So I'm sure you've all read about the earthquake by now...it sounds and looks very scary down there. Every time I go to CNN.com the death toll has increased. I spoke to a friend down there who is doing the same thing as me for a year and she is fine. She lives in Changsha, the capital of the Hunan Province. She said they felt shaking but everyone was fine.
Another friend, in the Peace Corps is in Chengdu, a city in the Sichuan Province (the area affected) and he is fine! He said he was at the gym and didn't feel anything! (very strange).
So here I am with a new blog! It is about my performance at the Spring Arts Festival. I have two videos which I tried to upload all night into the blog. It didn't work so I'll try to figure out a way to share them. They're hilarious.
I may be the only Britney fan left out there, but I’m sure proud of it. So when our school informed us that we would have to perform for all the students and teachers at Yi Zhong (No. 1 Middle School), I crossed my fingers and hoped the group would pick a tune from my girl. It turns out, I am the last Britney fan in China (and probably in America as well.)
Instead, our group split. The guys chose to memorize and perform “Rapper’s Delight,” a task where I saw more effort and dedication than I’ve seen from the three of them combined all year! The four of us girls chose the theme song of 1996, “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls. And “Hey,” I thought, “I can be Posh Beckham for a night—except for that whole cruel, emotionless stare. I’m not that Hollywood.”
The Spring Arts Festival--Many Chinese schools hold festivals where their students and teachers are able to show off their artistic side. If you remember, we performed “American Girl” at the New Years festival!! We were all over the Tongliao newspapers for that one. We’ve been in taxi’s where the driver will pull out his mobile phone and show us our performance. It’s bizarre!! Everyone seems to have a copy of the foreigners’ performance!
Their second yearly performance was a three-day affair where students and teachers prepared extravagant pieces, which made Tuesday nights on American Idol look amateur. The High School had a three-hour performance the first night, the Primary School and Kindergarten had three hours the following morning, and the Middle School claimed three hours that night.
These Primary School boys were so cute. They were pretending to play in a rock band while they lipsynched to a Chinese rock song. (At one point, one of them forgot he was playing the guitar and just stood there!)
A group of thirty, five-year-olds danced together for a five minute performance flawlessly and with perfect choreography. (They were FIVE years old. I would have screwed up after the first thirty seconds!) Teachers sang the Beijing Opera like they were the stars of the real thing and two freshman girls from the High School, one on the piano and one on the guitar shared a song they co-wrote which sounded like it had just come off the Chinese radio. There were traditional Mongolian and Tibetan dresses and the most beautiful customary outfits.
I think the greatest part of this Chinese tradition is what it allows the population of the school to do. Since we are always VIP, we sat in the front row and were constantly being served with cold water during the performances but it allowed me to turn around and look at the entire auditorium. It was filled with a thousand students all sitting with their hands and chins hanging over the seats in front of them because they were staring in awe. When a new group of teachers were up for their performance, we would hear a section of the auditorium erupt in cheers supporting their teacher. It is just such a nice celebration and the love and respect between teachers and students was really evident.
On the final night, it was our turn to share our (heinous) voices with the wide-eyed crowd of thousands. Our performance was outside in the middle of the campus square where we were surrounded by the High School on our right, the Middle School behind us, the Primary School and Kindergarten to our left and a long table of Party Officials and School Officials in front of us with front row seats.
The School and Communist Party Officials at the head table.
They waited for the sun to go down and the show began. All of the best performers were chosen from each day. Two from the High School, two from the Middle School, two from the Primary School and two from the Kindergarten, as well as a few of the teachers’ performances. We were the guest stars, since we hadn’t performed already and the school was anxiously waiting!
Here is a picture of our performance!
We waited patiently for the seventh spot in the program, and it was our turn! The crowd roared when they announced the “Si ge Nu Ren Meiguoren Laoshi!!” (The four female American Teachers!) We grabbed the microphones and approached the center of the square. God gave me many gifts but singing is NOT one of them, so when the music began, I said, “Screw it,” and belted out the lyrics to “Wannabe” like I wanted to win a screaming contest. Three minutes later, we were done! The crowd didn’t understand anything we sang but I think they appreciated our synchronized dance moves because they cheered and screamed for us until we were long off the stage in the middle of our campus. And that my friends, was my Britney moment…and I probably sounded like her live too! (No offense Britney, but we are no Mariahs!)
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