It’s the last three days of classes then two weeks of final exams. My students have performance finals. Last night was the Performing Arts Awards ceremony and today our last school assembly and my 10th grade boys performed a fabulous realism scene about drinking and teenage pregnancy. Every time my kids have performed at the assemblies all the students say, “That was the best assembly ever!” Even the principal commended me and my students. It is so sad that I am leaving, yet happy to be going where I finally realize is my home. Life is life and although I always have delusions of grandeur that because I live by the Golden Rule so should others, I know now, unfortunatly, that is just a fallacy. Anyway, tears have flown, flewed, flowed are flowing, BEEN SHED, but it’s onwards and upwards and a new adventure awaits. I was looking for some jewelry yesterday while getting myself dolled up for the awards night and I picked out of one of my heart shaped boxes (yes, I collect heart shaped things as I wear my heart on my sleave {name that Shakespeare play}) a little pink bag with a silver square piece, I believe Raeleen gave to me last year, that reads, “Things Happen for a Reason” on one side, and “Believe” on the other. I needed to read that, at that precise moment. I also received in the mail two boxes of Hot Tamales and a bag of York Peppermint Patties from my sister. Somebody loves me!
I got my hair (cheveux) trimmed yesterday (une petit coupe) and chatted (parle) the entire time (tout les temp) with Rafael in French. I am just starting to hold my own with the language, my students asking why I am speaking so much French lately; all in the time when I am seriously thinking of returning to Arizona. The other day in my IB class the students did the three headed opera singer improv and the song was “I lost my moose” from the opera Alaska. This made me laugh, and made me cry inside as I miss Alaska, home, my American life. Yet, I am so challenged here. But the job in Arizona has the added challenge of teaching writing, which I am seriously thinking about enrolling in the University of Texas El Paso’s MFA creative writing program as I really want to become a published playwright/novelist/screenwriter someday. (They have an online program). So, although I love the challenge of the IB, learning French and the adventure of Europe, there is an adventure lying in Arizona/Alaska too. (I haven’t been offered a job YET, so I am trying not to get my pantloons in a bunch, but…)
Oh I miss food: Taco Bell, Sweet Tomatoes, El Pollo Loco, Jack in the Box. I am going to eat me some big time when I get home!!!!!
I talked to my brother for the first time in six years the other day (on my dad’s birthday). It was okay. A big fear, bug bear, gone.
Today is my mother’s birthday. When I talked to her I asked why I always lead with my heart and not my head, and she answered with, “Your heart keeps your head alive.”
Norway was FABULOUS!!!! The trip was perfect save my intolerance for any kind of motion. Our plane connection from Brussels to Oslo was very tight and we (all 20 of us, 8 from St. John’s and 12 from International School of Brussels {ISB}) missed the connecting flight. But it was no biggie; we managed to catch the next one an hour later (after spending a fortune on airport delicatessen). A bus set up by our host school fetched us at Stavanger airport and off we went to the International School of Stavanger (ISS) where we were met by the hosts and the other visiting schools from Kiev Russia, Turkey, Rome, UK, Budapest Romania, and the ISTA staff from all over the globe. http://www.ista.co.uk/ Our theme was the famous Norwegian playwright Heinrik Ibsen’s complex character and play Hedda Gabler.
After arrival the students met with their ensemble groups and all the teachers had a short meeting before we were taken to our hotel to check in. The teachers stayed at the Victoria Hotel which had amazing turn of the century décor, something Hedda Gabler would have liked (although my room had a less than wonderful view of an air duct and the kitchen windows Hedda would have poo pooed that). Of course the mini-bar was there to tempt me, and if you know me I cannot resist. Although the candy (size of normal candy bars) was the equivalent of about $5.00 a piece) I ate three over the four day sojourn. The candy at 711 was also this price and a Diet Coke was about $5.00 American dollars too. OUCH! I must say it was nice to patron a 711 though! The students stayed with host families form ISS. That first evening after a brilliant introduction workshop which included some really fun theatre games that introduced Norway and Hedda Gabler there was a director’s reception but the two American teachers from Kiev and I were exhausted so we traversed back to the hotel instead. I was still slightly travel sick from the first bus ride and travel sickness plagued me throughout the journey.
The next morning we (the students, teacher, chaperones and ISTA staff) met across from our hotel on the water front for a fjord boat tour. This was absolutely AMAZING! I didn’t get sick as I stayed outside which was really cold but sunny and beautiful. It was so much like taking the ferry out to our place on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska but the houses were more upscale and there were no float planes buzzing overhead. We stopped at a waterfall and drank from it, went to the area’s famous cliffs and chatted and a wonderful time was had by all.
