Hey it’s been a while!
It’s been so crazy busy here between my school,
my show, Carnival and just catching up in grading that I haven’t been able to
write for a while. Well, since I last posted these are the highlights:
On Wednesday, March 8, the school had what they
called Sports Day. It was basically a day off from school and the entire high
school traveled to a field where they played Ultimate Frisbee, football
(soccer to us), volleyball, basketball, bubble soccer (kind of) or just sat
around and talked all day. It was a fun day except for some kids being very
childish or immature. We got back a little early so we got to just hang out
while all the students waited for rides and left.
On Saturday, March 12, there was a Drama Club
practice where the kids performed for the first time together for Mrs. Kazerooni
and Dr. Mohamed (owners of the school) to try and get parents approved to come.
We impressed them and got the approval we wanted. There was also a practice for
the Fashion show and Talent Show I had been working with as a part of the
Carnival.
A few days later, Tuesday, we had practice for
Drama Club all school day and even for a while after school. It was crazy
because we didn’t have lights for half the day, therefore we couldn’t do makeup,
and then we had everything all at once. Also, the auditorium we performed in is
not very suitable for a “real” performance like what we were aiming for because
there are tiny, tiny rooms off to the side where actors and actresses must wait
and hide silently. Every sound from backstage carried out to the audience and
if they were looking out at the stage, they were probably seen by audience
members.
We finally had our Drama Club performances on
Wednesday and Thursday last week! It was very good and I was majorly impressed
with the students and what they accomplished. I got lots of praise from
parents, students, and teachers the next few days and even today. From the
sounds of it, they have never seen a show in the school where students had to
perform in “professional lighting” and where audiences were actually sitting in
the dark. I even had a student say it was the first time she’s seen a show
where everyone had their lines completely memorized! Overall, it was awesome
and it went over fairly smoothly. I’m happy it’s done but I’m sad because that
means that most of these students I’ve been working with will graduate very
soon. We did awesome for two nights of production and many people not really
wanting to go but being very supportive in the end. Many teachers and students
have already said that they are excited for next year’s performance and asked
if I could do another one this year (NO WAY!).
Lastly, this past Saturday was Carnival. Tons
of students and their families were there. Carnival here is exactly what it
sounds like-chaos, children, fun and screams. Oi that was a day. Anyways, since
I had to work in the auditorium as a self-appointed stage manager for the
fashion show and talent show (with another teacher-Miah), I came early enough
that I would be able to look around and see what booths everyone had and what
businesses were represented around the school. And to eat, that’s the important
part. Everything was fairly cheap and delicious and it was really nice outside
so I was sad I was going to have to stay inside the rest of the day. It was
pretty good for the most part and things went fairly smoothly-except for
running about 45 minutes late because someone included a huge presentation that
they didn’t tell anyone about (not bitter or anything). There was also a riot.
That’s why the 2nd show ended early. Without getting into too many
details, there was 2 shows. The first one was for parents and the school owners
for the most part. The 2nd one was for students. During the 2nd
show, there was a small group added in that couldn’t perform in the first one.
There was a miscommunication about that and they actually weren’t supposed to
perform in either show, so when we told them they couldn’t perform, they
freaked out and started getting the audience riled up and then when the
students started chanting, we shut down the entire show because we had lost 
control. There was only 1 show that didn’t get to go again but still. It took a
good 30 minutes to get all the pissed off students and adults out of the
auditorium but it was a mess-some teachers were screamed at or even physically
assaulted because of this riot. Oh, but don’t worry, it gets better. Seniors
are getting a reward for all of this miscommunication and, to my knowledge, no
one has been suspended or anything because of their actions.
Anyways, I need to go get ready for the senior
formal-which is the equivalent of prom and then some in this country. See ya!
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