Mentor Log

October 16, 2007 (12:00-1:00)
Today I meet with my Mentor Puja for the first time. We meet at school last week when she came and the person she normally mentors did not show up so she ended up in my class room, we had a conversation and I ended asking was she apart of the Indian program at UGA and would she like to be my mentor. We contacted over email and we decided that since she comes every tuesday we would meet on tuesday and on the weekend.
We discussed what the project consisted of and what she had to do as my mentor. We decided that she would help me learn a classical Indian dance.

October 30, 2007(12:00-1:00)
Today I meet with Puja during lunch break. We went over a few basic steps of the dance. Like Dit tat ta and some others. I truly did not realize how out of shape that i was until we started to practice. It truly invloves nothing but your feet and your hands. I never was a dancer but I truly realized how horrible of a dancer I am. I felt really bad because it was pathetic how i have no kind of coordiantion in my body at all. Each step really takes alot energy out of you even though it seems fairly simply it is not. Even Jessica joined in during the dance but her feet started to hurt. I tryed to keep going even though I sounded like I had ran a marathon by the end of the hour. Puja truly is understanding of me not being such a good dancer and I am glad that I found someone who is as dedicated to helping me learn the dance as I am to learn the dance. I think the final project will really turn out kind of neat.

Sunday November 3, 2007 (7:45-10:30)
Today I went to practice with Puja at her dorms. I was supposed to meet with her at 8:30 but we both did not no that time was going back and so we both were up pretty early and it was convient. But in this meeting we started to learn the exact steps to the dance. Not just pieces and parts. The dance was the first dance that Puja learned her dad had put it on you tube so that she could see how it went. Her little brother was also in the dance. We had to figure out how it was going to go with out me having has many people has the original dance did. I think that we have it looking jus tas cute as the original dance. We practiced it over and over agian. I think that by the end of the 10 hours I should have the dance perfect but if not I am going to pretend like it is. We had a good time at this practice. And I truly did work hard. By the end of the day I had learned only a good minute and thirty seconds of the dance. But truly it felt like an hour long dance. I don't know what else to say.

Tuesday November 5, 2007
Today Puja came during my lunch break and we worked on the dance I think i learned about 20 seconds of the dance to today. I learned to flat foot stomp. I think that I am starting to catch on a little bit quicker. We discussed how long the product has to be. I think that my dance might not be has long as I thought it would be but the little bit that I did get was going to be great.

Tuesday November 13, 2007
Today Puja came during my lunch break. She made sure that I knew that I had to do the first part before I start dancing because it is a religious dance, and that I had to have my shoes off when I danced. And I think tha tI might have offended her while I was eating during the dance, so she told me to stop. We went over the part that I learned and a little extra we decided to end it there. And we just went over it and over it. She told me that she might not be her during the prduct demostration because of final exams. But she is going to try to be there. I thought that I had the dance perfect but I left out a couple of steps and when I do it to the music it doesn't go along with the beat. I think that I should have done something different because I am not that good at dancing and I have known that since i was a little girl. But Puja seems to know how I feel, even though sometimes she seems to get a little impatient with me. But we had a good time today.

Tuesday November 20, 2007 (11:00- 1:00)
Today Puja came in to help me with the final preparation on learning the dance. She found out that the girl she normally mentors is not coming anymore so she is probably going to come early next week. We finally figured out if she was going to be able to come for my product presentation, but she won't be able to make it because of finals. But I hope that will be okay. We also talked about finding something to wear during my presentation agian but I couldn't find what she told me to look for but I think I will just wear anything it not that big of a deal. But it would have been nice if I had the usually dress. And I was thinking about getting the Henna for my feet, but that all depends on if I am going to have the money for that. Me and Puja really got a chance to talk today because I didn't have to do the dance that much.

Tuesday November 27, 2007 (11:00-1:00)
Today Puja came but we really did not do anything. It was Mentor Appreciation Week so we got to go into the conference room and get some snacks. The Brownies were sooo good. It was also was th eday that seniors had planned to take pictures but not enough people showed up for the man to come. I truly did not want him to take my senior pictures anyway because he did not seem like he has enough expriance taking those type of pictures but you never know. Me and Puja talked about the parade and he and her friend came out to help us build the float. We had fun I really enjoy her helping me without the dance being invloved because she seems alittle more laid back. And she finally told me how old she is 17.