jill.musick

Last Week of School (3 weeks ago)

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Jill

Whew, this is a very belated blog post. I have several lined up to do! We’ve been out of school for a week and a half now, and I’m still getting around to writing about the things that happened 2 and a half weeks ago.

Students and staff were restless during the last week of school. Emotions ran high as kids looked forward to summers of freedom and exotic adventures, while dreading the many sorrowful departures and goodbyes. Overall, though, we all enjoyed the random moments of fun in the midst of studying for finals and preparing for the end of the year. During lunch one day, this was the result:

The Spring Concert was on Sunday, May 27th, the last big thing before finals. It seems so long ago now. I have woefully little to post on this blog, since it appears that no one videotaped it and put it on YouTube, and I only took 3 pictures and 1 video, and the pictures are all blurry. Words will have to suffice.

Suzanne (Music dept. head) and Ruth (MS Principal) opened the concert with announcements and prayer. After performances by the piano classes, handbells, and hand drums, the guitar class was up. We all wore black plus plaid. Yes, plaid. I will not take credit for the idea, but I will accept blame for allowing it to happen. Actually, it looked decent and made it easier to find the students. We played a couple normal pieces from the Essential Elements book, then performed 2 student-written songs (the 2nd video and the 2nd to last), and ended with a novelty piece. This last piece was ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow,’ performed by 8 guitar players on 2 guitars, 1 bass player (me), and 1 singer (a junior girl). We got the idea from Walk Off the Earth’s video.

After we exited the stage to thunderous applause from enthusiastic classmates and dorm-mates, the male vocal ensemble performed the popular ‘Count on Me.’ Then band and choir performed, and it was time for the orchestras! Marit led the beginning orchestra – they did a great job! Then I led the Intermediate and High School Orchestras. People told me afterwards that one of their favorite pieces was the combined Intermediate/High School orchestra piece, ‘A Pirate’s Legend.’ It sounded a bit like music from the Pirates movies, and the overall effect was heightened by the bigger orchestra – 15 people! The other favorite was the last piece the High School Orchestra played, called ‘Salsa per Christina.’ The cellists turned their cellos sideways and played them like guitars, which gave the audience a good chuckle.

The choir did a final set to close out the concert. The one I videotaped was their arrangement of Mike Tompkins’ arrangement of ‘Rolling in the Deep.’

The concert had lots of variety, and covered the range of funny to serious. It was a good end to the last week of school.

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Last Day of Beginning Band

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Jill

After a successful performance on Thursday May 24 (La Cucaracha), I took the Beginning Band out to the Eiscafe for a celebration. It was a hot day and the ice cream tasted good!

It has been great working with these two eager learners. I hope they both continue on to Intermediate Band next year!

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Flight Simulator

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Jill

As children, my brothers and I used to play computer simulation games, like car-racing games (escape the cops!) and a flight simulator. These simulation games allow children to practice the skills needed for operating a vehicle or plane without any danger to themselves or the aircraft! Of course, if the simulator is not very realistic, it won’t be extremely helpful training for real-life.

Today in devotions, I attempted a different sort of flight simulator with my high school orchestra girls (our one boy is off at soccer finals – they made it into the final round and have probably already played the championship game!). When they walked into orchestra, I had them all sit down like normal. They figured we would be continuing our discussion on evangelism/witnessing/sharing faith. Then I told them, ‘We are all on a flight together. You’re all traveling together, and I’m a stranger in your row. Your goal is to share the Gospel with me before we land.’

We had some bumpiness and some awkward moments, but after a while they actually felt like they were talking to a stranger instead of Miss Musick. I took on the character of Mathilda Greene, which brought about some giggles and groans in our initial introductions. After asking what the purpose of my trip was (visiting Munich with some friends to get a European experience), they began to ask about my life (I was a student at a university in Chicago, studying for a business degree). One student began to probe more deeply into my goals for the future, eventually leading to questions of what I valued in life (money, but that’s kind of empty after I get everything I want). We ended up covering several topics, such as ‘Is there a Heaven or Hell?’ ‘If Heaven exists, does God exist?’ ‘Is God good?’ ‘Where did creation/people come from?’ Their questions would have been fodder for many good conversations for willing strangers.

After we stopped our simulation (The plane is about to land!), they had some follow-up questions for me. When ‘Mathilda’ had made certain statements, they wanted to know how I would respond. We talked about several good answers; it got me excited about the Bible and sharing my faith again! All of the students have quite a few arguments of their own in case someone attacks their faith (their parents and Bible teachers have been filling them with this knowledge), but there will always be those questions that arise in conversations that they don’t know the answer to. This was a very practical way for them to apply what we’ve been discussing and what they have been learning in Bible class. I hope that they are a little more prepared and emboldened to share their faith.

