After a considerable off-balance, we've seemed to have found our balance again as a group. Thank goodness - we were all going a bit nutso for a sec there, and it wasn't doing anyone any good. But you need to push things too far, sometimes, in order to find the balance, and at least for the moment, we're back.
We've also managed to find a narrative and a theme and a structure for the piece! Hooray! And not a moment too soon - we've only got a week left of rehearsal before we ostensibly present something, and so we'll have to work hard to tie all the loose ends together. We've got our work cut out for us, but I believe we can do it.
(Sorry this entry is so harried - I have twenty minutes before I have to be on a train back to Esmoriz, so I'm banging this out as quickly as I can.)
Also of note this week - went to Porto! For the FIRST TIME, even though we'd been here over a MONTH. Ridiculous, especially considering that Porto is actually GORGEOUS and fascinating and fun. So I'm going to try to go back this weekend.
More on that later. But at the moment, I have a train to catch.
Thursday 30 October 2008
Saturday 25 October 2008
The inevitable occurs
Just a quick note before I turn my computer over to Martha so she can check her email -
Portugal is still beautiful, and creation is the most interesting and engaging kind of challenge, but I'm starting to go a little nuts. I knew this would happen at some point - you can't live and work and spend so many hours a day every day for a month with three other people and not expect that it would take its toll. But the inevitable always seems to sneak up on you: in this case, when all of a sudden you start to feel irritable, and insecure, and emotional for no particular reason. Aram cracked a joke at lunch that gave me a good belly laugh and that's carried me through most of this afternoon, but it still lurks beneath the surface, this vague sense of malcontent.
As always, it comes back to the same lesson: I haven't been taking care of myself first. It's so easy to just stay at home, or go with the crowd, instead of really making the effort to 1) ask my body what it needs and 2) follow through. I'm getting better - yesterday I took the initiative to come into Espinho on my own and ended up hanging out with some of Diogo's (now my) friends, and today I've managed to kick my butt into gear as well. But there's still something missing, some balance that's been thrown off kilter. This is normal. This is life. I just means I need to address it.
Portugal is still beautiful, and creation is the most interesting and engaging kind of challenge, but I'm starting to go a little nuts. I knew this would happen at some point - you can't live and work and spend so many hours a day every day for a month with three other people and not expect that it would take its toll. But the inevitable always seems to sneak up on you: in this case, when all of a sudden you start to feel irritable, and insecure, and emotional for no particular reason. Aram cracked a joke at lunch that gave me a good belly laugh and that's carried me through most of this afternoon, but it still lurks beneath the surface, this vague sense of malcontent.
As always, it comes back to the same lesson: I haven't been taking care of myself first. It's so easy to just stay at home, or go with the crowd, instead of really making the effort to 1) ask my body what it needs and 2) follow through. I'm getting better - yesterday I took the initiative to come into Espinho on my own and ended up hanging out with some of Diogo's (now my) friends, and today I've managed to kick my butt into gear as well. But there's still something missing, some balance that's been thrown off kilter. This is normal. This is life. I just means I need to address it.
Sunday 19 October 2008
AND!
I voted! My very official-looking envelope with my very official vote will be mailed out tomorrow.
Huzzah! GOBAMA! It's so exciting, exercising my right as an American citizen!
Huzzah! GOBAMA! It's so exciting, exercising my right as an American citizen!
The spirit is joyful; the flesh is weak
I've been popping ibuprofen like it's my job. For the past week, my bottom and top left wisdom teeth have been slowly and painfully pushing through the surface of my gums, and finally on Thursday I caved and went to the pharmacy where they gave me some extra-strength magic in pill form. Turns out that drugs actually work! Now my teeth just have to stop growing.
Dear Teeth,
Please stop growing. You're hurting me.
Love,
Isabel
Dear Teething Babies,
Oh my God, I know.
Love,
Isabel
Also, I'm getting a cold. The price one pays for staying out at Bombar til 4am two nights running. But I'm taking care of myself, and other people are taking care of me, too, and really if the worst thing that I have to report is a runny nose and sore gums, I'm still in pretty decent shape.
And I am. Creation has been very different this week with only four of us, and we're still not quite sure where we're headed or how we're going to get there. But I'm not too concerned... really I'm just enjoying the ride. It almost feels like I'm treating this time in Portugal as a holiday of sorts, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
This week, Diogo performed for a competition of local artists and won the grand prize of 500euro. We're all very proud. There was much shrieking and jumping up and down (well, actually that was just me. The Portuguese aren't much for shrieking, and Martha and Aram are both slightly lower-key than I). And whenever they actually give him the money (apparently it could take up to 90 days), drinks are on him.
