1...2....a-1,2,3,4!
On Wednesday night after the last day of school before Christmas break, the entire student body marched though the streets of Copan with capes and candles mumbling, humming, screaming, pretending to sing by actually just moving their mouth (which is actually very easy to differentiate from actual singing even if you can't hear because you and the gringa are screaming yourself) Christmas carols. It actually turned out to look pretty cool, like an evening vigil, but the kicker was that Abby and I were the ad hoc “music directors” for this event. It all started with a “hey, would you and Abby like to help with the song practice today?”one morning. We assumed that meant there was someone running the show, and we were going to be there for moral and volume support, but when the time came to practice, it was just us- we had to wing leading Christmas songs for the first time ever in front of everyone (which of course was a disaster because it ended up being just us singing). Did I mention that half of the songs were in Spanish and that we had never heard them before [except for maybe el Tamborilero (yes, you know it-... ro-po-po-pon]? Exactly. Think about knowing just the part that goes "ro-po-po-pon" and then trying to play it/lead it for 200 kids and teachers.
Some of Abby's students pre-parade.
Well, by the end of it, I was bringing my guitar to the school-wide practices to help keep everyone together or at least on the same words (because without it we always had 2 endings to the songs, 1 from the left side and 1 from the right- for example, "You'll go down in history!...istory!) and I began to realize that the show on Wednesday night was going to be up to us. I say "show" because plenty of times the students were doing more talking than singing, and the rest were just watching me play the guitar and Abby sing her heart out. Concert five!
However, the night of the event, another Honduran teacher Hernán and Michael (the other 4th grade teacher who actually is an amazing, jazz drummer) with a snare drum attached to his waist were leading the parade with us. We marched and sang (see video to see who had the most Christmas spirit :) around town, finally ending up in the central park or as the locals say parque central where we repeated our entire set list (with a little grumbling and even quieter singing from the Mayataners), and then the kindergartners and 1st grade had special presentations/songs for all the families in attendance.
Bottom line: Parents loved it. Kinder and 1st grade are always cute when they try to sing in costumes. It was a success.
I was also the accompaniment for the 1st grade who sang Michael Jackson's “We Are the World.”
BTW have we mentioned how popular the (late) King of Pop is in Central America? During the Christmas party in 4A classroom, all the boys took turns dancing (hip shaking, leg shakes, moonwalks, and even do-the-Egyptian) to “Beat it” and “Thriller” (- played using my iPod) in front of the class. Then we served popcorn and watched a movie. While all of this was happening in 4th grade, the cute, mini students in 2A with Ms. Abby were taking not 1, but 2 tests! Then they were given homework over the break!! haha. Poor 2nd graders :) They still love her though- we know this because they keep writing her notes (while they should be listening in class) telling her so.
Candles and capes! This was great idea, nice visual effect, until a 4th grade girl's hair caught on fire and charred it up to her scalp.
Who ever said the REINDEER have to be cheery? It ain't all fun and games. (See headline below)
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