The past few days have been packed, Tuesday felt like Friday and tonight feels like it should be sometime next month. I just got home from a teacher conference at the Air and Space Museum, it was actually really cool. They showed us an IMAX Movie, lots of food, and tons of handouts from all around the area.
Tuesday we went down on a fieldtrip to VCU, Virginia Commonwealth University (if anyone can answer the question why VA is a commonwealth and not a state you get a prize...) We took the whole concert choir and boarded the bus at 9am. It was my first trip as a chaparone :) Our crazy busdriver couldn't get the bus started for like an hour so we sat there and waited for a new bus. Anyway, we got there eventally, watched their jazz band and toured the campus. We ate dinner and dressed for our concert that night. 6 other choirs and us sang, and as usual i guess Ellington kinda stole the show. It's an interesting thing because they are so different from every other school people just don't know what to think. Any school i teach at after this has to be conventional, it just doesn't seem like schools like where i'm at exist anywhere else. But maybe that's a good thing. I just can't figure out why so many choirs can't get any sound out of their singers. i was the same way. maybe it has to do with ellington's kid's background in gospel singing in their churches. Either way, they sing with a LOT of energy. It was phenominal. Brought tears to my eyes.
After the concert we called the crazy busdriver over 20 times but couldn't find him anywhere. Richmond VA is not the place you wanna get stuck in with 60 teenagers in the late night hours. But man did we have some fun. They taught me their dance they're doing for the Variety Show tomorrow, they all danced to Soulja Boy and taught it to MB and sang in the streets. Oh choir kids. yeah.
Needless to say we found the busdriver and started our journey back to the district on our 3 hour drive. Luckily a friend came to pick me up, the trains were all closed down by the time we got back. All in all it was a really good day.
So Halloween snuck up on us all. i didn't have any time to plan a costume so i had to think on my toes. But it was a blast at school. i had my mom's old dress she wore in the 70s i think. it's aqua green so i dressed it up a bit and tried to be a mermaid which basically meant i got to go a little crazy with the eye make-up. But all day people kept guessing very different things and i just got to the point that whatever they guessed, i told them they were right. I witnessed possibly the most energetic costume contest of my life, i'll post some pictures of my favorites.
Today we posted grades for first quarter, which basically means i'm over halfway done with my time here. that's a sad and scary thought for me right now. I wish i knew what was in the future. all in good time.
Tuesday we went down on a fieldtrip to VCU, Virginia Commonwealth University (if anyone can answer the question why VA is a commonwealth and not a state you get a prize...) We took the whole concert choir and boarded the bus at 9am. It was my first trip as a chaparone :) Our crazy busdriver couldn't get the bus started for like an hour so we sat there and waited for a new bus. Anyway, we got there eventally, watched their jazz band and toured the campus. We ate dinner and dressed for our concert that night. 6 other choirs and us sang, and as usual i guess Ellington kinda stole the show. It's an interesting thing because they are so different from every other school people just don't know what to think. Any school i teach at after this has to be conventional, it just doesn't seem like schools like where i'm at exist anywhere else. But maybe that's a good thing. I just can't figure out why so many choirs can't get any sound out of their singers. i was the same way. maybe it has to do with ellington's kid's background in gospel singing in their churches. Either way, they sing with a LOT of energy. It was phenominal. Brought tears to my eyes.
After the concert we called the crazy busdriver over 20 times but couldn't find him anywhere. Richmond VA is not the place you wanna get stuck in with 60 teenagers in the late night hours. But man did we have some fun. They taught me their dance they're doing for the Variety Show tomorrow, they all danced to Soulja Boy and taught it to MB and sang in the streets. Oh choir kids. yeah.
Needless to say we found the busdriver and started our journey back to the district on our 3 hour drive. Luckily a friend came to pick me up, the trains were all closed down by the time we got back. All in all it was a really good day.
So Halloween snuck up on us all. i didn't have any time to plan a costume so i had to think on my toes. But it was a blast at school. i had my mom's old dress she wore in the 70s i think. it's aqua green so i dressed it up a bit and tried to be a mermaid which basically meant i got to go a little crazy with the eye make-up. But all day people kept guessing very different things and i just got to the point that whatever they guessed, i told them they were right. I witnessed possibly the most energetic costume contest of my life, i'll post some pictures of my favorites.
Today we posted grades for first quarter, which basically means i'm over halfway done with my time here. that's a sad and scary thought for me right now. I wish i knew what was in the future. all in good time.
|
