Today was my very first day of teaching the choir!! In my mind, I had visions of excited children running in, taking a seat, and singing in beautiful harmony by the end of the class; the two hours would pass before we knew it, and we would be ready to move onto a new song on Wednesday. I even prepared an extra song just in case we got through "Viva la Musica."
To make such assumptions was a very big mistake.
I am very much beginning from scratch. Completely from scratch. There is not a choral tradition here in Suchitoto; choirs are usually thought of only in terms of church choirs. The church choirs usually comprise of several elderly ladies who sing neither in tune nor rhythm. Therefore, to believe we could take "Viva la Musica," learn the song, and then split it into a three part round, all in one day, was rather overreaching it. We barely made it through the warm ups, and I am almost certain that I was the only person singing the actual melody of "Viva la Musica" after going through it for forty five minutes. But at least we now know how to sing, somewhat acurately "Do Re Mi Fa Sol Fa Mi Re Do." Well, relatively accurately. However, Wednesday is another day!! The homework for Wednesday: practice "Viva la Musica" and prepare a song to sing in front of the class as a solo. Tomorrow I have my first day of adult choirs - so we will see how that goes as well!!!
Before I left, my dad told me, "And remember, sometimes you have to fail in order to succeed." So I have decided to not view this day as a complete failure in my abilities as a music teacher, but rather the first step on the road to success. And who knows, there might be some ditches and unexpected detours on this road, but I intend to finish the journey. So, in spirit true to Robert Frost, here is to the road less traveled!!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
¡Hola El Salvador!
I am HERE!!! I got in Thursday afternoon and was driven to Suchitoto by two nice men named Oscar and Israel. As we left the city and started getting into the countryside, goats and cows and started appearing on the side of the road. Cows were being walked around on leashes - for anyone who knows how much I love cows, you can only imagine how excited I got. However, Oscar and Israel were ignoring this amazing phenomena, so I assumed that it was not quite so exciting for them. I was still pretty excited, so when we ended up stopping near a cow tethered right outside my window, I lifted my camera and took a picture. I thought I was pretty stealth about it, but apparently was not - as soon as the picture was taken, I looked up to see Oscar looking at me, laughing heartily. He and Israel got a kick out of the fact I was taking a picture of a cow. Never mind that I tried to explain we do not have cows wandering the streets of San Francisco, the laughing continued as they asked, "A cow? Really??" After this occurrence they slowed down for every cow we passed (which was often), yelling, "Look!! A cow!!! Oh, another cow!!!" They had almost gotten tired of this when we passed a horse that whinnied rather loudly next to my window and, not surprisingly, startled me. After this, the cries became "Oh look!!! A horse!!! AND a cow!! You must be really excited!!"
Yes. Yes, I was.
I was safely dropped off at the Centro Arte para la Paz, where I will be living during my time here. I was kindly greeted by Christy, another woman who will be volunteering at the center during the year. We hit it off immediately, and she showed me around the center and then the town of Suchitoto. After settling into my room, I met up with Sister Peggy. After a warm welcome, Christy and Sister Peggy invited me to come with them to the capital the next morning. At five am. Of course, I agreed.
As my alarm went off at 4:40 the next morning, I staggered out of bed and wondered why I had thought that this would be a good idea. Fortunately, I was shown why just a few minutes later, when I was picked up in front of the center by Sister Peggy. We went and picked up Christy, and then by 5:10 we were on our way to San Salvador. Together, we passed the almost two hour trip quickly, Sister Peggy and Christy telling me stories of El Salvador and the center. After eating breakfast, during which Peggy had office hours, I had the opportunity to go sit in on her class! She teaches an amazing class on Liberation Theology. I was already sitting down when many of the students from Santa Clara who are studying abroad in La Casa de la Solidaridad began to trickle in. It was amazing to be able to see so many friendly faces on my first day in the country. I was able to enjoy lunch with all the Casa folk, and then went to sit in on another class, on the history of the war in El Salvador. Both classes were absolutely amazing, I felt so blessed to have been able to have gone to them!! I was then able to eat dinner, again with the Casa kids, before going to la Casa de la Paz where I shared a room with Christy.
