Music in March

KG Spring Show

The adorable three-year-olds in our nursery program

After they saw my first grade program this fall, I was asked to help the KG department choose some songs that would be suitable for the KG spring show.  In the past, the music teacher wasn't involved.  The teachers put together shows using current pop songs from the radio.  Each teacher would work up choreography for their wee ones and tailors would be enlisted to put together elaborate costumes for the big production.  They would practice on stage for several weeks taking up an enormous amount of time out of their curriculum to make sure their kids would shine.  This, as you could well imagine, got to be extremely stressful.  Some teachers were pretty good at putting a show together and some were pretty uncomfortable with the whole idea...but no matter, the show must go on!  You can well imagine how stressful this could be.

The assistants went all out with the decorations

After I came on the scene and they saw my first graders actually singing and doing little finger-plays, I was enlisted to help put together the spring show.  What I do isn't anything elaborate.  The children sing, mostly in tune, or at least that is what I aim for and I always do finger-plays.  Finger-plays help the little ones with diction and language development.  The voice inflection I use with the finger-plays helps them learn flexibility with their voices.  Since at last UAS had a "real" music teacher, I was elected to reorganize the KG show.

When it comes to dresses, the fluffier, the better!

For my American friends, I will explain that KG means nursery, preschool and kindergarten.  I was a little confused by the terminology myself when I got here.  I had not a clue I would be working with three year olds!  

So I was called in last fall and asked to help choose some music for the spring show.  Next thing I knew it was all in my lap, it was happening March 5 and there wasn't much time! We  organized the KG into 13 separate groups who would perform together; nearly 350 little ones!  So that meant I needed to come up with twenty six little songs and finger-plays.  Boy, that was really stretching my few resources!  I had to pull songs out of my memory and write out accompaniments, plus prepare separate songbooks for the teachers so they could help me teach the songs in their classrooms.  The teachers used their iPhones and actually recorded me teaching their students the songs they had to learn.  I only see these classes once every six days, so I really needed their cooperation.  And they really came through for me and most of all their students. It was truly a group effort.  The assistants, (we call them paras or teacher aids in the states) decorated the auditorium in this beautiful spring theme.  It looked like a magical garden when they were done.  

What  backdrop!

By the time the big day came, the children knew their songs and how to get off and on the stage.  The little ones looked adorable all dressed up in their finest.  I was most amazed at the performance of my little nursery children.  My first day with them was certainly not my finest hour!  It wasn't until about mid October until some of them finally stopped crying the minute they walked into my music room!  I haven't always been every child's favorite teacher, but I've never been known to make a child cry the minute I walk into a room!  But even these little wee ones sang "Where is Thumbkin?" with gusto and enthusiasm.  If we could accomplish that, I'd say the program was a great success.  I know there was some disappointment that the program wasn't very glitzy or as glamorous as previous productions, but the parents heard their children sing and recite poetry appropriate to their development, which if you think about it, is precisely what these little ESL children need and what better way to showcase what they learn in our school than with song and verse?  I will never hear "Where is Thumbkin?" again without remembering the sweet faces of the beautiful children of Kuwait.

A Breathtaking Bouquet

This is what awaited me when i returned to my classroom after the program.  I was totally blown away by the beauty of the bouquet.  It was a gift to me by the KG staff.  I feel so blessed here!

A Slight Case of the Blues

Feeling a little down today....nothing has changed, school is going well.  Had a very good day yesterday.  It was Arabic Mother's Day and I was at the computer when I heard a timid little knock on my classroom door.  It was one of my little second graders, Fatima, with her mother and sister.  She was carrying this huge basket full of fragrant jasmine bracelets.  I was a very lucky recipient!  Apparently she does this every year.  I was blessed all day with this lovely, lovely fragrance.  I was trying to get a report done for my principal.  I had only about 20 minutes left before my meeting.  Then another knock on my door.  This time I was presented with a lovely rose with the words "Happy Mothers Day" printed on a petal.  Yet another knock;  a slightly ornery boy with a Victoria's Secret Bag with perfume in it.  Went to my meeting with the principal and walked out the door and sitting on the secretary's desk was gift bag for me with the most beautiful chocolates you've ever seen!  All so unexpected.

