A Crazy, Hectic, All Around Insane, but Rewarding Week

Holy crazy week Batman! This week has been hectic, busy, and all around crappy, but at the same time is was very rewarding. The worst part? It’s only Wednesday! Classes were cancelled on Friday because of Labor Day. So on Friday we had some students come help us early in the morning to move the entire academy. We were preparing for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Guyana (ELCG) national convention. We had to find places to put everything and consolidate so that the academy could be transformed into the room they needed it to be for the convention meeting space. I was very happy that we had those six guys who showed up. Lord only knows how long of a day it would have been had it just been the three teachers! Davy came down to practice music for the church service that would be happening. It was nice to see Davy and Lavini (his wife who we haven’t seen for a very long time). They spent about three hours in New Amsterdam with us while we got ready for the week ahead.

Saturday was fairly low key, but still crazy. Dan and I went with our student Valini to the Berbice Indian Cultural Committee shed at Highbury. We went in order to practice for a play that we were going to be participating in for Arrival Day. Saturday also brought more setup for convention. People who were in charge of convention started to arrive so that they could set up their chairs and tables how they wanted it. Finally our friends from Suriname arrived on Saturday night with Canadians and Americans. We were not aware that there were going to be others with them, but we invited them all to dinner. It was a very hectic little bit of time as Claire and I made more food just to make sure we would have enough. We were excited to see the Kross family and Reza again, and to make some new friends. It turned out to be a wonderful evening. We were able to share about GLMA and ourselves, made new friends, ate good food (mostly prepared by Claire, but I helped), and had many laughs. We were exhausted by the end of the night. We had 13 people eating dinner. Go figure it was the end of my week to do the dishes, so I was there for quite a while.

Sunday we took off running. Sunday was the first day on the ELCG convention. It started with an opening worship service where Lutheran members from all over Guyana, Suriname, Florida, Canada, and an ELCA representative worshiped together. We had the choir and some violin students perform special pieces during the church service. The music teachers also provided all of the music for the service. We all played choruses, Dan played hymns, and I joined in on a few hymns on trumpet. During the worship service I was not feeling well. I have been saying how lucky I have been to not be sick while in Guyana. Well, it was my turn to be sick. I think I had food poisoning, but I am not 100% sure. I am better now and I never did have to go to the doctor. As soon as the service was over I was sent home to go to sleep. I did, and I woke up about half an hour before our call time for the concert. Dan and Claire were rock stars and finished everything we had to do to prepare for the concert without me. They decided I was not going to do any of the speaking parts other than introducing my own students and their music, which was probably for the best. We had a migrating concert and interactive session with the participants of the convention. They started up in the academy with the piano and percussion classes and moved down to the church for COFONA, guitar, brass, violin, and choir. During this concert we also taught a few hymns, and changed up how they did some. Many people praised us for how wonderful the concert was and how organized it was. All three of us really had to hold in our laughter, because at the end of the concert we all went crazy and felt like we had run a marathon. (Don’t get me wrong, I have never run a marathon, so I don’t know if that is actually how we would feel after that, but I can only imagine.) To us it had felt like the least organized event we had ever put on. All in all I am proud of my students. They did well. They performed the best I had ever heard them, and they deserve all the praise. At the end of the night the teachers went crazy and slept pretty dang well. We can all easily say that Sunday was in the top 5 craziest days of our musical lives.

Monday was a day of convention for Claire. Dan and I stayed around the house not doing a whole lot (Monday and Tuesday classes were cancelled because of convention). After lunch Miriam and Krystel Kross came over to watch Frozen. About 20 minutes into the movie Dan and I both looked up from our computers when Miriam said, “Hey! What happened?” Our projector lamp has finally bit the dust. It had done so well all year! I am going to try to see if we can find a replacement bulb, but I can’t get the dang cover off the projector to get to the bulb. I did some quick thinking and the girls finished the movie on my computer while Dan took a nap in his hammock. After the movie the girls discovered the various percussion instruments that had found their way onto our dining room table. I taught them how to use them, and I thought Dan was going to have a rude awaking via triangle and Miriam. I then decided to print off some coloring pages for the girls. We all laid on the floor and colored for a while before Claire came home. Miriam proceeded to tell us some wonderfully imaginative stories with the different stuffed animals that they brought and we had around the house before dinner. That evening we went out with some of the overseas participants and the Roberts to the Buccaneer for drinks, food, and fellowship. It was a wonderful end to a very relaxing day.

Tuesday was another holiday here in Guyana. May 5 celebrates Arrival Day. Arrival Day celebrates the arrival of all ethnic groups who came to Guyana. On May 5, 1828 the first East Indian indentured laborers arrived in Guyana on the Whitby (the name of the ship they came in on). They were “welcomed” by Massa Davidson (Plantation Highbury) and Massa James Blaire (Plantation Waterloo). Dan and I went with Valini to the Berbice celebration where we played Mr. Davidson (Dan) and James Blaire (me) in a 20 minute production recounting the events of that day. It was fun. We also sang “How Can I Keep from Singing” which he arranged at the event. We saw many people, multiple Indian dances, as well as heard lots of Indian songs sung by different youths and adults. Dan and I both commented on how much we like seeing the different Indian outfits. It has been a wonderful experience learning about so many different cultures.  Claire spent the day at convention. She was the GLMA representative throughout the whole convention. Dan and I returned just in time to see her come out of the academy after having put away all the tables and chairs from the convention. We decided that we were going to wait to put the academy back together which was probably a good idea. We spent the night over at the Roberts on their veranda gaffing and liming.

Today (Wednesday) we started early. We were up to say goodbye to our Surinamese friends as they left to catch the ferry back to Suriname. We then went over to the academy and started to put everything back together. We worked from about 8:30-12:00 putting things back together so that we would be ready to hold classes this evening. During that time I looked at my phone to see I had multiple emails as well as a missed call from Davy. I called him back and he asked me for my autograph. I asked him why and he said that I was on the front page of Kaieteur News. Kaieteur News is one of the national newspapers in Guyana and is “Guyana’s largest selling daily” according to their header. Later I went online to see the Mu Phi Epsilon’s (my music fraternity) Triangle has been published online. I am the feature in the international corner. It’s pretty cool to see the things you have done for a year highlighted in a magazine that is published internationally to musicians in all walk of life. I was going to go out to get fruit and try to get a copy of the paper when Liz called me over to the office. I had two priority mail envelopes. I went back to the house and opened them to find a bunch of cards for me from the Top of Iowa Sheltered Reality site. They decided to have a mission project called “Cards for Kelli.” They made me cry. After how stressful this week has been receiving that little love from home was really lovely.  We (the teachers) always laugh and say everything happens at once in Guyana when things get crazy. It is true for good things too though.

This week has been rough, stressful, and any other descriptors I could ever think of. However, it has also been a very rewarding week. My students make me very proud, and I do not want to leave them. I can’t believe we have less than a month left with them. We only have one week left where we will have a full week of class because of elections and another holiday. It’s crazy! I still have to decide what my guitar students will play for the final concert. Ahhhh! So much to do, so little time!

Claire showing off just how much space we have in the academy when everything goes to one corner. It looks like the biginning of the year again almost!

I got to drive an ATV in Guyana! I do have my Guyanese driver's license so I am allowed to do this kind of stuff!

Dan got to drive as well! We had a lot of fun with this and would love to do it again!

Me as Massa James Blaire Esq. at Tuesday's performance

Dan and I on the front page of the news paper!

A shot of everyone (except our narrator) in the play.