. ;-)
We were so busy with the block party that we didn't get to see any of the India Day parade, but we did get to see the Pakistan parade on the following day. We actually skipped church to go see it! It wasn't anything fancy, but it was fun to stand on the curb behind the police barricade, dressed like a Pakistani and wearing buttons that said Love Pakistan. ;-) It was overcast all morning, and sure enough, before the parade was over, a storm blew up. Those poor people on the floats, lol! We got soaked walking back home, but it was still fun. We met lots of people we knew, and chatted a bit when the rain wasn't soaking us. There was supposed to be a gathering in a nearby park afterwards, with booths for food and performances and such, but I didn't go. It rained a fair bit, and then, even though it cleared up, it was really soggy out.
Anyway, I'm moving real slow today, as I'm quite stiff, and my bruised knee is a sight to behold. I'll recover soon enough, hopefully! It always takes a few days to recover from such a weekend, even when one doesn't fall all over the place and hurt oneself! Too bad our lovely relaxing week in New Jersey got all used up in just two days, though! We'll need to take another vacation now. ;-)
