There are some stories that are just too hilarious to be true, but too ridiculous to be made up, and the JRS end of year celebration was one of them. Held in a church basement, complete with snowflake and reindeer decorated stage, the program went as follows:
1. Picture slideshow of the year at JRS. While pictures faded in and out of the screen, the first song that played in the background was some country song about living large. The second, completely unexpected and random song that play was "Rebellion" by the Arcade Fire. Interesting choice for a slideshow of memories...
2. The screen and stage curtain lifted to reveal the Kindergarten class all dressed in little Santa outfits. They had a dance/handbell performance that would have made the CUMC bell choir proud. During this performance I tried to think what it would take to get me to trade places with the teacher who had to teach Kindergartners with bells for a month. What, exactly is my hearing and sanity worth to me? They performed the Arabic version of "Jingle Bells" Which translates instead to "Christmas Eve" and is sung by a sing songy man with obnoxious back up. This was an adorable and hilarious performance, all the parents knew it, and as such there was a throng of people video recording the entire thing (Jordanians LOVE camera phones). Unfortunately, because of their clamoring fans, no one could actually see the Kindergartners performance, so of course, they had to do it again. They then went into a screaming rendition of "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" and filed off stage after a final bow.
3. We then heard two Arabic poems written by boys from the middle school class. The first was about our homeland (aka Iraq) and went something like, "our homeland is the best. our homeland is the most beautiful. It is the best place in the world. We love our homeland so much. It is amazing." The second poem was almost identical but instead of "homeland" the poet said "Jordan."
4. An interesting thing happened next, the woman sitting next to my co-teacher, Richard, and I leaned over and asked if we would drank coffee. She then proceeded in a very Mary Poppins, Hermione Granger like manner to pull a full pot of coffee and two small cups out of her purse.
5. Coffee time was accompanied by a series of musical performances. We had a piano solo of Jingle Bells. The notes were the Jingle Bell notes anyway- rhythm and counting was really non-existent. At one point the audience tried to clap along. But couldn't get on the beat.. because there wasn't one. After that we had a popular song from Iraq, also on piano, an improv guitar duet, and a soloist sing an old Umm Kulthum favorite which was rudely interrupted by an unruly group of shebab.
6. My student then gave a speech in English! so proud!!
7. Now we get to the highlight of the show, and quite possibly my life up until this point. A dance performance. Break dancing to be exact. A boy from the kindergarten class breakdances to Usher's "Oh My God" while another girl from the kindergarten class hula -hoops (for the ENTIRE four minute song) around the stage. Completely inappropriate, this boy points to the hip swinging hula hooper as Usher sings "Baby let me love you down..." And the crowd went wild. The next set of only slightly older boys also does a break dance performance to the Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow." Again, totally unphased by horrendous lyrics, the crowd hooted and hollered for these talented ten year olds.
8. The night ended with a shocking co-ed dance party of sorts. And, naturally, a photo shoot with everyone's camera phone, and people bringing me plates of food they had brought from home. In hindsight, this was probably the best part of my Christmas season (the actual day was pretty depressing- this all happened about a week before). I do feel like I have a home, and a family at JRS, and I'm just glad that break dancing is now in my bloodline.
1. Picture slideshow of the year at JRS. While pictures faded in and out of the screen, the first song that played in the background was some country song about living large. The second, completely unexpected and random song that play was "Rebellion" by the Arcade Fire. Interesting choice for a slideshow of memories...
2. The screen and stage curtain lifted to reveal the Kindergarten class all dressed in little Santa outfits. They had a dance/handbell performance that would have made the CUMC bell choir proud. During this performance I tried to think what it would take to get me to trade places with the teacher who had to teach Kindergartners with bells for a month. What, exactly is my hearing and sanity worth to me? They performed the Arabic version of "Jingle Bells" Which translates instead to "Christmas Eve" and is sung by a sing songy man with obnoxious back up. This was an adorable and hilarious performance, all the parents knew it, and as such there was a throng of people video recording the entire thing (Jordanians LOVE camera phones). Unfortunately, because of their clamoring fans, no one could actually see the Kindergartners performance, so of course, they had to do it again. They then went into a screaming rendition of "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" and filed off stage after a final bow.
3. We then heard two Arabic poems written by boys from the middle school class. The first was about our homeland (aka Iraq) and went something like, "our homeland is the best. our homeland is the most beautiful. It is the best place in the world. We love our homeland so much. It is amazing." The second poem was almost identical but instead of "homeland" the poet said "Jordan."
4. An interesting thing happened next, the woman sitting next to my co-teacher, Richard, and I leaned over and asked if we would drank coffee. She then proceeded in a very Mary Poppins, Hermione Granger like manner to pull a full pot of coffee and two small cups out of her purse.
5. Coffee time was accompanied by a series of musical performances. We had a piano solo of Jingle Bells. The notes were the Jingle Bell notes anyway- rhythm and counting was really non-existent. At one point the audience tried to clap along. But couldn't get on the beat.. because there wasn't one. After that we had a popular song from Iraq, also on piano, an improv guitar duet, and a soloist sing an old Umm Kulthum favorite which was rudely interrupted by an unruly group of shebab.
6. My student then gave a speech in English! so proud!!
7. Now we get to the highlight of the show, and quite possibly my life up until this point. A dance performance. Break dancing to be exact. A boy from the kindergarten class breakdances to Usher's "Oh My God" while another girl from the kindergarten class hula -hoops (for the ENTIRE four minute song) around the stage. Completely inappropriate, this boy points to the hip swinging hula hooper as Usher sings "Baby let me love you down..." And the crowd went wild. The next set of only slightly older boys also does a break dance performance to the Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow." Again, totally unphased by horrendous lyrics, the crowd hooted and hollered for these talented ten year olds.
8. The night ended with a shocking co-ed dance party of sorts. And, naturally, a photo shoot with everyone's camera phone, and people bringing me plates of food they had brought from home. In hindsight, this was probably the best part of my Christmas season (the actual day was pretty depressing- this all happened about a week before). I do feel like I have a home, and a family at JRS, and I'm just glad that break dancing is now in my bloodline.
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