Summary

First Period: June 11th- July 4th. (Traduction Française bientôt)

Almost 4 weeks have gone by since my last post...Sitting here in our hotel room, I am reflecting on the first period of my masters' session that has already finished and how to give you a glimpse of all the richness that I have experienced. I wanted to write several posts during the first period, but having a full schedule (9h15 to 12h15 then 4 to 6h30 pm and again 8 to 10h30 pm, no complete day off and quite a bit of homework) made it rather difficult. Nonetheless, I will do my best to share this journey with you.

For all of those who know me, you know how much I cherish the time I spend working with Youth with a Mission in Dunham, Quebec.

Well, in many aspects, my time here in Saas-Fee is, in many ways, quite similar. Not only does the place invites you to reflection, but also, being surrounded by a multicultural artistic community that cares for people and that puts that care into action is very inspiring!!!

Another aspect that reminds me of YWAM is that, after every subject course, we meet in small groups to share about how we are doing, the things that we have learned, questions that arise from the lectures, as well as doing art together.

Also, the strong sense of community is reinforced by the value placed on family and how spouses and kids are welcome to some of the activities, bringing a refreshing learning environment. Its been great for Matias having other kids around and for Simon to share with other parents as well.

I could go on and on about all the reasons of why I am loving this program, but I here it is, in a nutshell, some of the things I had/did during these first 3 weeks:

* I succesfully completed the first module of the masters, Expressive Arts, Digital Arts and Media.

This module was divided into 4 subject courses where we explored Movement and Theatre, Visual Arts, Music and Intermodal Art Work and its relation with Media. The focus in each course was the exploration of the different art modalities and the art-making process in itself. We usually did the different art exercises, had a descriptive or aesthetic response to the art piece we did and finally the teacher shared the methodology or theory behind those exercises and their relation to therapeutical practices, illustrating with specific examples from their own practice.

* We had 3 community art session, where Simon and Matias joined me and the whole community (about 50 people).

During these community art sessions, the facilitator gave an specific frame yet freedom to improvise, usually poetry, music or movement.

The fact that Simon and Matias could join (other kids or spouses of other students as well) has made it even more special.

* We had 3 educational excursions:

- The first one was on June 17th, the day of Matias's first birthday. We hiked for about 5 hours in the forest, and the first 30 minutes were walked on complete silence, that merged perfectly with the rushing of the water, the blowing of the wind, the soothing swinging of the trees and the melodic babbling of Matias. After arriving into a clearing in the forest, we had a time to share with another person what touched us during that time of silence and portraying it in an artistic way.

We then continue towards our final stop, a very unique, round-shaped, old white catholic church in Saas-Baalen, with amazing acoustics and a exuberant late baroque altarpiece. There we did some musical improvisation that was then turned into a multilingual happy birthday song for Matias. How special!!

As we were leaving, I couldn't stop myself from singing Amazing Grace and a few people joined their voices. Sigh*

- For the second excursion, on June 27th, we had another hike (this time easier and shorter), on the fairytale trail (yes, a fairytale trail, how awesome is that!). We divided in small groups and each group had the task of creating their own artistic version of one of the tales of the Saas valley, that little Pia learned from the Gotwergeni dwarfs, whose lands she wandered into one day.

We then visited a local art gallery and spoke with two visual artist about their artistic process. We also had a town tour with Tobias Zurbrigguen, who is clearly passionate about the history of Saas-Fee.

* We had 2 performances nights:

For the first one, our group (we were 6 students) joined Ursina Knill (an amazing experimental artist). She asked us to write the continuation of the sentence "Look, I am a white sheet of paper" in our own language. One by one, we went to the stage and read our 'poems', as an opening to her performance.

The second one, it was open to anyone who wanted to present something that they created during the time in Saas-Fee.

I wrote a poem, "Volver" (To return), a very personal expression of my relationship with my dad and the struggles with his Alzheimer.

After reading the poem, I danced to the song of the same name, by Carlos Gardel, that my dad and I used to sing together.

I had to fight the tears from falling during the performance, but I am very glad that I did it. Unfortunately I forgot to ask someone to film it...

After some goodbyes and see you later, we departed with full hearts, on Tuesday July 4th, only to leave home again two days later for Paris, to witness and celebrate the wedding of our dear friend Noémie Jean-Bourgeault.

We came back to Saas-Fee yesterday with even fuller hearts, after seeing some beloved friends, just in time for another 3 more intense weeks...

What will we discover?