Two days (and a partridge in a pear tree)
Aah...back again. I never thought I would miss posting, emotionally. Yesterday the internet was not working in the hotel rooms and I didn't find out it worked in the lobby until really late. I kept thinking about what I was going to say and do online, and then I couldn't get on, it was a bit frustrating.
Let us see, yesterday, Wednesday, it is hard to keep the days straight today. I blame it on not posting. Suzuki training was the run-of-the-mill stuff that was slightly boring in its sameness as Tuesday. Gotta keep the variation high or I get bored. After classes, I came back to the hotel and had dinner over at Tiffin's Diner. Chicken Fried Steak with a baked potato, gravy, bread, and a salad. The salad came first, actually. It was all delicious, the gravy just made it better.
Then, I hopped in my car and headed to church. Yep, church. I got an invite from the program's coordinator, Ms. Tyree. She's a devout Christian and actually got two people to come. This was a Pentecostal church, according to Mom after I described their behavior to her. The church was pretty empty because most of the congregation was in Atlanta doing an anti-abortion demonstration. I don't know how I feel about that. In any case, the music was wonderful, a family who was attending the Suzuki institute. The dad played flute and guitar, the rest, Mom and four boys, all played violin. I've never heard such a performance before, it was partly prepared and partly improvisation, very special. The speaker for the night was an 'ambassador' to China. That is Christian speak for undercover missionary, as there is no freedom of religion in China. She got out right before the earthquake, and she spoke briefly about her work there and then preached a long time on idolatry. I felt some of it was applicable to my life and the rest I feel rather critical about, so we'll skip over that. At the end of the service, there was people being prayed for up front and speaking in tongues and prophecy, I think. Pentecostal's are an interesting bunch.
Today, I mixed it up some and observed a cello group lesson. I've never really been in group lessons and so it was an interesting experience. The teacher ended up paying the most attention to the highest and lowest level of skill. The class ended and I headed over to my teacher training course, managing to catch the end of the class there. One little boy, who I've mentioned before as nearly unteachable, was being taught. He has made rather amazing strides in three days. For a kinesthetic learner (learner by touch), you can impress upon them how to stay still with a very clever little trick. Take two pennies, impress upon the kid that they are yours, and say "You can win them if you can keep them covered under your feet for x amount of time." It was stunning how still that kid stayed. His attitude has improved tremendously, as well. This has come, according to my teacher, mainly from observing the other kids being taught during the hour. After that, life was less interesting, until I took a tour of New Orleans.
The tour was very small, just six people, lead by a local man who knows the program director. He drove us to where the levee collapsed, and explained how, exactly. He is an employee of Shell Oil here, and so was here for just about everything except the hurricane itself. We visited Lakeside, a middle class suburb, and the Ninth Ward, which is a lower socio-economic area that was right by one of the overflow areas. Can you imagine everything being under ten-twenty feet of water? I can, but seeing houses that looked like a bomb went off in them or skewed on their foundations helped a little. We also went to St. Bernard, a suburb that was completely uninhabitable after Katrina. There and in the Ninth Ward, about thirty percent of the people have moved back in, and it will probably take a generation to completely restore the areas, according to our guide. It's been three years, and at least fifty percent of the houses are uninhabited or boarded up. Some just look like normal lower class abandoned buildings, and others show truly severe water damage, like water lines at or above the first floor. The best part of the tour was seeing the new houses. They feel like hope, and project a 'strong' feeling. I think the people are compensating for their own sense of weakness in a way, by building houses like that. I wish them the best.
Okay, all done. Tonight I think I'll just work on my homework and finish my muffin.
See you soon,
Greeny
Let us see, yesterday, Wednesday, it is hard to keep the days straight today. I blame it on not posting. Suzuki training was the run-of-the-mill stuff that was slightly boring in its sameness as Tuesday. Gotta keep the variation high or I get bored. After classes, I came back to the hotel and had dinner over at Tiffin's Diner. Chicken Fried Steak with a baked potato, gravy, bread, and a salad. The salad came first, actually. It was all delicious, the gravy just made it better.
Then, I hopped in my car and headed to church. Yep, church. I got an invite from the program's coordinator, Ms. Tyree. She's a devout Christian and actually got two people to come. This was a Pentecostal church, according to Mom after I described their behavior to her. The church was pretty empty because most of the congregation was in Atlanta doing an anti-abortion demonstration. I don't know how I feel about that. In any case, the music was wonderful, a family who was attending the Suzuki institute. The dad played flute and guitar, the rest, Mom and four boys, all played violin. I've never heard such a performance before, it was partly prepared and partly improvisation, very special. The speaker for the night was an 'ambassador' to China. That is Christian speak for undercover missionary, as there is no freedom of religion in China. She got out right before the earthquake, and she spoke briefly about her work there and then preached a long time on idolatry. I felt some of it was applicable to my life and the rest I feel rather critical about, so we'll skip over that. At the end of the service, there was people being prayed for up front and speaking in tongues and prophecy, I think. Pentecostal's are an interesting bunch.
Today, I mixed it up some and observed a cello group lesson. I've never really been in group lessons and so it was an interesting experience. The teacher ended up paying the most attention to the highest and lowest level of skill. The class ended and I headed over to my teacher training course, managing to catch the end of the class there. One little boy, who I've mentioned before as nearly unteachable, was being taught. He has made rather amazing strides in three days. For a kinesthetic learner (learner by touch), you can impress upon them how to stay still with a very clever little trick. Take two pennies, impress upon the kid that they are yours, and say "You can win them if you can keep them covered under your feet for x amount of time." It was stunning how still that kid stayed. His attitude has improved tremendously, as well. This has come, according to my teacher, mainly from observing the other kids being taught during the hour. After that, life was less interesting, until I took a tour of New Orleans.
The tour was very small, just six people, lead by a local man who knows the program director. He drove us to where the levee collapsed, and explained how, exactly. He is an employee of Shell Oil here, and so was here for just about everything except the hurricane itself. We visited Lakeside, a middle class suburb, and the Ninth Ward, which is a lower socio-economic area that was right by one of the overflow areas. Can you imagine everything being under ten-twenty feet of water? I can, but seeing houses that looked like a bomb went off in them or skewed on their foundations helped a little. We also went to St. Bernard, a suburb that was completely uninhabitable after Katrina. There and in the Ninth Ward, about thirty percent of the people have moved back in, and it will probably take a generation to completely restore the areas, according to our guide. It's been three years, and at least fifty percent of the houses are uninhabited or boarded up. Some just look like normal lower class abandoned buildings, and others show truly severe water damage, like water lines at or above the first floor. The best part of the tour was seeing the new houses. They feel like hope, and project a 'strong' feeling. I think the people are compensating for their own sense of weakness in a way, by building houses like that. I wish them the best.
Okay, all done. Tonight I think I'll just work on my homework and finish my muffin.
See you soon,
Greeny