Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Gurmat Sangeet Outreach Retreat and Camp: The First Day

We were asked to wake up around 7am. Of course I had flown all night and slept during the day when I had finally made it to Detroit the day before, so my sleep schedule was somewhat out of whack. I was excited to see what we would be doing over the next six days, so I showered and packed up my broken dilruba, then headed to the lobby/breakfast area of the hotel. I hadn't eaten very much the day before (the area was severly wanting for restaurants or grocery stores) so I was very hungry and the allure of  bacon and eggs was very tempting. But being surrounded by Sikh vegetarians everywhere I looked made me a bit on edge about my normal meat-consumption. It was a far wiser choice that I have begal/cream cheese/fruit.

The Gurdwara where the retreat would be taking place was kind enough to supply us with taxis leaving from the hotel. I sat with a group of young people who all seemed to know each-other, their conversation and mildly goofy behavior made me realize just how much I missed working with teenage students (at this point I had been out of teaching for a few months). It was a fairly short trip and the scenery was genuinely lovely. The Gurdwara was converted out of a high-end spa which had a lovely ambiance to it.

Registration was under-way. I was asked to tie a scarf over my hair (men and women must cover their heads inside) which was provided to me. After, I proceeded to the areas where the classes would be taking place and was promptly given a loan-dilruba while mine was being repaired. My loan instrument was absolutely beautiful - a Raj Musicals model with a lovely black sheen and perfectly weighted (later I would learn that one of the sellers of Raj Musicals instruments in the US was attending). Over the next 6 or so hours we would play through various exercises on our instruments, attend a lecture on music theory, go through a very rigorous master class and begin learning our first Rag for the retreat.

Lunch and dinner were provided by the Gurdwara and the food really could not have been better. I had heard that a core aspect to the Sikh community was hospitality and providing meals but I was not prepared for how generous and well-made everything was. The food was all vegetarian (of course) and very flavorful. When approaching the eating area, I felt a little bit like my first day of Junior High, not really knowing where and with whom to sit. However; it seemed like everyone was really going out of their way to make me feel welcome (something for which I will forever be grateful). 

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