Life: LIVE

It's 2.30 pm; I've been up for just over an hour and I'm sat at my desk with fresh mate. Just how Sundays should start really. I had half planned to go join one of the organised walks leaving this morning but decided that waking up before 10 wasn't really in my best interests.

The first week back after the holidays has been surprisingly good. Even though my two weeks off weren't particularly restful, I feel rejuvenated and refreshed - I kind of have that "new start" feeling that you get at the beginning of an academic year, probably as a result of having spent some quality time with some quality people and the feeling that I've forged some strong friendships. I feel part of a community! 

Live³

Last night was an excellent outing for bonding with the girls from the African Danse group: our first performance. A night of African inspired live music with us in between the two groups. Pre-show nerves and last minute run-throughs plus a meal together before hand. We had two pieces rehearsed, the first of which was more of a taster and despite feeling fairly confident, forgetting to count meant that I got a bit lost. Fortunately I caught up before the end and the following piece was spectacular! I've never danced so hard and it was great fun! 

After the performance we did a spontaneous activity trying to get the crowd to join in a big circle with Marion showing some steps, a great idea to warm up the crowd for the next group and get people dancing. After changing, we spent the next couple of hours dancing to the band, eventually leaving at 12.30.... 

My third live music event in as many nights! 

Thursday night's was a night of Occitane poetry set to music with accompaniment of a hurdygurdy, an oboe, and voices (with some percussion thrown in on the side). For those who don't know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurdy_gurdy (Une viéle in French).

It was really atmospheric and mesmerizing to watch. It was also nice to see some of the meditation group (it was in the same place) as I'd missed the session during the holidays. :)

Occitan is a strange language... I spent a large part of the evening trying to decipher the language, initially thinking Portuguese, then puzzling over Italian, and settling on some strange version of French in which the "r"s are rolled. So not too far from the truth! Occitan is a dialect still spoken in some areas of the south of France and a close relative of Catalan. 

Friday was no less unusual, and equally as exciting: a concert at the coloc. 

Some of Pierre's friends had asked him if he knew of any good concert halls in Saint Etienne for a first and final performance before the band's members dispersed to varies different locations, ended up proposing the lounge, as you do! So once again I made the trek up to Sainté on Friday afternoon to join the festivities!

The band was on for maybe an hour max, after which a sort of "open mic" type set up took over. Fortunately friends of musicians often tend to be pretty musical themselves and covers of popular songs always go down well at parties. 

Pierre showing off his talents

Another eclectically extravagant soirée with the coloc. It's impossible not to have a good time with them! Saturday morning saw the routine clean-up of the flat followed by fresh croissants, orange juice and a trip to the park for a picnic (the weather wasn't quite warm enough but it was fun all the same!) before heading of on the bus to get bus to Monistrol with time for a quick 30 minute nap before getting ready for the show!

Moi? Sportive?

Another contribution to the "new start" feeling I had this week might be the fact that it's been pretty active. Going back to school on Monday I found a shoe-box in my locker with a UK stamp and familiar hand writing on the label - thanks Ellis for sending my running shoes!! Before the holidays I'd been wanting to try running again so made a postage request. :)

Running explorations

So having Monday afternoons off, and the weather being fairly mild, I thought I'd go see how I could do! I was out for over an hour and admittedly didn't run all of that time but I made a good attempt and had a great time exploring the area a bit more - I even found an ALDI that I didn't know about before! I might try and make it a regular Monday afternoon activity, with the exception of when I have too much work to do or if it's really horrible weather. 

After hearing about my weekend's cycling exploits, Dominique very kindly offered to lend me a bike which he's not currently using - of course I jumped at the chance and Tuesday morning he arrived at school with a very shiny, nearly new bicycle in the back of his pick-up, complete with locks and a basket to put on the front. My excitement easily carried me through the school day and I made good use of it after class to head out to that ALDI I'd found to stock up on supplies. 

I was eager to try another long-ish bike ride and I'd been told I wasn't needed for Wednesday's classes so I got in touch with the older couchsurfer from a neighbouring village who'd invited me to lunch when I'd first put up my message on the forum to ask if there was any activity around Monistrol. Previous attempts to go visit had been foiled by the fact that there are only 2 buses per day and the timings didn't really suit... solution: don't use buses. 

Saint-Maurice-de-Lignon is about 10km from Monistrol, a perfect long-ish but doable distance. Wednesday morning I set off at 11 after getting up especially early to get my laundry done. Leaving Monistrol was simple, a few ups and downs following by a glorious stretch of downhill for the first 3 or 4kms (Though I did make the mental note that I would have to cycle up that on the way back) with my only complaint being that it was a bit chilly, the weather had turned again. Just under halfway, I reached the Loire - ie. the bottom of the valley, with 6km to go, all of which were uphill. I kept telling myself that there would be a flatter bit around the next corner, but sadly, my prophecy never came true! 

Reaching the village was definitely a proud moment, and I'd done it in just over an hour. 

Lunch with Georges was a pleasant affair, chatting about his family and travels. He hadn't been particularly far, but he was a great walker and had done the Way of St. James pilgrimage through Spain several times. He was also a huge Britophile; one of his daughters lived there, meaning that he had proper tea and slightly more dubiously... a sort of shrine to the royal family. He also happened to know Fred (temporary resident of the coloc) as they're both part of Couchsurfing Rural so I gave him the contact number and we touched base with the coloc. 

The way back from Georges' wasn't overly pleasant. It had got colder and it was snowing lightly. Descending the 6km of uphill was the equivalent of sitting perfectly still in an icy wind tunnel and despite being reasonably well dressed, it wasn't enough and I was almost grateful when I reached the uphill. Then it became a test of stamina. Despite all of this, the sense of accomplishment that I had on getting home was enough to make it worthwhile. Even if I did only have a couple of hours to recuperate before leaving for our last dance practice before the performance on Saturday!!

Maybe I am a bit sporty... Sports in themselves don't interest me that much... But I like being outside and increasingly I like being active. I guess it's all a question of semantics. 

One of my current missions is to try and interconnect some of my friendship groups. To create more of a web type network rather than me being in the middle with various bubbles pointing off. Connect the different histoires that I've lived and the people I've met to make everything seem more real. I'm excited to introduce Khinezar and Ryan to the coloc. when they come down next month to make the first link, then I really want Pierre to go stay with Andres when he passes through Buenos Aires on his way to Chile. I can make this happen!!