Back to 'School'

It has been quite a long day.  I resumed my role as teacher and we started rehearsing for the concert on Friday.  The morning got off to a slower start than I anticipated:  Ann, Sue, and I sang with the kids in the creche from 8:00-8:30.  They were adorable. Tired, but adorable.   After a quick breakfast, it was back to the creche at 9:00 for our first class.  We had 16 very cute kids who were bright and eager to talk about the music we brought.  It was a great time and they learned very quickly!

I don't know what it is about my luck with Brazilian instrumentalists, but we had a communication error. The orchestra was supposed to be here at 10:00 to rehearse and their director hadn't informed them of the meeting time.  Rather than rehearse, we got to spend an hour planning the layout and logistics of the concert with Marve, the music director. It turned out to be a productive meeting!

Siesta started at 11:00 and lasted until 2:00. I love South America.... haha.  We had lunch with Padre Edimundo which was delicious. It was great to spend time with him, as always.  I made sure to get in a nap before our large class at 2:00. Turns out that was a good idea!  We had 52 kids show up!! They also took to the English lyrics quite easily and had a great time singing.  I recognized a lot of faces from 2012, which made me feel great! It seems Sue's vision is coming to fruition and I'm so glad to be a part of it.  

By 5:00, we had 4 classes, 1 siesta, and I drank 2 liters of water.  Everyone did such a great job and my adult group sounds fabulous!  I brought some Latin chant to sing this go 'round, thinking the similarities between Latin and Portuguese would make it easier to learn. Turns out I was wrong!  The close relation of the two languages seems to make native Portuguese speakers more confused...they pronounce things differently!  Lesson learned, perhaps? Probably not..it just means we have more work to do tomorrow!

Mariza and Racquel stayed to have dinner with us tonight. We had a wonderful time attempting to speak to one another, I always get a kick out of it.  My Portuguese is better than our last visit, but it's no where near conversational.  I also got to go grocery shopping with the ladies this evening, and that was pretty cool.  The stores are very close together here and we ran into a lot of students and adults I know.  For a city of 40,000 that's not bad!

Sue and I are trying to understand the enigma that is technology in order to free up space on her iPad to take video of the concert.  We've spent a lot of time tonight trying to save files in various locations to no avail.  Is there a patron saint of technology?  

Lots of love to you at home.  Thank you so much for your prayers and keeping up with the blog.  Please feel free to share the address with others who may like to know of our journey!

Boa Noite,

Jamie

Cute creche Kids! 

Edna's wearing the ND shirt I bought her!

First adult class. They sound good!