We still had a lot of teaching, but because we were more settled in, it wasn't as taxing...no, actually, I was still exhausted. I found myself often, right before beginning lessons for the day, wishing I could just take the afternoon off, but once I get in the lesson, I'm so grateful I'm there, getting to help these musicians improve in their chosen craft. On Thursday and Friday, we got to spend a lot of time with the wind orchestra from the village Vinto (like an outer suburb of Cochabamba) to help them finish preparing for their concert on Thursday. We spent 3 hours in a rehearsal with them Thursday morning at the foundation, and then a preconcert rehearsal at a small, beautiful church building in the Vinto village on Friday afternoon. The concert was fun--not because the music was amazing, but because it was enjoyable watching the young kids playing their string instruments and then working with our wind group. The audience was mostly relatives, taking pictures whenever their child was performing.
On Thursday we had our first of two concerts with the foundation's top orchestra. It has been quite the challenge to learn the music well enough to get by, and I was praying quite a bit during the concert that I would be able to play well enough to be a support to the group. On one of our pieces, Bacchanelle, there is a beautiful oboe solo at the very beginning (just oboe, no orchestra...) In rehearsal on Wednesday, my octave decided to have water in it as I tried to played the solo. I was worried that would happen again and took precautions: swabbing often, etc. The piece before was a Rossini overture which put me in my upper octave with that key for about half the piece. Near the end of the overture, my intuition was yelling at me warning me that that was probably the cause of the watery trap, but I didn't take the extra precaution to give the key the good blow out, due to worry about having time to do so (next time I'm going to tell Giovanni that I need a minute to clean it out before playing the solo...). As I began the solo, the water threatened, but didn't gargle until about the third high note. By then it was too late to stop and I just played through the solo to the end (thankfully there were only one or two more high notes after that point). Immediately afterwards I broke out the swab and paper to clear out the key, missing about 20 measures of tutti, but I didn't care (because I hadn't practiced that part well enough anyway). I received several compliments after the concert and my classmates told me I played through it really well (which I do agree with). I'm grateful the concert was a success, and that we were able to contribute. We have another one on the 21st. Maybe I'll get a little more time to practice before then (*fingers crossed*).
On Saturday we had the opportunity to join the young single adults from the ward we are attending for a service activity. We went to an assisted living home and gave them a good time. My flutist classmate and I played a duet as part of the talent show. They had drink and cookies for refreshments (I only got a drink because they gave the treats to the residents before taking any for ourselves and there was none left). And then they played some tunes and we invited residents to dance or visited with them (or other YSA). I got to dance with a cute short lady who seemed more indigenous. She had a broad, broken smile and loved the chance to move her feet and arms. We only did one dance move (shuffling the feet and moving our arms back and forth), but that was all she needed. They played Latin music, some more traditional Bolivian music, and even some 1950's US swing music (I pulled Nadine up to teach her the couple of swing moves I could remember)! We had a wonderful time. One of the nuns caring for the residents thanked us with a full heart for giving some of our time to the residents (then she gave us the score of the world cup game, hahaha!).
I found myself walking away from that so grateful that the Church encourages those types of activities. The reason why I have had many service opportunities in my life is because of my membership in the Church, and it has been a huge blessing in my life. This whole trip is basically a service opportunity, seeing as how we paid a lot of our own way to get here and are not getting paid to teach. Getting to know the people here and experiencing pieces of the culture have been life-changing experiences. I am loving it so much (even with the occasional upset stomach from the food) and thank my Heavenly Father everyday that I get to be here. While I will be happy to be home again next month, I'm am truly going to miss this place and the people here.
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