the show must go on

In my elementary school, we are currently rehearsing for an International Day show of epic proportions. Each class in grades 1-4 has been focusing on one country of study in Social Studies from mid-April, which will culminate with a dance show performed by students for parents on May 28th. Well, at least that's what it was a few weeks ago.

As of the last few weeks, the show seems to be getting more press and interest, so we may not only have parents on May 28th, but we might also have newspaper photographers, dignitaries or representatives from embassies, officials from the Ministry of Education, President Obama...just kidding about that last one. The event is growing larger and larger though, and I hope that my little kiddos are up for it! We are not supposed to tell them about the growing number of people that will be attending, but I don't know if it's worse for them to be surprised.

My (1A's) class song is "Be Our Guest" from the Disney movie Beauty & The Beast. I chose it because it's lively and the kids are familiar with the words and tune. I've been fretting a bit about whether or not we'll be ready to perform in this extravaganza in (EEK!) less than two weeks, but I've realized that no one will actually care how synced all of their steps are. They're cute kids in matching dresses, singing something that has to do with France, and everyone will love them anyway. It will be nice if they aren't paralyzed with stage fright.

There have been a lot of pieces to this puzzle, including actually teaching them about France, having a tailor to individually measure each student and make their dresses, buying accessories (including matching shoes), choosing a hairstyle/song/dance steps, and sending home lots of those "Please send 10kd for this or that" notes. Our secretary is a saint and the one ultimately organizing the show and serving as the liaison to the school's directors.

 Posted throughout are a few pictures from rehearsal the other day. We're practicing on the ES playground, but we also practice on the stage in our auditorium, which is where the show will be held.

More updates on my sanity and our sure success will follow!
(p.s. If I'm not in the States by my anticipated date of June 18th, someone should come looking...)

more for music lovers

My taste in music is all over the map these days. With time off this week for my school's Spring Break, I've been listening almost 24/7 because I don't get to as much as I'd like. Here are some recommendations I'd like to make, so take 'em or leave 'em. I should mention that none of these artists are particularly "new," but I've just been finding out about the. We don't get to catch on to everything as quickly here!

John Mark McMillan
Probably occurring most in my playlist this week is this singer/songwriter out of Charlotte. He's got a folksy rock sort of style and sings a lot about God's character and real life. You might have heard the song "How He Loves," originally written by JMM but covered by bands like David Crowder and others. His voice is not pretty, but real.

Citizens
Chris has actually been listening to this group, which is surprising because he does not often voluntarily listen to music. A self-proclaimed "high energy indie-rock band" from Mars Hill Church in Seattle, this group does some new stuff with old hymns. I like their song "In Tenderness."

Alabama Shakes
This band kind of has their crazy own little southern rock/soul thing going on. They were nominated for Best New Artist of 2013 at the Grammy Awards. I like their song, "I Ain't the Same" and a few others, too.

I'm also listening to some Mumford & Sons, but they have been on the scene for awhile.

April already?!

As happens with most years, this one has accelerated after our school's winter break. I can't believe that the last time I posted anything was in JANUARY! At any rate, here are some random goings-on in our lives and a few snapshots to let you know we're still alive. We've a had a roller-coaster February, March, and April, but we love where we are and what we do.

Jordan
During the National Day weekend in Kuwait, we traveled to Jordan to visit our friends who previously taught in Kuwait. We did some sand-boarding, desert camping, doing the "Harlem Shake" (check us out!), eating lots of good food, and snorkeling in a matter of four days. It was an awesome time of catching up, and we hope to do something like that again.

 

National Day
Before our trip, I had the customary National Day extravaganza celebration at school, complete with a bazaar, food, dancing, and traditional outfits. My students are so adorable in their little dara'as.

Bowling Tournament
The Young Adults from church had a bowling tournament on three Fridays during March, and since Chris and I lead one of the life groups, we got to go have fun with them. These guys and gals take bowling seriously...fun!

