Oh but I do love Chautauqua!!!
This trip will be in stark contrast to my May trip in a couple of ways. First of all, I took nothing but main highways to get here. As much as I prefer back roads, the open highway is much more conducive to listening to books on tape. The backroads require too much attention from me to be able to keep a book going. And so to that end, yesterday I listened to the entirety of Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck. Having farted around and not applied myself in junior high, I was not in the accelerated classes in high school, so while my more industrious friends (who WERE in the accelerated classes) were reading such classics as OMAM, I was sitting in an English class counting how many of the students either had cigarettes rolled up in their white t-shirt sleeves (the boys) or had hickeys on their necks (the girls). My English teachers in high school were so glad to have pure, naive me in class, that I could have gotten A's just by showing up every day and not falling asleep. So that is how it is that I have never read Of Mice and Men, and I have to say, it's a pretty good book in that John Steinbeck-ish, migrant worker, people-die-who-shouldn't-die, sort of way. And I heard the whole book between Virginia and Pittsburgh (which I have discovered since yesterday is spelled with an h on the end. . . . we didn't have that on the spelling test in high school English). I even got a healthy start on book #2, a non-challenging romance novel set in Victorian England. That should get me all the way back home.
Another way this trip is different is that, in stark contrast to the relatively high end accommodations and meals I had in May, I'm sort of "roughing it" here. I'm staying at the Ecumenical House, one of many religious based housing options. In order to stay here, you are supposedly connected to some religious practice. Now I haven't practiced religion in a very long time, however, I practice spirituality every day. So except for the fact that I must refrain from swearing and drinking for the week, I think it's okay that I'm here. Refraining from those things is sort of a moral detox for me, and probably a good thing. My room resembles a luxurious nun's cell . . .luxurious in this context meaning I have a double bed and a sink in my room. My room is special in that for an extra $10 for the whole week, I got a semi-private balcony overlooking the amphitheater where all the big productions take place. I don't have a view of the stage from my balcony, but listening to a symphony concert from here would be pretty great. However, for Garrison Keillor on Tuesday night, I'll walk the 10 steps to the amphitheater.
I share a tiny tiny bathroom with 17 other people. Luckily I have a sink in my bedroom, so "bird baths" will be the norm. I could even wash my hair in that sink if I needed to.
In this house (which is three and four stories high and comprises three buildings) there are large kitchen/dining room facilities in the basement. I have been assigned my own table to eat on. On my table is a milk crate/type shelf which holds my personal dishes and my non-perishable foods. I selected my dishes from a big closet full of miscellaneous sets of dishes which have apparently been donated by various people. I wash my own dishes and return them to the shelf on my table. I have half a shelf in a refrigerator for my perishable food. There are about 8 refrigerators in my kitchen and another of the same size across the hall. My assigned table is right next to another single woman who is in the choir. It will be nice after concerts to come back for a snack and meet with other people, and to have people to eat with every meal! There are about 10 stove tops with 4 burners each for people to use when they prepare their meals. It's a very cool system.
I had my first choir practice tonight. We practice 5 or 6 times in the week, and sing virtually every day. It's great to be singing with this group, and by singing my gate pass is taken care of for the week. . . .that's means I can go to almost any event (including Garrison Keillor on Monday) for free!
As I type this, on the night before the opening of the season, the Jamestown, NY (claim to fame. . . Lucille Ball was born there and they have a Wegmans) high school seniors are graduating. The keynote speaker is "Rudy" the guy from the Notre Dame football team who they made the movie about a number of years ago. I can hear every detail of the ceremony from my bed!!!
Chautauqua is so hard to explain to people. For me, it is the perfect antidote to a chronic condition that I have. . . . brain hunger. My brain is fed every minute of every day. So follow along, I'll try to send this again (for the 3rd time) and I'll be back tomorrow night! RP