Just reading the manual isn’t enough. Even a flight simulator isn’t enough. It’s time for some test flights! These kids are ready to go out and share their faith with their friends and maybe even some strangers that God places next to them on the airplane as they head off to various parts of the world next week.

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Nursing Home

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Jill

Yesterday Marit and I took the beginning and intermediate orchestras over to the nursing home. A few students played solos in addition to the orchestra pieces. I handed my camera off to one of the responsible students, so here are some of the pictures that capture the event:

This performance was in preparation for the Spring Concert on Sunday. Spring Concert means it’s the end of the year! Tomorrow is the last day of school, and next week the students have final exams. For most of my students, the Spring Concert is their final exam. It has been an amazing year, and I can’t believe it’s almost over!

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Small group sleepover

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Jill

Last Thursday was a German holiday: Christi Himmelfahrt, or Christ’s ascension. Since we had no school that day, we decided Wednesday night would be the perfect night to do a sleepover.

After a birthday celebration, chocolaty snacks, and a discussion on spiritual gifts, we all put on our PJs and watched a movie together while munching on popcorn. Emily and I read them a bedtime fairytale: The Twelve Dancing Princesses. It had a wonderfully fitting opening: ‘There was once a King who had twelve wonderfully beautiful daughters. They slept together in one great room . . . ‘ With all of our 8 girls sleeping in one room, the chatting and giggling continued for a while after lights out.

In the morning, the girls were goofy and happy (sounds like a bunch of dwarves instead of princesses!). We made them pancakes and bacon and sent them on their way to the various other activities of the day.

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Grilling

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Jill

As the weather started getting warmer, Emily started craving a grill – not just grilled food, but everything that a grill entails: sitting outside, flipping the meat and vegetables, playing with fire, etc. Plus, everything just tastes better cooked on a grill. So she bought one off of someone who is moving out of Germany soon, and now we get to grill out!

Funny anecdote: While we were cooking the food, we saw our landlady (aka the mayor’s wife) outside vacuuming the bushes. I had never seen anyone vacuum bushes before, so I asked what was going on. She said she was trying to rid the bush of the hungry caterpillars who were eating everything! She planned on spraying it with some kind of preventative pesticide after getting the grown caterpillars off the leaves.

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Europa Park 2012

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Jill

Randy Stuckey and I took the Intermediate Band and Orchestra students to Europa Park, a theme park with some fun roller coasters and other rides. I chaperoned a group of 4 elementary and middle school girls, so we had a mix of rides – everything from the Blue Fire steel roller coaster to the gentle hot air balloons.

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Science Experiment

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Jill

Last Friday I was packing up to head home, when I heard some cackling from outside my window. Yes, it was Mike ‘Greenie’ Greenhoe doing a crazy experiment in front of Ken’s Court.

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Thursday’s Goodbyes

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Jill

When people leave BFA, they often say it is harder to transition back to the US than to life in Germany. It might be that the reverse culture shock is more surprising and unexpected in your ‘familiar’ context, or it may be that few people have such close-knit communities as BFA, or a combination of factors. For whatever reason, it’s hard to go back.

Amanda Kelly was an RA for 2 years here at BFA and went back home to Colorado. Last week she came back to Germany to visit. It was really good to see her again, and especially good for me to hear from her how hard it is to go back.

I have 1 more year here at BFA before going back to the States. As I talked with Amanda, I started putting myself in her shoes. Back in Illinois, I will surely begin to miss the green hills, forest paths, waves of wildflowers, sunsets at castles, squealing girls, hugs from friends, German bread, amazing chocolate, the symphony of languages that is my daily routine, teaching 7 different instruments every week, and every aspect of life here in this home. Yes, it is home here. I just bought my plane tickets to go home for the summer, and a part of me wished I could just stay here for the summer and just relax. Every other summer my longing to go home was stronger. Now, that longing hasn’t disappeared; it has merely transformed into a longing to stay home. That was home before; this is home now.

So during the next year, I will soak up every memory possible in this place, enjoying living in the moment, and preparing myself mentally and emotionally to say goodbye to this home.

If you belong to my Illinois home, please pray for me when I make the transition. Be there for me when I come back; I’ll need your friendship, prayers, and understanding as I babble on about things that make no sense to you but mean the world to me.

