Ici a Malérargues!

1/11/07

I can’t lie. Life in the south of France is incredibly good so far. Where to start?




















First of all, the weather is beautiful. I had been warned by others that it was cold here during the winter, but France is having the same weird warm weather that the eastern US is. I got to Paris and I was actually hot. All the Parisians were buttoned up in winter jackets and I was in my shirtsleeves. The last few days have been sunny and in the 50’s. Today I used siesta time to lie outside in the sun with my shoes off to read “Dark Voices,” a history of the Roy Hart Theatre written by one of my coaches, Noah Pike.

Second, I’m in the Cevennes mountains, in a Mediterranean climate. The air is clear and smells of wild sage, wild thyme, and wood smoke. The terrain is rocky, with pines, live oak, a bamboo plantation (!) and Acacia trees. Little wildflowers and dandelion are blooming. Goldfinches flit about chirping their little greetings. And remember my Thanksgiving post? It’s dark at night here—a real treat. You can see the firmament and you need a flashlight to get around.



Third, I’m in a bleeping CHATEAU! It’s somewhere around 300 years old and is unbelievably beautiful. There’s a chapel on the site that has a gravestone with the date of 1845. It’s called the chateau de Malérargues. Apparently an “argue” was a plot of land given to Roman legionnaires when they retired. More recently, it was home to people in the French resistance during WWII. My room is a lovely space, with a small kitchen-sitting/eating-sleeping area, and a small bath (one of those bathtubs with a shower apparatus attached to the faucets). There are little French doors that face a tiled rooftop and windows that view the chateau patio and the mountains.

Fourth, Malérargues is an artists’ colony – the real thing. Roy Hart and his international acting troupe bought the chateau in 1973, and they’ve been fixing it up ever since. Roy Hart and two members of his troupe were killed in an auto accident in 1975, but many members of the troupe continued to live, create theater, and teach here while they renovated the chateau. In 1973, its only water source was a mountain spring and it had limited indoor plumbing. Now the rooms are quite lovely with kitchens, baths, and amenities. Several members of the original group still live here and will be my teachers. I’m going to be “certified” in the Roy Hart technique, which means I’ll have 300 hours of group classes and 30 hours of private coaching. I have had three lessons, both of which were with teachers that worked with the Roy Hart Theatre—Kaya Anderson and Noah Pikes. I’ll post more about the voice work in another entry.

Fifth, no one is lying about French food. I haven’t even been to a restaurant yet, but I’ve been feasting on fresh produce (grown nearby—not stuff that was picked a month before it was ripe and shipped to a supermarket), AMAZING cheese, fresh bread, and excellent wine that is only 4 Euros (about 6 dollars) a bottle.

I’m excited to be here, and grateful for the beautiful weather, the marvelous food, and the relaxed atmosphere. It’s very strange to slow down like this all of a sudden. For the past few months I was crazed as I got ready to come here, finished the university semester, and prepared the Case administration for my absence. Now that I’m here—everything has slowed way down. If I want to go to the store, I have to catch a ride with someone or walk three miles, and I have to do it early in the morning or later in the afternoon, as the region practices siesta. Stores are also not even open on Wednesdays and Sundays. If I want to do wash, I have to do it in the morning so I can hang it on the line to dry in the sun before it gets dark at 5PM. If I want to bathe, I have to take time for a bath. If I want to make coffee, I have to wait while water boils, because I have no coffee maker. I made chicken soup from a chicken carcass for the first time today, because I had the time (and a chicken carcass). The boxes of books and DVDs I sent to France last November haven’t arrived yet, and I hope they do soon. I only have three books and three DVDs with me. The boxes also contain some more clothes, and I would like to wear more clothing than I was able to pack.

I’m content, but learning to slow down has me a little unnerved. I keep looking for something to do, when the answer is, all I have to do is take my classes, enjoy this beautiful place, and live.