I'm standing in our elementary office area.  In the background you see this wonderful mural of Kuwait painted by Mr. Bernie, our elementary art teacher.

All day I was  on the receiving end of many "Happy Mother's Day" greetings and unexpected kisses from little ones.  It happened once as I was walking past a line of first graders waiting to go somewhere and yet another time while they were filing out of my classroom.  

This is my sweet little Nebaska granddaughter, Julia

My granddaughter celebrated her first year on the planet this week.  I think this is the underlying reason for this little funk I am in today.  Despite all the wonderful and positive things about my life here in Kuwait, I just want to be home for a while.  It's been about eight months and I miss my family, I miss Iowa, and I miss my country.  There, I said it!  I will allow myself this little rant and you, my readers will have to put up with it a for just a little while.  I'm not normally morose, but life is not always a bowl of cherries as the saying goes.  Sometimes emotions just get the better of us and no rationalizing will make it go away.  I am in a good place, the work is satisfying, I have friends and tomorrow will be a better day. I feel a little better already.  Ah, the power of the pen! 

Third Grade Program

After I took this pcture, the principal told them to tuck in their shirts!

March has been a busy month for programs here at Universal American School in Kuwait.  March 27 we had our third grade show;  six sections, 150 students.  I put them into two groups.  Luckily, they all fit on the risers, barely!  

Some shirts got tucked in and others, not so much....

One of my all-time favorite kid songs is "Swinging on a Star."  It's from an old Bing Crosby movie call "Going My Way."  The song compares different personality traits attributed to animals, to the attitudes some kids have towards going to school and manners and other positive characteristics that we as adults think is important to cultivate in the next generation.  The kids loved it, of course.  We had this great choreography going too...but I had this little nagging feeling that maybe I should run the lyrics by my principal.  This culture does not appreciate swine like we do in Iowa.  We even have bacon flavored ice cream for heaven's sake!  They also don't care for donkeys for some reason which I didn't persue.  As you can about guess, even though the song doesn't put these animals in a good light, nor does it anywhere encourage the consumption of pork, I was told to nix the song, which I did.  So I had to dig out my files again and search for a new song. Thank goodness I brought a lot of music with me because you can't just make a quick phone call or go online and order music over here in the Middle East.  So I found "Picnic of the World."  The tune you would recognize as the "Can Can" song by Offenbach.  It goes, "All the nations sitting on a blanket, having a picnic, the picnic of the world."  And so it goes on to name all these nations having this great picnic and maybe things aren't always so perfect with "problems and annoyances, but all knowing that the deep down heart of it we're all a part of it, the PICNIC OF THE WORLD!!!!"  The kids came through.  They were even on key with the proper vowel placement for that last high note (although there was one part they got slightly lost, but since I also had to accompany them, plus try to help 75 ESL kids remember the lyrics of a pretty challenging song, I won't kick myself too hard for that!).

My third grade UAS singers.  So very proud of them!

After the second group of third grade students sang, it was time for my UAS Singers.  First semester I combined both 3rd and 4th grades.  But since the choir grew to almost 50 students, I decided to have a third grade UAS Singers the third nine weeks and 4th grade UAS Singers the second nine weeks.  So now I have a group of close to 40 third graders.  They are beautiful singers and quite a nice mixture of both boys and girls.  Before they sang their last number I made a little speech to the parents;  part of it went like this, "...despite differences in geography and language, we are all here to make this planet a better place for future generations."  It's only been 23 years since Iraq invaded Kuwait.  Many of the parents sitting in the audience were children during the time of that invasion and remember well those dark days.  I wish you could have heard these children sing from their hearts that day: "Peace in our hearts, peace in our hands, peace in our lives, peace our lands. Peace unto you, peace unto me, peace unto all the world's family.  So many people have helped shape our lives, striving for truth, they have lived and died.  We remember their faces, we remember their names, we strive to continue what they strived to gain."  

When they were finished singing, there wasn't a dry eye in the audience.  The beauty of the message and the purity of their voices touched the hearts of everyone who heard them sing that day.  That is a concert I will never forget.  

