Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Legend of the Zum Gali Galis
Well, the biggest production I've ever done just finished.
I know have even more respect for the theater directors of my youth! In January, I had 40 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders bouncing around my room excited about the idea of being in a musical. All I had were 4 songs and the basic outline for a story. Trying to dig deep in my Orff Schulwerk roots, we began developing the story and script with the students. With the amazing help of our middle school theater teacher and two other teachers at the school, the story and script were written, many of which the lines were straight out of the kids' mouths. Over each Monday, we added choreography, I designed the costumes and set (that sounds way fancier than it actually was), the students flexed their acting muscles more and more, we met with sound and light crew, weekly visits from the tailor who made the costumes.... whew. A lot goes into a show. Thank the heavens we have so many people at ASB willing to jump in and help with the details. There would have been no way for me to do it all alone.
The show went off perfectly (I was amazed at how focused and ready the students were!) and there were so many happy parents, kids, and staff at the school. And even though I was at school until the late hours all last week painting pine trees and making a paper mache campfire and finding glitter and.... you get the idea.... it was totally worth it. All those fun memories I had being in theater as a kid I got to see being made for my own students. What a gift to pass it on!
Anyway, the story:
Six campers play a mean trick on their new camper friends by telling them the scary legend of the evil Zum Gali Galis. When the campers wake up to find the new campers missing, they fear the worst and encounter strange and magical beings in the forest in a desperate search to save their new friends. The Zum Gali Galis appear and scare the old campers ending with an epic chase scene. When all the old campers are caught at the mercy of the Zum Gali Galis, the new campers pop out, laughing at their friends. The Zum Gali Galis are actually not evil, just different. The campers and all forest beings come together as friends, learning the value of not believing or spreading rumors and to be caring towards all.
I know have even more respect for the theater directors of my youth! In January, I had 40 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders bouncing around my room excited about the idea of being in a musical. All I had were 4 songs and the basic outline for a story. Trying to dig deep in my Orff Schulwerk roots, we began developing the story and script with the students. With the amazing help of our middle school theater teacher and two other teachers at the school, the story and script were written, many of which the lines were straight out of the kids' mouths. Over each Monday, we added choreography, I designed the costumes and set (that sounds way fancier than it actually was), the students flexed their acting muscles more and more, we met with sound and light crew, weekly visits from the tailor who made the costumes.... whew. A lot goes into a show. Thank the heavens we have so many people at ASB willing to jump in and help with the details. There would have been no way for me to do it all alone.
The show went off perfectly (I was amazed at how focused and ready the students were!) and there were so many happy parents, kids, and staff at the school. And even though I was at school until the late hours all last week painting pine trees and making a paper mache campfire and finding glitter and.... you get the idea.... it was totally worth it. All those fun memories I had being in theater as a kid I got to see being made for my own students. What a gift to pass it on!
Anyway, the story:
Six campers play a mean trick on their new camper friends by telling them the scary legend of the evil Zum Gali Galis. When the campers wake up to find the new campers missing, they fear the worst and encounter strange and magical beings in the forest in a desperate search to save their new friends. The Zum Gali Galis appear and scare the old campers ending with an epic chase scene. When all the old campers are caught at the mercy of the Zum Gali Galis, the new campers pop out, laughing at their friends. The Zum Gali Galis are actually not evil, just different. The campers and all forest beings come together as friends, learning the value of not believing or spreading rumors and to be caring towards all.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
ASB High School Graduation Day
I will probably stop constantly comparing my high school experience to those of our students here at ASB at some point, but today was a pretty stark reminder of how really different things are here (or are at many small schools throughout the world).
First off, only 43 graduates -- it took only 12 minutes (or more importantly 3.25 times through Pomp and Circumstance) to process in. Fellow '99 West High grads comment away, but did we graduation with 500? This has a profound impact on their experience because the '11 ASB grads all seem to know all of the inside jokes (maybe they don't, but from an outsiders perspective ...). They are far better connected to each other -- I remember sitting at my high school graduation next to people I literally did not know (we sat in the tradition alphabetical order).
The student speaker this afternoon was as good as it gets in my opinion, mostly because he engaged the audience and the graduates. As I looked up from my seat just to the right of my podium I watched the faces of the other graduates and they were all genuinely paying attention to him. He inserted fun anecdotes about their "Week Without Walls" trips with stories of rafting down the Ganges. Small schools have this ability to get students feel more connected.
Fitting all the graduates and their families and friends into our tiny, one-basketball-court-sized gym was certainly different than the Kohl Center in Madison -- a most impersonal space -- and after the ceremony was over, people stayed for an "appyfiz" toast and milled about happily chatting away like a cocktail party. I remember milling about in the courtyard outside the Kohl Center and being frustrated that I couldn't find all the friends I wanted to say goodbye to because the space was so big (and another high school was in the waiting room ready to do their graduation).
