Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Fifth grade ran out of steam today and the teacher declared a game of hangman. Fifth grade is tricky, partly because only three of the 20 students are girls, and partly because the bilingual program only came to the school two years ago. Because they didn't have the advantage of starting young, fifth is struggling with more or less the same lessons as the third graders: past, present, future, and whatever vocabulary their science book demands (jungle animals, currently).

Hangman is fun, though. A boy spaced this phrase on the blackboard:

"- - - - - - - - - - - -"

"A" someone said (yelled).

" - - A - - - - - - A - -"

One of the three girls shot a hand up. "Yes, I know, it is Play Football!" she said. Correct. Everyone laughed. Football=soccer, remember...all the kids are obsessed. "It's so easy to know what boys are thinking about" she said in Spanish as she spaced her word on the board. A long word:

"- - - - - - - - - -"

They still don't know how to guess. Instead of starting with vowels they choose the obscure consonants. The first correct guess, with half the man hanged, was "C"

"C - - C - - - - -"

"Crocodile!" said (yelled) one boy. Correct. "It's so easy to know what girls are thinking about."

Friday, December 11, 2009

Papa said photos, put up photos. So! While I wait for photos of Lisboa from Hannah, and photos of floor-mosaicking from RocĂ­o, and photos of last summer from Elen...let's look at pictures of music.

Did I even mention how nice my single day back in Berlin and reunion with Heiko was? It was about as pleasant as something exciting can be. We just mainly were near guitars. I sang along with Heiko at somebody's birthday party and at this concert here at a patio bar/gallery:



We are in a box. The door is supposed to be closed, the musicians only visible by screen and peephole, but since all the kids at the event were playing inside when it was time for Heiko to perform we let them stay. They played all the instruments I had been nervous about having to play while Heiko sang his songs, and then we all sang "Beat it" and it was REALLY FUN only we were all yelling and one littler girl started to cry. Which is why we put children, generally, in cradles and parks and not in boom boxes.

Onward! In November I met these lovely Swedish ukulelists, and because they are tall and beautiful and like Beirut and the Magnetic Fields I took them to Eszenas, that flamenco/tea/hippie/unlicensed place I always talk about.



They are Martin and Inti, and for this month we are in a band called The Autism. We hope the name does not sound mean, it is meant in homage.



So this is what some people look like these days!