The Boat, the Bird, and the Tree

This story was published on June 22nd 2019. It was written by Afroditi (2018–2020 Cohort)

«Tell me tree, how do you bear your roots,

How are you not jealous of the birds and of the travellers,

Who came to rest on your branches and under your fresh shade,

Singing in whispers what they’ve seen,

Recalling and narrating the suns and the moons,

Before departing to beautiful faraway places,

But you have these fetters planted in the earth,

And you are waiting all alone.»

Thoma, K. ‘‘The Tree’s Song’’. As The Winds Die Down, 2018.

‘The boat, the bird and the tree’: a reminiscent and reflective drama game

We are travelling ever so often from one place to another; from Glasgow to Malta, then to Malaysia or Hamburg; sooner than we think we will be arriving in Tallinn. Then again, we sometimes travel to ease our nostalgia (νόστος [nostos] anc. greek : returning home) to the places we called home for the longest period of our lives; or we are travelling in seek of our beloved ones: they are the dearest of homes, aren’t they?

But within this travelling cycle we are sharing places, and sharing memories with people: these become second homes and families. We are learning more about ourselves and each other, we are bonding through the difficult and the fun times, the painful and the harmonious. How about when one needs to part: on one hand excitement to have a rest back home, on the other hand sadness and pain for the departure and separation.

Often glancing into each other’s eyes and trying to find comfort in our shared experience and feelings, we have expressed our excitement and admiration, but also our disappointments and struggles during our travels. And although, many of us started this journey having in mind the charms of the traveller’s life, we find ourselves longing for stability, healthy routines and profound relationships; we yearn to grow ‘‘roots’’ as one once mentioned.

Having all these in mind and in heart, a drama game was created to facilitate our reflection and mark our goodbye right at the end of our first year of shared ‘Erasmus Mundus’ experience. And after all we needed to part from our ‘March’ bracelet, which was resting around our wrists for the whole semester (check out our earlier blog post to find out how our ‘March’ bracelets were created). The three symbols that have been used illustrate another aspect of our lives and are the machines for our reflection.

First, the ‘boat’ — created by a pair’s extended arms- is a well-trusted medium for a time travel to the past experiences of our journeys. The travellers are asked to shut their eyes, thrust themselves in their other half’s arms, and ‘sail’ around and into their memories.

Travel back to the most striking and meaningful experience of your journeys! What do you see and feel?

After all have enjoyed a trip as such, the time comes for the second reflective image. The ‘birds’, like in the fairytale, do not only chirp but also speak. In pairs again, one is the bird and the other -blindfolded- follows the bird’s voice. The bird repeats a word of wisdom from its journeys and adventures around the world.

Listen to the birds that travel around the world! Now if you could understand their language — and maybe you do -, what do you hear them say?

Finally, our last stage was the tree. We paused a bit from all the moving around and spend some time close to the trees, engaging all our senses to a meditative observation. Soon after, we were challenged to take a posture, as if we were trees ourselves. Our life as an evolving process, our feelings at that moment, our memories and aspirations were giving shape to our bodies transforming them to trees.

At last, the time had come to make our wish, remove our bracelets and hang them around the branches. ‘May the birds come and find the threads to build their nests!’ as one friend said. May we all engage with the rewarding journey of becoming who we are and want to be! Maybe after all we have the potential to be a boat, a bird and a tree simultaneously!