My Heart's Palette

I've come back again to Courchevel. Temperature:13 centigrade. A cashmere sweater keeps me cozy.

The same as last year, I came directly from hot Japan. Although I knew it in my head, this time I really experienced the fact that "the body takes time to adjust".

There were students whom I had not met during summer. Also colleagues and friends whom I meet once a year. How I wished to talk with them about so many things, but...The difference in time! The difference in season! I worked hard everyday while my body and mind were half-screaming.

A masterpiece:Brahms's Clarinet Quintet. The performance was the following day so right into the rehearsal following my arrival. It was all I could do to try to concentrate after the long trip from Japan at 3 o'clock or 4 o'clock a.m. Japan time.

I finished the concert without a hitch. But what with the adrenalin that cleared my head, and with my body clock at morning time, I couldn't manage to fall asleep. Maybe this should be called "festival syndrome". Everybody is bubbly and excited at the beginning, but as time passes, and chased by the schedule, one feels tired, irritated and becomes sleepless. And it isn't just me.
"Sleep? That is something you worry about later," says Pascal Devoyon, one of the directors here.

Since human somehow make it through, I do not need to make much of a fuss about it. The human body is well made, and as necessary it will adjust. So, the question is whether or not one can wait.

A week passed since I left Japan. I was on the way to getting used to the change in environment.

I casually look at the mountains from the window of the classroom where I gave lessons everyday.

Courchevel is 1,850 meters above the sea level. Here are the "3 vallees", skiing Mecca in France.

Albertville, where winter Olympic was held, is not far from here.

In the summer time, the mountains are naked. Above 2,000 meters, there are not many plants, and the crags define the ridgeline as if showing the skin of the earth. That French Alps were formed by upheavals is sure.

The time is before noon. In the middle of the peaceful mountain slope, there are light spots and shadows, really just like human skin. The slope is beautiful and light and the shadows change minute by minute.
The cloud formations suggest that it is now autumn. I recall past summer, looking at the flowing high clouds.

"Look. There is smoke going up. Maybe somebody lives there?"
A moment after glanced away, smoke grows rapidly. Shaped like a fist? It seems to be absorbed by the surrounding clouds, but it changes its shape again.
Is this how a cloud is made? I don't get tired of gazing at it. Before I knew it, the smoke has become a full-fledged cloud. Joining up with other clouds, it is changing into a white and heavy thing. Sunlight is being shaded.

(By the way, trying to use the Dutch word "cloud"("wolken") which I had just learned, I advised to my student "Play like a pig(varken), rather than my intended "Play like cloud"(wolken). She looked a bit perplexed.

All of a sudden, a peaceful and relaxed sky turns dark, and it starts raining.
The rain here is heavy. It starts abruptly and rains a lot.

Looking casually at the field from the window, I find local children still playing. Perhaps they know that this type of rain would not last long.

My case was different: I left the hotel for a lesson, and immediately returned upset by the sudden rain. I had found a "completely waterproof" black coat at a sale. However, whenever I leave the hotel, it was always fine, and I always forgot about the possibility of rain. I have several times regretted that I did not bring the coat.

Having looked at the same scenery everyday, why wasn't I moved?
How did I overlook such beautiful nature?

That is solely because I did not open my heart's palette.
It is well said that the healthy soul dwells in a healthy body.
I cannot see what I can see, if I had jet lag all the time.

It is so fresh to become aware of things around me, every time I feel when I recover from jet lag.
My travel goes on in that way.

This morning, the mountains have a snow decoration. That was why my breath was white last night. I delighted in the fleeting shapes of the mountains, which soon will be completely hidden by snow.