Merry Christmas from Guyana!

I had promised myself (and my mother…sorry Mom!) that I would give you all a Christmas gift with a blog post on December 25, but as you can tell I fell through with that. In a way though I am glad. By not posting right away about everything that has happened since the concerts I have given myself even more time to reflect on everything that has happened, and what a Christmas away from everything I have known and loved my whole life really means.

Last Sunday I was asked to give a talk at church. All they told me was that it should be something about Christmas, but other than that it was up to me. (They seem to decide that I get free reign of talk topics while they tell everyone else the topic, it is a little unnerving…) I talked about traditions that happen every year. I could play out the picture exactly. Christmas Eve comes and Mom, Dad, and I all go to Asbury for the Christmas Eve service, when it is over we head home to pick up some food and then head out to Grotewold’s where we usually have three soups. I even described types, smells, and tastes of each soup. On Christmas morning we wake up and have sweet cinnamon bread and egg bake before we open stockings, then gifts, and lastly cards. I also told them that this was my first Christmas out of the Midwest and away from my family. Traditions are good, but sometimes they can put you in a rut and you miss the real reason for the celebration. It is good for me to be completely away from traditions and family just to remind me what we really celebrate for and to give me a larger perspective on the world. I think that may have been one of my favorite talks I have ever given in church.

Christmas Eve is another giant party in New Amsterdam just like Town Day was. We walked around Main and Pitt Streets looking at all of the stores who were open for last minute shoppers. There were multiple people in Santa costumes as well as Spiderman, Dora the Explorer, and Elmo for picture opportunities. We went out three times, and each time we became smaller in numbers. The first time it was all six of us (Clarie’s family is here visiting), then just the three teachers, and finally just Dan and I. We ended up walking laps up and down the streets, talking, and seeing plenty of familiar faces. It was a great night. Christmas morning came bright and early at the music house. Everyone was up by 5:30 because church started at 6:00. It was a great Christmas morning service, but as soon as it was over we all came home and went back to bed. We ate breakfast around 11:00 and Eric and Vivian joined us for a little while (more on that later). We opened gifts and at lupper (lunch/supper) around 4:00 when we had finished all of the day’s festivities for the most part. We ended the day by watching two of the Star Wars movies. All in all it was a wonderful and quiet Christmas.

Eric and Vivian have decided to have a progressive gift for the twelve days of Christmas. So far we have had three red pens, two rubber gloves, and a cartridge in a bare tree. We look forward to seeing the Roberts this afternoon and find out what day four holds. It is rather fun to try to get in their heads and figure out what the next day might hold. So far I have been wrong every day, so if you have any great guesses let me know!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I pray for blessings on each and every one of you as you travel, see family, and celebrate with one another. Thank you for all of the support and your Christmas greetings! Have a safe rest of your 2014!

A Performance Like No Other

The past two days have held concerts for all of the students at Guyana Lutheran Music Academy. Last night (Wednesday) featured the keyboard and percussion classes. Tonight featured the brass, guitar, violin, and choir classes. That means that all of my classes had their concerts tonight. Claire made a good point at one time before the concert started saying, “It’s brass, violin, and then the Kelli Lair show!” She wasn’t kidding either. My small brass class started out the program and then her violin class went right after. When violin was done I was involved with every single piece that was performed through the end of the concert. It was a rather crazy night. Needless to say I was extremely nervous tonight because this was my first time conducting a concert as a teacher.

I could not be more proud of my students! They all did a marvelous job. Things came together that I did not think would be possible from two days ago. Many of my students surprised me by how much they had practiced since Monday and Tuesday. I had my two guitar classes combine for a Guyanese folk song called “Chil’ren Chil’ren.” They never got to practice together until today, so I was a little nervous about that, but it was awesome! Claire and Dan both picked up brass instruments and played along with my small brass class to start off the concert. Can I just say that I have some pretty wonderful colleagues Well I do, so I just did. J Dan picked up a baritone in order to help my low brass player out, so I switched Claire to first part yesterday. They both picked up very quickly and did quite well. I really don’t know what I would do without them.

Seeing those students up there on stage performing for their friends and family reminded me why I fell in love with music so many years ago. Sharing something with others that I had fun doing and was passionate about was exciting for me. I could see that same passion in some of their eyes as I looked at them playing. So many of them came up to me after the concert telling me how sad they were that they would not see me or be able to come to music classes for two weeks. I told them they would have plenty of me next semester. These students are why I do what I do. I see joy and passion from them. I see their days take a 180 degree turn after class. I see a spark in them when they see and hear themselves be successful. Yes, they may drive me crazy some days, but that is what they are supposed to do. I feel like they have taught me more these past four months than I have taught them some days. I know that I have been blessed by each one of them coming into my life.

