Last night was another French activity for the Club français… Well… the show itself was not in French (except for a few occasional sentences), the French conversation occurred at the restaurant prior to the show.
Friday evening, I was sick like a dog: a nasty head cold!… I thought I could not make it! But I did not want to cancel because I really wanted to attend our outing… therefore I applied my theory of “The Power of the Mind”… I do believe we can feel better if we think positive! Therefore I went to bed around 8:30 P.M. and got up 12 hours later… of course, I woke up with a pounding headache. Then, I remembered this ad on TV (about some cold and flu medicine) where we see this woman getting ready for her swimming training… there is this voice in the background saying “If you think a cold will stop me, you’re wrong!”… So! I decided to repeat that sentence to myself over and over all day long (between two Advil and some congestion relief syrup)! By 4:00 P.M., I was not in great shape but I did not have a runny nose and my headache was gone.
Alice had chosen the restaurant: we wanted a place not too far from the Cirque du Soleil big top, consequently we went to Grace Omalley’s Pub on Ogilvie. I thought I would have only a soup, but for some reason, this cold of mine gave me the urge to eat! I opted for a glass of tap water instead of wine though… just in case I would feel drowsy and miss out on the show!
James and his daughter Melyssa, eager to get to the Circus!
James, La Dame dragon, Meredith, Alice and Al
When I suggested, a few weeks ago, that we should attend Corteo (created in 2005), I was 99% sure that we could not get tickets… I was utterly wrong! Actually, for the month the Cirque du Soleil has been in town, they never filled the place! I thought it was surprising… anywhere else, all tickets are sold out before the show even starts! I guess Meredith is right: Ottawa is a hockey town!… and perhaps people here do not really know what the Cirque du Soleil is about. It is certainly not a typical traditional circus! It is a mixture of art, athletics, theater and music…
For those of you who are not familiar with the Cirque du Soleil, it has been founded in 1984 (with the Government of Québec’s financial help) by two Québécois, Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier, and its international headquarters are located in Montréal. Today, the Cirque du Soleil hires about 4,000 people and presents six shows on tour around the world, 2 shows in arenas and six permanent shows. At this time, about ten permanent shows are being created in the Montréal workshops. Original music (which is unique to each show) is composed by, among others, René Dupéré, Benoît Jutras and Violaine Corradi.
And just to give you an idea of what it takes to bring a show on the road, here are some average figures (from Wikepedia):
- 62 containers for transportation
- 800 tons of material
- 60 artists
- 60 technicians
- one 17 metre high big top with 2,500 seats
Here are pictures of a few numbers we saw
Duo Adagio
Paradis
Courroies aériennes
8 Comments
I’ve wanted to see a live Cirque du Soleil performance for some time. I’ve watched videos and am utterly amazed at what they can do.
I’m so jealous of your outing!
Bonsoir Diane,
All of the Cirque du Soleil performances are pure magic! And they get better every year…
To see those artists/athletes literally “flying” in space is absolutely amazing (in Corteo, there are lots of flying angels)… I don’t know where you live exactly in Michigan, but it would certainly be worth the trip if ever they were having a show in a city nearby.
And… you have all the reasons in the world to be jealous this time!
Hey Lyne, did you see this?
http://www.instant-french.com/blog/top-learn-french-site/
Yes Diane! I just got a Google Alert!!!
Wow!… what is this site actually? I went and left a comment to thank them (who ever they are!)…
Oh well, my friend… I guess we both deserve it!
Hi Lyne (and Diane),
Thanks for checking out the post! The site is about my experiences learning French, and the post in particular is my collection of favorite French sites.
Cheers,
Nic
Hello Nic,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!
Question: among your experiences, did you ever find a fast way to learn French? With a 20+ year experience as a FSL trainer in the industry, all I can say is that it takes TIME… lots of time!
Of course, I’m training people for working in French (requirements and expectations are kind of high!)…
À la prochaine!
Hi Lyne,
I guess fast is a relative term. While you have to prep people to actually work in French, my focus is more on conversational French, which makes things a lot easier. But, like you say there is no quick shortcut for learning. I think the best and faster way to learn is total immersion – unfortunately it’s not a viable option for most.
Cheers,
Nic
Nic,
You’re right, fast is a relative term. To give you an idea on how much time it takes here to prep civil servants to work (speak, understand, write and read) in French, it takes an average of 12 to 14 months, 7 hours per day, 5 days per week in one-on-one training! And, they aren’t bilingual by then… they are at level C, highly functional… and that, if they’re good… some take much more time!
C’est un travail de moine!
Bye for now!