Taiko Drummers

Last Saturday, my PS 161 students and I went to see the Yamato Drummers, a taiko drumming group from the Nara prefecture of Japan, supposedly the birthplace of the art. They presented a modernized take on the art, incorporating elements of humor, acting, audience participation, and competition into their performance. One particularly memorable piece was conducted with only hand cymbals. Control over the group's rhythm was passed like a ball through mimed throws and catches, all acting in concert with a regular beat kept by other members of the group. Maybe the best description for the pieces we heard is order in chaos. In the drumming pieces with the full ensemble, there were ten different rhythms falling in and out of unison yet all the while staying perfectly paced. The differences in beats and paces complemented one another, creating a sort of pitchless harmony.

The modernization of the drumming technique was presented as a way of keeping the instrument relevant, diversifying its application, and increasing its exposure. But within the creative new style, the tradition of the drum and its significance were conserved. The performers mimicked their performance. They were young and passionate and took great joy from their art. They played with smiles on their faces, but their brows were furrowed, for they were serious in their frivolity. Their discipline shone through clearly. I took this off of the Yamato website, as I believe it explains the balance between tradition and innovation and their motives behind their artistic choices well.


Photo Credits: http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2013/10/31/11293012/YamatoPhoto2.jpg

Project Update

We have continued to experiment with new hosting strategies, including social media exchanges. We are beginning to gather feedback and reflections on exchanges, which will be synthesized into a final product: a sort of protocol describing the best hosting strategies. I can only speak for myself, but I feel as though our efforts have improved the experience. I think just having the idea that hosting is a privilege and an opportunity to connect and to learn in the back of my mind has motivated me to capitalize on the time I have with the guests as much as possible.

Gabi and I have been meeting with Ms. Chung and Ms. Diederich to strategize about host plans. We also worked with Dr. Wei to facilitate host-guest interaction with PS 161 before the students arrived. We accomplished this with short introductory videos sent via WeChat, a solution that evaded the Great Firewall and pleased the PS 161 administration.

This week we have our French students on campus, and I will write about Poly's experience with them soon.

PS161 Hosting

Last weekend, I hosted two students from PS 161 in Beijing who went by the English names Evan and Taylor. I enjoyed getting to know them, and I was especially surprised to hear about Taylor's college plans: first to Tsinghua University to study science (I think chemistry) then off to the United States for graduate school, possibly at Caltech. He is in Tenth Grade! I am rather preoccupied with college right now, although thankfully the process is currently at a lull, and I have been struck by the uncertainty of the process. I have been told not to form attachments to schools or to try and plan too far ahead. It was doubly shocking, then, to hear Taylor's relatively flushed out plan for the next ten years of his life. That is not to say, however, that he was some kind of super student, the kind of brainwashed workhorse some in the US would like us to believe are being bred in China to overthrow our long-standing hegemony. I learned from one of the other students that in China one begins to study for the Gao Kao, the college entrance exam, three years before the test. When I asked them if they had begun studying, they grinned at me rather sheepishly and said "A little." We laughed; I have been in high school enough to know what that means.

Friday night, we went to Counter Burger with Gabi, Ally, and their exchange students. Going through the menu items was quite a challenge, but in the end everyone seemed satisfied. After the meal, we walked off dinner on our way to Yogurtland, where we ended up sampling quite a few flavors but buying almost nothing. Then Gabi's and my students, Gabi's younger sister Beatrice (a rising Global Scholar), and I packed ourselves into Gabi's minivan and headed off to the Prep Soccer game. My students loved the game and were integrated quickly into the student section. We won 2-1 in a hard-fought battle, a satisfying end to the evening. When we returned home, they had presents for us: a mini folding screen with small tableaux of the famous monuments of Beijing, eight decorative ornaments (a Chinese lucky number), two stuffed animals, and some delicious green tea.

Early the next day we set out for Joshua Tree. It was their first time in the desert, and they seemed engaged with if not a little overwhelmed by their surroundings. We did quite a bit of scrambling, which is an intermediate between hiking and climbing, and reached quite a few pretty overlooks. They really enjoyed it, especially Evan. I think there is something thrilling about forging one's own trail, and out on that rock pile we were explorers. It is worth noting for any risk management enthusiasts that I have around ten years of experience as a rock climber, and while there is an inherent risk to this sort of activity, I minimized it.

