First week of student teaching: DONE

Just 13 more weeks to go….

I am crazy busy.  I have to be at school at 7 every day, and I’m there until 3.  I’ve had to write at least 2 or 3 lesson plans every night this week (and last night I had to write 4), plus orchestra, and I teach 2 lessons on friday afternoons, so that’s the same amount of time as orchestra.  It just makes for really long days.   I have never slept so well.  I mean, usually it takes me awhile to fall asleep…I’ve been falling asleep as soon as I lie down.  Which is early…because I have to get up at 6:10.  Welcome to the adult world, I guess.  Except I’m only half way there, and I still have to do homework and stuff for my seminar.  But that’s ok.   I can say this though: I am way glad that I’m not in band.  Having that hour is wonderful.  Even if I don’t do anything and I just take 45 minutes and sit.  Rest.  Decompress.  Your body needs that sometimes, and I wouldn’t have it otherwise.  That, or I can get started on some lesson plans before dinner time.  Or I can go run errands or whatever.  I can stop at the store on the way home from school (which makes sense, because I pass right by meijer, and that would save me some gas).

Having said that about band, I am really glad that I’m still playing in an ensemble as well.  Playing in a college orchestra is a WONDERFUL release after hanging around jr. high kids playing music all day.

Anyway, it’s been good I suppose.  There’s a lot to get used to.  I have a ton of music to learn.  I need to get my hands on a trombone to remember positions.  I think it will be easier to remember now that I play tuba (I can just equate the positions to fingerings).  I need to be able to actually sound semi-decent on clarinet.  i think I need a softer reed before that can happen.

I spend most of my time feeling vastly inadequate.

I can’t quite comprehend that, God willing, I’ll be doing this for real and on my own in slightly more than 6 months.

Jet lag and what not

Hopefully this week my sleeping patterns will become a little more normal, what with having and actual schedule and all.  Student teaching begins Monday, and I will spend my semester waking daily at the far-too-early hour of 6:15am.  Oh, but I plan on playing the how-fast-can-I-get-ready game, so I figure if I make a lunch and set out clothes and whatever the night before, I could probably manage sleeping till 6:25 or 6:30.

I also may try to find out if anyone else from Calvin is student teaching at forest hills.  I would not mind carpooling.  Mostly because I would not mind saving some gas money.

I have one student that I am giving lessons to now.  I’ll be starting with another soon.  And hopefully I can pick up a few more at school when I start.  yay for something resembling a source of income!

I wonder if Hallie will get up for church today…she was out much later than I was last night.  It’s probably really good that i went to bed when I did.  Because my body doesn’t seem to mind when I go to bed, it just thinks that it must, at all costs, wake up at the ungodly hour of 6am.  For no reason, of course.  I think tonight i’ll go to bed at 9 or something ridiculous to make sure I have some good sleep in me for tomorrow.

I apologize for the lack of anything resembling importance in this post.  Perhaps later in the week i will write some funny stories about jr. high band students.

Ok.  I think i’ll read some before going to church.  I really like that I’ve been reading for fun lately.  I forgot how wonderful it is to lose yourself in a book every so often.  I’ve missed it.

Chiner

Chinese people, when speaking English, sometimes have a hard time with an “a” at the end of a word.  So China, when they speak, sounds and awful lot like “Chiner.”  Thus, the title.

So china.  So so so fun.  It makes me want to travel more.  (This is not a surprise).  It also makes me really really want to go somewhere without a tour group, and just go see what I want to see, and wander around the streets of a city and just be a foreigner and learn about the culture through whatever random interactions I have with people.  It would be SO GREAT.  I’ve got it in my head that I’d really like to backpack across Europe as well.  Oh goodness, that would be so cool.  I just really really hope that one day it’s possible.  I mean, what I’d really like to do is go and live somewhere else for a summer or a year.  But…well, wait and see, I suppose.  I can’t say much about what the future will hold at this point.  Mostly because I don’t know yet.

Anyway, here are some things you should definitely do in China:
1.  Great Wall.  this is seriously amazing, I don’t care if it’s touristy and cliche.  It’s AWESOME.  Way worth seeing.  Holy crap.
2.  Rickshaws.  Go on a rickshaw ride.  It’s just fun.
3.  Visit Hangzhou.  It’s really beautiful there.  Pretty close to the mountains…which if I ever go back, I am DEFINITELY going to get some hiking in.  But anyway, there’s a sweet lake you should go chill at too.  West Lake (I believe).
4.  Shanghai is pretty sweet, although it’s super westernized, and there are a ton of english speakers there, so perhaps less of a cultural experience than other places, but still a pretty cool place.
5.  Terra Cotta Warriors.  DO NOT GO TO THE GOVERNMENT SPONSORED FACTORY.  They just want you to buy expensive things.  But the real thing is crazy awesome.  Go there for sure.
6.  Karaoke.  Not even joking.  Do it.

things you should not do:
1.  Government sponsored museums/factories.  Just don’t.
2.  You should not only do touristy things.  Go out and go grocery shopping or to a bar or try to find a random internet cafe.  Interact with people who don’t speak English.  Learn how to bargain.  Don’t avoid everything that makes you uncomfortable.
3.  Visit in the dead of winter.  I think spring is probably a better bet.  You can pack a lot lighter then too.