 

Sri Lanka/End of March
At the end of March, Chris and his friend Kyle went to Singapore to an English conference, where Chris presented his foundation English program's methods for assessing grammar. GUST (the university where he teaches) sent him there with a nice stipend, which was great for us. On the way back, Chris and I met in Sri Lanka and Kyle carried on back to Kuwait. We spent 4 or 5 days there, mostly relaxing and spending unhurried time together. We also ate a ton of amazing seafood and swam/snorkeled each day at a beach we found the last time we were there, and we visited a turtle hatchery.

Easter/Early April
Easter for us was fairly low-key this year. Chris worked on Easter Sunday, but we had a big dinner hosted by some friends in our life group on Monday night. We sang some songs, took communion together, and enjoyed a great time of conversation. Also in April, Chris' flute quartet gave a recital in the auditorium of his university, and lots of our friends and his students came to support him. Thanks, guys! I will try to get some better pictures of that up later.

  
End of April
Finally, here we are at the end of April, when we celebrate Earth Day. My class made Trash Monsters out of reused tissue boxes and paper on Thursday, since we are on our Spring Break at school. We have one full month to prepare for the International Day show, when my students will be performing "Be Our Guest." My class is studying France this year, so we are doing a little throwback to Belle and Beauty and the Beast. It's every 1st graders dream, really. I also went to a women's retreat yesterday, held for ladies from all of the Lighthouse Church's services. There were 350+ women there, and it was seven hours of amazing worship and teaching. It proved to be a much needed respite and a great way to start off my week-long holiday.

 

 

Well, there you have it. That's the last few months in a nutshell. I'm sure I'm omitting something in there...until next time.

January links

Here are just a few things that I've found or been alerted to in the past month, which you also may find interesting or helpful:

Gingie's Journey
A dear church friend at home has recently been diagnosed with cancer. Her daughter, Molly, has put together a blog with some thoughts and medical updates so that people can be aware and praying throughout the difficult process. If you know the Allshouses (or even if you don't!), please pray for Gingie's healing and recovery, and for the whole family's peace and strength.

The Gray Havens
This is a pop/folk duo that I caught wind of via Tim Challies' blog. They have a catchy little sound and good lyrics, and that combination fuels my current interest in modern American attempts at folk music. They just got their start out of the great state of Illinois, and you can currently download their new EP here.

Ladies Who Do Lunch in Kuwait
Ok, I admit that I found this link a long time ago, but I have been checking it a lot more recently for news and happenings in the New Year in Kuwait. I like the variety of cultural and fun activities that the author posts, which is a really comprehensive list of events and information.

Oxford Owl
This is an amazing resource for those teaching primary age learners. Although it is a UK-based project and the narrators/story tellers speak with a British accent, the stories are awesome and it's all completely free! There are also videos with tips on teaching phonics, free e-books, math and reading comprehension activities, and games that are extremely useful. For moms, I'd recommend exploring the site to see what would be helpful at home, too. My students love it, and it's easy to navigate by age groups, from 3yrs to 11yrs.

where the buffalo roam

Oh, give me a home

where the buffalo roam

where the deer and the antelope play...

 where seldom is heard

 a discouraging word

 and the skies are not cloudy all day.

For whatever reason, that was the song that kept running through my head in Nepal. Maybe, it was because of all of the buffalo roaming around on the streets! (They looked more like cows to me, but nobody asked me, really.) The two most-practiced religions in Nepal are Hinduism and a type of Buddhism, so naturally, the peoples' care for living creatures lends them to allow animals free reign over the streets. We saw many other little critters scampering around, but stray dogs and water buffalo were the ones predominantly seen in the city streets. We had a few friendly encounters with these guys, but we still ate some tasty buffalo "mo-mos," a local steamed dumpling of sorts, in a few different locations. I don't understand the whole we-love-them-but-some-of-us-eat-them thing, but I guess I don't have to.

More to come on the amazing country of Nepal...

Merry Christmas 2012!

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

Those are the last words of of O Holy Night, one of my favorite Christmas carols. It has a charge, to proclaim or declare the power and glory of God.