The teachers will now start our long awaited Christmas break. There are lots of random little things that we are doing throughout break that are performances, but other than that we have no obligations again until January 5, and we could not be more excited. I look forward to being able to not having to plan classes, and spending time with myself. I will still be doing some work like inventory, instrument cleaning, and a little construction, but those can be done on my own time. The weirdest thing for us will be eating dinner at a more “normal” dinner hour. That should be fun. As Christmas approaches I hope you all know that I am thinking about you and that your generosity means the world to me. Have a very blessed and safe holiday season!

Last Full Week of Class

This week marks are last full week of classes. Next week each class will have one last meeting and then our concerts! Where has the semester gone? I am still having issues with the fact that Christmas is just two weeks away when it still feels like July. I don’t know if I would ever really get used to that feeling or not. It is crazy to think what all has happened over the past four months. This time four months ago I was headed to my last Sheltered Reality show before packing up and driving to the cities with my parents for orientation. I have met so many wonderful people and really feel at home in New Amsterdam.

My students have come so far since classes started in September. I am excited to celebrate their accomplishments with them in the concert next Thursday (December 18). There will be two concerts one on Wednesday for the keyboard and percussion classes and Thursday will have brass, guitar, violin, and choir. I will be running around like a crazy person on Thursday getting everything ready. I will be singing with and playing bass guitar for the choir again like I did for the National Choral Festival. My two guitar classes will be doing a combined piece which is a Guyanese folk song. My small brass class is doing an arrangement of Christmas songs that I did and Amazing Grace. We just had a really good conversation about musicality in the context of Amazing Grace. Those brass students never cease to amaze me!

Yesterday, Tuesday, I introduced band karate to my COFONA class. For those of you who don’t know what band karate is, simply put it is a way for me to have constant playing tests with my students while they try to earn different belts. I have been struggling with some classroom management and motivational things in this class, so I thought this might be a good way to work on that with some of these students. They all seemed really excited about this idea. I think some of them are going to attempt to earn three belts before the semester is done. They are allowed to come in before class or during open practice time to do belt testing. In order to earn their belt they must play different lines out of their lesson book with correct articulation, dynamics, pitch, ect. It should be an interesting adventure to say the least.

Claire’s family will be here in six days. She is getting really excited. The closer we get to her family arriving the more bouncy she becomes. It is rather amusing right now. It will be different to have six people in the house. We haven’t had that many people living in the same house yet. Our closest to that would be when Michael and Eric were both here. Claire’s parents and brother will be spending two weeks with us. They arrive on Monday, which is the last meeting day for three of Claire’s classes. It will be nice to have three extra people to help come concert time that is for sure! We will be celebrating Christmas with the Folts family and the Lutheran Compound. I guess they shoot off fireworks on Christmas. That will be fun!

I hope you all enjoy this holiday season. Remember the reason for the season, and enjoy time spent with your loved ones. Also enjoy that snow for me!

It's Beginning to Look Something Like Christmas?

Well, as I write this blog I am once again sitting in the academy with construction workers working. There are only two hours left before classes start for the day and the academy is a total mess right now. I am looking forward to all of this construction being done so we don’t have to deal with this anymore. I received a phone call at 7:45 this morning telling me that the workers would be here at 8:00. None of the teachers were up so we all sprang out of bed, threw on clothes, and ran over to the academy to move stuff. Well, the workers did not arrive until almost 8:30, but they showed up. They have finished putting mesh up on one side of the building and have now started on the other side. We are still waiting for a new sink, more mesh, some window repairs, and the calking of the windows to get rid of the big gaps between the windows and the walls. There are some minor things at the house to be done still too. Construction work in Guyana is very different than back home. We recently found out that it is normal for construction groups to come in, do the job (while making a huge mess), and leave. This leaves the homeowner/whoever is supervising to clean up the mess before opening for business/class/living. It is kind of a pain seeing as we are on a time crunch right now and they probably will not leave for class until half an hour before we start if we are lucky. Oh well, once it is done we (hopefully) will not have to deal with it again.

Things have been pretty quiet this week other than the construction. This past Sunday we went to church in Georgetown with the Ebenezer Luther League for youth service. The teachers acted as the musicians and then spend the afternoon with the youth of both churches. It was fun, and I got to talk to a few people and just spend some time getting to know them better. The bus ride was a little crazy, but that seems to be all transportation here.

