Guitar Class

Today in guitar we emphasised note rests and ties. We did various short songs to practice these things, and then moved on to practicing chords.
Unfortunately one of my strings had fallen off this week, so my guitar was very out of tune (due to having to put a new E string on).

My homework had been to practice three chords for a song we were learning. Today we went over this song together,  Job singing and me playing the guitar.
I have to work on my hand positions when playing the guitar.

My homework is to practice three new chords: G, lm, and C.
Today's class was fun, and I can't wait until next week.

Mural Painting

Today Lucie Vovk and I painted a mural together at school, we had been planning to do this for a while but had never gotten round to it before now.

We were planning to paint something like this:

However when we arrived at the art room at 9:30 we discovered there was a slightly more limited collection of colours to pick from. We shrugged it off and decided to do black and white stripes in the background instead, with 'Breathe' in red or yellow.

We laboriously pulled our small cart loaded with cans of paint up (seemingly endless) flights of stairs until we reached the wall. We chose two panels by the cafeteria to paint on, and lined up the cans along the wall.
The lines were easy to paint, but kept dripping. We both realised that this looked rather artistic, and decided to splatter paint it with black and white. We were pleased with our work and chose to take it a step further. We splattered painted red and pink as well (painting some plants and .... the ground in the process).

Close up of the splatter

One panel of our mural

We cleaned up while we waited for the mural to dry and then moved on to the word 'Breathe'. We did this in yellow (which was hard as the colour kept turning into a dismal grey).
One final brushstroke and we stepped back, smiling at our result.
Others may think that it's ugly and messy, but we like it just fine.

This is the final mural:

The white symbolises life, and the black death. The red symbolises hate, and the pink love. Finally, the yellow (it doesn't look yellow in the picture, but it is) symbolises light and hope.

It took us around 2 and a half hours to paint.

My hand

Guitar Class

Today I had another guitar class.

We first reviewed the pentatonic scale, and Job was pleased with my progress but advised that I hold onto both notes for longer.
We then moved on to doing a few exercises in the music book, and I think today my beat really improved.

We focused on chords A, E and D, playing a song using them.
I had to repeat them over and over again while Job sang. This was so that I could learn them better, and it worked. It gradually got easier and easier to move from one note to another, and my beat and sound improved as well (though my fingers hurt by the end of it!).

Todays class was really fun, and Job was very happy with my work.
My homework is to practice our new song (using the three chords we learned), and to practice the pentatonic scale some more.

Shangilia Fourth Trip

On Wednesday, November 14th, 2012 I went to Shangilia for the fourth time.

It was the kids 'home day', which meant that they were all playing with toys outside. We didn't teach any classes because of this.

Instead Lucie, Nidhi and I sat on the stage and painted the girls nails. We used green, orange and other colours of nail polish.
We also played clapping games with them, and the kids laughed and smiled as they chanted the lyrics to themselves.

Other people visiting Shangilia played football with the boys, and played with toys with them.

I chatted a lot with the children on this visit, and I think that I connected more with them. It showed me that though we're from completely different 'worlds' we both enjoy the same things.

I can't wait for our next trip!

Guitar Class

Today in guitar we went over the exercises that I practiced for homework. We did it slowly and then faster, increasing the beat. This was harder than I anticipated because it's difficult keeping track of the beat and concentrating on the strings and notes at the same time.

We then practiced the pink panther song, parts of which I had forgotten. We tried to make the beat/tune clearer in the song, and did this for a fair amount of time.

We then moved on to pentatonics, which are really fun and simple to play. With this I also learned to names of more notes.
My homework is to practice the pentatonic scale, gradually getting to a level in which I can do it extremely quickly and easily.

Some simple pentatonic scales

Today was a bit challenging for me, as I was slightly distracted throughout the session. However I enjoy doing pentatonics and I look forward to showing Job what I will achieve over the next week or so.

Journalism Update

In journalism at the moment Lucie and I are doing an article together. She is interviewing new students and teachers, and I'm doing the photography for her.
It is difficult finding time to interview the people, and remembering to bring a camera to school, but I think we've done fairly well.

Some of the people she interviewed are: Mr Marshall, Mrs Wilkins, Marcus (11th grade), Ebla (9th grade), the new counsellor, Leya (10th grade), and Francesca (12th grade).

She was asking questions like: What do you think of the commons? How did the students make you feel welcome? How do you feel about the cafeteria food? Are the teachers supportive?
etc.

I think that this article is going to be really good, and I look forward to seeing it published in the school newspaper.

Guitar Class

On Friday, November 2nd, I had a guitar class.
The emphasis was theme, and we played various small pieces to identify it. If you know the theme of a piece of music it makes playing it a lot more easy.

Job made me teach my mom the pink panther song on the guitar, as he said it would help me remember the song better. This was a lot harder than I anticipated, as I tend to remember the notes when I'm holding the guitar in my hand. I had 10 minutes to teach her the whole song, and by the end of the time she knew it fairly well. It was very frustrating having to need to pick up the guitar myself to remember which frets the notes were on, etc. However this activity was very fun and educational.

In guitar I need to work on practicing more, as during the week I usually have a lot of homework (which takes up my time). Job told me that I need to be playing for at least half an hour every day, which means that I need to manage my time slightly better.
Practice makes perfect!

I'm very excited for my next class.

OVC Christmas Party

Today from 9:00 - 12:00 AM, was the OVC Christmas party. It was raining very hard, and so we couldn't use the pool (which I was previously supposed to be in charge of) or the playground any more. Everyone met in Mrs. Henderson's room to discuss 'plan B'. We decided to have a drawing station, a movie station, a clothes and books section, and a breakfast section. I volunteered to be jointly in charge of the drawing section.

I draw with a kid

After we had finished planning we all sorted out the books and clothes, and I set out the sketchbooks in the classroom that the drawing would take place in. I was pleasantly surprised at how many people had donated items, and at the end of the day there were stills some clothes left over!

We then went down the road to collect the children, it was very cold and wet and they all had hoodies on.

Parijat (Interact president) with the kids as they choose clothes

For about three hours or so groups of kids came through our station. They were all given a sketchbook to draw in, and there were pencils, pastels and pens laid out on the tables for them to use. 

When our first group arrived we told them to draw a picture of themselves and something that they liked to do, but most of the children ignored us and did what they wanted. Nearly all of them drew people and cars, and some were actually quite good. 

At one point a few interact members set up the speakers and played music, and two or three kids went up and danced! 

I went around and complimented them on their drawings and talked to them, making friends with a lot of the children during the course of the party.

It was over almost too soon, and the children traipsed away with large plastic bags filled with books and clothes, and wide smiles plastered on their faces. 

I think that this was an amazing experience for me, as I loved seeing how happy the kids were to be at ISK and meeting us all. It also opened up my eyes to just how little they have, and how much a simple book or t-shirt will mean to them. We take these things for granted, and I feel that this opened up my eyes to how appreciative I should be of my good fortune. I can't wait to meet up with the OVC children again!