The Story of My Life :P

V.E. Tour 2012 Day 2 Part 1

The second day of tour really was where all of the action began. It started with West Elementary School. Our tour bus pulled into the parking lot. Kids wearing orange vests had jobs helping each other get out of cars to make drop off easier. Vocal Ensemble stood outside, freezing. Apparently, the weather we considered cold was nothing to the kids, because most of them were in short sleeves. Our tour sweatshirts, plenty warm on the bus or in Southern California, did almost nothing to keep out the cold.  

We lined up in the back of the school's auditorium/lunchroom. For the time being, it would be our stage. Kids filed in, sitting on the uncomfortable floor. First assembly. Most of the kids remembered our choir from last year, or a few from before then. The trip to West Elementary was an annual trip. This being my first year, I felt honored and excited to be a part of the experience. 

We sang.The kids loved being able to get out of class, but the floor was not an ideal seating area. 

After that came break. My choir ran outside right along with the kids. I met two little girls who loved to race and I played with them. When the bell rang, we said our goodbyes, and I made my way back to the auditorium. On the way, a decent amount of Vocal members decided to take a photo, me included. A class of kids saw us. We waved them over so they could get in the shot. Happily, we snapped the picture and moved off to fill our obligations. 

Second assembly, same as the first. 

Then came the classes. We were told to break off in groups and go to whichever class we like, as long as it was okay with the teacher. My friends Zach, Gunnar and I found a fifth grade classroom. We watched the kids perform a scene where the script was stuffed with vocabulary words. Then we took a quiz on those words. I can proudly say that I am, in fact, smarter than a fifth grader. 

We moved on to a first grade class, just in time to play. The kids ran around, playing with legos or doodling. I joined a group of girls drawing with markers at a table. I drew a rainbow. Suddenly, all of them were drawing rainbows, too, and they would sign their name and give it to me. I drew a flower. The girls handed me several pictures of cute little flowers. They really grew on me, those girls. 

Lunchtime. I found the room my choir would be eating in. Fruit flavored soda and pizza. Since the room was a classroom, it had a bunch of cool science and math stuff. One of the things they had was a chart of pi on the wall. I turned my back on it and told my friends to quiz me. I recited it as far as I knew: 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971, and the basses flipped out. 

"No she missed that number,"

"No, no. She said it right!"

"Yeah, she did. Oh, my gosh!" 

I chuckled. "My teacher had a chart of pi in her classroom, and I sat right in front of it. Instead of doing math, I decided to memorize it." 

Which is exactly what happened. 

I went outside to play with the girls, who happened to be on the jungle gym. We swung around, laughed, danced, and then the bell rang and I had to say goodbye for good. 

Then the choir went back inside the auditorium and had a master class with one of the most renowned vocal instructors of our time, Charlene Archibeque. It was awesome. I learned more in those couple hours than I would a month in choir. Fascinating as it was, though, I was exhausted and the only thing I wanted to do was sit down. At the end, I was grateful to get back on the bus and sit on the ride to our hotel.

I could write a whole chapter on Night on the Town. So I think I will.