Our concerts are just a few short weeks away! We went out and bought a Christmas tree earlier this week and put it up in the house. It was a really strange feeling for the three of us to adventure  around town looking for Christmas stuff in shorts/skirts, short sleeve shirts, and sandals. It was strange for many reasons; 1) we haven’t been adventuring like that around New Amsterdam as a three person team since we first got here, 2) we aren't used to sweating while trying to shop for Christmas, and 3) Christmas decorations seem really out of place here to the three of us. We continue to go looking for ornaments to put up on the tree because it looks a little sad right now, but you can tell I am my father’s daughter with all of the lights we put on! We are thinking of starting a tradition of having a yearly ornament to put on the tree signed by the teaching team. That’s something that is really fun as the first teacher. We are able to say, “this is going to be a tradition.” We have come up with some interesting ones.

Please stay safe in the snow, ice, and cold everyone! I will try not to rub in the fact that I am melting in 80-90 degree weather every day.

A Thanksgiving of a Whole New Kind

This week has been rather crazy. We went to Georgetown on Friday morning. As we were locking up the house I got a phone call from the pastor who serves at Redeemer (where we were staying for the weekend). He wanted to inform me that we would have to wade through shin high water in order to get to the house because town was flooded. We got to town just before Eric did, so we all got to wade to the house together. After a while Dan decided to take a nap and Claire and I decided to let Eric take a nap as well so we went out puddle jumping in that same water. It was fun.

We did quite a bit while we were in town. We decided to visit the zoo (which was partially flooded so we waded through that too) and the botanical gardens. We ate American style food and even spent some time in a pool hall (I was thinking of Music Man for a while there). We shopped at a crazy DVD store, ran into a lot of friends, and attended church at Calvery Lutheran and then spent a little more time just hanging out before heading for home. It was fun to bring Eric back to New Amsterdam to host him in his home away from home. We really enjoy having him back.

This week we put on the health fairs. On Tuesday we went to a secondary school that some of my students attend. We were not aware that any of our students attended this school until we walked up to the building and we saw my students name written on the wall in chalk. All three music teachers laughed, because that was very like her. Today, we went and taught in a primary school in Canje. That was really fun. All of the students were great, and it was a wonderful experience to see just a peek into public schools in Guyana. I am hoping that I can get into a school somewhere to do a little volunteer work every once in a while.

Since Eric has been in country we have been doing a lot of meetings and talking about all sorts of things. His to do list has been crazy, but it seems like he is checking things off pretty well. It is great to be able to talk to him face to face without a computer screen in between us. It sounds like the school he is working at back home is doing really well. We are hoping to use them as a sister program, and we are still trying to figure out what exactly that means. Since this is the first year it can really mean whatever we want it to mean.

I just want to wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving. This is not a holiday in Guyana, but the Lutheran compound will be celebrating tonight after classes. The music house, the Roberts, and Pastor Diana and Rory will all be getting together for a traditional Thanksgiving meal to say good bye to Pastor D and Rory as well as have a small taste of home on this holiday. I am so very thankful for everything that happened this year. I have met wonderful people in multiple countries, found a job that I absolutely love, and have come into a once in a lifetime journey. I am so thankful for Eric, Claire, and Dan and for all of the hard work they do. I would not be able to do what I do without them. I am thankful for my vocation and my professors who helped me truly discover just what that means. Finally, I am thankful for all of you. Yes, you. The people back home in the US who have been supporting me for as long as I can remember. Those of you who have supported me and thought of me since my move to Guyana, and who continue to support me from 3, 500 miles away. Please be safe if you go out shopping for Black Friday, and please remember to reflect on the reason for the upcoming holiday season. Many blessings to all of you with love from Guyana!

Just Another Week

Well, we had a surprise this week. On Saturday we were heading over to the academy to get ready for academy class. On our way there a board member stopped us. He is the one that we go to for house and academy physical issues. He informed us that there would be construction workers at the academy at 7:00 am the next morning. Sunday morning I was up and ready to go at the academy, and I sat there waiting. Finally around 8:30 workers showed up. They were installing new windows that had mesh in them. Hopefully by the end of the week we will have a bug proof academy. The workers finished up around 3:00. We now have to wait for another guy to come in to put mesh on the open air space between the wall and roof. We are also waiting for mesh doors and a double wide sink in the bathroom so that I can actually repair instruments and chemically flush them. We are excited for these changes to finally happen but they always come at the worst times. Sadly, the academy will be a complete mess all week.

Originally we had planned to go to Santa Rosa Mission this weekend. Sadly, those plans have changed. However, we had already cancelled classes on Friday and Saturday so we have decided to go to Georgetown for a much needed break. We will be meeting up with Eric who will be back in country! It will be nice to have him around for a week. While we are there we are planning to go to the zoo and national park. We have also heard rumors that there are matinees at the park that you are able to feed so we will be on the lookout for that. I don’t know if we will try to brave the market in Georgetown or not. Think of it like comparing a grocery store in Forest City compared to shopping in NYC. That might be a little overkill, but you get the picture. It will be nice to have a full weekend for once.