TTFN (ta,ta, for now!)

We have just started our fourth quarter.  Almost time the to start the great countdown!  I'm so looking forward to walking on green grass of Iowa again and checking out the latest blooms in my garden.  Three more months and I can hardly wait to see family and friends again and get caught up on everything I missed since last August.  Two or three more blogs and I should be home at last!

Blessings,

Charlotte

Q8

National and Liberation Day

A quick pose during morning duty.  

In my last blog I shared information regarding the upcoming National and Liberation festivities here in Kuwait.  On our last day of school before the holiday we had a costume parade and oh what a parade it was!  I've never seen anything like it.  Many of the children were dressed in traditional costumes of this country and others were all decked out in red, green, black, and white.  Many of the mothers put make-up on their little girls for a very striking effect.  Such beautiful children, I'm sure you will agree!

The confetti canon just went off!

World's Largest Sand Sculpture Park

A massive sculpture

When I think of sand sculptures, being from Iowa, I think of the big sand sculptures we would see in the Cultural Building at the Iowa State Fair every few years or so.  I'm not in Iowa anymore!   These sand sculptures are part of the world's largest sand sculpture park in the world.  It was built by an international team headed by stone mason Delayne Corbett from Canada.  The sculptures are based on 40 different scenes from the Arabian Nights.  This sculpture park is the size of four soccer fields.  They used 28,000 tons of sand, which is about 1000 dump trucks at a cost of about $3 million US dollars.  

Yes, that is a McDonald's sign hovering over the elephants.  McD's is everywhere!

The lighting was spectacular.

These massive sculptures defy description and my pictures barely do them justice.  The detail on these sculptures was exquisite.  It was like stepping into a magical world.  The sculptures were lit up at night which added to the aura. There were sound effects and and fire effects and dry ice smoke.  If you are really curious, I know there are youtube videos you can find on the internet.  

This was one of my favorite pics of the day.  You could buy these lanterns that you could write a message on and launch into the sky.  There were hundreds of these lantrens floating in the night sky.

Up it went with a smiley face and his baby sister's name "Fatima" scrawled across the top.

It was wonderful to see all the families strolling about from one sculpture to the next.  I visited the park during the Liberation Days festivities.  Everyone was sporting the colors of the Kuwaiti flag.  I will have many wonderful memories of that  amazing day.

Fellow expats 3/6

I would like to introduce you to my colleague in the music department.  She describes herself as a "little Jewish girl from New York."  She is my dear friend, Hedy Menendez.  Teaching is a second career for Hedy.  She was a flight attendant for Pan American Airlines  for twenty years.  Pan American closed it's doors 9:05 am, December 4, 1991.  Hedy was packing her bags for a flight to St Thomas         when she got a call that Pan Am had filed for bankruptcy.  Suddenly she and 20,000 other Pan Am employees from around the world were unemployed.  Hedy held a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Miami.  She had trained to be a concert pianist, she held a minor in flute performance and had also trained to be a vocal music instructor.  So she was one of the lucky ones.  She had a great back up plan.  So she dusted off her diploma and renewed her teaching certification.  She got a job as an elementary music specialist teaching K-4 and middle school vocal music.  She taught in Miami for seven years.  Then in 2003 she went through a painful divorce.  Her heart told her that the only way she could heal was to leave Miami and start a new life.  Somewhere, anywhere, but just not Miami.  One day she finds herself looking in the Miami Herald for job openings and she runs across an ad for an opening for a music instructor overseas in Kuwait.  What could be further away from Miami than the Middle East?  So she takes this job teaching band at Universal American School here in Kuwait.

She arrives at the school.  Someone leads her down into the basement and down a dark hallway.  They open the door and she sees these very green walls and dark green carpet.  The equipment consisted of some random percussion equipment that had seen better days and a couple of sorry looking electronic pianos.  They had gone through four instructors the previous year.  She tells me she sat down and wondered what on earth she had gotten herself into.  Then she prayed, "God, you put me here for a reason.  I don't know what it is, but I'm trusting you to reveal it to me in your time."  And He blessed her work here.  The students were hungry for instruction and eager to learn.  With the help of the principal, she put together a budget and ordered new instruments and music and all the other equipment a good band program needs.  She called friends back in the states for help and advice and in no time these students were ready to perform in public.  They were invited to perform at the Middle Eastern Toastmaster's convention.  There were events at the Regency Hotel.  There were Christmas shows and a Spring Talent Show that is well known throughout the city.  UAS has a band program we are very proud of.  Hedy brought it to life and she gives God all the glory.  

