The One With The Graduation Rehearsal (written 9/26/2012)

Graduation for the Form 4 students is this Friday.  Today I was walking out of the staff room to go teach a class when one of the other teachers stopped and asked me where I was going. "Class" I said.  He laughed at me and told me that classes were canceled because there was going to be graduation rehearsal   I try to hard to anticipate these schedule changes, but alas, I always miss something.  So the lesson will have to wait.

I guess I don't really know what I was expecting, maybe one of the teachers telling students how to line up, going through the order of events, something generic.  Whatever I was expecting, it was wrong.  Evidently graduation here is more of a celebration than a ceremony so I got to spend three hours watching the choir from each form practice their songs and dances.  Then there was a group of four girls who sang a few songs together.  They sounded amazing! After the girls a group of three buys got up and started singing.  A few minutes into their song they started rapping.  It was absolutely hysterical! The students lost it... standing on their chairs, cheering... the other teachers and I were dying!  Finally "rehearsal" ended and the whole event ended turned into a huge dance off that about 30 of the students participated in.  It was seriously one of the funniest things I have every seen!  The whole school of about 450 kids stood around in a circle (about 4 of 5 deep with the kids on the outsides standing on the chairs), clapping, whistling, giving a beat to the kids in the middle who were battling it out for best dancer.  I don't think I stopped laughing for half an hour straight! SO FUN! (I am attaching clips from the dance off that was repeated during the actual graduation ceremony... I cant believe they did it again! But that is why the students in the background are staying in their chairs... there parents were there watching them.)

Then Dahlia and I rushed home because out neighbor Elizabeth invited us to go to the neighboring village of Kapelekese with her (and by neighboring village I mean just under an hour and a half walk each way).  Anyway, there was a drumming event in the town today so I got to see even more traditional drumming and dancing.  I am finally home now though and ready to go to bed.  Life here is exhausting but ALWAYS exciting!