The next morning, we wandered about San Salvador, and got watches (so now I can actually know what time it is!), and then went to the Museum of the Martyrs and Monseñor Oscar Romero, located in UCA. It was truly sobering to look at the timeline of events during the war, to read about such a loss of life. Included in the martyrs were priests who were actually teachers at UCA. Rosebushes now mark the place of their murder. It is truly inspiring to see the extreme spirit of the Salvadoran people - so much evil has happened, and yet the people still find the strength to smile, to laugh, and to persevere.
Now, I am back in Suchitoto, preparing for a new week. I will be beginning rehearsals with mi coro soon, and therefore have been planning planning planning. GIRLS CHORUS GIRLS - if you could send me any and all of your favorite songs/rounds, I would be eternally grateful. I always feel as though I am forgetting some. So here I am preparing for my first week in Suchitoto!! YAAYY!!!
Yes. Yes, I was.
I was safely dropped off at the Centro Arte para la Paz, where I will be living during my time here. I was kindly greeted by Christy, another woman who will be volunteering at the center during the year. We hit it off immediately, and she showed me around the center and then the town of Suchitoto. After settling into my room, I met up with Sister Peggy. After a warm welcome, Christy and Sister Peggy invited me to come with them to the capital the next morning. At five am. Of course, I agreed.
As my alarm went off at 4:40 the next morning, I staggered out of bed and wondered why I had thought that this would be a good idea. Fortunately, I was shown why just a few minutes later, when I was picked up in front of the center by Sister Peggy. We went and picked up Christy, and then by 5:10 we were on our way to San Salvador. Together, we passed the almost two hour trip quickly, Sister Peggy and Christy telling me stories of El Salvador and the center. After eating breakfast, during which Peggy had office hours, I had the opportunity to go sit in on her class! She teaches an amazing class on Liberation Theology. I was already sitting down when many of the students from Santa Clara who are studying abroad in La Casa de la Solidaridad began to trickle in. It was amazing to be able to see so many friendly faces on my first day in the country. I was able to enjoy lunch with all the Casa folk, and then went to sit in on another class, on the history of the war in El Salvador. Both classes were absolutely amazing, I felt so blessed to have been able to have gone to them!! I was then able to eat dinner, again with the Casa kids, before going to la Casa de la Paz where I shared a room with Christy.
The next morning, we wandered about San Salvador, and got watches (so now I can actually know what time it is!), and then went to the Museum of the Martyrs and Monseñor Oscar Romero, located in UCA. It was truly sobering to look at the timeline of events during the war, to read about such a loss of life. Included in the martyrs were priests who were actually teachers at UCA. Rosebushes now mark the place of their murder. It is truly inspiring to see the extreme spirit of the Salvadoran people - so much evil has happened, and yet the people still find the strength to smile, to laugh, and to persevere.
Now, I am back in Suchitoto, preparing for a new week. I will be beginning rehearsals with mi coro soon, and therefore have been planning planning planning. GIRLS CHORUS GIRLS - if you could send me any and all of your favorite songs/rounds, I would be eternally grateful. I always feel as though I am forgetting some. So here I am preparing for my first week in Suchitoto!! YAAYY!!!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
¡Adios, San Francisco!
So here it is. My good bye to my city by the bay, before I head off to the adventures of Suchitoto, El Salvador. As I sit here with my various articles of clothing, toiletries, and, of course, music spread out around me, I find myself preoccupied with one question: "What am I getting myself into?" And, of course, the answer is that I have no idea. Perhaps in the next year I will be able to answer it. But for now, I pack, hopefully to be finished by 4am tomorrow morning when I leave the house to catch my flight. I can only hope that by that time I will have found a way to fit my entire collection of Jane Austen's novels and my plethora of tea into a space concise enough to be allowed upon an airplane. Wish me luck!!!
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