A day of Challenges

Due to the need to include Paul Mitchell in as much of the discussions as possible even though he was in the USA and joining us via video link, the first session for the next day was scheduled for 7.30 am.  It had been suggested that after the opening ceremony I start the day with some

This is the programme, with Paul and Phyllis pictured

singing, this time with more movement and the addition of drumming.

I like to ensure I'm prepared for leading singing sessions, so this meant being up early so that I could be awake and alert by the time I needed to start.  This being the first time I'd ever led such a big group or done so at what my body was telling me was 3 am it was something of a challenge!

So I was up at 6.30 am Almaty time, just after dawn.  The view of the mountains was crystal clear that morning and I took deep breaths of the fresh air as the pink colours of dawn faded from the sky.  After a small snack to get me going I did some stretches and went over the plan for the morning's session in my head. As I'd been asked to add more movement I decided to do more of a physical and vocal warm up before we started singing.  Then I also planned two songs to share.  My room mate commented that it was very early!

I had learned that there were snow leopards up in those mountains, so took this as my inspiration for the movement warm ups.  I found the group very willing to try anything I suggested and we were soon having fun - a good preparation for singing.  We sang the song we had sung the previous day - Belle Mamma, this time with the accompaniment of a drum.  It gave extra energy to the singing and helped everyone stay in rhythm for the round.  I then taught a second African round - Senwa Dedende - and once again the group was soon singing enthusiastically in 3 parts.  I felt they could sing faster so the drummer Boris and I gave each other looks to agree on speeding up a few times.  It was great fun and certainly seemed to wake everyone up.

I was particularly touched to see Paul singing along in the USA!

The main topic for discussion on this day was Reiki and money.  Our first question was about what our culture teaches us about money.  It was at this point someone asked what did we actually mean by culture.  I then heard Phyllis' voice: "Give the microphone to Kate".  I was handed the mike.  "Define culture" she said to me.

So there I stood in front of this big group, trying to think how to define culture!  I did what I am now used to doing: waited for the answer to come from some place other than my head!  When I started speaking the words seemed to flow and the result was satisfactory.  Not perfect by any means, but I think it served the purpose!  So another challenging moment!

To be fair to Phyllis she said later that she thought she had seen me raise my hand when the question about culture came up and given that she has experience of be being the person to ask about definitions in our work together on the RFI Executive Director group she had good reason for asking me.  It was just a bit of a surprise in the moment and put me on the spot!