2 years ago
Posted by: jslr
Settling down in Chicago…
(Saturday 7th November…)
The flight out was fine. I had a seat next to Miriam - she hasn’t been to the US for many years, and I’m looking forward to this being a really good experience for her. As for the team, only two of them have travelled to the US in the past, and this is the first time in Chicago for all of them. Everyone’s in really good spirits - students and adults alike. Shane was a little under the weather before we boarded the plane, but his characteristic energy returned as soon as we landed. He has a great rapport with the kids, a real connection with them. All of the adults do, actually, in their own ways. And they’re great kids to be working with. Should be a good week…
I’m staying with a teacher at Oak Park River Forest High School, situated in a western suburb in Chicago - the school that we partner with to make this trip happen. The Chicagoan end of the exchange is managed by Peter Kahn, teacher and spoken word co-ordinator at the school. He originally founded the SLAM project in London (along with Fahro Malik of Lynk Reach) and handed things over to me after the first year, when he travelled back to Chicago to resume a post at OPRFHS after a two year sabbatical.
Jess (my host) is great to stay with, as I found out when she put me up last year. She’s moved in the time since I last stayed with her - she used to be a few blocks from the school, now she has an apartment in Wicker Park, about 25 minutes drive away.
Caught a couple of movies on the flight, including Up and The Time Traveller’s Wife, which I was pleasantly surprised by. The only thing that threw me a little on the journey was the dry air - caught a real rasp in my throat. I’m hoping it’s not the warning sign of any kind of bug. I was ill one year on the Chicago exchange, and it wasn’t particularly pleasant…
Everyone else has been packed off with their respective hosts - mostly teachers at the school. As per usual, we got picked up by a yellow school bus, filled with some of Peter’s Spoken Word Club students, and straight away, there were poems, lyrics, introductions - everything thrown in. I think the Kingsford team were a little worn out after the flight - let’s see how they feel in the morning.
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