Packing, but not that much

I'm just over a day away from leaving Tucson for the summer. First up is an afternoon with the parents in Jersey or New York. Then, London and Cambridge with two old friends (not OLD friends, but old friends) from Brisbane. And then two weeks in Spain, visiting Sevilla, Granada (and the Alhambra) and Barcelona. Pictures will follow when I get time to upload them. It's 100 degrees every day here, so it's high time to leave, although it certainly won't be much nicer in Europe, although the hot weather will be much easier to bear in Barcelona, I'm sure. Updates and pictures will follow. Thanks for following along with me, and thanks to all who are helping for your help in planning, accomodation, suggestions, and more. Hopefully I will be happily poor when I return.

Brazilian Jam!

I had my first concert last night as a member of Batucaxe, a Brazilian drumming ensemble here in town. It's a community group, almost as cool as the one at Syracuse, which was all college kids. They practice once per week plus a few more sectionals with specific instruments.

Anyway, the concert was at the ritzy Hilton El Conquistador, which is the swankiest place in the city, and actually might be in Oro Valley, but I'm not sure. We got out there in the courtyard in the sun, and jammed a bunch of Brazilian and Afro-Brazilian tunes for the crowd. It was awesome.

Well, actually, it was pretty good, except for the gentrified and stoic crowd. But the music was sweet, and it felt great to perform for an audience, something I haven't done music-wise since...middle school. I guess you could count high school musicals and my guitar-solo final project in my Religions and Storytelling class my senior year of college. But as part of a band, not since I was 13. It rocked.

The only bad part is that I'm going away for the summer (boo hoo, it will be a sweet trip), and missing getting further into learning about and experiencing Samba. But when I get back in August, I hope to dive full-on in and perform as much as possible with the band. I only wish I had done this in Syracuse. Oh well, I'm making up for lost time.

Now if I only knew a cool Portugese phrase to sign this post off with...

Day Off

So today I took my first day off all year that wasn't for Elie and Becca's wedding. It was really a lot nicer than I thought it would be. I got up at 8:30 anyway, putzed around until 10, ran errands until 2, and then came home and wrote some of the graduation speech I'm supposed to give. Then I continued to try to figure out my travel plans. I really like this off day thing. I may have to start using more of them. They gave me 7, and I've only used 3. Good thing they roll over until next year.

On another note, I ate eel and seaweed today, but not in the same place, and 5 hours apart. Just a normal day in Tucson, I guess.

Improv Fever!

I had my first performance tonight as the leader/organizer of an improvisational comedy troupe. Ten of my graduating 8th graders and I have been practicing improv games after school for the past two weeks, in preparation for a performance tonight. We absolutely brought the house down. We had people rolling, laughing so hard. The kids just had creativity springing up nonstop from almost everywhere, and they had the audience eating right out of the palm of their hand.

And there must have been 40-50 there, too! They were pouring almost out the doors; it was a standing-room-only crowd at the end. Oh man, I'm so encouraged by this: I see so much potential for growth in this endeavor, and I'm really excited about starting an improv troupe at school next year. I'm glad some of the 7th graders were there to see it; maybe they'll join up next year. My only regret is losing such amazing talent to high school. I swear, those kids just have me cracking up.

Thankfully, one of the student's moms taped the performance, so we can look back on it and see what we had. I really hope each of those students goes on and does drama or improv in high school, because they will completely take over if they do so.

And as much as I stress books, grammar, and essay writing in class, there is nothing that can enrich a person's life like having the self-confidence to be able to get up in front of a group and make a complete fool of yourself. That is something that I hope I have engendered in those students. I can't say enough. It was a regular "Whose Line is it Anyway?" program. Honestly just as funny.

I haven't been so pleased with my job in a long time. The kids showed me so much enthusiasm and talent that I just know that I picked the right career. Amazing, to think back on it and see where I came from, and how I ended up teaching. And now, I couldn't imagine doing anything else. What a great way to kick off the weekend.

Interesting Veto

Haven't posted in a while. Just hasn't been something I've been into, or had time for. But I will update this constantly (well, more often anyway) when I'm in Europe. But here's what I had for today's post. Check this out from BBC News.

"Earlier on Tuesday, leaders of the Democrat-controlled US Congress signed the controversial bill agreeing to $100bn (£50bn) in further funding on condition US combat troops begin to withdraw this year.

Mr Bush criticised the bill, saying it "substitutes the opinions of politicians for the judgement of our military commanders."

Interesting words from our president, who thought no ill of signing the No Child Left Behind bill into law some years back. Stealing education from the hands of educators and delivering it to "the opinions of politicians" seemed okay back then, didn't it? Why is bombing people more important and justifiable than ensuring that American students lead successful, enriching academic lives, without fear of unjustified reprisals from uninformed government bodies?

::sigh:: It will soon be summer, and I'll be on vacation.