A Change of Pace

Well, biting bugs are out in force now. They really had not been that bad until about three days ago, and now they are everywhere! What a sad time to run out of bugs spray. Don’t worry, it is on my shopping list for tomorrow. This past week has been crazy. We teachers went to two different churches on Sunday. First we went to the Lutheran church on our compound and then we went to the LDS church where I spoke. We also said good bye to Eric, as he is on his way back to the states to teach in Minneapolis and continue the work for GLMA that needs to be done in the states. It feels weird that he is gone. Last night Claire and I were setting the table and we started to set for four people then realized we are down to three. We won’t be three for long, however, this weekend we will be setting for eleven! Dr. Erv Jansen will be joining us this Friday and then a bunch of people from the ELCA and the Lutheran church in Suriname will be joining us on Saturday. Most of them are coming as part of the Glocal music training program. I don’t know a whole lot about this group, but I am bound to learn more this weekend.

Teaching has been going really well. I am very excited about my classes. It has been an experience to be teaching group guitar, but I think I am getting the most out of those two classes. One class has fifteen students with an average age around 30 and the other has sixteen students with the average age of 17. It is very different, but a unique learning experience for me to learn how to teach beginning concepts to such a wide age range. I have really connected with many of my students already which excites me for the rest of the year as well. I have started to learn what they are really interested in, and I think I may end up writing some pieces for our concerts! I am not much of a composer, but I do like to arrange some music in my free time.

Now that Eric has left we discovered we teachers talk a whole lot more. I guess when there are four people you really need a ring leader to start and direct conversations, but with three we just gab about anything and everything. Sunday night we had a really good conversation as a team about communication and what we need from each other. This has really helped us to get to know our teammates better, and to know exactly what we all need in the way of communication and feedback from others. Monday I got a phone call from Eric in Georgetown updating me on all the meetings he had been having. A long list of things for us to do was given to me and we had yet another successful conversation.

Lately I have been drawing a lot of parallels between my time at Project Transformation Tennessee and here in Guyana. Other than working at camps this is the first time I have lived and worked with the same people day in and day out. I think PTTN was a great first step for me to prepare for this adventure this year. Project Transformation taught me a lot about living with other people that I really had not had the opportunity to learn while I was at Wartburg because I did not have a consistent roommate throughout an entire year.  It is one thing to live with a group of people and go to school with them, but it is a completely different ball game when you live and work with the same people day in and day out.  This is not a bad thing, just a very different thing. It is something that takes a different kind of relationship with those around you. Just another mini adventure this year.

Something else happened to us this week that was rather frustrating for me as our house supervisor. As many of you have heard we have to pump water for us to use in the house for things such as showers, washing dishes, and toilets. Our water has run out completely from the tank for upstairs, so I went to pump water multiple times on Tuesday. Come to find out the water was never being pumped up. We have been without water. The entire house was out of water except for Eric’s bathroom in the basement apartment. We have done dishes in the bathroom sinks and in the shower. I have been doing everything the same way that we did when Eric was here, but nothing seems to work. Who knows, Eric may just have the special touch. Maybe I’m frustrated because I really have no clue what to do. I have called our contractor and he said he is sending someone to take a look for us. Hopefully we will have a solution soon. Very soon.

I have realized that I do miss one thing in particular lately. It sounds strange, but I miss it. Dial antibacterial liquid body wash. I haven’t really seen liquid boy wash in New Amsterdam. I think I saw some in Georgetown when we first got to Guyana, but not since then. Maybe I will find some next time we go to town and I will certainly pick some up!

The Second Week

I love my job! It is only week two, but these classes have really showed me that I have gone into the right profession.  I have amazing students who are eager to learn at every class. Being in a beginning brass class may make me cringe and joke every so often, but they are a true blessing. It has been 14 years since I last was in a brand new beginning brass class so this has been a great refresher for me as well as makes me examine my own playing. The day that six of my seven brass players blasted their first notes I couldn’t be more proud! All of my classes are going wonderful and I can’t wait to see where we go this school year.

I have a wide age range in my classes as well. It feels a little like Sheltered Reality in the fact that everyone is learning together no matter their age. However, unlike Sheltered Reality I have them all at once, and not all over the country. My students range in age from 12 to 72. All learning guitar or brass with me. There are lots of challenges in these class makeups, but at the same time it is really neat to see people of different ages helping each other to understand some concept that the whole class is working on. Last night I got to see and hear one of my two guitar classes play their first song. That was fulfilling in itself to see them at the point that they are able to play something. I remember when I was able to play my first song. I was so excited to be able to do it, and I saw that same look of excitement on many of my students’ faces last night.