Desert Truffles

My friends and I were on the backside of the Friday Market when we saw these ramshackle sheds all set up and draped in red carpet.  We were curious, so we stopped to find out what they were.  Come to find out, it was a truffle market.  This gentleman and his artner were very eager to show us their wares, which at the chepaest were about $12.00 a kilo.  They invited us up into their and stall and they took many pictures of us posing with them and the fungi.  I don't think too many Western women cross their paths!  Anyway, it was one of those interesting encounters that are fun to share.

Here we are, mugging for the camera.

My friend, Linda, took this shot.  She has a small camera and snapped this one very quick.  I'm quite sure he had no idea he was being photographed!

Quite a Good Likeness!

This budding artist brought me this picture a few weeks into the school year.  I especially appreciate my crown with the little eighth notes and a glowing star on top.  I think this little gal has a future in fashion merchandizing ahead of her.

So Long....

I couldn't resist leaving you with one more shot of the beautiful children of Kuwait.  

Blessings to you from the Middle East!

Charlotte

Third Quarter

 

Happy National Liberation Day!

The week of February 26, Kuwait celebrates not one, but two national holidays:  National Day and Independence Day. National Day celebrates the independence of Kuwait from Great Britain in 1961.

Liberation Day celebrates the libertion of Kuwait from seven months of Iraqui occupation.

These bulletin boards really add to the excitement in the air.

The Arabic staff put on a very beautiful program celebrating the rich heritage of Kuwait.

I really missed the holiday lights at Christmas this year, I think they were saving all the glitz for their National Day clelbrations.

Linda Young and myself dressing up Kuwaiti style

Fellow Expats

Some of my readers have expressed an interest in the people I work with here in Kuwait.  One truth I have all come to know in the world of overseas teaching is that we all have our own personal reasons for working our craft so far away from home.  Some people may even say we are all a little off-balance.  But then I will let you be the judge of that!  I shared my own story in my first blog.  If you are curious to learn more of my personal journey, you can scroll down and read about it.  Today I would like to introduce you to my dear friend, Linda Young.  This is also her first year at Universal American School.  She is an interventionist at the middle school level.  She spent the last school year in Beijing, China and the year before that she was in Laos.  She is a "kiwi" which is another way of telling you she is from New Zealand.  She spent most of her professional years as a classroom teacher and interventionist which is what we call special education teachers in the states.

She grew up in a small town where there was a smattering of cultures from all over the world.  Her mother was a celtic from England and her father was part native Maori.  She learned sword dancing as a child while at the same time experiencing the music and traditions of the native Maori population.  What a juxtaposition of cultures!  As a young mother, she spent a period of time living on an island devoid of the luxury of electricity while at the same time teaching in a small rural school and also serving as principal.  Instead of spending a quiet retirement in her cozy little subtropical paradise, she decided to step out into the world and experience firsthand some of those wonderful cultures she caught a glimpse of as a child.  I have a feeling that Kuwait won't be her last stop!

A Letter Writing Campaign

One morning a kindergarten class came to my door with a letter they took the time to write to me.  Apparently, they were practicing their letter writing skills and chose me as a recipient of one of their first attempts at composing a friendly letter.  I was, of course, very honored to be recieve their first letter.

I have always tried to take the time to answer my mail, although I believe letter writing is becoming a lost art nowdays.  

So I answered their letter because it really did touch my heart.  The last day of school before winter break, their teacher gave them a choice over coming to music or watching a movie.  They chose to see what Mrs. Kluever had up her sleeve that day.  I never thought I could be more popular than Frosty the Snowman!

