Emerson singing “Deck the Halls”– D56

Ok, so the title is a little misleading. What I refer to is that on performing arts we sang Deck the Halls, practicing for our Christmas carol. We recorded it and when listening to it we found out we sing awful haha.

Then, we read and discussed some Emerson’s Self-Reliance. We talked about the consistency of being genuine with yourself and your actions, and of not being afraid of not being consistent with your actions per se as long as they are genuine to you. Scorn the appearances! This is the most important note I wrote: “Be consistent in doing the right thing, if it’s genuine, you’ll be consistent from the distance, you’ll have honor.”

Singing Christmas Carols (P.A.) – D54

So, for Performing Arts we finally decided which song we are going to sing for the Christmas carol we are planning on doing. The final two choices were Silent Night and Deck the Halls. The latter won. It would be interesting to see if we managed to sing it well and have a good time as a group by the end of these couple of weeks left. One thing that bothered everyone was Lucia’s antipathy towards working as a group, because she decided to leave the activity and start “working” on her stuff but then came back. That kind of attitudes is what makes me don’t like her, for real. It makes me think she is not committed to the group and that she would be better off leaving the MPC, just like her sister. I really don’t want to be tough on her, but the truth is that she doesn’t help too much, although today she brought Hazella (Nutella) and won some points. She later lost them.

Some Macbeth film and some review of Greek lessons – D49

After lunch, we were supposed to audition for a character in Macbeth’s play, but most of us haven’t practiced, so we decided to watch the Polanski’s film first. We only saw half an hour, but it was very good since the film was very understandable. Later, Chacho had the initiative to review the first ten lessons of Greek, and so he did. I have to say that he was not well prepared, but I’m thankful to him for having the time to prepare something and for having the initiative to do so. Then, we had some individual work before Kyle arrived for our programming class. By the way, Zach recommended an app called, SelfControl, which blocks a list of web pages or any mails you edit for the time you want. I’m trying it right now and it feels good to take of the temptation to surf Facebook, 9gag, or AS (Spanish sports newspaper). 

Singing? Individual Work and more Individual Work – D45

For performing arts, we started to work formally on the madrigal “Let us sing with one accord”, so each one of us got their melody to start practicing their rhythm and singing. It was mostly an individual work since we didn’t practice as a group, but it was fine that way.

After that we had individual work (which I didn’t use properly. Well, I did some Euclid) until 4:30 p.m. Then, Kyle notified us that he wasn’t coming today and that caused a bit of trouble. We got into a circle and tried to decide what we were going to do. Some said more individual work, some said group work for programming. It was kind of a dilemma and you could easily tell that most of us are very frustrated of how things are going. We had a small debrief and realize we are not behaving according to our standards, especially when Bert is not with us. What is it? Are we still in a need for some authority? Unfortunately, I think that is happening. We are not yet truly self-governed. Our learning curve has slowed down a lot, and I’m afraid of that getting worse. In conclusion, everybody did what we wanted (mostly individual work) and Kyle is coming tomorrow to replace the class. Of course, some said they couldn’t stay after 3 p.m. so only some of us are staying tomorrow.

Some Dancing for Performing Arts and Individual Work – D33

After eating a McDonald’s McRib Menu (of course enlarged, and of course not a good idea at all) for lunch, Grace made and taught us a small choreography for us to dance it. It was a very funny time, which I think everyone enjoyed very much, including Bert and Ingrid. We decided to have like a couple of dancing classes per week in order to perfect our dancing skills. Later, we had individual work; time where I decided to read The Trivium.

“The Trip” – D25

Javier Tabush prepared this activity called “the trip” for performing arts. It consisted of a closing our eyes and start imagining a place where we wanted to go, the process of getting to the place, the troubles we may encounter, the people we don’t expect to find there, all the things that surrounds us. The objective was to use all of our senses in imagining all of these. It was very relaxing and deeply thought. What I imagined was going to Roatán, Honduras. I chose this place because of a trip I made with my family there, where we were at this beautiful house made of wood and at a cliff next to the bright and white ocean. The people I didn’t expect to be there were my grandfather and grandmothers. It was kind of awkward I must say since they are not with us anymore. 

Here are some pictures I think you'll like!

Interior of the house.

Sunset at Roatán.

Having fun defying gravity!