After returning to the down town waterfront area of Stavanger, the kids went off on their own for lunch and the teachers ate at this very nice Italian restaurant. It was great fun getting to know these other educators from all over the earth. When we finished the obligatory face stuff we all met up at the town statue where the kids were sent off to different Stavanger venues to get to know Hedda. I went with the group that worked in an old cannery that has since been turned into a cannery museum. Stavenger is now rich because of oil but at the turn of the century and until the world wars its chief industry was fish. I watched that ensemble leader work with the kids for a bit (this is the teacher from {ISB} who used to work at my school for 14 years; he built the program there kind of like I built the program at Shepherd. I took his job when he went to ISB). Anyway, he is also part of the ISTA staff and he had some great ways of getting the kids involved with Hedda. I tried to find the other ensemble groups around the city but couldn’t so I walked around, purchased some souvenirs and enjoyed the beautiful Norwegian day. The Norwegians have a sense of humor to say the least. There was a skateboard shop that had crappy advertisement. I took a picture of that. The city was so cute and clean (except for the crappy advertizment) and full of sculptures.
Back at the school for the evening we had more workshops, ensemble groups and then what is known as a caille (SIC) which is like square dancing. What fun everyone had! Saturday was filled with workshops. I went to the Boal and Bunraku sessions as I am starting units on those soon as well as touched on a sound effects one. The teacher workshops were cool too, but I liked the student ones better save for the great teacher friends I made during the teacher ones. That evening the host families took the kids out and the ISS host school took us to an authentic Norwegian dinner which again was on the waterfront and the weather was stellar, the food was so much better than Belgian, and it was so nice talking with other international teachers and getting their perspectives on the whole international experience. If I am here next year we will attend the festival in Turkey (I really liked the ladies from that school). I found out that I was the only full time high school drama teacher there. The others all taught either junior high as well and or English classes etc. Some only had an after school drama program. I am lucky my programs have been so successful.
On the last day the kids had a performance (abstract type) that incorporated Hedda, Norway and all they had learned over the festival. It was very interesting.
I also got to know my students really well such as what their parents do in depth. For example my sweet little French girl who just started at St. John’s in December (at the time her English was about as good as my French). She participated in my children’s theatre and musical review. I had known that her mother worked for Vogue magazine, but I did not know that her grandmother IS the “The Devil Wears Prada” woman. I got to know some really fun and interesting tidbits about the fashion industry. One of my other student’s parents are diplomats. I have a lot of those.
On the plane trip home a fire alarm went off in the Stavanger airport after me and my students and a few of the ISB kids had boarded. The rest of ISB and their teachers had to go outside which made our plane about 40 minutes late and we thought we would surely miss our connecting flight AGAIN. Fortunately, the connecting flight too was late but we all still had to make a run for it. It was comical seeing 20 people run together in a pack to catch a plane! I didn’t get home until 9:30 in the evening on Sunday after picking up Mo who stayed with Judith.
This experience has inspired me and made me feel better about teaching here. Who knows what next year will bring!
They changed the site a bit so my new post went to a page. Look for it under pages to the right. “There’s a Mouse in the House” It has lots of photos!
I made it through the musical review which turned out absolutely wonderful. I don’t know why I worry and fret so. The best part is that our choir director is now on board to do a big musical next year. She was reticent before but now seeing what the kids and I can do without her, makes her think what magnificent stuff we could do together, that is IF I am here next year. We are now on spring break and it is snowing outside my big living room windows that overlook the Chausee. I don’t mind the weather as long as I am inside. I quite enjoy watching the rain and hail come down upon the umbrella toting, scarf clad people below. I also like the rain to lull me to sleep at night. I watched “The Island” with Ewan McGregor last night and “Mansfield Park” today and am in the beginning of “Becoming Jane.” Jane Austin stuff is really great. I love me a good period romance! But the sci-fi of “The Island” mixed with Ewan is really grand as well. The snowflakes are growing bigger. Happy SPRING BREAK!
I forgot to tell you that I was all excited that the video store had “Sweeney Todd”. You see it is rated ENA (Enfants Not Admitted) here. So I can’t go see it unless I get a babysitter. So I was going to rent the third installment of “Pirates of the Caribbean” but voila there it was in the new arrivals SWEENEY TODD! So I am conversing with the sore dude about how I can’t believe it’s out on DVD when it’s still in the movie theatres. He says, “Yeah sometimes that happens”in a mixture of English and French. So Mo and I get home and we first watched his choice of “Dumb and Dumberer”- the prequel to the first one and it has sophomoric humor. I can sometimes get into that. Then we start “Sweeney Todd”. So I am thinking since I have never seen the play, nor read it, that maybe the barber has a father because the man they called Todd was NOT Johnny Depp. So I am waiting for the Johnny to show up when I start to think, “No musical goes this far into a performance without a song!” That’s when I realized this was NOT the Sondheim musical version with Johnny. Poo poo! I guess I should have read the fine print on the DVD cover, but I was just too excited! So last night I got Pirates III. I must admit I was not impressed. The first one was amazing, the second, from a director’s point of view was hard to focus on because of the special effects, and the third one I couldn’t even follow the storyline as it was so complex and the minuscule appearance of Keith Richards was dissatisfying. Even Johnny’s performance wasn’t as thrilling as usual. Mo’s choice of “Firehouse Dog” was better. Sorry Johnny. I still am ever so excited to go to EuroDisney though; hopefully their Pirates ride is as good as the original back in the good old south western United States. Mo and I have reservations for four days over our spring break. We are staying at the Davey Crocket ranch cabins. I read they have an old fashioned barber there; American style. I think they should turn it into a “Sweeny Todd” experience!!!
