Cheerful Flexibility is Key

I cannot believe that I have been Guyana for a full week!  It really does not feel like I am in a different country, but just another state back in the U.S.  We have come so far in the time we have been here.  We have had many ups and downs this week.  While we were in Minnesota for orientation we talked about the many ways we could try to overcome difficulties we might face during our time abroad.  One of those ideas we came up with was "Cheerful Flexibility."  We have had many times that this has come in to play this past week.  Originally, we thought we would be moving into our house once we got to Guyana and would unpack the instruments this past Monday.  Neither of these situations were the case. The instruments made their way into town on Wednesday, but yet another challenge faced us.  The keys to open the locks of the container are currently in Minneapolis....yet another flexibility exercise for us! The locks got cut off and we had a good size group of men to help us unload all of the crates that we packed into the container months ago.  Everything got taken upstairs to the academy and placed about where they needed to go.  The past few days have been nothing but registration and unpacking a bunch of instruments.

The exciting thing is that we are starting to look like a music school! This morning Claire stayed back at the academy and worked on stuff while all the guys and I went to the market and passed out flyers telling people about the school.  That was a good experience because it has allowed me to make some more connections to people in the community that I will see on a regular basis.  We hope to do lots of shopping at the market, especially for all of the fruit that we are really starting to like.

It seems that almost every day after working many hours unpacking there is a jam session before we head home for supper.  It has been very interesting to say the least.  I am not one who like to improvise while playing music, so I was pushed just outside of my comfort zone the first jam session night.  The boys jammed last night on acoustic guitar, bass, and trap.  Tonight's jam session includes vocal mics, viola, guitar, piano, and trap.  Can you tell that we are unpacking more equipment? Listening to this jam session while writing this post seems to be a good way for me to wind down.

Cheerful flexibility.  It is something we should all learn.  We have been living in limbo since we arrived in the country, and are not really sure when we will be able to call a place our own, but until then we will make the best of what we have.  We have been staying with friends and they have been the best hosts we could ever ask for.  I have been so blessed to be put here with the team I have.  Dan and Claire are amazing at what they do, and we seem to make a really good team.  We all balance each other out, and will make for a great year.  Then we have our director, Eric.  He also has been amazing.  He helps us when he knows we need it, and has really helped us over come some of our cheerful flexibility situations.  It helps that he is living them with us and knows exactly how we feel.  We currently have one more member of our team, Michael.  He was here with Eric on the Eric's first visit to Guyana.  It has been nice to have Michael around to help out with stuff as well!

I can't believe how far we have come, and looking around the academy building right now I know we have a lot more to do.  As long as we keep thinking about the ideas we talked about during orientation we will be able to grow together and build a stronger team for when Eric and Michael leave us to head back to the states. 

I hope you all have a little cheerful flexibility this week!  Until next time, keep smiling!

Kelli J. Lair

 The team on a sidewalk leading into the ocean this past Monday. We spent some time out in Georgetown with a friend we met who lived across the street from us.  Left to right; Dan, Kelli, Claire, and Eric. 

 On the Sea Wall Sunday night.  We went out onto the rocky beach to look at the ocean, stars, and to avoid the huge crowd while waiting for Eric to come back with our food. Left to right; Kelli, Dan, and Claire.

The boys' jam session after a day of unpacking. Left to right; Michael on bass, Dan on trap, and Eric on guitar.