 

I was just sitting here thinking that I ought to get some pictures of what our holiday looked like and came across this one. Every Christmas Eve, The Lighthouse Church in Kuwait hosts a bonfire and time of singing carols in one of its courtyards. One of the worship leaders and a few accompanying musicians stand on the steps outside one of the church buildings while others are gathered around the fire in many rows, 30 or 40 people deep, in all directions. Interspersed between the carols that everyone sings in English are presentations done by a few members of the various congregations that fall under the Lighthouse Church umbrella; Malayalum, German, Tagalog, Konkani, and Swahili are just a few of the other languages that we heard, all directed in praise to the King. What a proclamation of the power and glory of God, who is bringing people to himself from all over the world, including in Kuwait!

May we continue to tell of his goodness in our lives and in others.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to our loved ones near and far.

Stephanie & Chris

Christmas Concert 2012

finally got some Christmas decorations around the house.

saw another great AMG performance...featuring the Kuwait Flute Choir, including Chris Freeman

hot drinks, kettle corn, playing games, and laughing at our place afterwards.

priceless times.

Another Night at the Proms

A few weeks ago, Chris played in a concert with the Ahmadi Music Group at the British Embassy in Kuwait. This is the second annual concert of its kind in Kuwait, which we were happy to be part of again. The scenery there is beautiful. Inside those militarized compound walls lie rose gardens, lush green grass, and a lily pond. The concert took place outside as before, so it was nice to see all of these things surrounding the crowd of elegantly dressed people atop chairs draped with white. This time, our good friends Mark and Christi were able to join me, which made the performance even more enjoyable. As always, I loved seeing Chris put one of his fine talents to work. We couldn't take pictures because security guidelines say no phones and no cameras, but I have some snapshots in the recesses of my mind, and there are some pictures on the website from all three nights of the concert. Chris is seated at the far left of the orchestra, second-from-left in his row. In the first picture with the flag, you can see the back of my head in the audience. Where's Waldo? time. Don't forget I'm blonde now!


 

These pictures were taken from the Ahmadi Music Group's website. You can find others from the concert there, as well.

Some of the pieces that the orchestra played were:

- Aaron Copeland's Fanfare for the Common Man, - Gloria, for Choir and Orchestra,
- Bolero,
- Irish and Scottish folk tunes, including: Drowsy Maggie, Red-haired Boy, and Harvest Home,
- Land of Hope and Glory (Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, Op. 39),
- Rule Britannia,
- Jerusalem,

and a few other compositions written by the director's wife, Harriet Bushman.

We appreciate the opportunity to have these kinds of events thanks to H.M. Ambassador to Kuwait, H.E. Mr. Frank Baker. We are looking forward to next year's concert and the upcoming family Seasonal Concert on December 7th and 8th, where Chris will perform with a flute choir.

Check out the Ahmadi Music Group online.

A Kuwaiti Wedding, Part 2

Last April, I wrote a post called  A Kuwaiti Wedding, Part 1, which I intended to follow with a Part 2, Part 3, etc. Well, it's been a whole year, and now having gone to another Kuwaiti wedding, I thought I just might finish.

In Part 1, I described the setting, the general concept behind the gathering, and who goes there. In this installment, I'll finish describing the rest of the proceedings from the first wedding, and I hope to compare the two Kuwaiti weddings and briefly describe the second one that I've attended in a Part 3.

From the wedding, April 2011:
Some time after 10:15 or 10:30pm, the bride made her first grand entrance, starting at the end of the ballroom behind a curtain with a spot light shining on it. She came out in a traditional green-colored Kuwaiti wedding dress, with a gold, crown-type covering on her head and walked slowly to the center of the dancing aisle to sit on a stool that was waiting for her. At this point, the dancing had temporarily ceased for the bride's entrance, so most people were sitting or standing to the side. Her walk to the center of the room took approximately 10 minutes- not that the room was that long, but it's a very drawn out, stately process.

Once the bride was sitting, her close family members all held the edge of an ornately decorated green scarf/blanket to wave it over her, in a modern version of the traditional Kuwaiti "jalwa" festivity. (The closest activity that I can compare this to is from elementary PE classes, when all of the students stand at the edge of  "parachute" and move it up and down, trying to bounce foam balls off of it.) After they recited some things and sang (all of this in Arabic), they gathered the blanket and the bride moved to a type of loveseat/divan on a stage at the front of the room, while her close family danced for her. After about 20 minutes, the bride left the room, and the general party and dancing resumed.

