Hiking Mt. Kinabalu

Growing up hiking, canoeing, portaging, skiing and in general having the imprint of a "walk-first" mentality has really shaped the way that we vacation. With several major hiking experiences under our belt (Yosemite and Dharamsala recently) we felt ready to tackle something a bit more serious. As we were planning our spring break trip to Borneo, hiking up Mt. Kinabalu just kept coming up and so we decided to go for it. After haggling to get the permit and room reservations, we had our spot -- one of 146 -- on the list to hike on April 4th.

We woke up at 6am on the 3rd of April to a carbo-filled buffet and a clear view of our target for the hike that day -- Laban Rata Guesthouse at 9,000 ft. You can actually see it in the photo below -- it's behind the small cloud, just above the center of the photograph.

After organizing our guide and finishing up the details involved with the permits/insurance, we began. The hike that day took about four and a half hours and we reached the guest house just around noon. We travelled six kilometers in length and up about 3,500 ft. As we hiked, we stopped frequently as the trail is pretty much straight up. Several sections are simply steps, others scrambling up rocky surfaces, and for a few luxurious moments you can actually get to hike at a decent grade.

Of course the surrounding environment is stunning. You start in the rain forest, travel through the cloud forest and end in the high alpine. Through the rain forest we were surrounded by orchids -- there are roughly 1,000 species in the park. Unfortunately, not all were blooming, but our helpful guide helped us find a few.

Staying up at 9,000 ft was a truly magical experience. In the evening we sat and watched the clouds form below us. As night settled in the stars came out. Since we were above the clouds the air was crisp and clear, we saw more stars that either of us had ever seen before. Stunning.

After a restless 'sleep,' we awoke at 2am to have a light breakfast and rejoined our guide at 2:30 to begin the final ascent. Our headlamps were pretty crappy, but the moon shone brightly as we followed a long white rope leading us up the rocky face. The dark morning hours passed so quickly as we were completely focused on the ascent, the white rope, and the stars above. At around 5:20 we reached the summit at 13.455 ft meaning we had traveled another 2.6 km and roughly 4,500 vertical feet in just under three hours. Not too shabby for a couple of music teachers. Needless to say, we were very proud to be up there.

We stayed at the summit almost an hour to watch the sunrise. We could easily see the lights of the city of Kota Kinabalu, a hundred km away, as well oil rigs out in the South China Sea and as the sun rose, we had a clear view of the northern coast of the island -- another hundred k's to the north. Having never summitted a mountain before, this peaceful calm combined with the rush of adrenaline, the crisp cold air, and the incredible sense of accomplishment was a unique feeling for both of us that we will never forget.

As we descended, which were told and we can confirm, we tackled the toughest part of the hike. With a 45min stop for a second breakfast back at Laban Rata, we slowly descended with our Londoner hiking buddies, Esme and Nathaniel. I can honestly say that without the easy conversation, witty banter, and communal pain the four pairs of knees felt together, we would not have made it as well as we did. Our quick friendship was a life-saver. From the top to the pick up point it is 8.6 km and roughly 8,000 vertical -- we did it in about five hours.

And now, just five days later, our knees are still sore. We struggle to walk down stairs and I, with my classroom on the 3rd floor, am happy for an elevator at ASB. As the sore muscles ease there is little doubt in my mind that we had to push ourselves farther than ever before to accomplish this. But as I look back on our trip to Borneo, my lasting memories, my take away, will be the peaceful joy of watching the sun rise from 13,455 feet overlooking the island of Borneo.

AMIS in Aberdeen

As I came into the job here at ASB one of my goals was to successfully coach at least one student to be accepted into the international high school honor band, something not yet achieved at ASB. As the audition process came and went last year, everything happened so fast with our transition to India that nothing came of it. We were better prepared and better equipped (thanks to SmartMusic!) to work towards this goal this year and with six applicants, two were accepted. The ten-month process came to fulfillment this past weekend in Aberdeen, Scotland where students representing 42 different international school and 36 countries came together to form the international honor band.

AMIS, which stands for the Association for Music in International Schools (but also means 'friends' in Frech), puts together honor bands, choirs, jazz ensembles, and string orchestras throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. With so many international music departments unable to fill out a proper concert band or mixed choir due to high student turnover or small size, for many students these weekends are the only musical experiences that they will experience that mirror a standard public school ensemble in the U.S.

Additionally, the guest conductors that come to work, Craig Kirchhoff from the Univ. of Mn in this case, provide a valuable professional experience for the young musicians as well as rejuvenating professional development for us teachers. In short, the ten months that we worked towards this goal, the three-day weekend was an outstanding learning experience for the students and myself.

On the other hand, it was great to be back in Scotland again. You will remember that Rachel and I were there for just six days on our Europe Trip in July of 2011 and we loved it.

Of course another great benefit of these festivals is the chance to reunite with friends and make new ones. I got to spend some quality time with my good friend, the band director at the international school in Dhaka, who I have collaborated with for two years on the SAISA festivals.

While Aberdeen is not the quintessential tourist experience in Scotland, it did provide us with an outstanding castle, a few nice pubs, and a gorgeous city beach on the North Sea. It was a welcome break from the humidity of Mumbai.

However, I found myself missing the bright colors of India. All of the buildings were pretty grey and with just a few patches of green grass (with some admittedly beautiful, freshly-bloomed daffodils) there was a distinct lack of color, especially in the way that people dressed. The time made me appreciate the wonderfully fresh and exotic palette that it is India.

Either way, beginning in late April, I will once again begin the process of coaching students for the audition and hope to help even more students earn the honor of playing at next year's band in Dubai.

Holi!