Even though Guyana does not have Thanksgiving we will be celebrating American Thanksgiving with the Roberts (the Canadian Americans). They have invited the four of us over for dinner on Thursday for a traditional Thanksgiving meal after we teach. It will be really weird to be working on the holiday. We will also be putting on two health fairs next week. Valini (the student who has GUYFUSE which I talked about earlier) and a Peace Corps member have been working on these and have asked us to help. We will be talking to 100 students at two different schools about mental health/suicide, nutrition, Diabetes, HIV/Aids, and domestic violence. It should be nice to be able to work with youth in a different setting for a little while.

It is very strange to be seeing all of the Christmas decorations popping up everywhere lately. We are hoping to put together and Advent wreath and get a Christmas tree for the house. I find it strange to have to go out and buy all new Christmas decorations. I have never had to do that, thanks Dad! We aren’t really sure where we will store all of this stuff after the season, but I have a feeling it is going to end up in my bedroom. We really don’t have much when it comes to storage for things like that.

Overall it has been fairly quiet lately, so I feel like there is not much to write about. I will be posting more pictures on Facebook sometime this week. I hope you are all enjoying the cold and the snow. Just remember I have 88 degree weather here! Jealous much? J

An Exciting Week

This week has been awesome. Sunday we took the choir to Georgetown to participate in the National Choir Festival. It was an adventure to say the least. Many people have seen me comment about how time is Guyana is a very different thing than it is back home. When you schedule a bus for 11:00 am they will usually be there five minutes before, and if somehow they are late they will call to tell you what has happened. We had scheduled a bus for 11:00 am, and when did the bus arrive? 11:40 am. When the bus got there Dan, Claire, and I all looked at each other wondering if we would all fit. We had about 30 people, keyboard, bass guitar, amps, a music stand, and a stool to all fit inside. We made it, but it was a tight fit. Once we got to the cultural center there was a group on stage so the people in charge asked us to go sit in the audience while they finished up, and when they were done we would do our sound check. When that group was done the people in charge had us set up our equipment, but then wait so they could finish the stage decorations. We never did get a sound check, and five minutes before the start they came over to us and told us to tear down our equipment and we would set it up again later (ugh, so many wires!) The show was supposed to start at 3:00, and the announcer finally stepped out from back stage at 3:40 (are you seeing a pattern with time here?). The first half had some great small groups. There are some very creative people here! We were supposed to be the third choir after intermission. During intermission I went backstage to set up our equipment again, and I heard the announcer talking with the head of the festival saying that GLMA would be first because the other two choirs never showed up. Great. Once we got the choir all ready to go we waited backstage for the curtain to rise for our performance. The choir did a wonderful job. We are so proud of them for all of their hard work and dedication. It was a wonderful first public performance representing GLMA. We did not place, but it was a great learning experience.

On the way home we had two more choir members riding home with us, so I ended up sitting on the stool back to back with Dan. I was facing the choir. They decided to sing all sorts of songs at the top of their lungs on the drive back. Every so often we would pass by really loud parties happening along the coast. When we did I would start awkward bus dancing as long as we could hear the music. We also made a few parodies to songs like “Party in the USA” is now “Party at GLMA.” J Needless to say the choir saw a different side of Miss Kelli than anyone else in the academy.

Monday we skyped with Eric again. The first thing he showed us when we connected was outside his band room and the snow/ice/sleet that was there. His car was covered. I certainly appreciate having 80 degree weather and not living in that white stuff this year! Anyone want to come visit me now?? We had a great conversation with Eric, and we look forward to seeing him in Guyana in about a week and a half.

On Monday I also go to skyped into Dr. Taylor’s World Music class at Waldorf. I had the opportunity to talk to the class about what I am doing in Guyana, the music and culture here, things I have learned in my few months in country, as well as what classes at Waldorf have helped me the most to prepare for this experience, and some suggestions for them to think about as they prepare to go out into the real world. It was so great to hear their voices again. I miss my Waldorf family greatly. For the first time since coming to Guyana I felt homesick after talking to them.

This weekend Rohan (the ethnomusicologist) will be coming to spend Saturday with us. We will be working on figuring out some stuff for our upcoming trip as well as talking about his thesis. I really enjoyed talking with him that last time he was here, and look forward to being able to do it again. Are current plan is to take a trip to Santa Rosa mission when Eric gets in country. We will all meet in Georgetown and head out from there. That will be a welcome break. Dan, Claire, and I have talked, and if the trip ends up not happening we decided it would be nice to spend a few days in Georgetown as a team trip and go to the museum and zoo. It would be a welcome small break and out of New Amsterdam to recharge for a few days.

