Earthquake Season??

I woke up this morning to an earthquake, not the most pleasant way to be awakened. It was short, but felt very strong. Ever since the big earthquake in August, I often think that I am feeling one, but I'm pretty sure it is just my brain playing tricks on me. But I was talking with some friends last night and Deb said she had been feeling some little tremors the last few days. I've felt nothing, so I didn't think much of it until this morning when my entire apartment was shaking and rattling. Apparently the epicenter was really close to Lima, which is why it felt so violent this morning. Here is an article on the earthquake that was posted on the English language Peruvian news website:

Lima: Two earthquakes hit Peru's capital city

(LIP-ir) -- Two earthquakes, one a magnitude 4.4 and the other a 5.4, which were felt across Peru's capital and throughout the province of Lima, struck Peru's coast early Saturday morning, said the U.S. Geological Survey.

The first occurred at approximately 1:41 a.m. and was not perceived by many of Lima's citizens.

The second, however, which was felt at 7:51 a.m., alarmed many and caused people in the country's capital to dart out of their homes and business establishments.

According to Peru's Geophysical Institute (IGP), even though there were no immediate reports of damage, citizens in the region were alarmed by the seismic movement and immediately took to the streets seeking safe places to stand.

The first earthquake's epicenter, which was just off the Peruvian coast, was at a depth of approximately 61.3 km (38.1 miles) and 75 km (45 miles) north of Lima, Peru.

The epicenter of the magnitude 5.4 quake, which was felt much more by citizens on the coast, was registered to be at a depth of 41.2 km (25.6 miles) and just 14 kilometers (9 miles) west of the country's capital.

Every time there is an earthquake, people down here start talking about it being "earthquake season". Yes, I know it sounds completely illogical, but people here think that the earthquakes happen during certain times of the year and are related to the change in weather. I'm sure there is no real science to support it, but the weather has been changing lately. The mornings are cooler when I wake up and the weather is staying grayer in Miraflores during the day, instead of always been sunny. Winter isn't here yet, but any stretch of the imagination, but it is on its way and the weather is becoming different than it was in the height of summer. Maybe there actually is something to the earthquakes/changing weather idea...

Band Geeks

I had a great moment in symphonic band rehearsal yesterday that I just have to share. We are working on this great piece called Abracadabra, by Frank Ticheli. Ticheli is my favorite band composer and we've played one of his pieces on every concert I've done in the last 2 years here. The kids really like Abracadabra and always want to play it all the way through, from beginning to end, but I am constantly stopping and starting to work on different sections (as you should do in rehearsal). They worked really hard yesterday on another piece we are doing and there was 5 minutes left at the end of class, so I told them we could finally play Abracadabra through, beginning to end, no stops. They did a great job focusing and played it pretty well (it still isn't ready for the concert in 3 weeks, but it will definitely get there). They were playing with lots of energy and there was just a good feeling about it as we were making music together. And the best part was the end. After they played the last note, they sat there for a second, then broke into applause. It was wonderful!! I love that they had that reaction about their playing and that they felt so great about what they had just done. It was an awesome moment!

The Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu

Karisti has been visiting from London since last Monday and it has been great to have her here. I had Thursday and Friday off from school, so we went to Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. My friend Reada had been to MP twice over Christmas break (she had lots of visitors) and she gave us great advice about what to see and where to stay. She also hooked us up with a great driver named Jose. He didn't speak any English, but he was very patient with my Spanish and it was nice to be able to practice it so much.

We started the trip in Cusco and then drove through the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo. The ruins at Ollantaytambo are incredible. They sit right on the edge of the little town and it was cool to see them from everywhere. We hiked up to near the top of the ruins and had a great view of the town and the valley. Here we are walking along the ruins.

The most amazing ruin was the one at Moray. The Incas built this site as an agricultural experiment. They planted different crops on different levels to see what altitude was best for growing. The site is incredible and this picture doesn't even do it justice. The bowl it sits in is enormous and it is amazing to stand at the top and look down into it. It is all laid out so perfectly and so logically. As our driver Jose said, the Incas really were so much smarter than us. They figured out all these things, just using the resources they had. And they thrived for hundreds of years, developing a very advanced culture.