It is a very strange experience to be teaching but school not starting in the morning. We teach between 3:00 pm and 8:20 pm Monday through Wednesday and 1:00-5:00 pm on Saturdays. I thought I had a strange schedule working at Mosaic and going to Waldorf full time, but that just prepared me for this job. We have stayed up late more often than not watching movies after eating dinner at 9:00 every night. We go to bed sometime between 1 and 3 am, and then get up anywhere from 6:30-10:30 am. Being a teacher and being able to sleep in that late is wonderful! I know it won’t be like that back in the states, but I will enjoy it while it lasts.

We are still waiting on internet at our house. We have learned that you have to be able to call out on your landline before you can get internet. I guess it can take upwards of a week to be able to call out. I don’t really understand how that works, because we have been able to receive calls for a few days now. I have been trying to call out every single day just so we know when we can do it. My hope is that this happens before Eric leaves to go back to Minnesota.

I am our house supervisor, so if anything goes wrong in the house or something isn’t finished yet I am the one who is put in charge to see that it gets done. When we still had a bunch of workers at the house and Eric went to Georgetown for a few days with Michael I became Contractor Kelli. The workers were to check in with me on everything they did that day and I had to approve of it before they could get home. Let’s just say I am glad we are done with that phase of the house.

This Sunday I have been asked to preach at a church here in New Amsterdam. They said they would tell me the topic they wanted me to talk about later this week, but I still haven’t heard anything so I am thinking I will just choose a topic. If I hear from them today I will go with what they want, but if I hear nothing I suppose I should have something ready.

Well, I better get back to planning for our Academy Classes with the rest of my team. Have a great rest of you week everyone! Enjoy the cooler temperatures, knowing that I miss those wonderfully crisp fall days and the changing leaves.

The First Week!

Wow! What a crazy week it has been. This was the first week of classes. It is a very different experience to teach six days a week compared to the five we are used to back home.  I really love my students, they all bring different perspectives and seem to be very excited to start learning. Every day is a new experience to say the least.  I have two classes of guitar, a class of beginning brass, and a brass class with COFONA. COFONA stands for the Council of Friends of New Amsterdam.  This group is partnered with COFONA in New York and is a marching band of sorts down here. Dan and I are excited to work with them because of our marching experiences back home.  We hope to get them excited about music and to better their playing skills.  It feels good to finally be able to do what we came down to do, teach.  We have been in country almost a month now, and it has been great. I had no clue what starting a school from ground level fully entailed, but it is crazy! I have a lot of respect for Eric for all the work he has put into this for the past three years.

This week, besides the start of school, we also got to celebrate Claire’s birthday. All day Eric and I made sure to keep her out of downstairs so we could set up. I went out and bought decorations to put up in Eric’s apartment and Eric set up a home theatre system with a projector/speaker system.  I also had our first experience using our new ovens by baking a birthday cake.  I was told by others who live on the compound, who are from Canada, that cakes down here usually get dried out because of the oven.  Needless to say I was quite proud when we cut into the cake and it was super moist and delicious!

This week was full of highs for sure. Besides the birthday and classes started we celebrated other things such as, being able to set up our living room because our couches finally came, overcoming our worries about our first classes, having nearly everyone show up to orientation, having 171 students taking classes, having over 200 people register for classes, and Eric getting kitchen and bathroom cabinets put up in his apartment. It is really easy for us to become negative about different things easily, so constantly reminding myself of the highs we have seen this week helps me to stay positive more often than not. Now we wait for a bathroom mirror, our phone, and our internet. J

I know I have said this a lot since I got to Guyana, but I am really blessed to be a part of this team of pioneering teachers.  We are truly like a family. We balance each other out so well.  And we are all there for each other.  Plus, three of the four of us are mighty fine cooks, and the forth takes directions on cooking really well and makes a mean boxed Mac and Cheese.

I want to thank y'all for the support you have given me from back in the states.  I have received a few pieces of mail, and have had people ask me for the address again, so I will give that to you. My address is:

Kelli Lair

Lutheran Compound

Main Street

New Amsterdam, Berbice, Guyana, South America

I promise you this address works, no matter what the post office says in the states. Once it gets to Guyana it is fine. No numbers needed. Mail service works a little differently down here.

My blog has been a little sporadic lately because of our internet situation, but I will have it more consistent once we have our own internet. I promise. All my love to y’all until next time! -KJL