For Munsbach 2003 that inestimable raconteur and turbo-charged wine waiter Mr. Geoff Stevens kept a diary which he recorded in the Munsbach online guestbook. This is what he (in reverse order) wrote:-
| After Munsbach - Sunday afternoon It's not over yet ! Lesley and I have Steve, John, Kim, Antoinette, Martina, Karen and Cristel downstairs, all enjoying a little post-Munsbach unwinding. We have, of course, already planned next year's course, but, more importantly, have decided that this year was really, really excellent. Anything we've missed out, I'm sure will get sorted out when I have dinner tonight with Steve, Sue, Steve, Jane and Debs ( Steve's wife ). It's great when the closure lasts this long. I tried not to say good-bye, just a sort of "Work In Progress - Hello". Hoping to see you all, somewhere and sometime. Many many thanks to students and tutors for helping me along my journey this week. |
| Days seven and eight "And so, the end is nigh", sang Mike on Friday evening and indeed it is. I'm actually writing this on Sunday morning, before leaving for the very last sessions at Munsbach 2003. I think that I'm only going to say that Friday and Saturday were wonderful days which brought an amazing course to an end. We sang a lot on Friday evening, until late into the morning. The share session on Saturday evening was, for me, one of the most incredible experiences I've had for a long time. So, that's it !! See you again, somewhere, sometime and there's always a welcome for you in Luxembourg, whenever you want to come back. Thank you all for making my week a very, very special journey, particularly Simone, who was my guide along the way. |
| Day six. A change in the weather, some spots of rain and the temperature down about a quarter of a degree and a breeze of at least point zero zero four kilometres an hour !! Post script to the pic-nic. Some souls were left at the Place de Constitution, when they were so overtaken by the beauty of the view, that they completely forgot to look for the bus and it went without them. Sorry about that guys, but glad you got home safely. We had a great 'shares' session today when we were able to see what all eight groups had been working on so far this week. We were only able to share in their work and enthusiasm for about five minutes for each group, but we got a very good feeling about the work in progress. This evening was the quiz night. I must say that the two quizmasters, Nicky and Geoff did a fantastic job, guiding the 32 contestants through six sections of the theatre quiz. The winners were Jonathan, Antoinette, Laurent, Karen, Elaine and Alma. They scored 23 points out of a possible 38 points only beating the second team, 'The Quality of Mercy', comprising Claire, Emma, Steve, Ane, Chris and John by one point. Thanks also to Mike for spending a day researching this quiz. Oh dear, only two and half days to go, until we will have to put some sort of a closure on Monsbach 2003. We are really sad that Liz had to leave the course today to fly back to the UK for the funeral of an aunt. I know that she enjoyed the course and will miss us as much as we miss her. |
| Days days 4 and 5 at Munsbach. I was on the bar on Tuesday, so I'm afraid that I really didn't feel like writing anything at two o'clock in the morning. I think that the highlight of Tuesday was the massed voices of Munsbach choir learning and then giving their own inimitable version of 'Sit Down You're Rocking The Boat'. Our movement guru, Simone, who I can definitely confirm is pregnant, ( I felt it kick me !! ) was heard to comment after the choir practise that she sung all sorts of notes from bass to alto !!! Must be something to do with hormones and being Australian ?? The bar was excellently run, with a full waiter and waitress service for those people who were enjoying being outside and couldn't make the long trek down to the bar. Wednesday was a short day for working, only two sessions, but the afternoon was spent by many of us picknicking, ( is it a verb ? ) in Meysembourg, up in the north !! It was hot, hot, hot, hot, hot. The pain de surprise was excellent, the champers also and the assembled gatherage was simply wonderful, dahling. We walked, sat, talked, ate and some people actually played volley ball with a live net. All in all a good afternoon rounded off by an evevning spent in the restaurants and hostelries of Luxembourg Ville. I think that Thursday will be a quieter day all round !!! |
| Day three at Munsbach. Weather, still glorious. Food, as per normal. Work, hard but very exciting. Friendships, growing stronger daily. Learning, we're all trying really hard to absorb as much as we can. Learnt today --- 1) Mozart had a go-kart and sang beep, beep, vroom, vroom. 2) Moira needed a pillow. 3) I think that Simone is pregnant, but I wouldn't want to start a rumour !! 4) I have nearly learnt everyone's name ! 5) Had a wonderful 'swap' today and Simone had us leading each other round the garden with our eyes closed and other techniques to help with our awareness of each other. 6) Have heard the expression 'site specific' about six times this week, so far. I will listen for more utterances during the week. |
| Sunday, August 3rd. Day two of
Munsbach. We seem to have done such a lot since we all met on Saturday lunch time. We've chosen our theme and skill groups, the slowness of the computer being matched by our increased excitement of wondering which group we will be in, who will be in it, was it my first or second choice ? We've started working in our chosen groups and already shared with the rest of the course some of the things we've been working on. Tonight, some of us read some poetry and I think that Steve Bond gets the prize for the shortest poem read at Munsbach ! We've laughed, shared, moved, read, written, taken cautious or bold steps, but we are all looking forward to the rest of the week. Good night for now. |