Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Planning the School Year

First of all a thank you to my sponsors last week, Janine Higgins and Bill Easton.  Then of course a thank you to my sponsors this week, Dino and Carolyn Morgoglione and Frank and Barbara Rupert.  

Last week was a little lighter, but lots of planning for getting the school year started.  With the return of the Boys Choir from the United States tour and the administrative staff with them, we had a lot of catching up to do!  This included talking about travels, creating schedules, and determining our responsibilities.  


One of the things I'm currently working on is a newsletter that will be sent out to the music schools, parents, and donors.  It will be sent out quarterly and used to keep everyone connected with what is going on at Holy Trinity Music School and all the satellite schools.  Here's a little preview of the front page (as you can see I still have to finish the opening article!).  


On Thursday night I was invited to attend a dinner meeting among the administration and the wind faculty.  We discussed the different wind ensembles  and who would be directing them.  An exciting addition for this year is the creation of a marching band.  I'll be helping teach the basic marching steps - here's hoping I still remember everything from high school!


Other fun moments of the week included learning how to cook in my room with limited cooking supplies and no oven.  Kelsey and I have been trying many new no-bake recipes.  If anybody has any favorites they recommend definitely email those to me.


Saturdays here are crazy!  The days are filled with rehearsals for both the beginning students and the pre-professional orchestra, OPST.  As you can see I've already found myself right at home in the flute section of OPST!


Right now the orchestra is working on music for our December concert.  We are playing two different violin concertos, Tchaikovsky's Polonaise, and selections from the Nutcracker.  


One of my favorite days of each week is Sunday.  I love my new congregation here that I worship with each week.  After the service we have our own little coffee hour with discussions about the sermon and what we would like to do in the community.  Right now we are planning bath kits and pen pals for the women in prison in Pétionville.  We are also making an effort to help with recycling and help people learn about taking care of the environment.  I'm really excited to be a part of these plans and look forward to seeing how they unfold.


My Sunday was not complete though without a random party!  To explain, Kelsey and I were hanging out in my room in the evening and all of the sudden we could hear music.  We went running to the roof of the church to check it out.  Turns out there was a kompa party happening right on the street in front of the church!  Kompa is a music that is traditional to Haiti and tons of fun.  My next goal in Haiti is to learn how to dance to kompa!!!



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