It's everyone's favorite holiday and for sure a highlight for us living here...

... Holi! A festival of color, joy, and most importantly the coming of Spring (based on the lunar calendar).

It was a bit tamer than last year, perhaps due to the fact that it fell during the week on a Thursday or that Mumbai is going through a water shortage. Our building party was cancelled because of the water issue -- as you see in the pictures, much water is used to celebrate. Either way, we joined up with several ASB families to celebrate at a party organized by an apartment complex that several ASB families live in.

What I love about Holi is that everyone gets to act crazy like a kid. The wild water party aspect just overwhelms everyone and adding the color gives the day a magical feel. Making the day even more hilarious was the fact that most of the people at this party were either co-workers or students or parents at ASB. The looks on my sixth graders faces as I chased them around with my super soaker and colored powder were priceless. Many of Rachel's young students were chasing her with huge, giddy smiles on their faces. Priceless.

Weekend in Matheran

Last Friday we beat the crowds and headed up to Matheran, a local hill station located about two and a half hours away from Mumbai. We joined up with three other ASB couples and left ASB at about 4:30pm on Friday. Sitting down to dinner at 7:30pm at our hotel in the the quiet forests of Matheran was a joy! In the morning we went on a long hike around the central part of the hill, finding many amazing vistas, most with 1,000 ft sheer cliff drops.

In the afternoon, the girls went out on horseback while the guys did a shorter hike. In the evening we all enjoyed card games and much laughter. A short weekend, but a much needed break from the crowded city we all call home.

PD Extravaganza

I have gone since summer of 2010 without any professional development geared specifically for elementary music, and I didn't realize how much this is a necessary thing to have on a regular basis as a teacher!

Last weekend I went to Hong Kong with 6 fellow ASBers for an International Baccalaureate conference. My workshop was on the Arts in the Primary Years Programme. Now, this may not be as specific as if I had been able to go to the Orff conference in the US last fall, but, this was at least a focus on how best to teach music within the PYP framework. I have been at two other PYP schools before coming to ASB, but, this is has been the first time that I have been expected to write the music curriculum under the same framework as the classroom teachers and it has been a bit of a struggle trying to organizea spiral curriculum into a unit based system. Without going into too many details, it was well worth it- I feel I walked away with a clear idea of what to do next and how better to implement the music curriculum, staying true to what I feel is good music ed pedagogy but that also fits with the school's goals.

And bonus, it all happened in HONG KONG! A place that I may have never gotten to otherwise. We stayed on Hong Kong island and had a little time to explore this most electric and skyscraper filled city. Highlights included a boat ride on the Star Ferry to Kowloon, an evening in the Temple Street Market, exploring the Midlevels along the worlds longest (and outdoor) escalator, exploring the back part of the island in Stanley Market, and lots of fantastic food (pork dumplings and beef noodles to die for), cool weather, stops at Starbucks, and shopping. As we traveled about, lots of random memories of high school Chinese class came time mind, and ever so often I'd see a character that I'd recognize, making me a bit wistful I didn't study harder or continue on with such an interesting and complex language. Now, sadly as they speak Cantonese I couldn't try out anything I did remember as we learned Mandarin, but, as the characters are the same, it was fun nontheless to try and remember what I could (and remember those Fridays we watched Jackie Chan movies as I passed his star of fame on their own version of the Hollywood walk of fame).

And then back to ASB on Wednesday where we were all thrown into the craziness of ASB Unplugged- a conference attended by 400+ educators from all over the world on how to integrate technology into education. Thursday was a "normal" school day with people walking in and out of our classrooms and interviewing our students in separate showcases of what we do here at ASB. Then, Friday and Saturday were all workshops geared towards the latest technologies and strategies for integrating tech. We attended a fantastic session that I walked away with a few more tools and ideas (which is rare at these things as not much is ever geared towards music). Reid in his natural role as a leader gave a session on green education (to about 200 people) and the another session on technology use in a performance based ensemble.

So, after a week of professional development overload, my brain was pretty overwhelmed. So many things! So much to think about! How will I even begin??

One step at a time. I find myself more motivated and excited about teaching and realized I've been sort of in "day to day" mode and in a bit of a funk this year due to how the year started and an increased work/stress load. I'm happy to report that I've found a bit of motivation again and I'm reminded of how important it is to actively seek out growth opportunities for yourself.

Europe Trip: 2011

So this post may be a bit late ... ok, it's probably six months late. As I was doing some digital cleaning on the computer I ran across this video that I created to share our pictures from our 45-day trip to the U.K., Norway, Sweden, and Ireland. If you have 10min of free time (plus the buffering time!), give it a watch and let us know what you think.

I Got the Bombay Blues

So it is deep within the school year and when the going gets tough, the tough go to ease their pains with a local blues festival.

My personal highlight was seeing John Lee Hooker Jr perform -- he lit up the stage on Saturday for the 8:30pm slot. He honored his dad, the famous bluesman, and had a superb band backing him up, especially the guitarist. Later in the evening Taj Mahal played a more subdued set with his down-home finger picking style.

On Sunday we joined friends for a blues brunch to hear a local Bombay jazz/blues/fusion band. They were solid and the tator tots were excellent too.

The big draw of the weekend of course was Buddy Guy. At age 75 he is having a great time, keeping the crowd alternatively laughing at his clever lyrics (most too profane to post here!) and in awe of his sheer guitar talent. It truly takes a guitar genius to rub his guitar, string-side, against his chest to get weird distortion sounds and still have the audience cheering like mad. He too played with an amazing band that had particularly amazing dynamic sensitivity.

All in all, a much better than average weekend here in Bandra (oh, did I mention it was a 10 minute from our apartment?)