back in the us of a

goodness gracious i haven't sat down to write in a long while... where to start?

i got back last week from a 2 week long adventure in the us of a; one week with 20 of my high school choir kids in DC and the other split between katie and dundas (in DC) and my gramma, aunt and uncle, and cousins in ohio. what a whirlwind! some of the highlights from the trip:

- airport hassles, we'd filled out the wrong forms and when we arrived at customs in the us had to fill out different forms for ALL TWENTY kids. insanity ensues, including a few security officials barking at me in english and my answering them in spanish without thinking about it. ridiculous, and i would not recommend offering to be responsible for getting 20 people who don't speak english through customs. not exactly the greatest highlight of the trip, but it definitely stands out in my mind as a lesson. i will never complain about going through customs again, so long as i don't have 20 teenagers in tow.

- lenin, norman, and magda getting interviewed by "telemundo", apparently one of the largest hispanic television stations in the area, meeting the ambassador, chumming it up and getting stuck yahda yahda-ing when all i wanted was to make my way to the wine table! (my god i don't care if you were the previous nicaraguan ambassador to the states just give me some shiraz).

- as we arrived at our dorm at georgetown after our first concert at the nicaraguan embassy, brian (who started the music program here and was on the trip to help chaperone) turned to me and said "um. i lost the key to the common room." (where we had forced all the kids to leave their room keys because then we could be "responsible" for them). i shook my head. typical. after going to the front desk at another dorm to beg the poor work study students to unlock one of the kids' doors, we walked back into our dorm building and could hear yelping from above. figuring it was the kids causing a ruckus, disregarding the fact that the elevator wasn't working, i tromped up the stairs to the 7th floor while preparing a lecture in my mind. when i got up to our floor, i was informed that the elevator was STUCK with 5 of the girls inside. the doors were cracked just enough to peek through and take a picture (i, of course, was absolutely cracking up at the whole situation and not really the sympathetic person you'd want in control of things at that moment). we called a security guard, and 5 minutes later a 7 foot tall black man came bursting up the stairs screaming "EVERYONE OUT OF THE HALL. I MEAN IT KIDS! NOW!" i was a bit shaken and trying not to laugh in his face (he was super intense) and tried to tell him "they're from nicaragua, they don't speak english" as he yelled in the elevator "PUSH THE RED BUTTON. DO YOU HEAR ME?! PUSH THE RED BUTTON!" i could tell he was just scaring the absolute daylights out of the girls. with his brute strength, our incredible hulk of a security guard managed to single handedly pry the doors apart and the girls came flooding out in a rush of tears and exclamations. we had a 10 minute reunion in which i held fifteen year-old roberta as she sobbed into my shirt, and let her cry a bit before asking "but won't your mom think this was hilarious?". she nodded through her tears. and contrary to my revised thoughts on the elevator (i took the stairs the rest of the week) and my expectations of the kids (you'd think they'd be a little wary of it after that experience) bright and early the next morning they piled on the elevator one after one without appearing the least bit tentative. lesson learned?!

- hitting "the toombs" (infamous georgetown bar) with karla (the other fabretto chaperone, and my best girl friend in nicaragua), and marveling at the ridiculousness of the frat boys. speaking in spanish about a guy sitting next to us who turned around and retorted with a haughty spanish remark. ooooops. having a guy offer to buy me a drink, taking a shot with him and talking to him for about 10 minutes, turning around to talk to karla for a moment and having him run out on me BEFORE paying the bill... complaining to the bartender and his reply "oh that happens all the time here. you're in georgetown!" my thoughts on the situation: if that ever happened in montana someone would get their ass kicked! needless to say, the cute bartender took pity on me and ended up buying me the drink. closing down the bar as i talked to the bouncer about children’s' art and what an important effect it has on the world. ha! what a teacher nerd. when i get tipsy i talk about my students... lordy.

