I started writing this post a few weeks ago, when the first following sentence used to be ‘Last week’ and not ‘A few weeks ago’, but before I start writing about the exciting few days of this week, I’d like to share what happened before, so here we go.
A few weeks ago we went to Clinton. We were supposed to work there for 4 days- have presentations, workshops, teach songs and perform on Thursday. Well, out of 4 days, we got to work for only a day and a half, because of the ‘snow days’.
Marcus felt bad (we all did) for not having the chance to perform with children’s choirs on Thursday, but we couldn’t stay in Clinton, since we had already planned on doing a program in Clinton Township and Lansing, and we had to leave on Sunday. But we decided to go back to Clinton Tuesday evening, so we would make up for those days on Wednesday and Thursday. Well, if you know anything about my luck, it won’ surprise you that those 2 out of 2 days were snow days, as well.
Thanks to my Clinton host mom Katie, I got a nickname ‘Snow Day Fairy’. But my Snow Day Family was nice, so they took me to cinema, and I got to see Frozen (I guess it was just appropriate, and yes, I joined that part of the world who loves that movie). I showed my host siblings all the weird stuff that I brought. At some point, my little host brother Jack used the flute as a telescope, but, unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of that moment. Feel free to imagine that, though. Btw, he used it to look at the floor. We also played a game called ‘When I Was Little’, in which each person was supposed to talk about something they did when they were little and the best story would win. Well, it was funny enough to hear a three- year- old saying ‘when I was little’, so it’s not really a surprise that Jack’s stories would always win, since he did interesting things when he was little, many of which included farting on the chair, farting inside the house, farting on the floor (my personal fave), farting on the floor outside the house etc.
We did have a concert that Thursday, after all, but we didn’t get to perform with children’s choirs, since we haven’t rehearsed, except for that little time the week before.
There was a boy, George, who came up to me after our show. He bought our cd and asked for autographs, but the thing that made me very ‘Awwww and ohhhh!’ was the fact that he was holding the scores of ‘Zeko i potocic’ (Croatian song that we did on our rehearsal), and he said that not only he would keep that, but he wants to frame it!
But at least we did the concert and I met Joyce, our host teacher in Clinton. Joyce is an experienced host and a great person (she borrowed me Bossypants by Tina Fey! Do you understand how great she is?!).
Whenever we went to her house, for dinner or rehearsal, we really felt like home. She also took us to see musical The Little Mermaid, in which her son Nathan played Sebastian. I don’t write this because I know him, but he was really the best actor in that piece. He is so great! I mean, I find it amazing that the musical was performed by high school kids only, who were so professional and so good! But Nathan was… Sebastian!
Meanwhile, we performed in Chippewa Valley High School in Clinton Township, where I got to work with such a nice female choir!
That’s also the place where I met James, the kindest music teacher who shared all of his sheet music with all of us.
-Oh, you’re interested in jazz? Here you go! This is a nice arrangement!
I assume heaven looks at least a bit like James’s private music library (esp considering the fact that at that very moment, there was a lot of delicious food in that very room).
In Clinton Township I stayed with Maria’s family. We’ve been to a Super Bowl party before I got to her house (and you can tell you’re having a Super Bowl party with musicians when all you watch at a Super Bowl party is Renée Fleming singing the national anthem). Maria was a very hospitable host. Well, I am always so grateful and moved by the sacrifices people make in order to host one of the singers. So, in this case, Maria’s daughter Mary let me stay in her room, while she slept in the living room. How can you possibly not be grateful when you experience such things?
We also performed in Montessori school in Lansing, for children whose knowledge blew us away. And another thing about Lansing. We stayed with Marcus’s mom, who hosted S.O.U.L. singers ever since this project began, so she knows about this more than any of the singers in our quartet does and therefore, she was the perfect host. Not to mention that we got gifts. She said that’s something that she does every year for all four singers… she made pillows for us with these little notes! Ahhhh, I love it. And it’s already made it so much more comfortable and easier for me to sleep in the S.O.U.L. train (our van). Even though, I’m not ‘the sleeper’. Whenever we get in the van, Shih- Hao is the first to say: -Okay, good night, everyone!
Now I’m off to sleep myself, but since tomorrow’s my day off, I promise to write about the wonderful week in Chicago and Crystal Lake.
Okay, good night, everyone!
Sonja
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