Mrs. Kluever's Music Chair

I've always wanted a nice tall chair for my music room.  At the beginning of the school year our school principal gave all of the elementary teachers a sum of money to be spent on supplies for our classrooms.  Sorry to say, I can't remember the exact sum, but it was enough to get a lot of things I needed to spruce up my new room.  I seached from one end of the city to the other and finally found the perfect chair my budget would allow.

It was very comfortable and just the right height, but something was missing......

It needed a little flair!  So I put my sewing skils to work and created a cover to fit over the back.  All my little first graders had to touch it as they filed by one day....

I'm always scheming to find ways to entice my students to enter the classroom quietly.  Sometimes if they are extra quiet coming in, ONE person who is VERY, VERY well mannered will have the honor of sitting in my special chair for the day.  I don't give up my chair to just anyone!

Camping in the Desert

When I told my 2nd lieutenant daughter in the army who is no stranger to camping that her mother would be camping in the desert, I could almost hear the disbelief in her voice as we messaged back and forth that day.  OK, this is camping Kuwaiti style.  But I had her going there awhile!  It was a day trip and I was very relieved to discover that we had nice, clean bathrooms with nicely flushing toilets and an abundance of toilet paper which is always a plus around here!

I had henna applied to my hand.  It's a temporary tattoo popular in Arab cultures.  It is done at times of celebrations and holidays.  Young brides will get them on their wedding day.  They tell me it lasts about a week.

I had another chance to saddle up on a camel.  I decided to forgo the opportunity.  I thought the camels looked a little tired of hauling us around on their backs that day.

Anyway, who needs a camel when I can see the desert in style on an ATV?  I have never been on an ATV in my life, so I made sure I really listened to directions!

I managed to get back in one piece.  This is about the flattest ground you will ever see in God's country.  You might think Nebraska or parts of South Dakota are flat, but those places have nothing over the Kuwaiti desert!

We had a lovely catered buffet.  The deserts are always so fancy and beautifully presented.

Kuwait is known for thier beautiful cakes and pastries.

Believe me, they taste as good as they look!

There has to be SOMETHING healthy once in a while!

You can only do so much to create a look of elegance in the desert...

At the camp there was a tent where we could try on Arabic clothing.  Here I am dressed as a typical Muslim woman you would see out in the streets about anywhere in the Middle East.  I'm pretty sure you won't see me covered in black any time soon, but it is always interesting to step into someone else's world.

A Magical Morning

One day I got birthday invitation for one of my fellow teachers here at the apartments.  I thought that was pretty nice until I read the time:  6:00 AM, Friday morning!   Our work week is Sunday through Thursday, so it wasn't the day that threw me for a loup, I like to sleep in on Fridays.  Oh well, I did go that morning.  I don't often turn down invitations around here.  You never know what life may have in store for you in this crazy little corner of the world.  What I didn't mention was that the party was on the roof and it wasn't particularly warm morning in January!  But I am so glad I went that day.  It wasn't so much a celebration of a birthday, as it was a celebration of hope and friendship as we shared bits and pieces of our lives.

If anyone ever invites you to a birthday party on a roof, don't turn it down, even if its 6:00 am.  You

might discover some amazing people right in your own backyard!

My good friend Ashyana.  Good Morning, Kuwait, from high atop the Hawally Hillton!

As always, I cherish your notes and emails from across the world.  I love hearing bits and pieces from home.  You are never far from my thoughts.  I'm marking off the days on my calendar.  121 days...

Blessings,

Charlotte

Let The Games Begin!

Happy New Year from the Middle East!

Here I am at the camel races.  What an experience!  I will fill you in more later.....

I took a little hiatus from blogging.  December was extremely busy as it is for any music teacher and when school was out for two weeks, I decided to not to do anything that was mentally taxing!  School is back in session now, so I'm back in the saddle (no pun intended for any camel race fans!) and I'm ready to give my readers another slice of life on the other side of the planet.

l

a beautiful tree at The Lighthouse Church of Kuwait

I spent a pretty quiet winter break here at the apartments in Kuwait.  Most people traveled to exotic locales and many went home.  I chose to stay here because I have some financial goals I would like to reach.  I will do some traveling before I leave Kuwait because the airfares to many of the countries in the region are quite reasonable, but this was not the time.  Instead, I bought a nice Singer sewing machine and began some projects to help turn my apartment into more of a reflection of my own tastes rather than an advertisement for Ikea!  I invited a friend who had just returned from a scuba diving adventure in Egypt to share a quiet Christmas dinner with me in my apartment.  My daughter FacetTimed us that evening and played Christmas carols for us on the piano while Natalie and I harmonized.  Maybe not quite as exciting as visiting Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, but equally as memorable.

