Chinese Chorus

The first week we were in Taipei, K-bao attended a summer chorus camp at K-Grandfolks' church, Hsin-Yi Friendship Presbyterian Church, led by one of K-Granpop's closest friends, Pastor Shen. K-Pop and K-Mum figured this was a way to combine music & singing (K-bao's interests) with Chinese and church (more the K-folks' priority).

The camp was no joke. The teachers were apparently "the strictest in the whole world," according to K-bao. The music was in German and Chinese - serious pieces by composers such as Mendelssohn. And K-bao arrived in Taiwan only in time for the second and final week of the camp, so she had to play catch up.

However, K-bao took gamely to the task. One of the great things about our little one is her gumption and adaptability. After a bit of hesitation on Day 1, she dove right in, and completed the week without complaint.

At the end of the week, the choral group and the drama team put on a little concert play. The full family group attended, including K-Grandmum (K-Grandpop had to be in HK for the weekend), Aunt Catherine, Uncle James, C-bao, and the parents.

Her favorite song of the camp was probably Abenstille Uberall, which K-Pop captured in the video below.

 

After her performance, Xiao Goo-Goo and Shu-Shu presented the little one with a rose.

Peter and the Wolf

Readers of this blog know well both the theatrics and theatricality of little K-bao. Over the summer the K-folks decided to give K-bao a taste of real theater, and enrolled her in a one week theater camp. The culmination of the week was a musical performance of Peter and the Wolf.

K-bao was assigned (or fought for, unclear which) the part of the Wolf. In the play, the Wolf is described as a "misunderstood character." K-bao shows us her fierce wolf face below.

There were some cute songs in the production. Below the Wolf makes its nefarious entrance. K-bao tries to keep a smile off her face as she thinks about pouncing on the silly duck. The cast then breaks into a song about food.


Her favorite song in the production was the Hokey Pokey.



Whether this camp is a first step towards Hollywood remains to be seen (we hope not). What is clear already though is our little one's love for performance, music and drama.

Galileo

One of K-bao's favorite summer camps this summer has been Galileo, which she attended for several weeks. The sessions are cleverly referred to by the sponsoring company as "Innovation camps." This last session was entitled Galileo Makers, and even K-pop had to admit that there were some solid-looking, hands-on projects being conducted by the little ones.

Among the interesting contraptions K-bao brought home was this finely decorated cardboard stool.

"The 'booty butt' is the secret piece that enables anyone to sit on it without it breaking," explains K-bao seriously.

"See? Tadaaa!"

More impressive, perhaps, were a couple of gadgets that required real motors and batteries, and that actually worked. One was a low-power vacuum cleaner that can suck up any stray cotton balls that are cluttering up the floor; the other, a spooky night light.

This one below is a fully functional "Grabber" that actually has a moving arm that can be manipulated by pulling a string on the side.

There were sundry other projects that she explained with enthusiasm - most of which involved cardboard and tape. All in all, despite these various camps costing an arm and a leg, K-bao generally appears to enjoy herself, and takes some pride in her creations. Hopefully the seed of a little Edison or Marie Curie is being planted in that little head...and then it will all have been worth it.