09 March 2007
Fe fi fo fum.. February.
Ah rugby - we didn't understand a lot of the last game we went to see but enjoyed it all the same. We went to see another game early in the month - an international match this time between England Saxons and the Italian A team. There are some very VERY big boys on both teams.
With our flights booked for home and no guarantee of being able to come back to England for work we decided it was time for another trip to Cornwall. It was just an overnight trip but we visited a few places that one or the other of us hadn't been to. We drove through various amusingly named villages and stayed the night at the hotel at Land's End. It is a spectacular location for a hotel... the hotel itself is less than spectacular though being mostly a bit old and run down.
The following day we went to see the Minack Theater built on the cliff edge almost single-handedly by a woman named Rowena Cade. She started hosting plays there in 1932 and it must have been really special at the beginning when the stage was basically a grassy little area part way down the cliff face. It was a bit early in the season for anything to be playing but it is a spectacular location none-the-less and we'd love to go back and see something performed there.
Littering the coastline of Cornwall are the remains of many old tin mines. We visited one called Levant, the wrecks of the old buildings make for some interesting images. We posed for a photo in a couple of neat archways only to find when we looked at the map by the carpark that we'd been smiling happily right by the old arsenic pits!
I worked for two more weeks back in the same year 5 class for two weeks at the beginning of the month. It was nice to see the kids again, and fun to tell them about our upcoming travels. I put a world map up in the classroom before I left and promised to send them postcards from each of the places we visited.
The last two weeks of February were spent working for the Animated Exeter Festival. It's the same festival I volunteered for last year and it was just as much fun this year. I spent the first week working as a guide for school groups - taking them from ma screening of animations to a workshop and then to see various exhibitions. It's always great fun helping kids get the hang of animation and watching their faces when they see their characters come to life when you hit playback.
One of the exhibitions that was part of the Festival this year was of Suzie Templeton's Peter and the Wolf. It is a beautiful new version of the story with the original music in accompaniment. I had seen the exhibition so many time in the first week that when the director walked in to the Festival during the second week I smiled at her thinking I knew her (while I tried to work out where I knew her from.) Oops. There was a set from the film on display as well as several of the puppets used. I didn't tire of looking at them throughout the two weeks - the detail and care taken was absolutely astounding.
It was a really great two weeks and I got to meet some really interesting people and see lots of fabulous films. At the end of the festival Chris and I had just a couple of days to clean the house and pack for our trip to Canada. Ah the whirl-wind of life continues....
With our flights booked for home and no guarantee of being able to come back to England for work we decided it was time for another trip to Cornwall. It was just an overnight trip but we visited a few places that one or the other of us hadn't been to. We drove through various amusingly named villages and stayed the night at the hotel at Land's End. It is a spectacular location for a hotel... the hotel itself is less than spectacular though being mostly a bit old and run down.
The following day we went to see the Minack Theater built on the cliff edge almost single-handedly by a woman named Rowena Cade. She started hosting plays there in 1932 and it must have been really special at the beginning when the stage was basically a grassy little area part way down the cliff face. It was a bit early in the season for anything to be playing but it is a spectacular location none-the-less and we'd love to go back and see something performed there.
Littering the coastline of Cornwall are the remains of many old tin mines. We visited one called Levant, the wrecks of the old buildings make for some interesting images. We posed for a photo in a couple of neat archways only to find when we looked at the map by the carpark that we'd been smiling happily right by the old arsenic pits! I worked for two more weeks back in the same year 5 class for two weeks at the beginning of the month. It was nice to see the kids again, and fun to tell them about our upcoming travels. I put a world map up in the classroom before I left and promised to send them postcards from each of the places we visited.
The last two weeks of February were spent working for the Animated Exeter Festival. It's the same festival I volunteered for last year and it was just as much fun this year. I spent the first week working as a guide for school groups - taking them from ma screening of animations to a workshop and then to see various exhibitions. It's always great fun helping kids get the hang of animation and watching their faces when they see their characters come to life when you hit playback. One of the exhibitions that was part of the Festival this year was of Suzie Templeton's Peter and the Wolf. It is a beautiful new version of the story with the original music in accompaniment. I had seen the exhibition so many time in the first week that when the director walked in to the Festival during the second week I smiled at her thinking I knew her (while I tried to work out where I knew her from.) Oops. There was a set from the film on display as well as several of the puppets used. I didn't tire of looking at them throughout the two weeks - the detail and care taken was absolutely astounding. It was a really great two weeks and I got to meet some really interesting people and see lots of fabulous films. At the end of the festival Chris and I had just a couple of days to clean the house and pack for our trip to Canada. Ah the whirl-wind of life continues....
# posted by Elke & Chris @ 1:19 am 
