Day 2301. I was glad that I did not have a 9 am student this morning as I'd been able to move her lesson to another day. I had set my alarm to 9:15 am, 15 minutes earlier than normal as I had to do Tammy's hair for her dance performance today. I helped her get dressed, then did her hair. She was going to be a snowflake so I had bought some ornaments for her hair, and the snowflakes looked absolutely fabulous! Tammy was looking great! Instead of the ballet skirt, she put a dress on, and I put her skirt into my purse. I also put hair gel into her hair and took it with me just in case.
Just before 10 am I left with Tammy and Emmy. We took the subway and then walked to the music school where their class started at 10:30 am. Before the class starts, the teacher always talks with them, and today she asked about Tammy's hair and what she was up to before moving on to the others. Then she mentioned the Christmas Party tomorrow, and I nearly got a heart-attack as I realized at that moment that I had forgotten the children's presents at home that had to be handed in today so that Santa Claus could deliver them tomorrow. I immediately left the room and asked Randy to bring them to the music school right away, and so Randy and Sammy left to come join us. Randy handed the presents in at the reception desk before the class was over.
The teacher started with the greeting song and the finger warmup. She then introduced something new during the finger warmup, doing it in a different key. Next she had them play the two versions of Jingle Bells, the easy one and the hard one. Emmy had been fuzzing all day that he could not play the hard one - even though he could and could do it better than anyone else in the class. And then he didn't want to play it when everyone in the class played it at the same time. I was surprised. She then had them come to the front and play it alone for everyone. I went to the front with them to help them, and they both played it. Still, both kids are going to play the easy version at the Christmas Party tomorrow.
Then she moved on to the two music pieces in the book they've been practicing. After those were done, it was time to review the two songs they've learned this semester that they'll be singing at the concert in January. It was obvious that they hadn't sung them in a while.
It was after 11:30 am, and I told the teacher that we had to go. She agreed that it was too late for a story anyway so they got their stickers and stamps, and we left.
Randy and Sammy were outside. That way Sammy got to say hello to his teacher as he missed the last session of his class this afternoon. We all left and walked to the subway, then rode it for a few stops to get to McDonald's. As time was short, I ordered online -it was my first time doing so in Austria. When we got there, our bags were already waiting for us. We grabbed the food and left again to go back to the subway. As we still had a little time, we started eating right there on the train platform and reduced the bags to a minimum. Then we got on the subway for one stop. From there we just had to walk a little into the amusement park to where the theater was.
It was a new theater, just one year old, that is dedicated to magic shows, and it was our first time there. It wasn't as big as the other location which was the reason why the dance school had done two performances instead of one. Most of the other kids had already danced in the morning. The theater was supposed to open at 1:30 pm, and it was open when we got there. People were lining up to get in. They scanned our tickets, and we walked in. Next came the place to leave our coats. I left them with Randy, told them our seat numbers, and left with Tammy to take her backstage to get ready.
We walked down the stairs and found the place where all the dancers were. We made our way to a corner where Tammy took her dress off so she could put her skirt on. That's when I saw that she still had the label on the new ballet body she was wearing. And it was a solid chord that you couldn't just tear off. I had Tammy take it off, took the body and told her I was gonna look for scissors to cut it off. I started walking through the hall full of kids and parents, shouting whether anyone had scissors. No response. So I headed to the nearby buffet where they had scissors and could cut it off. Thank God! When I returned to where Tammy was, she was in tears because I had left the room. It was time to get her dressed. She had to also take her tights off and turn her around as Emmy had gotten them really dirty in the front on the way there which was upsetting.
Once she was ready, we checked in with her teacher and left to join the boys in the sanctuary. Tammy was dancing after the break so that she could join us in the theater for the first half of the show. When we go to our seats, the boys were there but there was a big mess. The booking platform had had a wrong plan of the theater so that they had sold seats that didn't exist, and our seats were also affected by that. The boss himself came to help sort it out. He asked whether the kids could sit on the steps, then he brought us a folding chair. He said they'd refund us the money for our tickets because of that. I sat on an uncomfortable folding chair until break time. Randy sat on the comfy chair, the last chair of the row, with Tammy and the seat next to him ended up staying empty so that the boys sat on it. Sammy also sat with me for a while. He loves music and enjoyed the show because of that. The other kids also enjoyed it.
During the break, we bought some popcorn for the kids. Tammy had some, then I took her backstage to her teacher and left her there. The rest of us soon returned to the theater and sat down. This time I sat on the chair next to Randy, and another chair remained empty so that the four of us could comfortably sit there. Tammy came fourth after the break, and she did a wonderful job being a dancing snowflake. I was very proud of her.
The program went on, and once it was all done, all the dancers came back on the stage. In the course of the evening, we found out that Tammy's ballet teacher is leaving the dance school and someone else is taking over. That's a shame. But in January she and Emmy are going to do a try-out for two other dance styles there.
It was finally over for good, and everyone was slowly making their way out of the theater. I took Tammy backstage to get changed again, then we went upstairs to where our coats were where we were going to meet up with the boys. We were surprised that they weren't there. It took them several more minutes to show ups as the door for the wheelchair ramp had been locked.
We put our coats on and left. Leaving the building you're right in the amusement park, and the kids asked to do some rides. So I thought we could walk through the park to the subway stop on the other side and let them do some rides. However, during winter time only a few rides are open. When we got to the other end of the park where the kids' rides are, they were all closed. So we turned around to walk back to one ride we had seen in the middle that they could do. Randy got on with Sammy, and the other kids each had their own car. They then had to shoot at each other while going round and round and up and down. In the end, the operator declares who won, and it was Tammy. She was so very excited! It meant that she had won a free ride so she stayed in the car. Thankfully a few more kids got on so she wouldn't have to ride again, and guess what - she won again! She was excited but didn't want to ride anymore so she got off.
We decided to go to the subway stop that was by the entrance as it seemed closer. We got on the subway there, then got off by the shopping mall where we always buy our Christmas tree. As busy as we are, we had to get that done while we had the chance. The kids were very excited and walking through the rows of trees to look at them. I then suggested one, and the kids approved, and we bought it. They watched the guys put the net and the wooden cross on it. Then I paid, and we left. Randy was carrying the tree on his shoulder. Thankfully it was right by the subway. We took the elevator, then waited for the subway. The kids were having fun with the tree. We rode it for three stops, then walked home.
It was just after 4:30 pm. I went straight to the kitchen to cut up their fruit and gave it to them. Then I sat down at the computer to teach. I taught from 5 to 6 pm, then we went downstairs so they could play Jingle Bells one more time before they play it in front of everyone tomorrow. I didn't take the sheets with me as they can play it by heart but Tammy made a mistake and was crying for the music sheets. She was clearly tired so I told her we'd just leave it for the day and that she could play it one more time in the morning before leaving. I knew she could do it.
I sat down at the computer again to prepare for my 8 pm student, then it was bathtub time. I was really very tired. After the bathtub, we did all the advent calendars and books, then I prayed for them and they went to bed. I then felt a little less tired while teaching from 8 to 9 pm. After I was done, I got something to eat, then I went back to work but I could get neither the pictures nor the report done, and it was 2 am when I went to bed.