- a night of sharing music with a group of teenage musicians from serbia and a children's choir from the DC area. a very low-key event, potluck style, forcing of kids to sit together even though they weren't able to talk (somehow laughter still rose from those tables, clinking and bouncing off the high vaulted church ceiling). each group performed, then the director of the DC choir (who's just a TAD bit more experienced than i am!) had picked out a song for the kids to sing together called "one song". she passed out sheet music to the 80-some kids and a few adults, and as magda and i joined their voices i felt a lump in my throat and couldn't stop the tears... "if we all sing one song, one song of love, one song of peace, one song to make all our troubles cease, just imagine what tomorrow could bring... if we all sing one song"... their voices rose and fell under her expert direction, and though my kids don't speak english they were smiling and obviously impacted. the pianist taught the kids and the audience some sign language, and then they performed the song with full instruments and movements and i just stood there wishing i could bottle the moment, the harmony, how simple life can be when we are willing to work together towards a common dream. after the song, a man i'd met earlier came up and introduced himself as the "drum instructor" for the DC choir. he was from west africa, a mountain of a man with a monumental smile and mischievous eyes which shined as he helped to pass out 40 jembe drums and handfuls of other random percussion instruments to all the kids, who'd sat in a clump at the front of the church in chattering excitement. the man led a 20 minute jam session and i watched his lack of inhibitions spread through the kids as those who started to play tentatively gained more and more confidence and were soon wailing away on the drums with abandon, grinning from ear to ear. my students allowed the innocence of their short childhood to shine through in these minutes, leaving me breathless and skipping around gleefully. when kids are jamming together and creating together, all sorts of good energy comes forth! what a burst of loving kindness! easily my favorite moment as a music teacher yet.
- a day at the museums... my favorite part being at the beginning of the "evolution" exhibition in the museum of natural history where gabby (one of the volunteers state-side who'd basically organized the trip for us) and i talked about how the kids were unable to learn critical thinking with the current educational system in nicaragua (she grew up there) and how the church influences so much of what people unquestioningly take to be true: ie: that evolution was falsified by scientists. we asked a few of the boys at the beginning of the exhibit whether or not they believed in evolution, to which they answered "no. because that's not the way it was". and left it at that. gabby smiled at me slyly and proceeded to explain the exhibit in great detail (i swear if you see it you will not be able to believe in anything OTHER than evolution as the reason we're here now) punctuating certain points. by the end of our time with the dinosaurs the boys looked at gabby and i and admitted with sheepish grins that "maybe" they had been mistaken, and that "maybe" they should think for themselves about things like that instead of just believing what the church says. (YES! SCORE ONE for critical thinking!). beyond that, the kids were in awe of the museums, they'd never seen nor expected to see anything like them. we also went to the museum of air and space, which was incredible. the sheer size of the rockets which propel shuttles to the moon, i have this lovely image of ileana bending over a railing to touch a shuttle rocket with her mouth wide open at the sheer grandeur of the object, turning to me as if to exclaim "can you believe THIS?!".

- saturday night at a piano bar with katie (after she brought me some chicken curry! amazing!) where we made our way to the piano and didn't leave for the rest of the evening, singing at the top of our lungs to every single song... until she slipped the piano man a sheet of paper which read "my friend callie came all the way from nicaragua to hear 'i've got friends in low places' and she'd love to sing it with you" therefore rendering me helpless to resist singing in front of the 300 some people in the bar... gulp! actually it was awesome, probably one of the better renditions i've ever done of it (most assuredly better than at cousin erin's wedding, regs?!). then taking a taxi back to georgetown (about 8 blocks) because katie insisted i couldn't walk and balking at the cost: $8. WHAT?! that could get me from managua to masaya by taxi! outrageous! i could never take taxis around in the us after being in managua so much, where you can go anywhere across the city for less than $2.

- a day spent at the international children’s arts festival (basically the reason we came to the us in the first place), singing on a stage which framed the capitol building. mainly, the highlight being singing our own version of bob marley's "one love" (translation of my spanish words being: here's a song for people who are fighting, we are asking you why, why? there's no politician in this whole world, who can take care of our future?). right at ya george bush! bam!
a 50 foot by 30 foot lego model of the us (you could build and contribute parts, and the kids spent about 2 hours playing there... you can never be too old for legos!), starting to paint a mural (as we watched other very artistic kids creating paintings for bill and hillary clinton, bill gates etc.) then having a woman come over to us FREAKING out because we weren't "art olympiad winners" and we weren't supposed to TOUCH the paints... i got a good laugh out of it. i hope bill clinton got some stick-figure drawing which says "nicaragua" and "coro fabrettiono" on it! ha! all the girls got henna tattoos, and we all had our names written in arabic. there were peace workshops, and an art gallery of children's paintings from all over the world. incredible stuff! peace through art! one love indeed!

- the last concert of our trip, on a side stage at the kennedy center (an impressive giant of a building, with 70 foot tall ceilings and hefty chandeliers... red curtains and all). we spent an hour testing the sound system, another hour listening to the serbian group (the same ones who'd performed with us at the church earlier in the week) tweak their instruments. we were finally set to go backstage when i turned around to talk to my aunt kelly (who was there with my cousins michelle and josh and my uncle david) and did a triple take. my DAD walked up the aisle. a tearful reunion in front of all my kids ensued with me proclaiming "es mi papa! es mi papa!" and them (confused by me as usual) laughing and pretending they knew what was going on. my dad surprised me! the concert was short and definitely our best of the week, and i was elated afterwards as we walked to a local italian restaurant for a "reception" with the president of the org's dad. i got to share dinner with my dad and other family, and felt extremely joyful. the kids started to sing (we took over the upper balcony of the restaurant), guitars were brought out of nowhere, and we were treated to an hour-long concert. we also performed a rousing version of "one love" (which the president's dad claimed to be his "new favorite song") and the kids were jovial and basking in the light of their success. an excellent evening.