Also, this is some what random, but hilarious: there are SO MANY terribly translated signs in China.  but my favorite by far was a terrible English translation I found on a package of a bread cake.  I wrote it down in my journal, and I’ll write it for you here, so you can read and enjoy the utter ridiculousness.

“Take the infinate and beautiful and new food of your beautiful taste.  Vogue he [Chinese characters] the new taste we the quality and we need the best food here you will find what you want.  Cool fashion need cool taste you are the new man how delicious can not forget, special taste, return the true flavor Take the infinite and beautiful and new food of your beautiful taste.”

SO GREAT.  I love it.  My favorite part is “you are the new man.”  What the heck?

So other news in life, I’m going to be teaching lessons this semester (yay for something resembling a source of income!)  Also decided to do just orchestra and not band.  Kind of breaks my heart a little, but i think in the end I’ll be happier for it.  I start student teaching on Monday, so we’ll see how that goes…I’m pretty excited for it though, so it should be good.  As for now, I took a nap this afternoon and accidently slept for 6 hours…whoops…so I’ll be up for awhile yet.  Apparently I fail at overcoming jet lag.  Oh well…

I’m going to China

Today.  Yes, that is why I am awake at this ungodly hour.  I will be back the 25th, with lots of stories and pictures

Awake

I am awake.  It is currently 1:58am, and I don’t want to be awake…but I had a headache earlier and accidently took a 2 hour nap from 8-10:00.  Apparently that’s not conducive to falling asleep at night.  so here I am.  Being an insomniac.

This saturday I leave for China.  That is crazy.  And wonderful.  And I am excited

We have rehearsals the next couple days.  There’s a crap ton of music we have to learn.  I think I’m going to tell Nord I don’t want to conduct the rag.  I studied one but then we couldn’t do it, so he threw the score of the other one at me today and told me I should do it instead.  He said he wouldn’t make me though…but he thinks I should.  And he’s probably right.  But I’ll be conducting the Corigliano, and I really just don’t feel like putting in the effort on another piece.  Is that bad?  I mean, I’ll be student teaching this semester.  I have a feeling I’ll have my fill of having things thrown at me to reahears and put togehter without much prep time.  I’d like to just enjoy this china thing and not worry about stuff.  You know?  The Corigliano is only a matter of remembering, not of learning.  Is it wrong to not want to have more responsibility than everyone else?  Just for a little bit…I’ll be back to my crazy busy self next month with student teaching and section leading and all of that great stuff.  for now…can I just play?  And travel around China?  That would be good.

2:06.  I don’t think i’m getting particularly tired.  I was hoping if I got up and did something I would get a little sleepy or something.  Apparently this is not working out for me.  I think I need to find some pointless game to play or something.  Or write a novel.  Or compose a symphony.  Or discover a cure to cancer.  Or go to sleep.  Ha.

I have a boyfriend, by the way.  Is it strange to make such an announcement on a blog?  Whatever, it’s 2 in the morning, I don’t really care.  I like him a lot.  The boy, that is.  His name is David.  I might have referred to him before, in passing.  And that is all I am going to say about that.

So when I am in china I am going to take pictures with a rubber ducky.  This is because when I went and played mini golf with people in fresno, we won bunches of tickets, and had to spend them, and we decided to get a rubber ducky, and we would take pictures with it, and send the pictures and the duck back and forth to each other.  So I am looking forward to being stared at strangely by random Chinese people for taking pictures with a child’s bath toy.  haha.

So, I don’t really have much food in my apartment.  Or rather, I have the food that was left here when I left for christmas, so lots of rice and pasta, but nothing fresh or perishable (fruit, veggies, etc.).  I think I’m going to try to not go food shopping before I leave though.  Because I don’t really want to spend money.  and I think I can live off pasta and rice for a few days… Natalie is coming for dinner tomorrow though.  I hope she does not much mind pasta and/or rice.  I have chicken also.  That’s a plus.  you know, protein.  Sort of essential.

So the question here really is, how long can I ramble on and on about nothing?  How long will you, my faithful readers, read such ramblings about nothing?  Have you even gotten this far?

I have to pack for China sometime.  I hate packing.  Always hate packing.  Boo packing!