Everything has been going great. Christmas decorations are starting to appear all over the place. It is an interesting site to see evergreen garlands with plastic fruit hanging from them. I don’t think I will ever be able to get used to that. Enjoy your snow up North, and know that I am enjoying my 80 degree weather down here!

Learning a Life Lesson

“Dear Lord, grant me patients to get through xyz.” This is a prayer I have said numerous times in my life whether it be stuck in rush hour in the cities when I am already half an hour late for SR practice, working with someone I really can’t stand, or no understanding how to do something. This prayer has been uttered too many times to count while I was in the states. I think the Lord is finally teaching me a lesson in patience while I am in Guyana. Things happen in a very different way here, and my to do list? Ha! Those things happen in a very roundabout way to say the least! Eric had pointed this fact out to me when talking about his to do list before he went home, but I really did not think much of it until some of that list came to me. In order to get some of these things done I have to call someone, who calls someone, who calls the workers, who, may or may not, show up and do the work after the first call. This means that things on my to do list can take days. Many of you who know me well know that it drives me crazy to have things sitting on my to do list for days on end. It once took us three days to get water delivered to the house and I sometimes called multiple times a day! I truly feel that this is a teaching opportunity about patience for me. It may be a hard pill to swallow, but gosh darn it! You better believe I will swallow that pill down by the end of this year!

Today (Wednesday) was a very interesting day. I started out the day by going with Valini (one of my guitar and Dan’s choir students) over to her other house on West Bank Berbiece. Her gardener picked fruit and cleaned the yard while she showed me around the garden and then we sat and talked. She put up her hammock for me to try out. It was really comfortable. I may have to buy one to bring home with me. We ended up talking for over two hours. It was really fun to get to know her better. She is retired and has started her own non-profit organization (in Guyana they are called NGO or Non-Governmental Orginizations) called Guyfuse. She told me all sorts of things about her group. Guyfuse is Guyanese Families Unite in Service and Education. Let me tell you, I think I have found my volunteer work! I also learned that Valini really likes drama and writes several plays. She asked me to participate in some! After the gardener was finished she showed me around her home town. It reminds me a lot of Lake Mills. We also went and spent some time on a farm. While there I almost got hit in the head by a coconut falling from the tree. Now that would have been a story to tell because had it hit me I would have lost balance and fallen into the irrigation canal that was next to that tree. While we waited for the farmer to pick some produce for us we found a bench in the shade and sat down for a little while. It was really peaceful. I barely made it back to New Amsterdam in time to teach! The Berbiece Bridge closes every day with the tide so that large ships can pass. We were the last car allowed over the bridge before they closed it. Had we been two minutes later we would have been stuck there for over an hour! I came home with a bunch of different fresh herbs, fruits, and vegetables that I can’t remember the name of.

I am currently writing this blog while sitting in the pitch dark at the academy. The percussion class is trying to use any daylight left outside before they call it quits. We are in a blackout right now. Yes, we have a generator installed and it is set up to be able to run the academy so we can continue to have classes in a blackout. Why don’t we have it running you ask? Well, we did. For all of two minutes and then it died. Our gas had evaporated because the lid had a huge hole that was covered with a flimsy piece of paper. So I went out with a gas can on the hunt for gas. Come to find out Guyana is in a gas crisis right now and both gas stations in New Amsterdam ran out of gas yesterday. We have to go over the bridge in order to get gas, and I am not doing that by myself in the dark. No thank you! We will be making a trip over the bridge tomorrow to get gas now.

Yippie! The lights just turned back on! Now we will be able to have classes! This blackout only lasted 45 minutes. That’s not too bad! Here is to hoping that we don’t have another blackout in the middle of this class. We had to let the brass and keyboard students go home because no one could see and the keyboard students had nothing to play.

**If you want to learn more about Guyfuse you can find them on facebook! www.facebook.com/guyfuse**

Just Another Week

Well, TownDay was just what I expected. A ton of people, lots of loud music that changed drastically every block and a half, and a lot of food. The celebration takes place on Main Street which is right outside our front gate. We could hear the music from our house easily. We walked up and down the street and then went back to the house so we could eat where it was quieter. After that Claire and Dan went back out. I decided to stay in and get some work done. About half an hour later they came back, and Dan decided to head back out on his own. Claire and I sat and drank a fruit smoothie while looking at my Pinterest boards. After a little while we hear Dan come back and said he had some people with him because someone cut their foot on a broken bottle. I guess I am glad I got recertified in First-Aid before I came down. I mean, I know what to do, but it is always nice to have a little refresher.

