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.