Memphis! 06/08/12

Here was my beautiful view upon entering Memphis from AK. Don’t worry, Mom, I was safe and didn’t take my hands off the wheel to take the picture. I held my phone with my teeth and used my tongue to snap the photo.

I entered the city around 5 o’clock during rush hour.  The drivers here aren’t very gracious. I can probably count on one hand how many people have voluntarily let me in when I’ve tried to change lanes.

There was no one I knew of in Memphis to stay with during my Suzuki violin training, and the person I thought might let me stay with her fell through. So I left BoMo a little early to find somewhere to stay for the night.

Hotels in Memphis are expensive. However, I found one for $70 in an area just beyond a rough patch in town.

I had dinner at Huey’s, a popular burger joint in town. I read good reviews and had to park on the street because even it’s overflow parking was full. I ended up sitting in the very center of the restaurant by myself. Usually I don’t mind eating at restaurants by myself, but being in the middle of a busy burger joint quietly reading a book was a little awkward. So I ate half my meal and left to go find my hotel again.

Click here to follow to restaurant site

But my iPhone sent me to a different hotel where I got hit on and asked to smoke weed. So I left and found my actual hotel. Tonight I am staying at the U of M dorms where the worst thing I have to worry about are cockroaches in my bed.

I finished my first day of training and have really enjoyed the course so far. We began with playing all of Book 1 together and an overview of the course objectives and materials. By the end of the course I will have completed 28 hours of pedagogy sessions, 15 hours of student lesson observations, a two-page report of the book Nurtured by Love by Dr. Suzuki, a summary of Dr. Suzuki’s Philosophy, an outline for a Parent Education Course, a one-page chart summarizing the teaching points of the Book One songs, and played all the songs in Book 1 individually by memory.

Today I played all of the Book 1 songs individually by memory. It was very helpful to have already learned the pieces as a child. I didn’t have to prep for it at all since it was so ingrained in me.

The more I get involved in my training, the more thankful I am to my parents who not only sacrificed financially for me to have the Suzuki training as a child, but were disciplined enough to practice every day with me, go to my lessons, make me listen to the Suzuki CD every day, review all my pieces, and learn how to make music with me. The program has to have parents who are also dedicated to helping the child learn music to create the environment needed to develop their ability. So a shout out to Mom and Dad: “Thanks for spending so many hours and days helping me learn music. It changed my life and the way that I think.”

Tonight my new friend Shannon and I went to The Elegant Farmer for dinner (http://theelegantfarmerrestaurant.com/index.html). It was delicious and the waiting staff was very friendly. The restaurant itself purchases its ingredients only from local farmers. Shannon and I both try to eat as organic and local as possible, and will probably be dinner buddies for the week. Halfway through our meal, Shannon was feeling sick; and on our way back to U of M, she lost all of her dinner on the side of my car. She’s feeling better now and it was a bonding experience for us.

Well, my computer is about to run out of battery and I left my charger in the car and don’t want to get it.

So…toodles!

P. S.  Gas prices here are even better than BoMo's! Only $3.13!