Anne-Lise Rolin - Elise Vereecke

In the morning:

8.15: We had our collective “Mm a cup of coffee, mm a cup of tea”

9.00: We did two games to get to know each other: the first one was the parachute with a big piece of cloth. Everyone took the border of the parachute (different games: umbrella, mushroom, pop corn, igloo, the cat and the mouse with balls…). And the second game was a rhythm game where we used our bodies to coordinate our hands and foots (not as easy as it seems to be!).

“Good morning, good morning”

“How did you sleep, oh very deep”

“Mm a cup of coffee, mm a cup of tea”

“One piece, two piece, three piece, four piece, so much sugar”

10.00: We wrote a letter to ourselves with our expectations, hopes, fears…We ‘ll keep this letter till the end of the programme and than at the end of the stay we’ll see how we have changed, if our expectations have been realized and if our fears were funded.

11.00: We took the car to a new spot where we discovered Land art sculptures from Belgian artists. The name of this walk was “Festival en mai”. Every year in May, some artists come to that spot to make art with natural elements. Some of this sculptures are in a good state and others have been destroyed by the nature (nature is stronger than man’s work).

“Le géant endormi” – ‘The sleeping giant’

To appreciate the place at this stage, we made a stop next to the sculpture named: “Le tombeau du géant” - ‘The sleeping giant’ and Deniz tell us a story about an elephant and a squirrel. This story was more than a simple story, this story tells about expectations that everyone in this experience, in this journey, would find the answers to his questions and expectations and would find his tree and make his pirouette.

The nature of the elephant

"If you were me, squirrel ..." said the elephant at once to the squirrel.
It was one afternoon in summer. They sat in the house of the squirrel. The window was open and the sun shone in, fell obliquely on the table where the tea cups were which they had drunk. Motes danced in the light and in the distance the thrush sang in the top of the lime.

"... Would you also like to climb trees, as you know you really cannot climb and are sure you'll fall and hurt yourself..."

The squirrel said nothing. The elephant took another sip of tea and continued.
"... And when you get to the top of a tree came, would you also look around and feel your heart pounding with joy because of the distance you can see, the whole distance, which you've never seen before and would you also cry, "the distance! I see the distance! "And turn around your axis and make a pirouette on one leg ..."

He paused and looked with one eye to the squirrel. But the squirrel still said nothing and stirred his cup.

The elephant looked at the lamp that hung above the table and went on.
"... Even though you knew you could not make pirouette, and certainly not on one leg, and not on top of a tree, because there is no place for a pirouette, even for someone who is very good in pirouettes, you know, because you cannot even stand on one leg ... "

The squirrel got up and poured the cups again. They both took a sip.
"... And that you would fall - there is no way - and through the branches of that tree would come with a smack on the ground, so everything hurts and everything that can break breaks and you do not know where you are and who you are? "

The elephant took another sip, put his cup down, cleared his throat, biting his lips and put his trunk in his neck, for he knew not what he had to do with his trunk, and the squirrel set his cup down too, rubbing over his head, scratched his back and said:

'Yes.'

 (Retold by D. Nieuwejaers)