After another hour, say 12am, the bride came back to make another nearly royal entrance, this time in a white, western-style wedding gown. Again, her walk to the front was long and stately, pausing for a thousand pictures by the professional photographers along the way (no exaggeration). After the bride was seated on the stage again, her close family and friends danced for her, then the rest of the guests joined in, and people started going up to take pictures with her. Soon after, there was an announcement indicating that after the following song was played, the men would be entering the ballroom. In an instant, all of the women in the room who "cover" (wear the abaya and/or hijab) wrapped themselves in their covering garments. It was like a sea of black washed over the room, the bright colors and sequence of dresses no longer to be seen. Even the women who do not "cover" often put on some kind of jacket or shawl out of respect.

The photo on the left is of me before the first wedding, April 2011. The picture of a traditional  "bisht" was taken this spring at the Sadu House, Kuwait City.
 
At approx. 12:30am, the doors at the end of the room were again opened and the groom, bride's father, and groom's father entered in their best dishdashas and bishts. (The clothing made and worn for weddings is elaborate and expensive, and all of the men wear their best. The bisht robe can be variations of black or brown, depending on the quality and materials used to make them.) Following them was a small group of trusted friends of the groom, brothers (if any), and other close cousins they chose to include. Accompanying the men was a small group of singers and drummers from the live wedding band.

taken at the second wedding on Thursday night

The men did not take nearly as long as the bride to enter, walking straight up to the stage. As the three most important greeted the bride, they kissed her and each other on the forehead as a sign of respect, and then the bride was presented to the groom. (At this point, the bride and groom are already legally married via signing marriage documents, so this is permitted). In turn, the other men went up, shook the groom's hand and kissed him on the cheek as a sign of care and respect, and left the room. After all the men but the most important were gone, the musicians did an about-face, and left the room to re-join the rest of the band. Then, the mothers and other family members went up to be photographed with the couple.



*side note: The musicians at a wedding are stationed in an adjoining room throughout the whole evening and festivities, because they are traditionally all men. The musicians are mic-ed and play live for all of the dancing. A woman similar to a wedding coordinator communicates with another man coordinator in the room with the band via walkie-talkie, to tell him which songs the band should play, based on the time and stage of the evening and at the requests of the bride's mother.

After another 20 minutes, a gigantic cake was wheeled in for the bride and groom to ceremoniously cut. The groom escorted the bride to the back of the room, which was next to the dining room where the dinner buffet was to be held. The guests followed, and the couple cut the cake with a traditional saber, then left the room to spend time alone together. At this point, the guests were invited to eat or continue to dance as they liked, because no men were left in the ballroom. This might have carried on for another hour or so.

This is the kind of wedding cakes that you see in Kuwait, though this was not the actual cake.

photo borrowed from yaaluwa.com- Omar Addihaoui, pastry chef in Kuwait

There you have it. That's my best attempt at including the most important details of a more traditional Kuwaiti wedding. In Part 3, I'll give an extremely brief explanation of what the men do (because there really isn't much to tell) and write some tidbits about the most recent wedding I went to on Thursday night, as well as include some more pictures. I know I said cameras weren't allowed, but my friend took some photos while the men were there, since all of the women were modestly covered. This was the best we could do with an iPhone!

La Charreada

Time for a random post...

We are working on our international units in Social Studies this week. My class is studying France, and I'm not sure why I picked that, being that I speak Spanish semi-fluently and have lots of teaching resources for Spanish and Hispanic cultures. There's always next year. To kick off the beginning of my work week, here's Linda Ronstadt on Sesame Street, singing about "Charros" with Elmo and Parker.



Some real, live "charros," ca. 2004.

 

National & Liberation Day 2012

This past Wednesday was our school's National and Liberation Day celebration. In elementary, we celebrated by having an extended flag ceremony, and each class performed a very Kuwaiti style song/dance. The elementary secretary and one of the class assistants taught a different dance to each class during two periods per week for the last month in preparation for this event. I even went with them on a few occasions to help out, which ended up being really fun. I also went to one of the local shops before the performances to find a unifying theme or costume item, and I came up with some butterfly wings done in the colors of the Kuwait flag. The girls looked so cute!



