Here are some shots of my first French performance...Anne and Marco made room in their house for a little play celebrating the anniversary of their local library, called 'The Man of Time,' or something to that effect, and attended by a significant portion of the town. Anne and I sang in English, 'The Times They Are a Changin,' while Marco played along. I'm pretty sure nobody understood, but were supportive nonetheless. I was also asked to draw on two huge sheets of paper hung on the wall while music played in the background about the seasons...I was assigned to winter and summer, it was like a musical game of pictionary. Everybody was charming, we did our best to communicate, but mostly I just watched on and tried to follow along.

That was yesterday; this morning I got up early to catch the first train out of Flers bound for Paris and then onto Utrecht. I made it through the Metro system again, and on to Gar du Nord, where I successfully ordered a cafe and pain de chocolate. I felt very French standing at the table drinking my tiny and delicious coffee. Ran into Rachel and Jonathon in the train station, and we traveled the rest of the way together.

So, now I'm in the Netherlands, and the program is officially starting. Even though I just finished a paper about the importance of water to this country, I really had no sense of what that meant until we got here. Water is actually everywhere; canals butt up to people's back gardens, run through the cities, and cut the fields into narrow spaces of grass. There is only about a foot of elevation change between the water and the land, making it extremely obvious why flooding is such a concern. The land already feels like it's floating above the water, one giant island.

Check out the photos.

Treats on the counter, hot mulled wine and cakes of all kinds.


The show begins, Marco serenades.

The awaiting kitchen...


Marco and Jose getting the ambiance ready for the show.