In an effort to improve my poor singing ability I asked Ma'am Grace Alvarez (one of my colleagues here at ABS) if I could sit in on the choir class that she teaches on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and sing with the basses. I also did this because so many of the students voiced their opinion that I should join them for choir. (Insert your "joyful noise" joke here.) Due to unforeseen cicumstances I've only made it to one class session so far, but that one went reasonably well. Especially considering it was the first time I've really been part of a professional style choir. I may have done extremely poorly, you'll have to ask Raymond who sat in front of me if you really want to know. If nothing else, at least it is fun to do the voice warm-up exercises at the beginning of class.
From the "things-you-don't-care-about-but-I'm-telling-you-anyway" department, ever since I dipped my toes in the ocean this past Sunday afternoon my sandals have smelled like wet dog. I'm trying to decide if the dogs have been sleeping on my sandals. We have two main dogs here at the seminary, as well as several other contributing neighborhood dogs. Capo and Zildjian are our two main campus dogs here and they take care of important things like chasing cats as long as it isn't too hot, sleeping all day on the sand pile, running around all night barking like fools, and inviting themselves to community meals here on campus. I'm hoping that they found time to sleep on my sandals a few times; otherwise it means that my feet stink to high heaven. I'm not ruling out the possibility; but I can't smell it on my feet, just the sandals. The boys are going to try and wash them for me, hopefully that works out.
One of the truly enjoyable parts of my experience here (and frankly there are several) has been my re-acquaintance with an object now largely extinct: the hymnal. One of my favorite things to do is go up to the "penthouse" which is the unfinished roof/third floor of the new building here on campus with a hymnal and flip through the songs seeing how many of the tunes I can remember from my childhood. I've also had the chance to meet some new-to-me hymns like "In the Service of the King" which I like a lot. As a corollary I've become re-acquainted with the flat out glacial pace at which I read music. It has been approximately 14 years (8th grade, I think) since I had to read music. Shaking out the cobwebs doesn't begin to describe that process, but it has been fun.
The thing I've been missing this week is my fiction books. Summer was always a time when I spent a lot of time reading whatever I wanted. I usually read "The Lord of the Rings" every summer as well as a few other timeless classics like the "North and South" trilogy and the instructional manual for my wristwatch.
Other than some lower than expected scores on my mid-terms I think that classes are going pretty well. I'm willing to chalk up some of the poor scores by my students to them taking one of my tests for the first time. Otherwise I'm hoping they just didn't study. I had an excellent conversation with Ma'am Linda Columna (another of my esteemed colleauges here at ABS) about this very topic, and was very encouraged that she had noticed some of the same things I noticed and had reached some similar conclusions. She also assuaged my fear that I was a horrible teacher. For that I was very grateful.
I am eagerly anticipating my brief trip to the States, not just because of the event that I will be a part of but because of the people I will get to see. When I was scheduling my time here in the Philippines, a quick trip home after a few months in country seemed like an excellent idea. I still think it is an excellent idea and am therfore forced to conclude that God was the one who came up with that one by providing an excellent opportunity to do so.
"I am happy in the service of the King; I am happy oh so happy!"
Nick
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