A Day At The Camel Races!

My fellow camel rider

I think this camel was weary of the whole business 

Can you see the mechanical jockeys on the rear ends of the camels?  They are radio controlled by guys in those pickup trucks you see in the distance.

Mmmmmmm, camel's milk!

Inside view of one of the Bedouin tents set up where we were treated to a beautiful buffet dinner.

Last month some friends and I took advantage of an opportunity to go to the camel races, so we,  along with about seventy other expats climbed aboard a couple of buses and were on our way out of the city into the Kuwaiti desert.  We stopped at a local farm and they fed us a beautiful buffet meal.

I couldn't tell you what most of the dishes were, but I'm becoming a fan of Arabic coffee!

We thought they were setting up for a wedding and were pleasantly surprised that it was for us!

The camel races itself were somewhat anticlimatic, but now I can take "riding a camel" off my bucket list!  Oh, and in the interest of full disclosure, I'll have to admit to you that I really didn't take a sip of camel's milk from the communal bowl.  I thought it looked like a great photo "op," so I couldn't resist posing for the camera!

UAS Singers

My school has relaxed some of their restrictions on photos that can be published on social media, so I'm very happy to be able to allow you a glmpse of some of my students.

a class of preschoolers

At the last three schools I have taught, I've had a children's chorus which would meet outside the school day.  I decided to continue the tradition with my third and fourth graders here at the Universal American School.  I had no idea if there would be any interest at all in a children's chorus here, but since all teachers at UAS are required to volunteer eight hours of their time to some outside activity involving our students, it was just logical that I would start a choir.  I wrote up a letter to be sent to the parents explaining that I was going to start a children's choir.  The band director asked if I would like them to perform with the band at the Christmas concerts they present to the school. It sounded like a great idea, so I went with it.  Since this activity was part of my required service project, letters to the parents had to go through the activities director.  I gave her my letter that was to go home to the parents explaining that I was starting a children's choir and that we would perfom with the band in December. Both the activities director and her assistant are Arabic, which means that of course, Arabic is their native language.  Apparantly, neither one of them understood the difference between a choir and a band and for some reason they decided to change the wording of my letter that went out to over three hundred sets of parents. The letter they composed also had some punctuation issues.  After the letter was sent out, I kept getting kids asking me about a third and fourth grade band I was starting.  You can imagine my surprise when one of my students handed me the permission slip with the letter to the parents attached which read:  "Third and fourth grade parents interested in joining a band...."  I about fainted!  By that time I'd already had over fifty signed permission slips and my principal set a cap (thank goodness!) at fifty students.  You got to love the Middle East!  I was a little disappointed that no parents signed up for my third and fourth grade parents band!

When all was said and done, I had a choir of forty-three voices.  I had to turn many students away, because it was getting too big, so this semester there will be separate third and fourth grade choirs.

These kids seem to be hungry for more music in their lives which I am happy to accomodate.  They are such beautiful singers.  It blew me away!   It is too bad that we can only give them music once in a six-day cycle.  This at least helps fill that need.

When December came we gave ten concerts in two days for parents and students in the elementary, middle school and high school.  Oh my!  We performed four songs with the band and one on our own.  Our favorite number was a Carribean version of the Twelve Days of Christmas.  We did choir choreogrphy with the song and got the audience to participate with us.  It was great to see so many people dancing in the aisles!  My favorite comments were how the voices of the children had finally brought some Christmas spirit into their hearts.  That is saying a lot in this desert country where you see very few Christmas lights and certainly not a dusting of snow anywhere!  I think that is why I love what I do.

We took this back in my classroom between concerts.  Couldn't fit them all the the picture, but aren't they beautiful children?

May 2014 be a year of wonder and blessings to all of my dear family and friends!

Charlotte