- dropping everyone off at the airport! i don't know if i've ever been more relieved in my life. hugs all around, and promises that i'd actually return to nicaragua... saludos sent to my dad. i took a 20 minute taxi ride to my dad's hotel (right outside of DC) and met with my aunt and uncle and cousins and had breakfast then we hit the road for the 8 hour drive to ohio. they apologized furiously for making me drive with them (and i'm thinking "are you KIDDING! this is LUXURY! we have AIR CONDITIONING!). we ended up singing disney and show tunes for the last 4 hours of the trip, which i think made my uncle david ponder jumping out his childproof window... but made aunt kelser (the tone deaf version of maria from the 'sound of music') extremely happy, and passed the time well.

- time spent with gramma kay in her apartment in ohio, mainly playing scrabble or telling stories and talking about old pictures. we did some shopping and went to lunch, and played and played and played scrabble. gramma invited her two friends mert (age 92) and nancy (age 88) over to play with us for an afternoon which was very exciting. actually the best part of being there ended up being a trip to gramma's physical therapy appointment, where i got to meet her therapist (who she told me "he's SO cute. but he's married. and his wife's having a baby in two weeks") and took some candid photos of her workout (which she claimed not to want but later was so funny about). i admire her so much, she's going through her 8th knee surgery on her left knee and just refuses to be confined to a wheelchair. she wants to walk! her determination and the manner in which she perseveres in her health issues inspires me greatly. we also had a great discussion on "why jesus isn't my best friend" and i think we came to a good understanding that i can think jesus was a pretty awesome guy, but believe that there have been other prophets like him in our world, that he's not the only one. but gramma's pretty persistent that jesus is HER best friend, and not only that, but after i'd spent an hour or so showing her how to put digital pictures on her computer she exclaimed "oh! you can just do so much with the internet! i just thank jesus every day for the internet." i nearly had to sit down for fear laughter would crumble my body. "yes. yes, gramma. jesus did invent the internet."
she retorted cheerfully "well, he sure did help us find it!". oh jesus, finder of the internet... maybe someday we CAN be best friends.

- an extended weekend in DC with katie and dundas- hookah bars, sushi, birthday celebrations (with lots of beerpong, yummy pizza, and carrying on), eastern market, feasting on ben & jerry's, lots of giggles and catching up. dinner date with margo including an adventure to a super sketchy safeway to buy taco supplies, some ice cold blue moon and guinness, and all sorts of excellent conversation. linz's sister giving me a killer haircut, time spent decorating katie's ridiculous house for the parties (with both fourth of july and cinco de mayo decorations), incredible weather, awesome people...

- taking the 2 hour metro/bus trek to the dulles airport only to find that my flight to nicaragua had been cancelled due to an apparent hurricane occupying the air between DC and central america. the woman helping me at the TACA (read: super sketchy central/south american airline) being called to an urgent meeting and deserting her post as camera crews from local news stations showed up to interview folks in line who'd each come to the airport with an average of 8 bags... carrying their lives in duffel bags and tupperware containers. i turned to the pilot standing in line behind me who'd been on the phone with one of his buddies asking about the "hurricane" and asked him what the heck was going on. he shrugged his shoulders "dunno, but there sure as heck isn't a hurricane anywhere between here and nicaragua. they're totally lying to us." i just started laughing. of COURSE they would lie to us, rather than just saying there's a problem with the plane... my lovely airline helper came back after 20 minutes and looked flustered and told me i'd have to come back at 3 AM the next day. um. no. if i chose that program i'd either be 1) stuck at the airport for the next 14 hours, 2) stuck paying for an airport hotel, or 3) stuck paying for a taxi from adam's morgan neighborhood to dulles at 2 AM (read: at least 60 bucks). i ended up rescheduling my flight for the next available afternoon flight (i had two choices: 5 AM or 5 PM flights) and headed back into the city the same way i came. katie was working, and i don't have a phone... so i borrowed someone's cell phone on the bus and left her a message, giggling and shaking my head in utter disbelief. seems like my luck in nicaragua with transportation followed me all the way to DC. i ended up taking the metro to the right spot but got off on the wrong side of dupont square, walked 6 blocks with all my stuff and ended up at a park i'd never seen. i decided that rather than despair i'd do the only thing that made sense at the time, which of course meant picnicking at the park with the turkey sandwich i'd brought for the plane. i ended up talking with a homeless man who shared my bench, our conversation speckled with his observations about the changing city he'd called home his entire life as he carefully rolled cigarettes and politely refused the other half of my sandwich. he smiled to the skies and remarked on the weather being incredible (which it was- breezy, sunny, the perfect afternoon) as i watched the other park patrons- a gothic garbed couple tangled under a tree sharing headphones, a tailored-suit sporting businessman walking his groomed poodle, a woman in stirrup stretch pants and a mesh tank top engaged in a heated argument with whoever happened to be occupying her 10 foot radius. i wondered if any of these people smiled to the skies in the same way as my bench companion. as he used his long dirt-filled fingernails to smoke his 5th cigarette down to the roach and put the remnants securely in the pocket of his duct tape patched down coat, i wanted to thank him for praising such small happinesses, for still looking to the skies with reverence and thanks even though he'd so obviously fallen on hard times. instead, i smiled at the sky, smiled at him, and walked on with a lighter step to find my way.