The Three Violins in Salt City

To you this post looks exactly the same. To me, however, it is completely different. I am not writing from my cozy bedroom but from a spacious hotel room. It is not 8 o’ clock, but 9. Most strangely, I am not in Longview, but in Salt Lake City.
Yes—Mikaela, our friend Sarah, and I have ventured here for one purpose: Suzuki teacher training. Along the way, though, we’ve had our share of adventures. And we still have nine days left!

For example, we hailed our first taxi. (Jonah informed me that to do this, you just wave your arm in front of the windshield.) In addition, as bizarre as it sounds, we’ve been marveling at our hotel’s amazing breakfasts and dinners which appear without a spot of work on our part! Three people sleeping in one bed really hasn't been that bad--it would just be too lonely to isolate one person in the other room on the couch! Needless to say, as we have each had to assure our parents, Sarah, Mikaela, and I are definitely still speaking to each other! (-: We have also felt right at home in Salt Lake City because it has been raining so much. However, “It really doesn’t rain that much here” the Utah-onians keep telling us. This is clearly evidenced by this sight that met us as we came out of our classes yesterday!

Salt Lake City is in a valley, is surrounded on all sides by beautiful mountains, and usually has a blanket of beautiful clouds across the sky.

These photos of the mountains were taken during our expedition to a Super Target for necessary provisions.

In our first class yesterday, I was so excited and pumped after six hours of classes that I could hardly wait to get back to teaching! Never mind the next week and a half—I learned enough in that class to last a lifetime! But I get ahead of myself.
The classes are held at a Catholic high school, and our hotel shuttle dropped us off at the door along with a cellist and a few teachers. We finally located our class and we furtively glanced at our fellow classmates. There was one man in particular that I just wasn’t sure about. Is he a student or…? I asked myself. Turns out, “he” is James, a man with a gray flowing beard and a ponytail and who gives off the impression of being an ex-hippie. My other classmates are equally as diverse. From the college girl who goes to Brigham Young to the French Canadian from Boston who is thirty-something to another college girl who simply is coming because she has to pay the rent and decided she would rather teach to earn her way. And then there are these three strange girls from Washington who wear skirts, already have students, and sure ask a lot of questions! (-: All in all, there were ten of us.



Tomorrow we will get our “permanent” classes for the rest of our time here. Mikaela and I will try to keep you posted, but meanwhile, we miss all of you back home! Let us know about all the sunshine we are missing! We look forward, however, to more dashing through the rain to get back to class in time, furiously scribbling notes, and, of course, asking a lot of questions!