This week has been pretty quiet. Nothing too crazy has happened as far as I can remember. The people from Georgetown ended up not coming on Sunday so Dan cancelled the choir rehearsal and decided to make cookies for them as a thank you for all of their hard work. He did pretty well. They made about 80 cookies (after some of the cookie dough was eaten by those making the cookies) and they were all gone by Wednesday morning. I joined the choir for the first time in rehearsal on Tuesday. I am playing bass guitar for one of the songs they will be doing in the choir festival in two weeks. It has been scary having to learn a new instrument (in alternate tuning) so quickly, but I am catching on really quickly. They are sounding awesome, and I think they will do wonderful in Georgetown. I will also be singing with them because there is only bass for one song, and I would rather not stand on stage awkwardly for the other song.

We got to Skype with Eric on Monday. That was really fun. In all the email communication we have had back and forth I have been able to hear his voice and personality in my head, but it is so much nicer to see his facial expressions and actually hear his voice! It sounds like we are going to make this a weekly thing now which will be helpful to get things done a little quicker. All three teachers were commenting how weird it was to be seeing his office that we got to know so well in our short three days of orientation in Minneapolis, but that is what makes it so fun! I would love to be able to Skype with more people, so please feel free to add me so we can talk! Ninety percent of the time if my computer is open Skype is also open (unless I am over at the academy).

Claire has had many more cooking adventures this week, and Dan and I just stay out of the kitchen. We will be having a cooking day sometime soon so she can teach us how to make the things she has been learning. We have had some may people bringing us food or teaching Claire how to make food that we have run out of space in the fridge and we have no more containers to put things in, so last night we had a “eat all the things before all the food goes bad” meal. It was crazy. We had a very random meal to say the least. I think we will only have to have one more dinner like that before we can actually start cooking again. That will be nice. Leftovers get boring after having them for so long.

We just had new kitchen cabinets put in today (Friday). I forgot what it was like to have workers in the house. I put up with it though, because we finally have a mirror in the bathroom! We have some cleaning to do before we can put away everything in our kitchen again. It is nice though, because it now looks like a fully working kitchen. They built us a table to go between the fridge and the stove that houses the gas tank, has a drawer so we can store utensils (yay!), and a counter top. I think that was the most exciting thing in the kitchen. We no longer have to do 800 laps in the kitchen from stove to counter in order to fry plantain chips. It works a little better now to have all three of us in the kitchen. Who knows, maybe Dan and I will start joining in on the kitchen adventures from now on!

Celebrations for Everyone!

Where has the week gone I fell like just yesterday was Sunday and now it is Friday! Our weeks seem to fly by. Yesterday (Thursday) we had another day with no classes held at the academy. This time it was for the Hindu holiday Diwali. Diwali is the festival of light, and if I remember correctly it has to do with light overcoming darkness or good over evil. To the teachers it seemed liked a mix of Christmas, 4^th of July, and Halloween back in the states. This was a very welcomed day off. One of Claire’s students own a really nice restaurant in town, and came to teach Claire how to make a bunch of different food. Dan and I decided that if we were in there too we would have had too many people in the kitchen, so we will let Claire teach us what she learned later. One of my guitar students celebrated his birthday yesterday as well so he stopped by and gave us a bunch of Indian food. He was one of our two students of the month for the month of September. Claire had another student who brought us even more food as well as firecrackers. Dan and I got really excited about the firecrackers. We had a very relaxed day. We decided to try playing one of our board games that was sent down and none of us have every played. We played Tri-Bond, and I dominated!! Around 7:00 Pastor Diana picked us up to take us out to see all of the lights. We saw a couple stationary motorcades. These are decorated structures with kids and teenagers dressed to represent the different gods. They are not supposed to move or talk, which is really hard for kids their age. By the time we were there some of the younger ones were exhausted and just wanted to be done. We also drove by many houses and temples that had all sorts of lights everywhere. We then went to one of Pastor D’s friend’s house where we got even more food. I seriously think we won’t have to cook at all this week. We also got to shoot off firecrackers and fireworks. It was so much fun! I loved it! We made some new friends last night, and they told us this is just the beginning of what New Year’s and Christmas will be like in Guyana!

We just finished having our Friday academy class. One of our students brought her very young (maybe 1 or 2 years old) with her because she was watching her. Towards the end of class we had an activity where the students had to be in groups of four and do a lot of moving. I ended up taking the niece and ended up singing her to sleep on my shoulder out on the veranda. I don’t remember the last time I held a little girl that young, let alone sang her to sleep. She had been fighting sleep the whole class, but she finally gave in. It was so sweet. We hated waking her when I passed her back to our student so she could go home.