I just have to get over this cold first.
Dear Teeth,
Please stop growing. You're hurting me.
Love,
Isabel
Dear Teething Babies,
Oh my God, I know.
Love,
Isabel
Also, I'm getting a cold. The price one pays for staying out at Bombar til 4am two nights running. But I'm taking care of myself, and other people are taking care of me, too, and really if the worst thing that I have to report is a runny nose and sore gums, I'm still in pretty decent shape.
And I am. Creation has been very different this week with only four of us, and we're still not quite sure where we're headed or how we're going to get there. But I'm not too concerned... really I'm just enjoying the ride. It almost feels like I'm treating this time in Portugal as a holiday of sorts, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
This week, Diogo performed for a competition of local artists and won the grand prize of 500euro. We're all very proud. There was much shrieking and jumping up and down (well, actually that was just me. The Portuguese aren't much for shrieking, and Martha and Aram are both slightly lower-key than I). And whenever they actually give him the money (apparently it could take up to 90 days), drinks are on him.
I just have to get over this cold first.
Sunday 12 October 2008
Nao e Natal, e Portugal
Today is the first gray day we've had since I arrived in Portugal, and it's *still* stunningly beautiful. I'm looking at the ocean right now (yes, *Right Now*), and just being.
It's been a very full past week. I doubt I'll be able to get it all down, but I'll try.
To start with the most recent and most painful news - Cecile went back to France. It's not a decision or situation that can be explained here - it's too complex, and not my story to tell. But suffice it to say that as strange and sad as it is to have her gone, and as painful a choice as I know it was for her, some part of me is sure that it's what needed to happen. She'll be in touch. I hope she'll be well. And I wish her all the strength and love and support in the world.
Now it remains for the four of us remaining to find our new equilibrium. The past two days have been principally spent recuperating and recalibrating. It's back to the rehearsal room tomorrow, and we'll see how this new circumstance affects the work.
The work we *have* been doing over the past week, though, has been very exciting. We have the rehearsal space on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9:30 til 3, and as difficult as it is to find our way on our own, with no teachers or larger umbrella of the school to encompass us, every day something new emerges. I have great hopes for this project. It's still too early to say what it is or will be exactly, but this is a very skilled and talented and exciting group, and as a first effort I think there's an immense amount of potential.
Our days tend to follow the pattern of rehearsal, then conditioning, then a large late lunch and a nap, and then a quiet evening, oftentimes including drinks at Bombar. Bombar is Diogo's local watering hole - everyone seems to know him there, and after two and a half weeks, lots of people know me too! It's astonishing how little time it's taken for this place to feel like home. This is largely to the credit of all the people I've met - Goncalo and Joana and Susana and Fabio and Sara and Johnny and Victor and both Pedros and Carlos and Vilinha and the other Susana and Isabel and and and. The list goes on. And of course, Diogo's parents, who welcome all fivenowfour of us into their home for lunch every Saturday and Sunday, and stuff us full of food and wine and dessert and cheese and port and refuse to let us clear the dishes.
And the food. Have I mentioned the food? I haven't eaten this well this consistently in years. YEARS. And it turns out that I love fish, especially the little mackerel that you fry and eat more or less whole, and it turns out that my attempts at Portuguese aren't completely a lost cause, and it turns out that I could be very happy here, I think, for a very long time.
Some highlights:
It's been a very full past week. I doubt I'll be able to get it all down, but I'll try.
To start with the most recent and most painful news - Cecile went back to France. It's not a decision or situation that can be explained here - it's too complex, and not my story to tell. But suffice it to say that as strange and sad as it is to have her gone, and as painful a choice as I know it was for her, some part of me is sure that it's what needed to happen. She'll be in touch. I hope she'll be well. And I wish her all the strength and love and support in the world.
Now it remains for the four of us remaining to find our new equilibrium. The past two days have been principally spent recuperating and recalibrating. It's back to the rehearsal room tomorrow, and we'll see how this new circumstance affects the work.
The work we *have* been doing over the past week, though, has been very exciting. We have the rehearsal space on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9:30 til 3, and as difficult as it is to find our way on our own, with no teachers or larger umbrella of the school to encompass us, every day something new emerges. I have great hopes for this project. It's still too early to say what it is or will be exactly, but this is a very skilled and talented and exciting group, and as a first effort I think there's an immense amount of potential.