I think I really am losing it.  Seriously running out of intelligent things to say.  Well, I dont think I said much that was particularly intelligent in this entire post.  But whatever.  Ok.  I believe I need to be done with this.  Because really….I’m rambling a lot.  Maybe before I leave I will post something for real.

2009

January:
I spent last new years at camp, with some wonderful people, and from thence traveled to Fresno (I plan to do the same thing this year).  I was hired to work at Calvin Crest as the Sherwood Coordinator.  I took an interim class on Beethoven with my dear friend Anna.  I also worked a freaking ton for doug, as well as doing pep band stuff (which, to be perfectly honest, I loathed).

February:
I sent ridiculous power ranger valentines to bunches of camp people.  I love doing silly things for valentines day.  So much more fun than moping around, and it was actually more fun than the year I actually had a boyfriend for the holiday, because there was zero pressure.  Is that weird?  whatev.  I also went to camp for a weekend to hire my team for the summer, which was kind of weird to think about, but SUCH a great weekend.  Oh, and ps, i’m playing tuba in one of the bands at school.  Yeah, pretty ridiculous.  But also pretty great.  I actually liked it a lot.

March:
I don’t really remember anything from march.  Except that I was probably freaking out about my recital hearing the whole time.  And trying to plan it.  And running around the building trying to find a room five minutes before it was supposed to start because the one I had reserved was actually reserved by someone else before i had reserved it…music department fail…

April:
Recital.  Oh wow.  The family came out.  It was actually really fun, even though the entire semester leading up to it was all about freaking out about it.

May:
I decide what piece I want to do for the concerto competition next semester…but I email the composer about buying it and find out there’s no piano reduction.  But he’ll write one for me…pretty cool… anyway, Finished the semester…all my housemates and most of the people i was a freshman with graduated.  That was a really strange ceremony to sit through.  I went home and nearly immediately went to san francisco to pick fiddle up from the airport, and then we drove to oregon the next day to see the starbuck wedding.  Such a great trip.  SO MUCH DRIVING.

June:
The adventure of coordinating begins.  Got to camp the evening of June 1, and worked a lot.  I was exhausted after the first few days I was there.  Like, before the rest of staff showed up.  I don’t think I had any time off the first three weeks of camp (including o-week).  Just insane.  But it was really good.  Ninja tag.  Ask me about that game sometime.  Amazing.  Also a great work out for your thighs.

July:
Camp is moving along.  I’m finally getting the hang of my job.  My team does the service one sunday in church and I preach.  I have the epic fight with David.  My team prays and worships something seriously evil out of Reddingham.  (THAT is something you should ask me about).

August:
Camp is over and I am EXHAUSTED.  matt comes to stay at my house and we’re both incredibly lazy for like, 3 days.  We then road trip it down to so cal with a car full of people from my team and chill at Kelsey’s house, and a bunch of us go to disneyland on my birthday.  BEST BIRTHDAY EVER.  Not just disneyland, but a really great weekend with some really great people.  I visited fresno a couple times later in the month as well to hang out with camp people…I don’t really know anybody in stockton anymore… There were some good conversations that happened those weekends.

September:
Back to school, back to work, blah blah blah.  I’m playing percussion in the band I had been playing Tuba in.  I’m section leader in wind ensemble, which is quite unexpected.  I’m conducting the orchestra on one of their pieces throughout the semester.  I’m in an ed class with Hallie (LOVE having her as a roommate now, and LOVE living in an appartment with two people.  so great.), and a lit class which I LOVE, and the prof is a hilarious pregnant woman.

October:
I get sick in the middle of the busiest weeks of the semester.  great fun.  I finally get the piano reduction of the orchestral score to the concerto I’m playing for the concerto competition…3 weeks before the competition.  thankfully Gwen is incredible and learns it in time…and I won!  Excitement!  I also play as a soloist in the fall music festival.  I played Zoom Tube, which is a crazy weird piece….SO much fun to play

November:
Various concerts, playing, and conducting.  I went and had thanksgiving with my aunt and cousins, and I got to see my cousin’s kid, who’s two now.  So adorable.    I came back to school the monday after to find that my lit prof had had her baby!  We were all very excited for her…

December:
Concerto concert: my dad came and surprised me.  no joke.  I wrote a blog about it.  go read it.    I also managed to pass my classes.  I got home December 15, and had a really great weekend.  Hung out in fresno some, brought David home with me when I came back and we went to the symphony christmas concert in san francisco with my family.  About a thousand and one ridiculous and wonderful things happened that weekend.  that’s another one you should ask me about sometime.  christmas was great, time with family has been great, my mom’s birthday was great, and I’m about to spend new years at camp once again

There was a lot that happened this year.  Of course, there was more than what I wrote about just now.  and this coming year promises to be another that will be FULL of stories of all kinds, mostly because 2010 opens me up into what is now the great unknown.  I look forward to finding out what will happen…

Happy new year, friends