So on Thursday I said goodbye to Amanda and began to think of all the other goodbyes that will happen in a year. One goodbye happened that very night. I decided to quit the Stadtmusik Kandern community band for various reasons – partially due to a conflict with my small group schedule for next year, and partly because it was a musically unfulfilling ensemble for me. So Thursday night I brought my flute, music stand, music, marching lyre, march book, and uniform to band for the last time. At the end of rehearsal, I gave a little goodbye speech in German, thanking everyone for their friendship and patience with my mistakes. Then we shared some sweet bread I brought, and several of the members hugged me and said we should stay in touch through facebook.

Part of me feels free now – free from my exhausting Thursday night commitment. The other part of me feels sad for the missed opportunities for relationships with these people from the community. Will I ever get to talk with them again? Will they ever hear the Gospel? How will they hear unless someone tells them? I guess the next step is to actively continue with a few friendships outside the context of band and in the context of more open discussion – like meals and shopping trips and invitations to church.

Ok, that’s enough rambling for one night. These are my thoughts just as they come. Next time I get a chance to blog, I’ll either be showing a video of the interesting science experiment I spied outside my window on Friday, or writing about the Europa Park trip on Saturday!

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Senior stuff

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Jill

Trying on Caps & Gowns

A couple weeks ago, the seniors tried on their caps and gowns to ensure proper fit. Of course, proper fit with a graduation gown is a somewhat “loose” term. Jill Young and I were checking to make sure the gown came down somewhere between the knee and ankle. The gown itself should fit any size person, but teenage girls have a different opinion.

Mikala – “Miss Musick, is it supposed to look like this?”

Me (checking the hem length) – “Yep, it’s the right size.”

Mikala – “Are you sure? I think mine is too big.”

Me – “No, it’s just right. It’s right in the middle of your calf.”

Mikala – “But it’s so baggy!”

Me – “They’re supposed to be like that.”

Mikala – “Can I make it cuter somehow? Like wearing a belt over it?”

My little brother David is graduating from Wheaton college in the next couple hours. In fact, the ceremony has already started! I don’t think he’s worried about making his gown look “cuter.” Congratulations, David! (thanks for shaving). I wish I could see him walk across the stage, turn the tassel, and magically transform into an esteemed adult. Being here in Germany means I occasionally miss out on life events back home, but whenever I “miss” something, it reminds me of why I’m here. Right now, I’m here for the students of BFA, and in May I will get to watch all 60 of my seniors graduate walk across the BFA stage and turn their tassels, and hopefully I have been a small part of their maturing toward adulthood.

Senior Transition Day

As these students mature, they have to “leave the nest.” Many of them have already left the security of their parents’ homes to live in BFA dorms, so they feel prepared for college. Yet college, even Christian colleges, do not have a supportive network to the extent of that BFA does. Part of our job as senior sponsors is to help prepare these students to leave the BFA environment.

Transition Day, held last Thursday, was a morning to discuss the ins and outs of transition from BFA to college. Part of leaving well is finishing the year on a good note, and saying goodbye to life here. Unlike most American schools, kids can’t come back to BFA in 5 years and find the same people there. Graduation is a real goodbye. Yes, reunions do happen, but reunions always require international travel, so the goodbyes have to happen now.

Though the community at BFA is great, these seniors will have to create a new community in college. A couple speakers gave some helpful advice in finding that community. They also discussed making wise choices in college and various other issues – some normal to all teenagers facing the dive into college life, and others specific to TCKs (third culture kids). The final portion of the event was a video from last year’s seniors discussing their transition to college. All 3 in the video said the transition was harder and took longer than expected. It was helpful for the seniors to see those who had gone before. As they go through tough times in their first semester, they can remember that those fellow BFA alumni also went through the same things their first year and yet survived and are even thriving.

Senior Skip Day

In a normal school, all the seniors decide to skip one day without any help from teachers. BFA is definitely not normal. In past years, seniors went to the Kandern pool for the whole day, which usually was rather boring as they had nothing to do but try to escape the enclosure.

This year, we combined skip day with transition day. For the skip portion of the day, we (the senior class sponsors and all the students) took a double decker bus to Luzern, Switzerland and let the kids roam around in groups of 3 for almost 4 hours. Amazingly, all 60 students and 8 staff showed up on time! Then we all ate dinner together at a restaurant in Kandern to finish off the evening.

Junior/Senior Banquet

JSB is like prom but without dancing. It’s partly a chance for the juniors to celebrate the seniors, and partly another excuse for the girls to get dressed up in their finest. This year it was on a Friday, which meant there was a bit of a panic from the girls – how could there possibly be enough time to get ready?!? The boys didn’t sweat it – until they realized they had to entertain their gorgeous dates for an evening!