Our days tend to follow the pattern of rehearsal, then conditioning, then a large late lunch and a nap, and then a quiet evening, oftentimes including drinks at Bombar. Bombar is Diogo's local watering hole - everyone seems to know him there, and after two and a half weeks, lots of people know me too! It's astonishing how little time it's taken for this place to feel like home. This is largely to the credit of all the people I've met - Goncalo and Joana and Susana and Fabio and Sara and Johnny and Victor and both Pedros and Carlos and Vilinha and the other Susana and Isabel and and and. The list goes on. And of course, Diogo's parents, who welcome all fivenowfour of us into their home for lunch every Saturday and Sunday, and stuff us full of food and wine and dessert and cheese and port and refuse to let us clear the dishes.
And the food. Have I mentioned the food? I haven't eaten this well this consistently in years. YEARS. And it turns out that I love fish, especially the little mackerel that you fry and eat more or less whole, and it turns out that my attempts at Portuguese aren't completely a lost cause, and it turns out that I could be very happy here, I think, for a very long time.
Some highlights:
- Having not one, not two, but THREE celebrations on my birthday - one at midnight with an orange covered in tin foil and stuck full of sparklers at Joana's house after an immense dinner of pork and rice and potatoes and wine and everyone singing in three part harmony in English, in Portuguese, in French; one at Diogo's parents' house on the day, complete with champagne and the most stunning chocolate cake and more sparklers and singing; and one at Bombar on the night, with another amazing chocolate cake, by Joana this time, and everyone singing once more.
- Running all the way to the beach after rehearsal on Friday, and then conditioning and playing in the surf.
- Diogo's pork chops
- Johnny and Victor conspiring to take me on a road trip/tour of the Portuguese Highlands
- Late night movies on TV and pizza and ice cream with Aram and Diogo
- Dancing at Bombar
- Walks along the beach
- The view of Porto from the train
- The smell of the sea
Thursday 9 October 2008
Happy Birthday to me
Another brief note - there never seems to be enough time after emails to blog at all - but wanted to thank everyone for their birthday wishes, and to say that this one will go down in history as one of the most lovely. Stories forthcoming.
I am very, very happy.
I am very, very happy.
Wednesday 1 October 2008
Rejuvenated
I can't write much - the battery on my laptop is almost gone and Diogo and Cecile have been VERY patient with me while I catch up on emails and *very pressing* facebook requests - but I wanted to check in and let you know that I am SO. SO. GOOD.
Portugal is amazing. It's beautiful here. We can see the ocean from our balcony, and it's a 30 min walk to the water. Diogo is an incredible host, and his parents are some of the sweetest people I've ever met, and are very patient with me despite my inability to speak Portuguese. There has been so much sleep, and so much sun, and so much good food and cheap beer and relaxation, and I can feel the grime and stress of London falling away like so many layers of old tired skin. I've gotten some colour from the afternoons spent on the beach. I see myself in mirrors or in shop windows and I look so relaxed, so happy. Such a far cry from the pale, peaked and drawn visage I used to encounter in the windows on Kensington High Street on my lunch break.
Yes, this past week has been so kind to me. I'm so glad I came out earlier than I originally planned. I'm so glad to have this time to rediscover my own rhythm and to investigate a new place. This is a *much needed* gift.
Over the course of the next two days, we'll be joined by Martha and Aram (Cecile is already here), and we'll start work on Monday. Such adventures yet to come.
I am so glad to be here.
Portugal is amazing. It's beautiful here. We can see the ocean from our balcony, and it's a 30 min walk to the water. Diogo is an incredible host, and his parents are some of the sweetest people I've ever met, and are very patient with me despite my inability to speak Portuguese. There has been so much sleep, and so much sun, and so much good food and cheap beer and relaxation, and I can feel the grime and stress of London falling away like so many layers of old tired skin. I've gotten some colour from the afternoons spent on the beach. I see myself in mirrors or in shop windows and I look so relaxed, so happy. Such a far cry from the pale, peaked and drawn visage I used to encounter in the windows on Kensington High Street on my lunch break.
Yes, this past week has been so kind to me. I'm so glad I came out earlier than I originally planned. I'm so glad to have this time to rediscover my own rhythm and to investigate a new place. This is a *much needed* gift.
Over the course of the next two days, we'll be joined by Martha and Aram (Cecile is already here), and we'll start work on Monday. Such adventures yet to come.
I am so glad to be here.
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