Mmmm carrotgingerorange juice

It's true. I ordered some today from this cafe and it was really tasty. £2 though so I don't know that I'll be getting another one soon...

So today was my first day doing the teaching thing. It was a lot of fun. Today I taught at schools A and C (just to keep them anonymous). Although they are a few miles from each other, I was lucky to be able to catch a ride with one of the other music teachers who was also going from A to C. At the first school, we had a group of about 20 or so. First we learned a new song and sang it (Calypso!) and then each of the teachers took half the group to work on getting notes to come out. I stayed to help with brass and percussion. Now these kids are in the equivalent of 4th grade and have already done a class on djembes and recorders and now have band instruments. I liked that the teachers used solfege and that the children were pretty comfortable with it. Also, they are not shy to sing when asked. The full band rehearsal was okay. I helped the percussion keep a steady beat and use good stick techniques. All of this is a big change from working with a HS wind ensemble last semester trying to convey the subtleties of Robert Russell Bennett and make some very fine music. But I welcome the change! The experience here is going to be just as valuable if not more I think.

At the second school, we followed a similar scheme with band, except there were about 50 kids (!!!) so we made a bit more of a racket but they are good kids. I also sat in on some flute lessons.

Favorite quote of the day-
Teacher: "I don't know why your memory is off today!"
9-year-old-student: "I know... It's like a sieve."

Tomorrow, I need to be at school at 9:30. School L is much further away too... I need to leave early and take two tubes and a bus plus walking to get there. Fun fun!

In other news, I don't have the video from this past weekend's walks done yet. I was hoping to get to it soon, but I need to make sure I get to bed early enough so I'm not a zombie in the morning. When it is done, I'll post it. I dislike these boring posts almost as much as you do I'm sure!