For the Love of Coconut Oil

Most people have heard all the amazing benefits that there are to using coconut oil. If you haven't, here's a few.

-restores dry hair
-helps nourish skin
-removes bags under eyes
-helps nails grow stronger
-improves digestion
-boosts immunity against illness
-delays wrinkles
-helps heal skin irritations such as eczema
-expedites weight loss
-stress relief
-prevents tooth decay

Since India is a country that uses coconut oil in all things, skin care, hair care, cooking etc. I decided to test the benefits and have found it to be quite as amazing as people claim. The biggest difference I saw was in my skin. Moving from a completely dry climate to a very humid one caused my skin to freak out a bit and I constantly developed a heat rash. Once I started applying coconut oil to my skin, it not only healed these rash breakouts but it also made my skin feel so soft. I have started using it for my hair as well and will begin to substitute coconut oil for most of my other cooking oils. It has been fun learning about this wonder oil during my time in India and before I left I got to visit a factory that produces this oil for local companies and businesses. The manager was kind enough to show a friend and I around and tell us the process that the coconut goes through before it becomes oil. Here are a few pictures of the process. Try it out if you haven't yet!

Unexpected Fun with Filming

When you live overseas and especially a place like India, you never know what can happen on any given day. For example, when you meet a director of a film company that does advertising for local businesses and he asks you to do some work with him and you suddenly find yourself acting as an agent for all the foreigners you know in the city. Not really...but sort of :) So my coworker happened to meet this director and agreed to act in one of his commercials for a local hospital and then shortly after that, I met a French tourist that was in India for a month working on short documentary films and she was also excited to spend a few days on set with this production company. Now, I have very little knowledge of film or commercial making so it was sort of a fun new hobby to explore for my last month in India. However, one thing I learned along the way was that it takes forever to get that "one perfect shot" and that there's a lot of waiting around while the scene is set. 

The most fun I had was one day when I tagged along while a scene was being shot in an old traditional home and there were a bunch of child actors on set. They had little to do for most of the day and they all spoke some English so I sat outside playing and chatting with them. They were the most adorable children and it was a treat for me as most Indian children I interacted with seemed a bit fearful of the strange foreigner. 

As I continued to get to know the director and his team of staff, I was eventually asked to do some voice over work on a couple parts of the advertising pieces. I had never done anything like that but agreed to try. We spent a few hours in a small studio one day and I had about 8 different lines to deliver. It was much harder than you think actually. I thought I was saying the lines perfectly fine but the director wanted more emotion, or more dramatic pausing or louder or with more sorrow or laughter in the tone. I had a hard time not cracking up as the script was "cheesy" by American standards but would be well received by a Bollywood loving Indian audience. lol Just as a small taste of what's to come...here's one of my lines. "Thank you Baby Memorial Hospital for helping me to fly over stones and obstacles that challenged my daily life." hahaha

As soon as I get the finished result, I'll be sure to post the link. Can't wait to add this new skill to my resume! I have now been in the newspaper, a documentary, a TV program and a commercial this year which I find hilarious but love when new experiences drop into my lap. Here are some pictures from my time at the set and the studio. :)