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| Friday's icy view from a staff room window. |
Earlier this week, I found myself in a crowd of 400 Swedes who were warming up their voices with a lively round of “Vintern Rasat,” a song about the passing of winter into spring. My first choir rehearsal was characterized by laughter, confusion, and the comfort I feel when making music with other people.
I decided to join a choir because I miss being a part of a musical ensemble. I don’t have my French horn or guitar with me here, and as corny as it sounds, I feel as though part of me is missing when I don’t have weekly rehearsals of some sort. The group I’ve joined is the biggest choir in Stockholm and they prepare for two concerts a year.
The school auditorium where we rehearse is a sizeable, circular room with a lofty balcony and tall windowpanes that look out over snowy Rådmansgatan. Sage green and cream curtains hang around the windows, and the walls and ceiling are decorated with elaborate gold swirls.
Walking into the auditorium and feeling extra-aware of my lingual limitations, I scanned the alto section and then sat down next to a girl wearing a plaid shirt. Is it strange that I associate plaid with friendliness? Probably. Lucky for me, my plaid-to-friendly correlation proved to be true— and she has lived in Australia and Canada, so her English is excellent. She translated the director’s instructions when necessary and patiently helped me with the pronunciation of some tricky Swedish lyrics.
One of the pieces we’re preparing is a gospel tune sung in English. The best part of the evening was, without a doubt, watching 400 people work really hard to sing with an American accent. It was a positive moment for my self-esteem.
Although I learned a new song on Monday about the end of winter, spring is actually nowhere in sight. It’s been bitterly cold over the past week or two, and the heat in our apartment seems to be on the fritz—I woke this morning to find the temperature in the kitchen to be 12 degrees C. Brrr!
The wintry weather goes right along with my Narnia unit, though. After a few months of ESL-style classes, we’re finally getting into some literature—and I think the kids are liking it. Teaching from a novel provides a little more depth to my lessons, and a novel like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" offers endless activities, conversation starters, grammar reviews, character studies, and vocabulary builders. We made snowflakes last week! (With a dash of characterization discussion, thesaurus practice, and friendly competition, of course.)
I decided to join a choir because I miss being a part of a musical ensemble. I don’t have my French horn or guitar with me here, and as corny as it sounds, I feel as though part of me is missing when I don’t have weekly rehearsals of some sort. The group I’ve joined is the biggest choir in Stockholm and they prepare for two concerts a year.
The school auditorium where we rehearse is a sizeable, circular room with a lofty balcony and tall windowpanes that look out over snowy Rådmansgatan. Sage green and cream curtains hang around the windows, and the walls and ceiling are decorated with elaborate gold swirls.
Walking into the auditorium and feeling extra-aware of my lingual limitations, I scanned the alto section and then sat down next to a girl wearing a plaid shirt. Is it strange that I associate plaid with friendliness? Probably. Lucky for me, my plaid-to-friendly correlation proved to be true— and she has lived in Australia and Canada, so her English is excellent. She translated the director’s instructions when necessary and patiently helped me with the pronunciation of some tricky Swedish lyrics.
One of the pieces we’re preparing is a gospel tune sung in English. The best part of the evening was, without a doubt, watching 400 people work really hard to sing with an American accent. It was a positive moment for my self-esteem.
Although I learned a new song on Monday about the end of winter, spring is actually nowhere in sight. It’s been bitterly cold over the past week or two, and the heat in our apartment seems to be on the fritz—I woke this morning to find the temperature in the kitchen to be 12 degrees C. Brrr!
The wintry weather goes right along with my Narnia unit, though. After a few months of ESL-style classes, we’re finally getting into some literature—and I think the kids are liking it. Teaching from a novel provides a little more depth to my lessons, and a novel like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" offers endless activities, conversation starters, grammar reviews, character studies, and vocabulary builders. We made snowflakes last week! (With a dash of characterization discussion, thesaurus practice, and friendly competition, of course.)
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| Props to my dad for making me the best lamppost Hässelby has ever seen! |
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