UMTravels

Before this trip – there were several folks asking the difference between the Radical Faeries in the States, and the EuroFaeries – a brief history: in 1995 (I believe), Lekker Ding, know known as Habibi, who was based out of Amsterdam, found some like minded people to organize a faerie gathering on the island of Terschelling, off the Dutch coast. Habibi was a regular at US gatherings and wanted to spread the gospel to the continent… it succeeded, there are how a dozen gathering each year, along with a faerie sanctuary known as FolleTerre (would that translate into fool’s land?). There is much more to the history, but you have the overview. At US gatherings these are kept very separate, at least at gatherings like Breitenbush. After the business end of the circle, with the European Gatherings, a talisman is passed from person to person as a way to check in with each person, and it also helps cement their names in the minds of everyone – in the states it’s more of a free-for-all with those needing to unload something scrambling for the talisman in the center of the circle – and that is another distinction – in the US, faeries speak from the center of the circle as opposed to remaining in the ring. I can see advantages for both – being in the center of the circle is a powerful drug – which might explain a number of US faeries who are hooked on being the center of attention and telling the same story of woe year after year after year. I guess it’s cheaper than a shrink. As for the Euro version, it gives everyone a chance, even the shy ones, to have a chance to talk about what good or bad is going on in their lives. After the initial go around, the floor is opened for those how have additional issues, or feel the need to respond to previous speakers. The one constant among both groups is the notion that the person with the talisman has the floor – cross-talk and direct response are discouraged. Another difference is that at EuroFaerie gatherings there is also occasionally organized sight-seeing – yesterday’s being a trip into Berlin for thrift shopping, and today’s a trip to Pottsdam with a boat trip to some castle where the treaty was signed assigning ownership of most of Europe at the end of WWII.

OK – that was one long run-on paragraph – I’m surprised that MS-Word didn’t flag more “grammar” issues.

Yesterday I was mostly a slug – I don’t know if it was me just feeling anti-social, but I skipped the Viennese Waltz workshop/dance after dinner, and just went straight to bed. It could have also been the excessive liquor consumption the night before. With the early to bed, I was up at 6:30 (the dance party ran until 4am) and making coffee, busing dishes scattered about the grounds, making a couple of fried eggs with the last two pieces of toast. By 7:30 the place was cleaned up, I was fed, and the “early” risers were starting to rouse themselves and make breakfast for the rest of the crew.

While most of the boys went off on their guided sightseeing tour (with our own faerie guide, CoCo’s boyfriend), I stayed at camp, did my laundry, did more dishes, helped with dinner prep, finished an Evanovich novel, set up the dining room for dinner, and basically just hung out in the woods.

Dinner tonight is a massive pasta salad with a quark and sour cherry dessert.

Good thing I ate all those Frankfurters in Frankfurt.

Oh, and the no email means I can’t approve any blog posts. That will wait for Saturday as well.

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