Which high school experience is more meaningful? No comment -- it's really an apples and oranges sort of thing. But I will say this: I'm sure that 12 years from now (the time it's been since I graduated) that more of the ASB Class of 2011 will still be in contact with each other than I am.
Congratulations Graduates, good luck in your next endeavor, wherever that takes you.
First off, only 43 graduates -- it took only 12 minutes (or more importantly 3.25 times through Pomp and Circumstance) to process in. Fellow '99 West High grads comment away, but did we graduation with 500? This has a profound impact on their experience because the '11 ASB grads all seem to know all of the inside jokes (maybe they don't, but from an outsiders perspective ...). They are far better connected to each other -- I remember sitting at my high school graduation next to people I literally did not know (we sat in the tradition alphabetical order).
The student speaker this afternoon was as good as it gets in my opinion, mostly because he engaged the audience and the graduates. As I looked up from my seat just to the right of my podium I watched the faces of the other graduates and they were all genuinely paying attention to him. He inserted fun anecdotes about their "Week Without Walls" trips with stories of rafting down the Ganges. Small schools have this ability to get students feel more connected.
Fitting all the graduates and their families and friends into our tiny, one-basketball-court-sized gym was certainly different than the Kohl Center in Madison -- a most impersonal space -- and after the ceremony was over, people stayed for an "appyfiz" toast and milled about happily chatting away like a cocktail party. I remember milling about in the courtyard outside the Kohl Center and being frustrated that I couldn't find all the friends I wanted to say goodbye to because the space was so big (and another high school was in the waiting room ready to do their graduation).
Which high school experience is more meaningful? No comment -- it's really an apples and oranges sort of thing. But I will say this: I'm sure that 12 years from now (the time it's been since I graduated) that more of the ASB Class of 2011 will still be in contact with each other than I am.
Congratulations Graduates, good luck in your next endeavor, wherever that takes you.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Mehndi Bride Party
Last night I helped host a "mehndi" party for a fellow specialist (art) teacher who is getting married this summer. The tradition here is for the bride to have intricate henna tattoos artfully drawn on her arms, hands, and feet. The women family and friend members also sometimes have the henna applied (but nothing as elaborate as the bride). During the party there is much laughter and fun as everyone has to wait for the henna to dry, all trying not to smear the highly staining ink.
My favorite thing I learned was the tradition of hiding the groom's name somewhere in the design, left for him to find once the
newly weds were left alone (an interesting thought, especially as this tradition stems from the time when brides and grooms did not know one another prior to the wedding- games to help them get better acquainted ;-)
Monday, May 9, 2011
Golfing at Aamby Valley
Over the past weekend, several ASB guys had a "guys-only" weekend at Aamby Valley for some golfing. It was a great course, well maintained, and in a spectacular environment. We had a lot of fun.
I almost wasn't allowed to tee off because I had too many buttons on my shirt. Thus, in the picture below, I wore an athletic shirt over a collared linen shirt. Who knew we had to obey every last rule down to the letter?
Either way, it was a great weekend to get out of the city, listen to some new bird calls, and go looking for many a golf ball in the jungle that surrounded the fairways -- my drives weren't so straight!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Goa Round Two
Just a quick entry to say that we just got back from a great three-day weekend in Goa. We enjoyed several great meals on the beach with excellent seafood, celebrated the marriage of one of our teaching colleagues, and hung out with great people on the beach for hours on end with seemingly no care in the world.
This time around we stayed a bit south of the airport, Colva, which was convenient because it was only a 30min taxi ride to/from the airport (last time was around 1hr 15min). The beach sand was much smoother, the salt water was much saltier, and the vibe was more laidback. There were still many hordes of Indian men who enjoyed staring at the beautiful white bodies in our midst, but even that was much tamer than our last time in Goa when we stayed up north in Calangute. In fact, we were not confronted by one hawker on the beach all weekend!
Thanks to the great people at the Sucarino Beach Shack restaurant, where we had almost all of our meals and all of our beach time -- they were awesome cooks, great service, and most importantly, very good value. Enjoy the pics!
Pure bliss: friends, good food, great beach, and fun waves to play in ...
This time around we stayed a bit south of the airport, Colva, which was convenient because it was only a 30min taxi ride to/from the airport (last time was around 1hr 15min). The beach sand was much smoother, the salt water was much saltier, and the vibe was more laidback. There were still many hordes of Indian men who enjoyed staring at the beautiful white bodies in our midst, but even that was much tamer than our last time in Goa when we stayed up north in Calangute. In fact, we were not confronted by one hawker on the beach all weekend!
Thanks to the great people at the Sucarino Beach Shack restaurant, where we had almost all of our meals and all of our beach time -- they were awesome cooks, great service, and most importantly, very good value. Enjoy the pics!
Watching the sunset...
Enjoying amazingly fresh fish that was expertly cooked...
Pure bliss: friends, good food, great beach, and fun waves to play in ...
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