Letter from France 6

 

written on Sunday, June 4, 1989

 

Folks,

 

The school is on another one-week vacation. I'm staying in Châlons for a few days and then going to Germany to visit friends. Have got a two-day New Games workshop (funny how one’s past manages to catch up with one) in Erlangen near Munich next weekend, so will combine some pleasure and work.

 

Sundays are very slow in France, even slower in Châlons, and dead at the school. The midweek resident teachers in the hotel leave to go home for the weekend. Plus, the school is closed, so none of the students come by. I watch a lot of television while spinning ropes, read, take walks, and play with the Mac.

 

Sunday mornings are the best part. There is a show called "Club Dorothée" which is on every day of the week, but on Sundays is called "Dorothée Dimanche." Dorothée is a cute, young, blonde singer who is surrounded on the show by another woman, three men, and really bad writers. I think of her as the French equivalent to the Romper Room woman. The show consists of bad sketches, which the others start, and after getting confused and upset, Dorothée joins in like the good sport she is. Last week the theme was stick your finger in your croissant before you eat it. Not the highest art form, reread paragraph two.

 

Since Dorothée is the only woman who talks to me on Sundays, I have developed a mild crush on her. If I have enough francs, I get a croissant the day before so she and I can eat breakfast together. If, for some reason, the banks are holding on to my funds (for some mysteriously French reason this seems to happen to me a lot), I enjoy stale bread while Dorothée and her gang munch on fresh croissants. Yesterday the bank decided to give me some money, so this morning I splurged on tetra-brick juice (accompanied by a new small orange stain on the t-shirt) and cheese, and I think Dorothée noticed.

 

This past week Mick and Tim from l'Institute de Jonglage were here as guest teachers, so things were different and busy. They were the ones who recommended me for the job, and it was fun bossing them around. The end-of-the-week excitement came as the three of us organized a giant game of American baseball. I suspected this would be fun and was still surprised by how much. Being one of the few people who understood the rules was great. For the first time, my students had to listen to my bad French as I tried to explain why: 1) one time the runner on second base had to run (because a runner at first forced it), 2) the runner on second couldn't run (a fly ball about to be caught), and 3) the runner on second could stay or run and either choice was okay (ground ball, nobody on first). Amid a lot of head shaking, there were many questions about how the US managed to help liberate France in WWII.

 

After the game, an obligatory weenie roast. Unfortunately, we forgot the marshmallows, and they still don't believe you stick those things over an open fire before eating them.

 

The school has asked if I want to come back next year, and I have said “yes” for one more year. We will get together the week after the vacation to figure out the details. I have told them I want some time to get my list of demands ready. I suspect it won't be too hard to negotiate.

 

So, I will leave France around July 15 or 16 headed for the juggling convention in Baltimore for a week. After that, I may take a small tour of the east coast and go on to Atlanta. The other definite stops are southern and northern California. You will recognize me; I'll be the one madly taping all the music he can find, eating Mexican food and anything with BBQ sauce on it, and shopping for socks, Dr. Bronner's soap, and dental floss. If the school will send me to a language program, I'll most likely head back here around the middle of August.

 

We stopped off at the beach near Bordeaux on the way back. Here's some info on CNAC and a photo. Anyone with plans to come to Maastricht? Oh, for a proper English breakfast.

           

take care,

 

Todd Strong, Professeur du Jonglage    (I love this title)

 

copyright 1989 by Todd Strong

 

 

Return to Letters from France main page