Letter from France 7

 

written on Sunday, June 18, 1989

 

Folks,

 

As they used to say in Vietnam, "I am getting short." I haven't actually started counting the days, but there is a definite feeling of "end of the year" and that I will be leaving soon. After a one-week vacation, we have just finished the first week of the final six-week session of the school year. The students now realize that they must finally prepare their end-of-the-year spectacles, and a sudden interest in practicing specific acts is permeating the school. There is a constant scramble to find free rooms in w hich to practice, and everyone seems a bit frantic and happy. My job has shifted

 

During the past vacation I went to Germany to visit friends and do a two-day New Games workshop (I'm shocked, too, that that part of my past followed me across the Atlantic.) Just when you thought it was safe to go to Europe...

 

Had a great time. Saw some friends in Heidelberg and, though I was disappointed to not find any students from the town walking around with the famous German dueling scars from corner of the eye to the mouth, I did manage to cut myself shaving the next morning in my own personal tribute to local tradition.

 

Erlangen, where I did the New Games workshop, is a small German town noted for having more bicycles per capita than any other German city. A university is in the center of town (many bicyclists), and US military bases (many tankists) on the outskirts. With visions if Tiananmen Square fresh from the television I was glad to see a definite separation of town and gown for the weekend. Also, managed to catch the first great weather in months.

 

Intent on spending as many of the German marks I was earning as I could, I went shopping for socks, coats, and electronic goods (France is expensive!). A small shock hit my nervous system as I tried to switch from speaking French to German while visiting the shops. A huge shock shattered my self-image when the shopkeepers kept thinking I was French. Apparently, I have picked up an accent somewhere. Not to worry, though; when necessary I can still make it known that I am an AMERICAN. All I need do is loudly demand to know why I can’t get a hamburger. Ended up teaching the workshop in English. The German school system requires nine years of English. The US schools demand almost the same. We should require some foreign language study, as well.

 

For an evening meal my hosts took me to a Biergarten where a folk-music festival was taking place. We had an oom-pah band and the biggest beer steins I have ever seen. The next time you go the market look at a one-liter container of any cola. About as big as a stomach, right? Now, imagine that is the first glass you will have in an evening. I couldn't finish two, my host managed three.

 

Back in France, the weather here has been pretty hot, without the horrible humidity that can really make things intolerable. In the evenings it's quite pleasant to take a bicycle ride. Some Dr. Bronner's peppermint reinforcement soap has arrived, so I just take a lot of showers.

 

Traveling by train through large cities I managed to find some international news magazines in English, so have a better idea of what's going on in the world. Television is great for picture, but I still miss most of the content.

 

Back in May, I managed to know enough about important events to stage a small demonstration one Saturday in the school courtyard. The director was upstairs working so I took the two banners I had made, yelled enough to get him to come to the window, and proudly unfurled, "Vive la Revolution Chinoise" to support the students and "Go Lakers" to support the team. He suggested I post them both up in the school cafeteria, where they hung for a few days. Since then, the Lakers lost in the finals (drat), a nd magic has been seriously injured in two countries. Sorry for the politics, I can only end this letter one way

 

SHAME on the government of China for turning tanks on its own people

 

take care, Todd

 

copyright 1989 by Todd Strong

 

 

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