Last time I promised to tell you about the cultural exchange ‘Le Tchad en Agenais’ which took place on 23 July in Le Passage (near Agen) in France. Somehow it slipped my mind when I returned to the Netherlands at the end of July and went on a last camper van trip in the first week of August….
So here we go, promises have to be kept, the season needs to be closed.
The garden of Corinne and her brother Cyril (I was camping in the garden) had been transformed into an open air theatre with a complete stage and a bar. This had taken a lot of time and sweat of a small group of volunteers, but the result was absolutely great. The evening was an exchange between local French artists and a group of Chadian artists who were in or near this place in July. The evening also included the roasting of a sheep and serving of a meal Chad style. After this we were treated to a nice programme of singing, music, theatre, poetry reading, and dance. There was this local group Jolie Môme with singer Melissa and an extremely talented guitarist Paul-Emmanuel. There was the famous Chadian singer and musician Abdoulaye Nderguet, there were the actors Laurencia, Djigri and BBJ, the Chadian musician Christian Koulnodji (who is sometimes touring in Europe with a very good group from Niger ‘Studio Shap-Shap’) and there was the Chadian dancer/choreographer Yaya Sarria, and many more. It was a very pleasant evening, and I enjoyed it very much. The next day we all slept late, tidied up the place, and had another meal ( 'arrosé' as they say in French) with organizers and the Chadian artists.
I started my trip home on Tuesday 26 July, a short trip compared to the previous weeks!! The first night I stayed at a camp site in the gardens of the ‘Chateau de Leychosier’ near Limoges, then two nights in Blois, on a camp site next to the Loire river. I visited the famous (and beautiful) chateau de Blois, and the next day I made a lovely tour on my bicycle to visit the chateau de Chambord. The last night I stayed at another great campsite in Neufchatel-en-Braye before arriving home on the Saturday. The scenery during the last part of the trip was not that interesting, other than the fields of sunflowers starting to bow their heads before being cut and turned into sunflower oil.
A week later I left for the last trip of the season. I had hoped to go on another one in September, but this did not happen. The week in August I stayed at a beautifull small camp site at the river Maas, where the views from the windows of my van were like paintings! The reason for me staying there was that I was volunteering in the Boulevard Festival in the nearby city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Boulevard is a festival of performing arts, which is something I like very much, as you may have noticed. During that week I visited my friend Tchina from Cameroon, who was in an artistic residency in Haarlem, with a Dutch dancer.
So the season ended as it had begun: camping near a city, to volunteer in a performing arts festival. A great season, which I have enjoyed tremendously!!
In the meantime I have plunged into my autumn/winter activities, including singing, teaching, volunteering at Theater De Nieuwe Vorst, working remotely for two festivals (one dance, one jazz music) in Central Africa, yoga, cycling, and some other things may come up.
I wish you all a good winter, take good care of yourselves!!!
