Yesterday was quite the hectic day. Yay for crazy Tuesdays.
Rachel and I started with a wonderful breakfast at Lacoste. As the bakery is closed now, it was Rachel’s first and last time eating there. Mmm, croissants!
Then Katie and I had a 9:15 meeting (during 1st period) with the guidance counselor Eric Sturgis (new staff member this year). We are trying to make it possible for kids to be in orchestra or choir (and eventually band) all 4 years of high school. Katie mapped out a 4-year plan with which students can meet all of their requirements AND take orchestra AND have room for a couple electives. We discussed a few things with Eric (in order to make it work we had to push a couple suggested freshman/sophomore classes to sophomore/junior year), and it looks like it could work! Of course it has its limitations, but it’s a good starting point so we can hopefully avoid some of the issues we’ve been having with getting kids into orchestra. The guidance office will be able to use this 4-year plan when advising music students!
2nd period was orchestra, and we had a fun time reading through a Mendelssohn Hymne; a church in Basel is having an organ dedication in October and they asked if we could supply some string players to accompany their choir on the Mendelssohn!
3rd and 4th periods I went crazy printing out maps and writing driving directions to Riehen, emailing 11 teachers about pulling students from their classes for lessons and orchestra, and emailing parents to ask if they indeed wanted lessons for their kids.
I ate a quick lunch while finishing up those emails, then had a quick chat with my independent study student at the beginning of 5th period.
Then the real stress started! I drove to Riehen, Switzerland (barely over the border, just 30 minutes away) to pick up a couple cellos from the rental place. I had to take the school car since I don’t have a car of my own. The school car has a kind of weird clutch, and 2nd gear never feels quite right, but I think I’m getting used to it. I managed to find the music shop without a GPS, though I missed a turn at one point because the street wasn’t clearly labeled.
Then I spent the next hour in the shop talking with the rental guy in German about insurance and the specifics about renting an instrument through the school. I now know more about insurance than I ever knew in the US. At the end, I walked out of the shop with 2 cellos and a signed piece of paper in case the border guards questioned me about the cellos (they weren’t even there, so it didn’t matter in the end). My head was steaming from thinking in German so long! The good news is, I can understand almost anything someone says to me in High German if they speak slowly enough and if I have a context and a general knowledge of the vocabulary of that particular subject. I couldn’t always form my own sentences quickly enough and said things in the wrong order sometimes (and realized it immediately after the words came out of my mouth), but communication is becoming easier.
I got back to the school with the cellos and had about half an hour to breathe before the next thing, which was Intermediate Orchestra! It was our first rehearsal, and I had 3 kids, though I should have at least 2 more (one may have misunderstood the start date, and one is on vacation). It should be a good group!
Then I went for a quick run to blow off some steam and relieve stress.
And finally, it was time for Taco Tuesday! Rachel and I made tacos because she was trying to get rid of the huge batch of salsa she made last week. Unfortunately, salsa strengthens with age. After eating most of her taco salad, Rachel said the spiciness was equivalent to eating Blazin’ wings at BWWs. I didn’t think it was quite that hot, but then again, I only had the salsa in the meat, and Rachel scooped some extra salsa on top of everything. I had seconds!
Finally, it was time to relax – I wrote out violin parts from a viola part for the Mendelssohn Hymne, then caught up on emails!
