Slava's Snow and Strasbourg

dear erik,

hallo!  sorry it's been a while, but i wanted to check in.

megan and i are here in strasbourg.  we arrived at about 3:30 this afternoon on the TGV train (TGV stands for "Super-Damn-Fast") from paris.  i haven't been doing much for the past few days other than lying around the apartment, trying to sleep, watching old episodes of 'the wire' on megan's itunes, and blowing my nose. 

mostly blowing my nose.  it's not pretty.  not one little bit.

happily, controlling my tourist urges and making myself rest and drink lots of liquids seems to have helped.  i'm certainly not all better, but i'm feeling like i'm hitting the upswing, which is a very good thing.

the only major thing i did over the past two days was - megan and i went to see... i don't even know what to call it exactly... a theatrical presentation called Slava's Snowshow.  we bought tickets for it when we first got to paris, and we paid a tidy sum, so i really didn't want to miss it.  i loaded myself up on advil cold medicine and we hit the metro.

i have to say, i was really glad i went.  i'll include a link to some video, but both megan and i have been looking for video clips and they're all really crappy.  it's essentially a clowning show, but it's extraordinary.  very funny and poignant and thought-provoking.  for me, good clowns are amazing because they help me let go of my intellect and have an emotional response, even if i'm not really sure what the 'plot' is, or even what's going on. 

here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEb45sVOa4U&NR=1&feature=endscreen

it's not great, but it gives you a sense of the thing.

it was a really cool show because it obviously appealed to both adults and kids.  at the very beginning of the show i thought it might have freaked out amelia and clara a tiny bit, just 'cos it's kind of dark with very intense music, but i think it was 'family friendly' in the best sense of the word, where it works on different levels, depending on how you're watching it. 

my only complaint would be that they use carmina burana for the finale.  i feel like that piece of music is so powerful and so amazing that it's a little bit cheap to use it - like a cheat.  still - it works every time, so i understand why everyone uses it. 

in other news, at the moment there's not a whole lot of other news.  we're just back from dinner and happily sitting around in our pajamas in our new hotel.  (the hotel gutenberg)  it's small but very friendly and clean, and right in what seems to be the center of town.  the town is beautiful, and we're about a two minute walk from the cathedral, which i will try to post some pictures of tomorrow.  it's Amazing!  it looks like it's carved out of matchsticks or something.

i feel like with one or two nights of solid sleep i'll be back to 100%.  i'm still having trouble sleeping through the night, but i got about 7 1/2 hours last night and it made a Huge Difference.  i'm hoping it's the start of a new trend.  i mean really, the last time i had this much trouble sleeping i was in high school!  i thought i was past this portion of my life.  i guess this is so i can be doubly-impressed with myself when i go back to my usual 9 hours a night.  i know other people love to hear about that.

i'm excited to walk around a bit and see the town tomorrow.  it seems like a very walker-friendly town, with canals running throughout.  i'll try to take lots of pictures. 

i've been missing mom a lot the past day or two.  i think it's because my whole adult life i'd always get really homesick for her whenever i was sick.  i would lie in my bed in LA and in that pathetic-sick-head-cold-voice i'd just lie there and moan "mom...MOM...mom..."  she was such a great nurturer at all times, but of course when you're sick you notice it more.

after you'd been sick a few days and she'd run a bath, and then i'd get out and have a fresh nightgown and she'd have opened all the windows in my room and put fresh sheets on the bed.  all those little things she did all the time that were so exceptional and wonderful and loving.

i just wrote a long, goopy message about how lucky i feel to have had her as a mother, and to have dad and you and elizabeth and amelia and clara and our extraordinary extended family and adopted family (people like meg and the wehmillers and the keegans, etc.) but then f#$^g google went and crashed and deleted it all.  SO, i guess it wasn't meant to be.

but i do feel lucky.  really, really.

i hope life is good with you and i am sending lots of love!