21 July 2009

St Benoit du Sault

Maison où on était logé / House where we stayed

Après un stage de deux semaines dans un des 100 plus beaux villages de France, je suis enfin de retour ! J'ai passé toute la journée d'hier à dormir et à essayer de faire le tri de la petite centaine d'emails qui se trouvait dans ma boîte. Pour les blogs, il faut me laisser encore quelques jours, mais j'ai hâte de me remettre à vous lire.

Well, after a two week theater program in the center of France in one of its 100 most beautiful villages, I'm finally back in Paris. I spent pretty much all day yesterday sleeping and trying to wade through the 100 or so emails in my inbox. As for actually catching up on my correspondence and blog reading, you'll have to give me another few days, but I'm looking forward to seeing what you've all cooked up in my absence.

Vue du parc derrière notre logement / View from the park behind our house

Qu'est-ce que j'ai pu faire pendant tout ce temps sans internet, vous demandez-vous ? Eh bien, avec le groupe du stage (que je ne connaissais pas avant d'arriver), nous avons monté un apéro cabaret, une parade pour le 14 juillet, et deux spectacles en deux semaines. C'était intense, mais très intéressant. J'ai peu dormi, mais j'ai beaucoup appris ; j'ai fait de belles rencontres, et j'ai retrouvé mon rire - mon vrai, qui est beaucoup trop fort et qui fait tourner les têtes des gens autour :-) Dans les deux spectacles, j'ai chanté I Love Rock and Roll de Joan Jett et joué du Courteline - des vrais numéros de clown avec des rires, des pleurs, des baffes, et une grande carafe d'eau balancée sur ma tête !

So, you ask, what did you do for all that time with NO internet? Well, I can safely say I was much too busy to miss it. With the other actors in the program (none of whom I knew before going), we put together a barbecue/concert, a parade through town on Bastille Day, and two theater shows in two weeks. It was quite an intense but rewarding experience. I did not sleep much, but I learned a lot, and met a wonderful group of people. In both final shows, I sang I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett and acted in a short play by Courteline (in two different roles); the play was some serious clown work with hysterical laughs, tears, and slapstick humor, which involved me getting an entire pitcher of water dumped on my head (funny during the show, less so during rehearsals that took place outdoors sometimes until 1 or 2am)!

Notre estrade, place de l'Eglise / Our stage behind the village church

Tout ce qui me manquait (à part D. bien sûr) était de la nourriture digne de ce nom. Nous étions hébergés et nourris par la mairie locale, mais tout ce qu'on mangeait sortait de boîtes de conserves. Quand je suis rentrée, D. m'a fait du poulet rôti aux patates et je n'ai jamais étais aussi heureuse de manger ! J'ai hâte de me remettre à cuisiner avec des produits frais.

All the experience was missing was some decent food. We were lodged and fed by the town hall and everything we ate was ready-packaged or came out of a tin - yuck! When I got back, D. made me roast chicken with potatoes and I think I've never tasted something so yummy. I can't wait to get back to cooking with fresh vegetables.

5 comments:

PG said...

Sounds like a memorable experience in a beautiful village.

Katharine said...

Any photos of the clowning? Please post if yes.

Love the pix of the town - it looks so peaceful. Thank you! Love, Mom

giz said...

Welcome back!!! Clown work is so hard - how did you survive. I think we all need to spend time eating crappy food to really appreciate that we've learned skills about good food that are really worth having. Get your rest and get back to cooking.

Hopie said...

Psychgrad - It was! I was lucky to be in a such a pretty place.

Mom - Er, I have some, but how about I show them to you personally. I don't know how ridiculous I want to look on my blog ;-)

Giz - I agree. I'm certainly appreciating my food much more, even my simple meals, since I got back! You're right about clown work. It's funny because people don't always realize how serious and meticulous you have to be to be funny! And on the flip side, when staging a tragedy, the cast often spends a lot of time laughing because you have to decompress ;-)

Sam said...

Looks like you had a good time away, it's a shame about the food but like Giz says it'll make you appreciate real, good food so much more!

The village looks beautiful, your photos make me wish I was in France!