The first week

It has already been one week!
Luckily there are 12 more weeks to go.

Thursday evening is our performance night. Each week two hosts vounteer to take care of setting the stage for the evening, coordinating the storytellers, arranging the room etc.
I volunteered to host the first evening with another participant.
On the 21st of September it was Peace One Day, and earlier this year Karsten Mathiasen form Denmark suggested, that we made that day into an international storytelling for peace-day.

In agreement with the class we chose that theme for the evening. It was great to feel connected to all other storytellers who had celebrated the day last Tuesday, two days earlier.
We had a wonderful evening, and the power of words shone beatifully through. Even though the told stories were not specifically about peace, knowing that this was the theme, they came to be about peace in a special way.
We started the evening by lighting a candle for peace within and around us, and we ended the evening by sending thougths to all people in the world who need a little peace.

Creation myths 
All week we have worked with creation myths and the power of words.
We have a lot of fun here. We play with words, play games and exercise different possibilities of telling.
The work goes very deep. We connect not only to our own lives but also to our ancestors, to the old old time where the myths come from.
It is difficult for me to imagine how life has been 'in the beginning' when there was nothing!
Working with the myths, listening to them, give a strong feeling of belonging to something bigger. To be part of something that is much bigger than us.

We have worked with being aware of our backspace. Many times as a storyteller, one is aware of what is in front. So working with what is behind us is very strong and powerful. I think of all my ancestors without whom I wouldn't have been here.

In class
Already we can see how different our telling styles are. We are individuals, and this is The Now of Storytelling.
I was 'complaining' about not having enough English words to tell my story as well as I might have been able to in Danish.
Roi, one of our teachers said:
- We can tell the stories with what we have right now. We must not try to be what we are not. You tell the story with whatever words you have in the language you have right now.
This is very comforting.

The atmosphere in the class and from the teachers is very warm, loving and safe.
Ashley Ramsden and Roi Gal-Or work together in a wonderful way that really holds us, so there is plenty of room for everone to grow at their own pace.

I am so much looking forward to growing more myself as a storyteller, and to see my classsmates grow.
We all travel on our own path, and for 13 weeks we travel together.

From the Storytelling evening, that we celebrated for peace.
PACE = PEACE

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!