 Here's our hallway bulletin board. We made the shape of the Kuwait flag from little country outlines and camels that have the girls' names on them.

We had lots of treats (cupcakes with Kuwait's current flag and the old flag's colors) and it was pretty much a non-teaching day. It seems like we've had a lot of those lately... Here you see me with J, whose mom is an assistant in our Early Childhood program at the school. They are a fun family! (You can see her mom in the red head scarf in the video, taking pictures.)

This is a great month for people in the car detailing business:

 As much as I'm tempted to complain about certain aspects of these celebrations, they really are something to see. I'll be sure to post pictures if we see anything crazy tomorrow.

Flash Mob in Kuwait

Now, this is something to see, for sure.
If you've never heard of a flash mob or seen one, I recommend watching this one in Antwerp train station.
Here's an Arab version done by Kuwaitis of all shapes and sizes at the Avenues Mall earlier this month. The  drums start at about 0:44 of the video, and the actual dancing starts at about 1:14.

Jazz, Cats, and Look-alikes

Two Thursdays ago, I went to an Ahmadi Music Group concert featuring the singers themselves and a jazz band called the Kuwait Jazz Collective. I can't tell you how amazing it has been to see and hear such talent in a country that, as a whole, doesn't particularly value the arts. Chris has performed with them for a few of their events, which has been a special treat for both of us. The conductor, Richard Bushmann, is always cooking up something new. This particular concert featured the music of Duke Ellington. If you don't know much about him, you can take a look at his official website, presumably run by his estate. At the concert, the groups performed selections from Ellington's three "Sacred Concerts," which included themes from a lot of old spirituals, combined with the music styles uniquely Ellington.

On a somewhat related note, Chris and I occasionally see strangers throughout our travels that look like our friends from PA. It's weird when we do, because most of the people we interact with are not western and do not have European features, and most of our friends at home do. It's a funny surprise. At the concert the other night, there was an amazing alto soloist whose similarity in appearance to my friend Megan W. was uncanny. This "look-alike" surpassed the previous frontrunner, who was an Egyptian guy that looked like our friend Mike B...but surprisingly not like his brother.

Last week, Chris traveled with our friend, Kyle, to Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. He came back probably more tired than when he left, but with a new appreciation for Southeast Asia. I'll post more on his vacation once I get more story details, but he said that the natural beauty of the area mixed with the present poverty and the history were very sobering things.

A number of schools had holidays at the end of the semester, so lots of people were out of Kuwait for the last two weeks. I volunteered to watch my friend's cat while she was gone, which was more than I bargained for. Rather than having to drive to her building everyday, I brought Meeshu to our place. He proved to be good company while Chris was gone, but also confirmed the fact that I will probably never own a cat. There are pigeons that sit on the outside of our windowsills, so I learned to clear all objects near them quickly, especially after one of my perfume bottles was knocked over and broken...

At school, I'm busy getting the students ready for the National and Liberation Day holidays. Our curriculum and activities focus on Kuwait's history and cultural heritage throughout the month of February in light of these events on the 25th and 26th of the month. Celebrations, decorations, and sales have been plentiful since this year's Parliamentary elections on February 2nd. Thursday was Sports Day for the elementary and early childhood students, so we spent the day at Yarmouk Sports Club in various competitions by grade levels. The kids had a blast as usual, but my voice is a little on the raspy side today. Next year, I need to remember my whistle!

Last night, we went to the American Embassy with some friends and heard the Volunteers of the The US Army Field Band. We loved being able to end the week with good music, good friends, good food and drinks, all set on a cool patio and lawn area. When we go there during this time of year, it reminds me of a cool summer evening at a pub at home.We've had a bit more dust, wind, and rain in the last few weeks, so my guess is that Spring is on its way to Kuwait. The mornings have been really hazy, so much that it's hard to tell where the sky ends and the water begins, but the temperature is perfect right now.