Guest and Host

After two delightful (of course!) days with kids here in Hong Kong, today is the first of a two-day workshop with teachers. I’m told that many of today’s participants will be classroom teachers and many working with preschoolers and lower elementary. And for a good percentage, this will be their first Orff workshop.

 

Wonderful! I love opening the door to the house of music and welcoming them in. I love to tour them around the architectural wonders of the Orff approach and show off the particular ways I’ve decorated my unique home—the furniture, paint colors, pictures on the wall. As I give them the short tour, I naturally don’t expect them to remember the details or ask about where I purchased this couch or desk. 

 

I love putting the snacks and drinks out on the table and inviting them to partake. Again, no expectation that they’ll ask for the recipes or my baking secrets —though happy to share if they inquire. I just want them to enjoy and savor the tastes and textures, to take pleasure in the simple act of breaking bread together. (Companionship = con-pan/ with bread). 

 

This all gives a different quality to the venture and adventure of education. I’m not here to cover the state-mandated curriculum inside cookie-cutter government housing, but to uncover long-dreamed of or as-yet-undreamed of possibilities, made tangible and touchable and hearable and seeable in a unique home that inspires furnishing one’s own unique house to share with others down the line. 

 

Nobody enters my home as if taking a back-row seat in a cold lecture hall, now with its glowing screen always shining behind the host. No guest will be asked to prove they know the answers to questions that they themselves have never asked. None will worry that they’re not measuring up to another guest. None will be shamed that their house will be called shabby compared to mine. Just come on in, see where I live, consider what seems appealing that might inspire you to re-decorate your own home in your own style with your own sweet and savory snacks. 

 

Okay, the guests are soon to arrive. Excuse me while I set the table.