Friday

Wow, the end of our second week and it feels like our time is almost up.  We have busy week next week, a conference and student oral exams then in no time we will be flinging ourselves (with help, thank god) across time and space to South Africa.  But this afternoon, soon, our new friend Sasha — or maybe Igor — will take us shopping for Laird’s birthday open house tomorrow.  Thanks Daniel and Dona for the hors d’oeurve ideas.

I got my voice back, mostly, for yesterday and I did a credible job.  Several of them said they had never seen a storyteller before and they seemed to love the Dame Ragnell story.  What’s not to love when you learn what women want most in the world?  Woman or man, that’s pretty valuable info, que no?  I was also gratefully surprised at how much they liked the poetry — so it seems it was a successful event.  YEA!  Interestingly, one student is doing her thesis or end of year paper (don’t know which) on translating folktales.  The whole time, though, I was glistening, bathed in a whole layer of glistening (you know, southern women don’t sweat) — it was so effing hot in the room.  The radiators in this city work waaaay too well — and no way to turn them off it seems.

But this morning I woke up feeling like shit.  Must have been because I didn’t wrap my neck in my scarf again — right, Claudia?  But I did take some of the myriad remedies I have last night.  So Laird went off to talk to our neighbor Igor’s class and I stayed behind and moaned.  At one point I felt like I was going to throw up with all these remedies roiling around in my system.  I don’t even know what this stuff is and by now, given my memory, I don’t remember which box of pills is for which symptom!

Now we’re waiting for Sasha to call to say he’ll take us to the store.  Ah, he just called.  Goingly yours, jm