Tomorrow is Town Day. We really are not sure what all that means, other than there will be a bunch of booths everywhere. I feel like it will end up being a lot like July Jubilee. A few of our students said they did not think we would have a good turnout for our academy classes tomorrow, but others said they were crazy. So we have decided that we will have class tomorrow, and make it more of a review of everything we have covered so far this semester. We will hope for the best when it comes to turn out. From the sounds of it, things will be in full swing when we get done teaching, so I think we will go out and explore what Town Day is after that. Who knows maybe Dan and I will get to have more fun with firecrackers. We would be okay with that.

This weekend brings Reformation Sunday, and we are scheduled to attend church with Pastor Leroy. We still do not know much about it, so hopefully we find out soon. Sunday we also have some people coming from Georgetown to hear the choir rehearse. Dan had to call a special rehearsal just to get everything worked out. I will be playing electric bass for the first time with the choir at this rehearsal. We only have five rehearsals left until the performance!

I think we are done with holidays for the month, but you never know. They seem to pop out of nowhere here. At least our students give us a little warning (by about a week). I hope that continues to happen because it will be a sad day when we are sitting in the academy waiting for students and no one shows up. I guess that is all part of starting a new chapter in the book of life in a strange new place. Every day is a new and exciting adventure in the lives of three GLMA teachers just starting out in a whole new world.

Two Months in Country!

Another week is in the books here at the Guyana Lutheran Music Academy. My classes are progressing wonderfully, and we have some awesome academy classes planned. We attended a multi-school sports day today. All of the schools in the region were participating, so we got to see a good number of our students competing. One of my students has moved on to the national competition next month in at least one of her events! We are all extremely excited for her!

This past Wednesday we celebrated Dan’s birthday. We made the most American meal we could think of in order to celebrate with him. We had a student who is a butcher make us some ground beef and we made hamburgers with all the fixings and French fries.  It was really good! Having ground beef made me miss a good crumble burger! We also had cake and ice cream. I made the cake again. We had a Halloween themed cake because even though Guyana does not celebrate the holiday they have mixes and such that celebrates it. I am getting really good at making cakes here without them getting dry and crumbly. It makes me excited because the Canadians came over again and said something about that. It is very rare to get moist cake like that with these ovens. Claire and I also decorated Dan’s bedroom door as well as the dining room to liven up the celebration. Dan has really wanted to get a pet monkey for around the house. No, I did not go deep into the rainforest and smuggle a live monkey into the house for a pet (although walking around New Amsterdam one day we did see a guy that had a pet monkey on a leash), but I did find a stuffed animal monkey for him. We have seen these monkeys hanging off the back of cars all over Guyana, so I was excited when I finally found them to get one for him. He put the monkey around his neck like a cape after we gave it to him. Also for Dan’s birthday we got internet! That’s right everyone, I can now Skype and do things!

This has really been a big week for the GLMA teachers. We finally got our bank accounts figured out. Claire spent about three hours at the bank on Thursday and Dan and I spent a total of two hours on Friday. Dan and I even have debit cards already. I think it is now just finally sinking in that I am in a new country and will be here for a while. Opening a bank account finally had that hit home for me. I have always known that I have been in Guyana for two months, but it never really felt real. It always felt like I was in a dream or something. 

Thursday was crazy. All day there were some dark clouds off in the distance and we could hear thunder, but it just would not rain. I had been asking everyone I saw all day if we were going to get rain. Every single person answered me “No!” I figured they would know better than I would what weather in Guyana is like. My first class of the day was COFONA brass. We got set up outside just like we do every single class. A short two minutes into class a few rain drops started falling and the next thing we knew it was a total downpour! The percussion group came sprinting downstairs to help us get everything out of the rain and we all went upstairs. Dan and I had to do some very quick thinking to now combine two classes that had not been planned to be together in one class all together and make a lesson plan that makes sense based off what both classes had learned. I am rather proud at how well we pulled that lesson out of thin air and got the group playing as a full group without traditional instruments.

This weekend brings a lot of music performance/learning for the teachers. Saturday, Dan is heading back to town (by himself) to attend a music conference at the National School of Music while Claire and I stay in New Amsterdam to teach all of the academy classes. Then Saturday night we are performing two songs for a Cancer Society event at the town hall. Sunday the GLMA band will be heading to St. John’s Lutheran Church to be musicians at the confirmation service. We visited that church back when Glocal because some of the songs we are supposed to play have no music and none of us know the songs! This is something that Eric, Michael, and Dan all seem to be very comfortable with, but Claire and I are a little different. We will have a bunch of percussion equipment, a guitar, a piano, and a viola so we can be creative with who plays what throughout the service. I also just found out that we are playing at the opening ceremony for a town festival on Sunday. Glad I learned that the day before!

