Multicultural Festival 2014

As of this moment, right now, the girlchildren have missed several days of school due to weather conditions in our area. In this state, as in most, they are required to make up a certain number of days that they have missed if the school has not already built them into their calendar. Our school had built 2 days into their existing calendar, and they used those up before the year had even rolled over. (I say 'our school' instead of 'the district' because my girls go to a small, private school that is thru our church. So, they are not funded by the district and do not operate on the same schedule as the local public schools do.)
The good news is that the school board met and decided to work the make up days into the regular year, as opposed to extending the year so that they go longer. When they do that it means that we get to have 'dress down' make up days (normally it's all uniforms all the time), and they get to be FUN for everyone days (think field trips and stuff like that).
Their first make up day was assigned as attending the Multicultural Festival 2014 in our local area. It was 4 hours of performances and vendors and fun that we all got to enjoy together as a family. It started at noon with the first performance hitting the stage at 12:15. We got there about 11:50 so we had plenty of time to find seats.

The first performance was a group from a studio that teaches Middle Eastern dance. I tried to take pictures of them, but they ended up being all blurry and out of focus. So, no visual. Sorry. It was interesting to watch them because, while it was similar to belly dancing, it was completely different all at the same time. They used a lot of scarves and were in full length dresses (unlike the belly dancers we watched later, who were in traditional belly dance costumes).
Next, we watched the Falcon family perform traditional Indian dances from several different tribes in the upper Midwest.

This was the family's last year at the festival because they had decided to move back home to the reservation where their relatives currently live so that they can teach their children about the culture and their kids can grow up around their family. We were really glad that we got to see them before they left, because it was awesome to watch them perform. They explained their outfits and the different parts of the dance. Then, at the end, they brought anyone that wanted to go up onstage so that everyone could dance a round dance together. I couldn't have paid the girls enough to get on that stage.
After that were students from a Korean performance school in the area.

These girls were doing what they called a 'drum dance'.

This boy played the Korean harp. This was probably my favorite performance of the festival. He was probably only about 10 or 11 years old, but he played this massive instrument so amazingly well. It was a beautiful song, and I loved it.

And the girls that did the drum dance also performed a traditional fan dance. This was beautiful. I tried to get a picture of the dancers in a circle with their fans, but they were moving to fast and they just came out blurry.







At this point, the batteries in my camera were showing that they were getting low. So the rest of the dancing pictures turned out terribly blurry and not worth posting. The list of performances we watched after the one's posted above were Irish dancing and clogging (by the same studio), belly dancing, a contemporary music group, and a chamber string ensemble. We tried to make it in to watch the children's opera group, but they must have performed before we made it there. Because they shut down the stage before the designated time that they were supposed to be on. And we showed up at the time the program said they were supposed to perform.
This made the youngest girlchild extremely sad. She sooooo wanted to see them sing. We had to visit the balloon animal lady to make up for it.

Needless to say, everyone left happy. :D
All in all, it was a pretty good day of family time spent learning about other cultures and seeing some of their traditional costumes and dances. I didn't get to go to last year's Indian Pow Wow with the girls, so I'm glad that we got to spend the day together and am looking forward to doing more things with my amazing girls in the future.

Breaking Out of the Box

Today was the beginning of a wonderfully amazing year for us. We (all of us) committed ourselves to living our lives to the fullest this year and exploring everything that Adventure may bring our way, and we began that journey today.
The girlchildren and I opted to spend our holiday time this morning volunteering in our community to assist with feeding those less fortunate at a brunch that was served by one of the organizations in our area. (I was unsure what the policies were for photographs being taken, so I didn't bring the camera with me to take any pics at the actual site. Sorry! :D )
In spite of the fact that they rang in the New Year and were up until Midnight, the girlchildren were surprisingly easy to wake up this morning. They rolled out of bed with minimal grumbling, ate their breakfast, and were ready to leave when it was time.
A lovely before shot of all of us. Messy hair, sleepy faces, and ready to get to it. (It was too early and I was too tired for makeup. LOL)

When we arrived at our destination, the organizers handed us some aprons and we got right to work. It amazed me how kind everyone was - the other volunteers, the people we were serving, everyone. I was also struck by the honest appreciation that these people had for what we were doing for them. They were thankful and gracious and their smiles were genuine. I think that is something that I miss in my every day life - honesty and gratitude. Not many people truly exhibit those traits these days.
I had a chance to talk to someone that I'm guessing was some kind of 'manager' (he was coordinating the food and making sure that everyone that came thru the door was assisted as soon as the walked in). He said that everyone that actually worked there (the exception being us volunteers) came from a situation not much different from the people they were working to serve, including himself. The kitchen was staffed with men who were either (or had been) homeless, had been released from prison, or were trying to get back to a functioning life after rehab. The men were actually participants of a training program that teaches them a marketable skill so that they can get job training and learn how to work with others in that setting. They go to culinary classes to learn how to cook, and they work in that foodservice setting to learn the ins and outs of a restaurant.
I was pretty impressed by the way that these men responded to having something positive in their lives. The pride in their faces as they brought meals to people that came from a world that these men understood all to well was just such a wonderful thing to behold.
I think that one of the absolute highlights of the morning for me, and there were many, was watching one of the men from the kitchen bring out a plate of sautéed vegetables with sauce for one of the volunteers so that they could have breakfast too. She was a vegetarian (like me :D ) and hadn't had a chance to eat before she came. There were slim pickins for her out of the food that we had been serving (The only vegetable dish that was served was a mixture of split peas and white beans and it was already gone.) so she was just going to opt not to eat anything. When the men in the kitchen found out her situation, they decided to make her a plate of veggies so she could have some breakfast too. It was just the nicest thing, and they were so glad to do it for her. And she was so genuinely happy to have it.
It seemed as though our experience there was over all too soon. Before we were ready for it, it was time for cleaning up and saying goodbye. I do not doubt that it is something that we will be more that happy to repeat in the coming year, and likely for a lifetime.

The girlchildren came home with a sense of accomplishment. They understand that they were a part of something greater than themselves this morning. They understand that there is a calling to help our fellow man, and they are more that willing to do it. It boosted our sense of adventure and I believe it was the perfect way to start the day (and the year). All in all, we experienced adventure in a new way today, and we found it to be good. What more can you ask for?