Just a quick update. We are down to the nitty gritty with the musical review. There are days when I think the kids can pull it off and other days. We are also down to the wire with the seniors and their IB projects. The 10th graders have a few little projects coming up (my smaller class is doing Vowels and The Square for HS assemblies). MY larger nemesis class is doing realism scenes (and quite well I might add). Ninth grade is working on their 50s rock-n-roll musical. Songs are My Boyfriend’s Back, It’s My Party and I’ll Cry if I want To, Yakedy Yak, Charlie Brown, Please Mr. Postman, and How much is that Doggie in the Window. We have also started more improv in ninth grade. They are pretty darn good at it.
February break. Carnival. Rain, rain and more rain. I promised myself I would go somewhere really cool, and you know how scared I am to venture out on my own, just me and Mo; I let the rain dissuade my sojourn but Monday afternoon we ended up going to Leuven with Judith and her granddaughter. This is where Judith first lived over 40 years ago when she took to the adventure of moving here, and where she completed her master’s degree at age 50. It is an amazing university town. The intricately ornate building is their city hall, and if you can make out all the statues think about the Nazis and within their occupation of Belgium used them as target practice and blew all their little heads off. Boys! Kind of like Napoleon and the Sphinx! It was an entertaining day perfecting my French by talking to Judith’s four year old granddaughter. We topped the day off with the most amazing white chocolate, pistachio hot drink ever! Three days of deluge followed giving me the excuse NOT to go anywhere and Mo and I holed up in our flat watching DVDs after having finally bought (And I so cleverly plugged in) a DVD player. Go me! But alas today as I awoke to sun shining through my skylight window, I could no longer put it off. Off we went to Amsterdam. Easy peasy lemon squeezy getting there on the train and getting around. Even Mo was 70% happier than usual, which is saying a lot for the boy who HATES adventures and wants to stay home all day and read, watch DVDs and play video games. We traversed the city on the canals and visited the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House. Although Mo could care less about these things, it is a learning experience and I hope he will appreciate it in the future. We found only one pile of Dutch Dog Do, and of course Mo smiled at that! I am glad I went. It was tres expensive but when in Amsterdam…do as the Amsterdamians. (The first two photos are Leuven)
Silly thoughts that make me laugh out loud; this is why I love what I do. Working with kids is such a blessing because they make me smile and out right guffaw everyday. For children’s theatre my students adapted the plays Snow White and Peter Pan. I have two ninth grade classes. Both shows added anachronistic music and elements that really made the performances funny. The plays were so different from each other too! I really loved how each dwarf really got into their character but my favorite part was red light green light with the forest trees and the slaying of the pig. Or should I say wild boar. Originally we were going to use a Bunraku puppet for the boar, but the puppet wasn’t getting finished and one of the kids jumped in to act like the pig in a rehearsal and I laughed so hard, from that moment on HE HAD to be the pig. I keep asking myself why it was so funny? Even the tech guy was laughing ‘till he cried in the booth. I guess to see this skinny kid come out dressed as a pig/boar making snorting noises hiding behind the human trees and then the grunts and spasmodic movements he made when the hunter killed him (I am laughing thinking about it now) and the red valentine heart that was pulled from his chest then the extra, extra long red ribbon that was pulled out for his tongue? All this to the music of Vivaldi. I really can’t tell you, I wish you could have seen it. I think his parents videoed it; maybe we can get it on youtube? This kid also played Grumpy and for one performance was late for the dwarfs’ entrance. I stood in the back, as I do as a drama director, and wondered “how are they going to fix this?” The beauty of live theatre is that these things happened, and I love to see how the kids deal with it. So the kid finally comes in and shouts to the other dwarves, “You left me in the diamond mines AGAIN!” Again the booth people and I are laughing our heads off. Then the first time the dwarves put Snow White on her coffin/table her head was off the end (her feet should have been slightly off the other end). I laughed as I knew how uncomfortable that must have been for the actress. They finally fixed it.
Peter Pan was really funny too. The kids re-wrote “Good Morning Baltimore” from Hairspray to “Good Morning Never land” One of the lyrics was “with no parents we play all day, and say what we want to say, DARN, POOP, BUTT!” Morrison asked why they didn’t say worse things. Kids?!
Well it’s Monday and supposedly we are going somewhere, but it is pouring down rain. We had two whole days of nice weather in a row so we of course need some rain today. J
I made it through my children’s theatre performances and actually for the first time since I have been in Belgium felt like I did at home. Although the shows didn’t have the quality of my shows in AZ, they turned out well, the kids and audiences had a fabulous time. My students learned a lot and I received accolades from parents and colleagues. I think I felt at home because it was my 9th graders and we did shows through out the day, all in one day like I did my shows at Shepherd. There were many wonderful parts and silly parts that kept me laughing even though the tech part was stressful. It is February break. I hope Mo and I can manage to go somewhere fun. Right now I am so tired I cannot concentrate so TTFN
