The Now of Storytelling

From now and the next three months I expect to join the course 'the Now of Storytelling' at The international School of Storytelling in East Sussex, England.

I say 'expect' because tow years ago I was certain that I would take this course. But after only two weeks here I had to go home, because my husband was ill, and I wanted to be with him and take care of him untill he died in May 2009.

Now I am back.

It is a different experience this time. I'm already familiar with the surroundings, know where things are, the routines etc. That takes some of beginner's stress off, so I can concentrate on the workshops fully.

A daily routine is
- storytelling exercises in the morning in a very playful way
. the storyteller's toolbox is being filled
- after lunch we have different workshops: singing, felting and creative writing
Creative writing is really creative. Our teacher Paul Matthews just love words, and his enthusiasm helps us feeling at ease with making stores, poems etc.

This week the theme is 'creation myths', so we explore that field in everything we do.

It is amazing to experience how quickly we 14 participants have formed a group, made relations and can work together across ages, colours, countries and all other 'borders'.

Today we told peace stories. In a very easy way we learned how to learn the story quickly in order to tell it. Normally we will get the story to work with for a longer time and having time to 'digest' it, sleep on it etc.

Digesting a story can be a very special experience.
Personally if I have found a story I really like to tell, I must turn and twist every nuance of it to make it 'my story'.
I have to feel the feelings, imagine all the sites, having pictures on every situation etc. Otherwise I cannot learn the story, I cannot tell it in a natural way.

Accomodations
 We live in samll rooms and share bathrooms, toilets and kitchen.
In my house there are two chinese men, two women from Korea, a man from Singapore, a man from Pakistan,  a man from Oxford, Uk, a woman from France, and us 4 women from Denmark.
We are having a lot of fun, learning about each other's countries, listening patiently while some are struggling with the English language. 
We learn about each other's standard on cleaning, how to do the dishes etc. No dishwashers, so we do it the old fashioned way. We smell the odours of different traditions on cooking etc.
Very very interesting.
We might look a lot different on the outside, but we laugh at the same jokes, enjoy the nature, the nice weather etc.

After just a few days here I am very convinced that it is the right decision to be here. I enjoy every minute of it. I want to not only learn a lot more but also to let shine through what I know already.
I am a storyteller!