Though I had been to Machu Picchu before, this trip was even more amazing than the first. We spent the night before in Aguas Calientes (Karisti likes to remind me that we were in hot water on the trip), which is the town at the base of the mountain Machu Picchu is on. Because we had spent the night in AC and didn't have to take the train in from somewhere else in the morning, we were able to get on one of the first buses up to MP Saturday morning. We were at MP by 8am and it was amazing! The sun was shining, but there were still clouds covering some of the mountains. It made for beautiful light and some incredible photos of MP. Standing up above the site and looking down on the entire complex is one of the most overwhelming experiences. It is definitely the most amazing place I have ever seen in my life and I'm sure I will never stop being blown away by it. What the Incas created and the way it has been preserved is just incredible. We spent about 3 hours wandering around the site and managed to pretty much walk through the entire thing. We tagged onto the end of tour groups in English every once and a while to hear the guides were explaining, but for most of it we just wandered around, checking out the things that looked interesting to us.

We were back down in Aguas Calientes by noon, happily eating Mexican food and watching it rain, pleased with ourselves for getting up to MP early and back down before the rain that tends to happen there every afternoon. We took the afternoon train back to Ollantaytambo, where Jose picked us up and drove us back to Cusco. We had a very yummy dinner at this great place called Jack's that I highly recommend to anyone going to Cusco, and flew back to Lima Sunday morning. Overall, a fabulous trip. Everything went perfectly - trains, driver, weather, everything. It couldn't have been a better trip. It was great to be able to share Machu Picchu with Karisti and she said over and over how much she loved it. It was a wonderful experience!

Here is the link to all of my photos on Picassa web albums if you are interested in checking them out:

Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley with Karisti

First Full Week of School

We all managed to survive our first full week back at school and it really went well. It is great to be back with the kids - hectic, but great. I had some good rehearsals with my band and orchestra this week and I'm excited about the new music we are working on. Our next performance is the 3rd week of April, so we are pushing to get all this new music learned by then. The kids don't seemed to be as worried about it as I am, but hopefully they will step it up and work hard the next few weeks.

Wednesday was WOW (Wild On Wednesdays) after school for all teachers, staff, and workers. We were all split up into 4 teams (with corresponding colored t-shirts) and played games all afternoon. It was fun to see everyone together, playing volleyball, soccer, giant Jenga, Apples to Apples, and other random games. It always makes me happy when they do things that involve everyone, including the workers. And they gave us free beer, ice cream, and Chinese food, so that was nice too.

The week ended yesterday with a fabulous vocal ensemble rehearsal after school. There hasn't been a choir here at FDR for years and years, from what I hear anyway. A couple of kids have mentioned it to me, but I never felt comfortable starting one, since I don't have a ton of vocal experience. Luckily David, the new theater teacher, is a vocalist and has directed choirs before, so he and I decided to collaborate and offer after school choir. We didn't know what to expect in terms of turn out, but we had 13 girls there for the first rehearsal yesterday and it was great!! They were really into it and we had a lot of fun singing for an hour. David is directing while I accompany and it is nice to be playing piano again too. I'm really excited about this whole thing and am so happy to be able to offer choir and reach some kids other than the ones in band and orchestra.

All and all, a very good week!

P.S. My friend Karisti arrives next Saturday for a 2 week visit and we are spending Easter weekend at Machu Picchu, so look for more posts over the next few weeks. I can't wait for Karisti to arrive and to be able to show her around Lima, and around Peru.

FINISHED!!!!

It is official, I have completed my final project for graduate school and just submitted it to Boston University. I am done with my masters degree!!!! Now I just have to wait for the project to be graded and make sure I do well enough to pass and receive my degree - I should know in a couple of months. Graduation is in May and, while I won't be there, I am looking forward to my diploma waiting for me in the mail when I get home in July. It has been a LONG, often frustrating, process and I am incredibly glad to be finished. So keep your fingers crossed and hopefully in a few months I'll have a masters degree in music education. Thanks for all the support along the way!!