Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Tuesday December 27
Enumclaw, Washington.
It's our final week in Washington and, after a week of rest and relaxation, we're gearing up for the final sprint. This time next week we'll be holed up in Bend, Oregon off on the road trip that will span 9 months. The kids are hard at work prepping to record a CD, and the leaders have begun packing and planning. The less we have to leave behind, the less we will need to mail later. 3 vans, 1 trailer and a camper. Our home for the next 9 months. 8 Liberians, 7 Peruvians, an Argentinian, a Welshman and 13 Americans. Our family. This is gonna be one crazy trip.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Monday, December 19
7:20 a.m., waiting in the church parking lot, 2 sleeping Peruvians by my side.
It's going to be a busy day with 3 performances at two different schools. But after today we'll be done performing for 2 weeks. Tonight we head an hour east of the city to our Christmas retreat. Not so sure I can call it vacation as the kids will be working hard most of the time. But we'll all be together. Merry Christmas!!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Monday, December 12
It's been one of those days. The kind of day that's good but not great, that's full of miscommunication and misunderstanding but not about anything that I can put my finger on. A few frustrations have been brought to my attention and a few of my own frustrations have come out. What can I say? This is a team of people and children who are still in that "get to know you" phase. Sure, we've been together for awhile now but attitudes, personalities, and... well, people... have started to emerge. Fights break out between the kids. Arguments happen between the adults. Three (primary) cultures. Three ways of life. Almost 30 people. Coming together everyday from 9:00 to 5:00. Of course there is going to be miscommunication. We may be learning to love each other, but we're still only human.
For example, today was Alexis' 3rd birthday. Today she decided she didn't want to be 3 and proceeded growl and grumble at everyone most of the day. But she's still 3. We still love her. And so we sang to her and celebrated with her in the midst of her grouchiness. So also with the tour. We may get frustrated. We may want to leave, it's not going to be easy. But we're learning to love the kids. We're learning to appreciate each other. Day by day. Just one step at a time.
For example, today was Alexis' 3rd birthday. Today she decided she didn't want to be 3 and proceeded growl and grumble at everyone most of the day. But she's still 3. We still love her. And so we sang to her and celebrated with her in the midst of her grouchiness. So also with the tour. We may get frustrated. We may want to leave, it's not going to be easy. But we're learning to love the kids. We're learning to appreciate each other. Day by day. Just one step at a time.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Thursday, December 8
We've got another late morning today, and I finally have a chance to sit down and write.
Yesterday morning I was out the door before 6:30 a.m. and on my way to a middle school about 30 minutes from where I've been staying. If you've ever driven around Seattle you know that it's a sprawling city with huge suburbs and lots of commuter traffic. You can easily drive for an hour or two before you ever reach the city center. Needless to say, we've only been to the city once.
The kids performed at a middle school yesterday morning, one with over 1,000 students. I imagine it was a little overwhelming for the Matsiko kids at first, but they soon got into it and did not mind in the least. The students completely got into the performance, waving their hands, clapping, and even giving a standing ovation... and then a <i>stomping</i> ovation at the end. The Matsiko kids were treated like celebrities for the first time signing arms and T-shirts with permanent marker. Everyone wanted to see them, talk to them, hug them. They never wanted to leave!!
Of course, leave we did, but I'm sure the Matsiko kids are already anticipating their next school event. We all stuck around the school through lunch so we could sell some of our merchandise – jewelry, bags, hats and decorations from Uganda, Liberia, India and Peru. The students (especially the girls) loved it!!
Yesterday morning I was out the door before 6:30 a.m. and on my way to a middle school about 30 minutes from where I've been staying. If you've ever driven around Seattle you know that it's a sprawling city with huge suburbs and lots of commuter traffic. You can easily drive for an hour or two before you ever reach the city center. Needless to say, we've only been to the city once.
The kids performed at a middle school yesterday morning, one with over 1,000 students. I imagine it was a little overwhelming for the Matsiko kids at first, but they soon got into it and did not mind in the least. The students completely got into the performance, waving their hands, clapping, and even giving a standing ovation... and then a <i>stomping</i> ovation at the end. The Matsiko kids were treated like celebrities for the first time signing arms and T-shirts with permanent marker. Everyone wanted to see them, talk to them, hug them. They never wanted to leave!!
Of course, leave we did, but I'm sure the Matsiko kids are already anticipating their next school event. We all stuck around the school through lunch so we could sell some of our merchandise – jewelry, bags, hats and decorations from Uganda, Liberia, India and Peru. The students (especially the girls) loved it!!
Monday, December 5, 2011
It's 9:40 Monday night and I'm already in bed. There's no such thing as a relaxing weekend anymore, not with the Matsiko World Orphans Choir in town. Yesterday was an overwhelming success, with a lesson in spiritual-ness thrown in for good measure. No mention of Christ in that church, although there was a quote from Buddha hanging on the wall.
Today was a bit more relaxed as we rehearsed in a new church--one with a nursery just right for Emily and Alexis!!--with a late start and the kids practicing Christmas songs all day. Tomorrow will be more of the same although we may be hoping to start school... which reminds me, I'm in charge of school for the Liberians and I have no idea where their books are.
Friday, December 2, 2011
The First Few Days
We made it to Seattle in record time – considering there were 3 kids under 3. My brother-in-law was not willing to stop for anything, and after leaving Nebraska around noon on Monday we arrived in Seattle just before 8:00 Tuesday night. And I thought it would take us three days...
I'm currently staying with Brad & Rhonda, and the Mark & Kate et al are sleeping in their camper in the driveway. It's been nice to be close to help Kate with the kids in the mornings. It's been an adventure so far.
The choir kids arrived just over a week ago, and their first concert was 1 week later. 6 kids from Peru and 7 kids from Liberia make up the whole of the Matsiko World Orphans Choir this year. While the Liberian's native language is English, the Peruanos have it a bit harder. A few of them speak some English, but they've been learning pretty quickly.
Alexis loves to see "her kids," although at the end of an over-tired day after the concert on Friday night she kept complaining of "too much dancing." It was pretty cute.
It's Sunday morning and we're in the process of loading up the vans once again. We've got 2 concerts today at Spiritualist (New Age) churches closer to Seattle (we're about 1 hr outside of the city). It'll definitely be an interesting day. It's been a pretty tiring week for everyone, although with no concert yesterday and an early night everyone should be a little more rested.
The big adventure for the day: the choir kids are changing host families and as of this morning there is no place lined up for them to go. If nothing else, they'll stay with Windham's, the family behind this organization. With only 13 kids there should be plenty of space - apparently the entire choir from the first tour slept at Windham's a few times, and that time there were a lot more kids.
Alexis loves to see "her kids," although at the end of an over-tired day after the concert on Friday night she kept complaining of "too much dancing." It was pretty cute.
It's Sunday morning and we're in the process of loading up the vans once again. We've got 2 concerts today at Spiritualist (New Age) churches closer to Seattle (we're about 1 hr outside of the city). It'll definitely be an interesting day. It's been a pretty tiring week for everyone, although with no concert yesterday and an early night everyone should be a little more rested.
The big adventure for the day: the choir kids are changing host families and as of this morning there is no place lined up for them to go. If nothing else, they'll stay with Windham's, the family behind this organization. With only 13 kids there should be plenty of space - apparently the entire choir from the first tour slept at Windham's a few times, and that time there were a lot more kids.
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