Romeo y Julieta

I somehow never know how to start these blog entries! Life here is so full of event, of drama and laughter, it´s hard to know where to start and where to stop!

We have started staging the scene from Romeo and Juliet and the students are really taking to this work. It was officially decided today that we will present the scene in front of parents and friends and I am starting to become increasingly excited at the prospect. Though this is really nothing more than an excercise, it is incredibly exciting to see these students sink their teeth into Shakespeare, in Spanish!

The politics of the project continue to be problematic. Es Artes may not have access to the theater in town, Teatro de las Ruinas, because the owner is difficult to work and negociate with. However, there is a ray of hope...we went to see a play at Las Ruinas the other night. Many of the students from es Artes came as well and when the owner of the theater spoke to me, I pointed out that the students were there as well. In his speech before the show, he took the time to mention that there are students currently studying theater in town (for him to acknowledge their mere existence is already a step forward!). Later, when I was leaving, I suggested that next time I come here, perhaps I might be able to see a production of a Shakespeare play. He responded that Romeo and Juliet might be nice (refering to a previous moment when I told him I was working on the very play with Es Artes students). This alone leads me to look positively to the future, even though I know words are not actions and what we often say in public is not a reflection of how we behave in private! But I refuse to give in to negativity and will only see this as a small step forward in our ongoing and complicated negotiations with this particular character.

As for me, though the work is really starting to become interesting and we are just now starting to delve into the deeper waters, I am also starting to think more about home. I have a mountain of bills to pay, issues with a pending lawsuit against a cabdriver who hit me last August, problems with the CRA, but still...I miss peanut butter and temperate weather and friends and my bicycle...two weeks left! Let´s make the most of it!