In the evening we went to see the Taiko Drummers at Caltech, which I will discuss elsewhere. Then morning came, and it was time to say goodbye. Once again, the exchange afforded me the opportunity to get to know students from a different yet by no means disparate culture, and I benefited greatly from it. We are staying in touch via WeChat.

Trinity College Visit

In December, Poly students hosted a group of boys' water polo players from Trinity College in Perth. To prepare for their visit, Gabi and I asked Ms. Diederich and Maddie to give some background on the history and culture of Australia. We also put together a list of Australian slang, some of which was, it turned out, fictional. I did not host a student, so I cannot attest to the full experience, but I thoroughly enjoyed the lunch we had together on Arden.

The students said they enjoyed the classes they attended, citing food in classrooms as an especially notable difference between our school and theirs. We talked about the contrast between our respective education systems at length, until we were gathered to formally welcome the Aussies. Gabi and I gave a short speech detailing our motivation behind joining the program, the commitment to enriching the opportunity for connect provided by the hosting experience. Tom, a senior there and possibly the team captain, also gave a lovely speech, thanking the school for its hospitality.

I spent much of that lunch speaking with Tom, and the brief but meaningful connection my fellow Poly students and I felt, the natural and unscripted nature of the conversations going on all around me, reminded me of why I began this project. In just 30 minutes, Tom and I connected to one another as two fellow teens, two people, each with his own perspective and opinions, each ready to share and to discuss and to interact. This hosting experience was perhaps easier because the guests spoke English, but their lives were undeniably different than ours. They were, after all, from the other side of the world. Yet our differences provided room for conversation, observation and analysis. They facilitated sharing rather complicating it. As usual, we were much more similar to our guests than we were different.

Pauliina Outing

In November, Himmat, Julia, and I spent the afternoon with our AFS student Pauliina. We ate some delicious Taiwanese food at Pine and Crane in Silver Lake, where we met up with Lucas. who then drove the rest of the group to the base of Griffith Observatory. The five of us hiked up to the Planetarium to look around. While we enjoyed finding out our weights on various planets, the highlight of our time there was probably the gorgeous view of Los Angeles that awaited us at the top of the hill, a short but suitably hot hike from the car park. Lucas dropped us off at a park after a quick stop at Baskin Robins, then we were shuttled back to Poly by my dad.

But I learned more from the experience than the scheduling skills required to plan an event without any drivers in the group. Hearing Pauliina describe her life in Finland was fascinating. Did you know there is no small talk in Finland? She noticed that people here are sometimes feel uncomfortable in lulls in conversation whereas she is happy to sit in silence. That concept got me thinking about how many of the conversations that I have been having would qualify as "small talk." It's an interesting exercise, going through life wondering if people in Finland would be having the conversation you are having.

On the car ride home, Himmat and I were debating politics. It is my firm belief that humans are not inherently self-serving or immoral, but rather that our society rewards selfishness and thus teaches children to "look out for number one." I asked Pauliina whether her school in Finland talked about success in the same way American schools did, whether it reinforced competition or instead fostered collaboration. The more Socialist Finnish government, I reasoned, would seek to encourage a more communal view of success. Pauliina replied that in her school the class succeeds and fails together, and it is the duty of the more successful to help the struggling. Special teachers and resources are directed toward these goals. Meanwhile, we teach students here to work individually, to leave the teaching to the teachers, and to prioritize their learning so that they can "do the best they can do." This approach creates a competitive attitude; it is easiest, we are taught, to get ahead by refusing to help others. Notice any parallels with government?

Throughout the afternoon, Pauliina was insightful, personable, and reasonably adept in small talk. I learned a great deal from her and was delighted to hear that she is learning a lot from the Poly community as well. I am happy we had this opportunity to get to know Pauliina a little better. I am among the many members of my grade who are more than a little peeved that we never got an AFS student of our own, but I am fortunate to have been able to connect to Pauliina despite our different course loads and social groups.