We’ve been meeting a ton of actors and directors of the shows that we’ve seen, which is really neat. We’ve been able to ask them questions directly about their work, their shows, etc.
After a tour of an old monastery the other dayLast night after a show we had a picnic dinner in the garden of the Palais des Papes overlooking the Rhone River, in exactly the spot where David Graham and I were a year ago.
Walking up to the gardenAfterwards, we wandered down to the city square around the palace and watched some of the street performers.
Avignon by night
There are all kinds of people doing all kinds of little skits and acts. We decided that we could play at this game, too:
Pyramid, phase 1
Et voila!Unfortunately, no one gave us any money. :( And we even had some people juggling, too. Can you believe it?
I’m learning to speak Arab. I can even have a little conversation, as long as it follows an exact script:
Good morning/ good evening! You are well? Yes, well. Thanks be to God.
And that’s it.
Currently it’s Sunday… I can’t believe I’ll be home on Thursday! I feel like being home was months ago, but at the same time, all this has passed by so quickly. I can’t remember when I’ve had this much fun…. the only problem is that this program is suspiciously lacking in David Grahams…
Looks like so much fun!! I definitely want to visit Avignon!
ReplyDeleteOn Music
ReplyDeleteIt’s fun being with théâtre people again. We move around in a giant, obnoxious pack, singing show tunes and delighting or annoying passersby. I bonded instantly with Jo, from London, after we discovered our mutual love for musical theatre, from Wicked to Anything Goes. Joséphine (French) wanted me to teach her an easy song, so it was “Doe, a deer” all the way home from a show that night. She returned the favor by teaching me “Supercalifragilicsticexpealidocious” in French (HOW have I lived in this world for 22 years without knowing that there is a French version of Mary Poppins??).
Most unfortunately, instead of ending with “expe-ali-docious,” the French version goes with the sound equivalent of “sexy-pedi-lucious”, which is kind of perverse/ would be difficult to teach in an American high school setting. But the fact remains that it exists. I.am.so.excited.
Speaking of music… we had a little fete (party) last night in which we celebrated our last evening together. Us Anglophones treated the audience to a rousing chorus of “Lean on Me,” which we could easily prepare harmony to, and which we figured would be less cliché to those who don’t speak English as their first language than it is for ourselves.
We heard lots of fun songs. One of the best was when Wiam (an Arab) and Mayann (an Israeli) sang together a song first in Arab then in Hebrew. It was quite surreal and really very beautiful to watch that…