So much has happened in the past two days that I have so much to say! I'm going to break it up into two posts: one today, and one tomorrow. Let me preface by saying words can't do this post justice. The past two days I have started each morning with Spanish classes. They were supposed to be three hours each day for two weeks, but now it's four hours for two weeks. This is great because of how much I learn, but it seems to be too much to remember, even with practice. My friends and I think that we are so tired all of the time because our brains can never turn off. Not even for a second. It takes so much concentration to decipher what people are saying, especially our host dad, Albert. He talks so quickly that it's an accomplishment if we can pick out a few words per sentence! We all really are improving exponentially each day, though. I had an hour conversation with him after dinner last night and again today during lunch. He, my host mom Consquelo, and I Skyped with Chris the other night, and Albert has not stopped asking about my "novio guapo, Christopher." It's hilarious. He tells me every day that I shouldn't talk to Galápagos boys because Chris has my heart! Anyway, that's not the important part. Today was my third day teaching at the Centre de Arte. I love these kids so much! In the preschool class, there is a little girl named Mara who is the biggest handful of a child I have ever met, and that's saying a lot when I babysit for families with four boys under the age of six! She's adorable though, and she is SO smart. She is only three and can recall the pitches for Do, Mi, and Sol on command from hearing it the day before. It blows me away. There is another little boy, Diego, who is eight in my beginning piano and recorder class. He has a very short attention span, but he is going to be an incredible piano player. He comes by early and stays late to practice every day. He gets brownie points with me all the time because he teaches me the words I need to know to fix the problems he's having! There is another girl, Stephanie, and another boy, Jordan, who are just like Diego; they are so eager to learn everything they can about music and English! Jordan and I have a lot of fun together; he might be my favorite. I know teachers aren't technically supposed to have favorites because they're all my kids and all wonderful, but I like him. He's a smart alec and very sarcastic; he's my kind of kid! Today I also had a new student; he's been here a while, but I haven't met him yet. His name is Frank. He is.... There are no words. He just GETS it. I'll try to explain what I mean. My friend Mike and I always end up having these deep conversations about life and music whenever we're together. He's an extremely talented musician (trombone player), and at times it seems like we're the only ones our age that can talk about music the way we do. Anyway, one day last semester we were talking about my trip and discussing things that I can bring down for cheap. We started talking about how I need to bring a recording of all of Beethoven's compositions I could find. Beethoven's music is so universal; it moves people from all around the world. His music, especially his late works when he could no longer hear, was simply composed in pure emotion, and that emotion is so very evident in his music, even to non-musicians. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go listen to Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 or Symphony No. 9. My first day at the school, the teacher and I bonded after all of the lack of understanding each other's language when I gave her the recorders I brought. She took one out and began playing the theme from Beethoven's 9th, and I took one out and played along with her. It was a goosebumps moment! Back to Frank. Today I was working with Frank on extending the reach of his thumbs and pinkies. He picked up so quickly that in twenty minutes he was not only playing La and Ti with both hands together, but also playing C Major, G Major, and F Major chords and arpeggios. We also did this exercise where I would sing the solfege and he would play the pattern with both hands together. The kid has been playing piano for three weeks. That's insane. Anyway, i didn't know what else I could teach him without going too far ahead, so we started messing around on the piano. This eventually led to him playing the theme from Beethoven's 9th. I played through it twice; once the whole song and once breaking it up into four bar phrases. I was blown away. After he played it, he told me that it didn't sound like American music; it sounded like "musica universal" (or however you spell universal in Spanish). He asked me questions about the song, and then proceeded to tell me that Beethoven would been his friend forever. Frank, a seven year old kid in the Galápagos Islands, understands. He just....he gets it. I was crying happy tears after he left the class. Today I was planning on writing all about the culture so that you can have a picture in your mind about the workings of the society here. However, today I experienced a universal aspect of our very contrasting cultures. I've learned so much about intercultural competencies in PEGS the past three years, including that we should embrace our differences instead of focusing on our similarities. This is something that I am certainly doing and will continue to do for the next 51 days. However, I am blown off my feet when I experience bonding like I did today, especially with a seven year old that has never experienced anything outside of his 2,000 person island he calls home. |
The Trip of a Lifetime
I am travelling to the Galapagos Islands for eight weeks to teach music. There are very little "knowns" in this adventure. I simply know I'm teaching music to approximately thirty children, ages 6-15. Follow me throughout my experience in the blog below, or click the button for more information about how this experience got started.