I had my first experience with a Guyana post office this week. Thank you Grandma for the package of Aloe. When you have a package come in the mail (via USPS and GPS, if that is what they call it) you get a slip of paper telling you that there is a package for you and the estimated duty amount based on the weight. You have to go to the post office between 10:30-11:30 am on Tuesday or Thursday with ID and money and wait in a line. I had no idea where the post office was, but I got in a car and they took me right there. Thank goodness because it would have been about a half hour walk to get there and I would have missed my pickup window! You then hand them the slip of paper and go sit down until you hear your name called. I waited about 45 minutes before my name was called. You go back up to the window and give them your ID. Then you watch them open your package so they can write down the exact items in each package and a real duty amount. Before you get your package you slide down to the next window and they tell you exactly how much you owe, you pay them, and then you get your ID and receipt and then you finally get your package and start making your way home. 

There have been a lot of firsts this week and we are two months in. I am okay with this. It just proves to me that I really do have one of the biggest learning experiences of my life right here, right now. I am so lucky to have been able to get into this on the ground level and have the opportunity to really help shape this program. I have fallen in love with Guyana, New Amsterdam, and Guyana Lutheran Music Academy. It is shaping me as a teacher, a musician, and a person. I look forward to seeing just how much I can grow in this short ten months. I can’t believe I only have 8 left!

To Town at 140!

How on earth are we already midway through the week?! We were thrown off by having a holiday observed this past Monday so we did not have classes. All week we have been off a day and confused on what class we were preparing for. Having Monday off was nice through, because we actually got to have a full weekend. We normally teach Monday-Saturday and then would have Sunday off, but we have had people over or something going on with the academy and haven’t really had Sunday off. This weekend was different though.

On Sunday morning we took off towards the car park in search of a car to take us to town. It was crazy! Dan went over to the gas station to get something to drink so all the drivers came to me trying to get us to take their car. One guy even grabbed my hand and led me to his car. We ended up taking his car because he had three spots left and we would fill it up. He drove really fast. I was a little nervous because I was sitting in the front seat and saw how fast and close to things we were. Dan and Claire were in bucket seats in the very back of the car and could feel every single bump we hit. At one point we were going 145 km/hour. When we got to Georgetown we stayed at the same place where we stayed when we first got in country. What a flash back. It seems like a really long time ago we were in that house, but at the same time it feels like just last week.

While in Georgetown we attended the GuyExpo. In my mind it was like the Iowa State Fair, only for the entire country of Guyana. We saw a ton of vendors from all over Guyana and learned quite a bit about different things to do, see, and eat while we are here. We didn’t really try and adventurous food, but we did get some free Guyanese candies. We also met some of the ladies who work at the American Embassy. It was fun to talk to them a little and tell them about GLMA. We came back to New Amsterdam Monday afternoon with a much calmer driver. Everyone (except the driver) in the car slept at least for a little bit. That afternoon we held open practice time for two hours so our students could come in and work a little bit since there were no classes. All in all it was a very nice weekend and a well needed break after how crazy things have been.

There is not a whole lot coming up for GLMA right now. My beginning brass class took home their instruments today and they were so excited! My guitar students are preparing to take home their instruments next week and same with COFONA. I have a lot of work to do before all of these guitars go home though. I have not looked at some of these guitars since the days after the container arrived. I know some of them need to have strings replaced, and they all need to be tuned. Today I got to see the violin students get really excited to play their instruments with a bow. Their faces were priceless and the excitement in the room was contagious. All of our students are so excited to do anything, it is a great feeling to have as a teacher, and very rewarding to see them excelling go much.

We are still working on trying to get internet up and running at our house. We can now call out on our phone. I have been working with the router, and it doesn’t seem to like our computers. I keep getting error messages even though I have followed the directions to a T. I have talked to Pastor Vivian’s husband, Eric (yes, another Eric), and he said he would come take a look at it tomorrow. He used to work for Apple, so we figure he might be able to help us a little. I attempted to upload some pictures to my Facebook while at the academy the other day. After there had been almost 100 pictures loaded my server and the internet crashed and nothing got uploaded. I am thinking I will spend time at an internet café this weekend and upload all of my pictures. Let me tell you, there are quite a few of them.

I want to give a shout out to the Lake Mills High School Marching Band! You guys did great in Algona! I just got to watch your performance. Colorguard girls I am so proud of you! You have worked hard and have come so far. I hope all of you take pride in being a part of such a great group. I miss playing in marching band, and proud to say I am an alumni of this band. I am working with a marching band and I hope to be able to show them videos of marching bands back in the states. I think it will be really neat for them to see something like this.